misses can be good !

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my design path from learning to needle tat to pendant to shuttle tatted snowflake !

There are multiple inspirations and paths to designing; some are project-specific, others can be internalized. Long-time readers may remember many of the design paths/ processes shared, with more to come. I will keep adding them under Design Ideas and Processes .

Feynman was brutally honest in sharing his mistakes, failures, and dead-ends along with successes so that others knew the exact pathways - the hows and whys. In designing we learn from our mistakes and can put the misses to good use. 2 recent adaptations arose from doubling the chain length (The Heart Within) and joining rings incorrectly (Reflected Nights snowflake).  

But much earlier, I’d outlined how my needle-thread size mismatch led to a medallion (snowflake) instead of a pendant, and why the name 'neemiss' was coined. Here, I’d like to share more pics and details of the process for any budding & interested designer. 

Never be scared to experiment or to redeem & repurpose mistakes !

Neemiss Snowflake Design Process

It started with me trying to learn needle tatting using a thick mattress needle with size 20 thread !

DAY 1 : Basics

My very first needle tatting attempts on June 21, 2014 (clockwise from bottom right):

a red roselle (true rings) medallion ;

a ring and chain medallion where inward-facing rings are attached to a single long picot ;

interlocking rings.

DAY 2 : Burlesque Pendant !

Next day I tried clovers and chains. Then a Josephine rings at end, including a thrown JR. 

It was all so quick and easy, that instead of going around, I decided to return from the other side to create a pendant. Added tiny silver bells and a few rings in the empty space.

There are a lot of mistakes, but it was a very liberating experience – back then I struggled to design in 2D. Called it the Burlesque pendant because of the red-black combo.

DAY 3 : Conversion to shuttle tatting 

In order to convert the pattern to shuttle tatting, I wanted to change only one design element – make the center ring of second clover larger to get a well-defined dip/point.

Instead of 3-6-6-3, I made it 3-8-8-3.

Horrors ! As I finished tatting 3 clovers, the pendant shape was a compact half circle instead of a broad arc! Needle to shuttle conversion was awry because needle was too large for size 20 thread in pendant.

Nothing to it but to go ahead and complete the circle.

Sketched a couple of ideas for next round....

Went with this one, but as you can see below, not fully.    

 So now you know the reason why alternate clovers have a different stitchcount !

The final pattern can be found here.

rsqrsqrsq

That’s it. Two days of needle tatting gave rise to a snowflake.
Many lessons learned here.

I now have 2 sets of tatting needles, but no time to take it up seriously ;-P Yet, I maintain, that testing & trials can make for quick work if needle-tatted, then convert the final to shuttle. Let’s see what this year holds.

happy tatting & designing J

matter of the eye

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I would first like to thank everybody for their immense support and prompt help with testing the block heart pattern. I am very touched, to say the least. More when I post the pattern – and it will be within this week !

The Cosmic Eye or Anti-flake

Twenty-Third Day of December Snowflake

Lene Björn

from 24 Snowflakes in Tatting

for 2016 Snowflake Challenge on Craftree

This pattern always reminded me of our schoolbook atoms and molecules or of orbiting planets. The long chains made perfect elliptical orbits. And this book I’m currently reading ('Genius' by James Gleick) only reinforced that visualization.

Also, I wanted to see how a flake in black would work out – yup crazy me. Can’t say whether this is matter, antimatter or the universe. The beads (are they electrons or planets?) are very glittery in real – difficult to capture here. Sequins were a first, too.

I passed shuttle 1, back to front, through the space created in round 1 chains and then continued with the Josephine chain. A simple over-under ‘join’.

I’d had a tough time keeping count of the Josephine chain stitch count in the Day 22 flake. This time, my little bird came to my rescue. Every 10 half stitches, I take out a pin and stick it in the mattress. Yippee – so easy to keep tally and gaze at my little birdie (who doesn’t seem too happy with all those pin pricks !)

How I added the sequin here

My first attempt at sequins, though the principle of tatting with beads, buttons, etc. is essentially the same or similar.

I wanted the sequin to be flat inside the ring, rather than outside. So, start ring and when we come to the picot, first pull the picot loop through the sequin hole, pass the shuttle through this loop (as we would normally) and snug neatly but not too tightly. This keeps sequin flat and in place. Continue with the rest of the ring and close. 

I would’ve liked to work in 2 colours to better reveal the interweaving chains, but that might’ve become a very busy kind of rendition.
30 beads strung randomly on shuttle #2 in round 2, and brought forward on picots.

Do you see what I see ? Doesn’t it look like a fierce cheetah – eyes glaring out ?! Or perhaps it is Lord Shiva’s Cosmic/third Eye ?

The boring details !

TWoT notes : Round 1 worked counterclockwise ;

Round 2 worked clockwise.

Techniques : thrown rings and clovers, spiral or Josephine chains, beads & sequins on picots, over-under join.

Materials and Measurement :

Anchor size 40 in black ; seed bead soup (including tiny bugle beads) ; white sequins ; crochet hook to load sequins 

Rnd 1 : ~ 2½”  ;   Rnd 2 : ~ 4”

50 half stitches of Josephine chain in size 40 thread = ⅞”

‘Genius’ by James Gleick is a biography of Richard Feynman the exuberant ‘mad genius’ written in an engaging style! It is a very absorbing read. Even though I superficially ‘understand’ much of his work and the physics described, it is a commentary on the evolution and establishment of Physics & of course quantum mechanics. As I read, I am frequently reminded that all that we take for granted now, or what we thought was done ages ago, is not even a century old, even Medicine as a a science !!!

My husband had a couple of books by Feynman before our marriage and he has become one of my favorite scientist-writer – always so full of spirit, full of ideas, practical solutions, and such a great communicator. Down the years, we’ve bought many more of his books, but I’ll share more in future.

Now, back to tatting – besides ‘inspiring’ this snowflake, ‘Genius’ has also sparked off another set of tatting-related fun that I hope to share and would love for you to join in. Not revealing anything for the present ;-P

happy tatting happy reading J