flower party begins

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 I needed a bit of a break from all the compywork, reviewing, etc. - it kind of clogs one's brain. Mind you, I discovered a new technique and the 'inventor' graciously shared a lot. More on that in the future. 

So what better break than picking up ones shuttles and sneaking in a bit of tatting time!

Anetta had shared her Garden Party doily pattern a few months back and it was on my to-tat list. I finally succumbed to the temptation and started out....

Pattern: https://www.jamiolowo.blog/2023/07/frywolitkowy-wzor-garden-party.html

I truly love the soft pastels she uses in her tatting and tried to emulate her. This is a tinted shade from Red Rose size 20. 

The first 2 plus rounds measure 6.5 cms diagonally and 3.5cms along each side of the hexagon.

Isn't this a beautiful shape as is?!

I tweaked the sequence a bit in order to manage colour placement. The thrown rings at the tip are actually normal rings in Round 3 of the original pattern. I climbed out with 2 split rings, moving clockwise in the 2nd round.

I wasn't going to post anything till it was completed. But I just so love this shape and wanted to share my joy!

Anetta has also taken up the task of diagramming patterns from Tina Frauberger's 1919 book,  "Schiffchenspitze". https://www.jamiolowo.blog/2023/10/tina-frauberger-znana-i-nieznana.html. Something more to look forward to. It's always a pleasure to read her posts - there is so much beauty this talented lady creates in different crafts!

Tail of 2 Bookmarks

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Tale of 2 Bookmarks or Bookmark of 2 Tails ?!

( all coloured bold fonts are direct links to site/blog/post)

Jane’s Bookmark

Designer : Jane  McLellan

Now here’s a pattern that I have adored & has been on my to-tat list for like ages !

Yesterday dawned with a refreshing monsoon shower & as we lazed on the balcony, I finally got around to tatting this. I also got the opportunity to tat with this new colourway – it was lying in my stash for many months now. The pics don’t do justice to the colourway …

This pattern can be downloaded from Jane McLellan’s site , & also from Jane Eborall’s Pattern pages (it was first published here).

Thread : Bliss size 7 (?)

The finished bookmark measures just under 7” in length ; 1” wide.

My  Notes :

• FS/BS tatting all through. 

• I made alternate Split Rings with the other shuttle, in order to consume the same length of thread from both shuttles, as well as keep the colourway even. This called for backside tatting of every alternate SR. Here’s how I tackle it : 

FS/BS  tatting  in  a  Split  Ring

Abbreviations : FS/BS – frontside/backside tatting ; SR – split ring ; fhs – first half stitch ; shs – second half stitch ; ufhs – unflipped fhs ; ushs – unflipped shs ; RODS – reverse order double stitch ; RORS – reverse order reverse stitch

About Reverse stitch, here 

SR  tatted  from  Frontside :

This is the normal way .

1^st half of SR is made with normal Double Stitch (fhs, shs) ;

2^nd half of SR with Reverse Stitch (unflipped hitches in reverse order) ie. (ushs, ufhs)

SR  tatted  from  Backside :

1^st half of SR is made with RODS (reverse order double stitch) ie. (shs,fhs) ;

2^nd half of SR is made with RORS (reverse order reverse stitch) ie. (ufhs, ushs). In other words, the 2^nd half of SR is tatted with unflipped hitches, but the order is that of a ds.

This SR, when viewed from the front side, will appear ‘normal’, with complete double stitches throughout. 

• In order to add a tassel, I made one extra small ring at the end. It was a SSSR (single shuttle split ring) with the thread ends hidden within. Nothing to tie & sew, since the threads that emerged from the SSSR were mingled with the tassel threads.

I enjoyed Jane's Bookmark so much ! It is so easy & quick to tat up :-)

Could I resist doing another ? No (sheepish grin)

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Double Charm Bookmark 

 pattern : Jane's Bookmark Cross by Grace Tan

This time I tried Grace Tan’s stitchcount  Along with Annie’s Granny’s triangular ‘faux pas’ (she’s made a Square, too) in size 20 thread (Anchor MC 4054-0020 maroon)

 

Looks like a tail with 2 charms …. I will be using these as charms (especially the short straight sections) for future bookmarks, as well !

Thank you, Jane, for such a fun & versatile pattern :-)

Check out Jane’s other clever, creative patterns at her site here!

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Robin’s  Frauberger  Bookmark

Reworked  pattern (here) : Robin Perfetti

I had finished tatting the tails & charms to Robin’s Frauberger Bookmark soon after posting the bookmark , but was going to show them along with a post on Cluny Tatting. Turns out that post is going to be fairly long (as usual !), with lots of pics.

I added 2 tails to the bookmark. I’ve done this earlier with Gina Brummet’s Spiral Bookmark, here.

So, Why  Does  a  bookmark  need  TWO  Tails ?!

Here are the choices :

1. Playful fun 
2. Whimsical quirk ?
3. Aesthetical proportions ?
4. Practical functionality ?

All of the above or None of the above ?

For the Spiral bookmark, it seemed like a fun, quirky idea to use up the 2 small shuttle shaped motifs as charms.

And then there was the practical aspect – when using a bookmark in a reference book, one can bookmark Three places at the same time !

For instance, Nicholl’s book (in the photo) has the text on one page & the images/Plates on some distant other. It can be quite a chore to frequently flip from one page to that other. The 2 tails, with charms helps me keep track, without disrupting my reading ! And each time I stop/pick up the book again, the places are already marked.

For the Double Charm Bookmark above, it was again bit of a fanciful flight !

For the Frauberger Bookmark, it was proportionality. The body is broad (2”) & a single tail in the same size 40 thread seemed disproportionate. A 2^nd tail filled up that ‘space’. And I really needed to practice making tallies/clunies. Despite that, each tally has it’s own Tale to tell ;-P!

UPDATE : This is how it looked with a single tail & charm. It just Had to have 2 tails !

And this bookmark goes into my knitting book … how many times have I needed multiple bookmarks/page holders when trying to choose patterns ?! Two tails ? Hey, more than 2 tails would be even better ;-D   This is also a note to self to make more 2-tailed bookmarks for my other pattern books !

Tail & Charm  for  Frauberger  Bookmark :

UPDATE : free  pattern  d/l for Tails  & Charm

• Tally/cluny leaf alternating with a Split Ring (8/8) in size 40 thread.
• I didn’t keep count of weaves in the cluny … to much concentration was required just to get the shape okay. Each tally was eye-balled to an approximation.
• Charms follow the same pattern as the bookmark. The only addition/tweak I made, was to add a very small anchoring picot at base of chain & trefoil on either side. This prevents the trefoil from possible flopping.

Books  in  Photo :

The Country Diary Book of Knitting by Annette Mitchell

The Stories of English by David Crystal

Tatting Technique & History by Elgiva Nicholls

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While checking the motif number, I noticed that my 2^nd round of the 25 Motif Challenge comes to an end ! How time flies when one is having fun ! Most of my inclusions involved getting out of my comfort zone by learning something new, applying it, tweaking something,  or creating my own pattern. Time to start the 3^rd round ? :-D

Motif # 25/II for 25 Motif Challenge 

My sincere thanks to All designers mentioned in the post

We have all gained due to your sharing 

Related Posts : my working of Frauberger Bookmark

my working of Spiral Bookmark

Robin's Frauberger Bookmark

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Frauberger Bookmark

Original (1919) : Tina Frauberger

Reworked (2015) : Robin Perfetti

I was determined Not to be tempted, distracted, Until I had completed Renulek’s Wiosna that’d been left at a crossroad ! Look, I even had all the materials for the next mini project all ready & lying in front of me, but I persevered with temptation staring so directly in my face ! One day, 2 days, …. 

Could I resist ?

Well, yes & no. 

I resisted this new project & persevered with the doily. 

I saw Robin’s beautiful rendition of the Frauberger edging here. Fine, something to do down the line. 

But then she shared her pattern notes here !

Down went the doily shuttles, up went the bookmark shuttles ! Actually, I already had one almost full shuttle from my Mystery Doily project . Back to size 40. Easy to succumb on both counts ;-P

Thread : Anchor Mercer Crochet Cotton . Size 40

Yellow : 0302

Measurement : 7”x 2” 

Techniques : 2-shuttle tatting throughout

For Main Body :

CTM (if using single colour)

Concentric Circle/Onion Rings

Floating/Thrown rings (rings on chain)

Catherine Wheel Join (CWJ)

Frontside/Backside tatting (optional)

For Tail (WIP) :

Split Rings

Cluny Tatting

For Charm (proposed) :

Concentric Circle/Onion ring

Floating Ring

CWJ

The original pattern was published in Schiffchenspitze (1919) & can be downloaded from Georgia Seitz's Archive of Tatting Books in the Public Domain, here.

Robin has reworked the original stitch count . It works beautifully, lays flat & is very elegant. Thanks for doing all the hard work for us, And sharing :-)

• It is a 2-shuttle pattern where ALL rings are Floating/Thrown rings !!!

• Her pattern diagram shows 2 colours coding one for each shuttle. The point to keep in mind is that the colours denote which thread will show up, Not the Core thread. (that created a bit of confusion as I was tatting, because I kept thinking it was the core thread. The pattern was working Great, but the shuttle sequence seemed odd to me. But that’s just me being me).

• The use of CWJs is superb !

The only thing I did ‘different’ here, was to have 7ds+CWJ for the left half part of concentric chain, & CWJ+6ds for the right side.

TIP : The outer concentric rings respond strongly to one’s tatting tension & other factors. Hence it is a good idea to tweak the stitch count to suit one’s tatting.

• For FS/BS tatting, the portions in red in Robin’s diagram need to be directional (RODS). All the rest are tatted from the front normally. Indicated by arrows in above image.
• RW : Work is reversed Only once for each repeat : When going from the completed onion ring to connecting chain . Indicated by thick arrow in above image.

UPDATE (March 10, 2017) : click here for a stepwise pictorial applying this pathway to a similar situation/motif.

Oops ! One missing ring in the turning repeat !
Should I cut it all off ? Wait ... read on

• On day 2, I missed one ring at the turn of pattern (top right in image above). Since it was nighttime, I thought I’d snip off the portion & tat it correctly the next day. Some wise person (must’ve been a tatter surely) has said that one should sleep over a problem. And hey presto ! Next morning, instead of snipping & tying & hiding all those ends, all I did was a SSSR (single shuttle split ring) by joining auxiliary thread close to the picot (this can be finger-tatted, but I had some remaining thread in another shuttle ...) !!! So happy with the simple solution ! (SSSR in progress in image below) 

Using auxiliary thread & SSSR to add missing ring !

The pattern, as worked out by Robin, using 2 shuttles & floating rings, but no SLTs, is the Same as what Iris Niebach did in the TIAS Doily. Except that in the doily, each shuttle held a different coloured thread & one had to RW & SS to get the right colour. In both patterns, the designer mentions the thread that will show, irrespective of the core thread. So, if one can work through this bookmark, they can very easily work through Iris’ pattern !

It’s odd that of all the lovely patterns Robin has shared, & I have downloaded/printed, the 2 patterns I did make so far have been from her pattern notes !!! The first one was her gorgeous Design Pattern Snowflake (which I tatted the very same night) & she gave a sneak peak of the pattern diagram here.  … Oh, and Both are in size 40 !!! What a coincidence :-)

This bookmark pattern will be uploaded by Robin shortly. 

Completed ! Can you spot the SSSR ?

I still need to make a tail & charm for this bookmark & have a pattern in mind. But it will take some time …. I intend to make a braid using Cluny tatting (Yay! I finally learned the basics last week) – giving me the much needed practice. For the charm, I intend to repeat the concentric/onion ring with trefoil.

I will post along with my thoughts/tips/tricks on Cluny Tatting . 

And in case you are curious .... yes, the Wiosna is finally over :-D

I seem to be on track on my 2015 resolutions for the most part ! Well, the Spring Doily will have to stay as it is - can't find the right colours to continue. And, instead of 2 snowflakes per month, I Have tatted quite a few earrings (single only), which will adorn the tree; after all, they're already hooked ;-P

Related Post : Bookmark completed, with tails & charms

happy tatting :-)

and thank you, Robin :-)