700 and promises still to keep

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7-year itch? What’s that? Almost 30 years into marriage and over 7 years into blogging and still scratching the surface of goodness. 400 weeks, 2800 days, and 700 posts - 1 every 4 days?!

But these numbers hide the other equally good spin-offs from my hobby – the company of good friends in cyberspace. Yeah, I don’t need a shuttle to travel into outer space – the shuttle in my hand does the trick right in the comfy of my home!

LacingLOVE Program (article published in IOLI Bulletin, Spring 2021)

And one such friend with whom I soar is Anita Barry. Her middle name could well be Anita ‘Cool’ Barry! See what she says about herself here. Her smile translates into messages, never failing to brigthen my day!

When we started the Endrucks 1920 Project, I asked if she would like to participate. I strongly suspect she said yes only as my buddy otherwise she would not have given it a 2nd glance. She chose and immediately worked on pattern #3 straight from the model image before discovering the diagram and written pattern pdf. And her reaction –

”Wow! What different paths I took and Endrucks took! Oh! She’s a clever girl! She took a much easier path. I so admire her (Endrucks’) creative mind!”

And soon after …. “Enlightening! Truly enlightening to work this.

I’d love to use it as a teaching aid. It’s been really fun for me!!!
Discovering Endrucks is heartwarming.”

pattern #3 pdf -  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UY6CZQh0cjacyx6joTrGyU6UbA1rfMle/view

Anita did just that and taught pattern #3 at the recent Palmetto Tat Days. Here's her feedback -

“Students thought Eleonore Endrucks was clever! ... All were interested in seeing and printing her book with the diagram & instructions and seeing your revised shorthand/diagrammed online site. All were excited. All were grateful to you for your extreme efforts with E’s pattern and Martha Ess."   

And we cannot forget my partner in crime Ninetta Caruso, without whom this project would have remained a personal endeavour instead of involving the community! We have worked together through the year to see this project through.

Anita had the pattern test-tatted by no less than Martha Ess, to who we owe our thanks for scanning and putting the book in public domain!

“Martha test-tatted different versions of what Endrucks may have wanted depending on following her picture or following her diagram, or using RW or using SS, etc. Very interesting."

We have been discovering that Endrucks’ model, diagram and text sometimes vary slightly from each other and the tatter has to make an educated guess. Further, she focuses only on switching the shuttle in hand, and reverse or turn work is implied. Linguistic barrier plays it’s role and we have to turn to the model picture to decide which path to take depending on where the chains face.

"There are several ways of interpreting this pattern. All good. None that are wrong. Just different from one another.”

Exactly! A tatter always has options to create the effect they desire - be it with colours or direction. Most of these options are covered in Lock Join Plus series and in the Thrown Ring Methods and more can arise by combining them.

Anyway, moving back to November 2020. Within days of working on #3, Anita was interested enough to move aside all her other projects and ask for pattern #27.

She felt "happily blessed to get" it on her first attempt, choosing “to tat it in contrasting colors so tatters can see where the threads are in the project.”

Pattern #27 pdf - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YbZdzmvbPHON90LqnXTeEOcEfBm7QFi0/view 

In order to avoid frequent reverse work (RW), her blue version uses shoelace trick (SLT) and switch shuttle (SS) to work mainly from the front, and the chains are mirror-imaged. Another option is to use direct tatting (reverse or unflipped stitches) as in one form of block tatting. 

Endrucks' modified #27 as a bracelet

I love the accordion effect of those ‘block tatting’ chains. Endrucks has created many interesting effects using chains and lock joins! This is one of the few patterns that has ‘onion rings’.

NOTE : None of these terms are used in the 1920 book – they are simply chains and rings made with 2 shuttles and the 2 basic joins.

One of a handful to complete both the Tatters Across Time (TAT) and IOLI proficiency programs, she is now an evaluator and has been teaching at Palmetto Tat Days for several years. She also volunteered at the Lace Museum when in Virginia. Having shifted to Florida recently, we can expect more ocean-themed designs such as these ….

 

Moby-D, the Tatted Whale, spectacular minimalistic tatted Flamingo, Painting and tatting by Anita Barry  

Anita is an accomplished tatter, sewer, handcrafter and ideator, and enjoys learning new stuff, including bobbin lace.

   

Pin cushion with varied thread crafts, bobbin lace, hand-painted shuttles, lavender-based items for the farmers’ market

She is also a rescuer of vintage items, lace, and tools/machines/accessories, donating/auctioning items to raise scholarship funds at the Tat Days.

  

Vintage hanky pouch, Rejuvenated vintage butterfly, Vintage shuttles rescued

The following is a another tiny selection of her diverse designing skills in tatted lace.

   

Bettina Triangle (simple tatted quilt block using thread she dyed herself),

The Corn Harvest Basket (a tatted transformation from crochet), Miniature Hand-Tatted Baby Items, an artistic necklace.

Tatted Lavender Heart on a Card

She frequently sends me patterns she’s working on preferring to use simple elements (as in the heart above) and methods to create quick and beautiful patterns. I tatted and shared a few, but there are still many that need uploading or tatting. You might remember our joint Buddy Hearts where we followed different designing paths. She initiated and encouraged me to send articles/patterns to the International Organization of Lace bulletin and Chapter gift CD. I have often relied on her professional expertise for diligent proofreading!

At the recent IOLI UnCon 2.0 Anita did a table talk titled “Fear Knot? Fear Not” based on our experience with Carin Jansen’s Angel Choir doily tat-along sharing numerous fixes.

"At the end of the talk I spoke about your Endruck’s 1920 Project. People were intrigued & interested! They asked quite a few questions."

Anita, you have become a true ambassador for this Project, besides being an enthusiastic and valued contributor and reliably fun friend. Ninetta joins me in thanking you for all your contribution!

With love and gratitude
muskaan & Ninetta

Ninetta reminds us this 100 year old book by Frau Endrucks has brought us so much pleasure, taking us on diverse paths, making us reach for the stars .... with the promise of still more to come! And hopefully I will continue to tat and blog, fulfilling my past promises and 'miles to go before I sleep ....  '

 

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Endrucks 1920 Project is a community project, we welcome every one of you to join in! Please let us know where we can find your renditions and derivative tatting!
We created the hashtag #Endrucks1920Project, so please use it!
We all enjoy sharing and the project is awaiting every one of you!
All info and links (original and modern) are in the Endrucks 1920 Project Document, here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17LEVftXweztBIOWh4sL4BB7bX65ssoOsOn4oXIgCepY/view
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