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A very happy International Tatting Day to all tatters!
While I will be tatting and also gobble up some chocolate today, what I am sharing here is a coaster or mat I worked on recently. It is a tessellation pattern by
Karen Bovard from her 2013 book, 'MORE Fun With Split Ring Tatting'. It is made by joining individual houndstooth motifs on the go and there are slight differences in the motif depending on where it is positioned - whether in the main body or on a side, etc. The tails in the above piece are hidden but not trimmed. These acted as markers for my own comfort.
While the tatting itself is easy if you are comfortable with split rings, the arrangement of where each motif is attached needs careful attention. At least I needed that and had to cut off or retro-tat a few times.
The diagram was for a rectangle but I cut it short to a square. Which meant eliminating a row in the main body. To mark my place I marked the finished motifs in the diagram.
While I like the shape as is, it is not practical to use with all the arms sticking out. Hence I will be filling in the gaps, following Karen's pattern, but also outline it. Trouble is I can't decide the colour! Hubby suggested black or brown (the dark shade here is purple, not black) but I haven't made up my mind. Do you have any suggestions?
I had bought this book almost a decade back and so glad to have finally tatted something from it. The instructions at the beginning are very clear and detailed and make it easy to read the diagram-only patterns. There are myriad possible arrangements using some basic motifs as blocks or tiles and their niched arrangement in several patterns reminds one of MC Escher's tessellations. Of course, Karen has a lot of other designs, too as evident in the book covers. There are several I would love to try.
Karen even has a tip about making the split rings more circular. Huh, it just confirms why my own ring was circular too! (https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/02/who-knew.html)
However, the spine of the book did not allow the book to remain open at the desired page. Hence I scanned and printed out the necessary pages and consulted them.
And I submit this as the 3rd piece for Natalie Rogers' PICOT Bingo 2026 Level 2 (https://www.patreon.com/posts/happy-new-year-147124370). Only one box to cross this time, though this too is a rings-only pattern, viz.,
