warmafrost

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Snowflake #16 in Land of Laces’ 25 Snowflake Project

Marja tells us that Kuurankukka is an old Finnish word for frost flower and since I perpetually seem to make my snowflakes warm, summery and floral, ‘warmafrost’ seemed like an appropriate portmanteau for this post which has snowflakes in very warm earthy colours indeed - the cool flake is in some subterranean layer ;-D.

Made in one pass using 2 shuttles. There are thrown rings, SCMRs, Josephine rings, starting with chain/starter picot. And I also used direct tatting and directional (fs/bs) tatting.

My starting point for the design process is a motif : the Josephine Ring cluster from this split colour edging. The rest is simply a way to create 6 arms for the snowflake. And in order to make the tip pointier, I used a normal ring instead of the JR.

The little evolutionary tweaks are evident in the image, starting with a smaller arm, to better-sized ones, and then to filling in the blank space within.

BUT, I am not a good student, repeating the same mistake which led to the mutant snowflake! (yes, I remember my promise to post the solution(s)!) There is no way I could tie off after 6 repeats. Tongue-in-cheek, I showed my amusement to Ninetta, and good teacher that she is, she marked out what I needed to do. Very helpful tips, again, but I need to become independent!

I took a lazy way out this time – snipped the outer joined picots (there were 2 joins earlier) to confirm that the flake would lie flat with only 6 arms! Phew! No drastic changes.

I had deliberately left the inner ring free. But finally gave in and joined it at the base. Now, one could tat the ring facing upward (see the single small yellow motif), but I didn’t like the look.

Meanwhile, I tried a few other tweaks in those single motifs, but settled back to my ‘first child’. Does it happen to you? I frequently find myself unable or unwilling to venture too far off the original.

A single upended motif can be worked as a quick earring. I’m not happy with my beads or their placement, and will try to do a better job. The inset pic shows the true colours.

Do you see a larger fabric with the flakes attached to each other? A challenge for another day or year ;-D

This pattern can be worked in multiple ways, using one’s choice of techniques. I followed an ergonomic path where there is least switching of shuttles and of reverse work. So the flake is worked clockwise and all from the front except for the ring inside. I have taken stepwise pictures of how I went about it, and I will share the pattern alongside in my next post.

I am tatting a slight variation ( 12 points ) and want to see how that works out in Lizbeth 20. The ones above are all in Anchor 20 (which is equivalent to Lizbeth 10) and measure 6cms; and 5cms as a motif.

I have other ideas in mind - to increase the arm lengths, or to introduce another motif between the arms. I'd like to play with those ideas as a personal challenge.

Thank you, Marja and  Ninetta!!!