simple in spring

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‘Vasant Panchami, also spelled Basant Panchami, is a festival that marks the arrival of spring, celebrated by people in various ways depending on the region.’

The Hindi word for spring is ‘basant’ and from it is derived the colour ‘basanti’ which is similar to the yellow of mustard flowers. (Remember my 2017 spring garland with it’s mustard fields, etc.?)

By chance, but perfect timing!

When I saw Elaine P Gan’s Rose Heart, I wondered whether 2 shades of yellow would work well here.

This is my first project from any of her patterns, though as you know, I’ve been a frequent user of her reverse join! And, through Sue’s test tatting, I have admired how she puts together patterns using simple motifs and fairly basic tatting.

Worked in Anchor size 40 (00293 & 00302), with ball and shuttle.

No heart should be alone!

I’ve been seeing lovely models of Gloria Nelson’s With All My Heart in facebook and liked it’s simple elegance. The outline appears like a free-flowing scroll!

A clover is arguably the simplest heart shape in tatting. So why not highlight that with a contrasting colour? How to do it without too many ends to hide???

Aha. SCMR – self closing mock rings! And all worked with one shuttle only! Same as what I did with the very colourful scrappy doily! 

I wound yellow in the shuttle without cutting it from the ball. The magenta is ball only.

Work all 3 clover rings as mock rings using yellow core thread from shuttle.

Then snip off the magenta (with tail to whip stitch later) and continue the outer round using yellow ball thread.

The thrown/floating ring at the bottom is also worked as a mock ring.

Worked in Anchor Pearl size 8 (00291 – shuttle & ball ctm & 04380 ball).

Both hearts measure approx. 4cmsx4cms (bit longer than wide) and are quick enjoyable tats. And I used Ninetta's blipless join again. 

I like the contrast of these designs - one frilly the other stark. Yet both so beautiful. Although I worked both as simple motifs for now, Gloria's pattern is for a beaded lanyard and Elaine has used hers on a card.

AND, Buddy Hearts will be taught in the Online Tatting Class by Georgia today ! All are invited and hope I can join in.  With frequent and long spells of illness over the past year, I haven't been able to attend regularly,  if at all  :-( 

locked in place

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One can never have enough bookmarks ! And I have been itching to tat one for quite a while. Hence what started out as a practice braid out of curiousity, got extended into a bookmark for my latest book.

Rings and Curves Variation

Braid to Bookmark

Original braid : 'Rings and Curves' by Elaine P. Gan

Variation : Judith Connors, on Craftree

This variation of the braid pattern was shared by Judith on Craftree as part of her description of & practice for Elaine’s Reverse Join (“The handy reverse join”). I have used the RJ frequently since the Wiosna doily & prefer it to the SLT (shoelace trick/overhand knot).

So here is my practice piece of the braid which I later decided to extend to a full bookmark.

Having used leftover green thread, it soon ran out. So I used Ninetta’s ‘elementary’ technique to add the chain thread and it felt a bit like deja vu. Loved the ease with which the thread was added & no ends to sew!

It was interesting to do directional tatting (RODS) in this braid - the changes were made in blocks of elements, just as in the Spinning Wheel mat 

With the main body length completed, I had to think of a tail. A lock chain would be too narrow for this braid. The tail needed some width to be proportionate to the width of the main body. Picots on both sides !

UPDATE: Pictorial for the Picoted S-Chain -https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2020/04/picoted-s-chain-cords.html  . S-chains are a variant of the zigzag chains.

For the few who actually read through my posts, do you recognize this? I tried it with metal here.

Yes, it is not a pearl tatted braid, but a S-Chain with picots. And the S-chain is a simple extension of a lock chain with complete stitches. Refer samplers # 10-12 here for comparison. I love how the stitches are diagonal to each other !

The tail still felt too narrow; so I decided to go for 2 tails & snipped off after desired length. And as always, the NanoMoment you snip, there comes this Big brainwave sweeping in all kinds of regrets !  Why have 2 separate tails ? Why not have them interlaced ?! I could’ve simply turned back ….

Oh well, damage was done. Reconnected threads to base & started 2^nd tail, intertwining it with the first. Here, I used Martha’s ball thread join (explained in her Butterick Butterfly Bookmark pattern) to mask the links & keep the picots seemingly intact.

Look carefully & you will notice a green join on the lower left overlap & a pick one in the upper overlap.

Threads used : Anchor Mercer size 20 Art 4054. (pink – 052; green – 0241)

Measurements : Main body – 5½” x 1¼”  ; Tail – 4 “ x ½”

Techniques I used : 2 shuttles, RODS/directional tatting, reverse join, S-chain, ball & thread join, adding new ball thread in a chain

Without planning it, this bookmark has 2 adaptations/variations of the lock join – the reverse join & the ball thread join. The latter is already covered in Part II of the Joins series, & the former will come later.

My Observations/thoughts on Reverse Join :

• RJ eliminates the visual dip caused by a lock join, and another dip when using SLT (I am not a fan of SLTs). Due to the encapsulated thread, no dip is produced.                     
• There will remain a colour blip which can be incorporated as a design element.
• RJ is much easier to undo than a traditional LJ, because of the encapsulated thread.
• In the bookmark, I deliberately used a down loop throughout to make the RJ. And since I was tatting fs/bs, some of these turned up as up loops. It doesn't change the spot of colour, but it Does change how the colour bar appears ! 

I enjoyed tatting this braid to bookmark - although only rings & chains, it needed one's attention. Another page in my learning turned :-)

Many thanks to all the wonderful tatters named in this post - 

you enhance my learning at every step !

Related Posts : Shuttle 2 to the rescue

Chains in shuttle tatting