DRR long time

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 Can't believe its been six years since we worked the Design Round Robin (DRR) doilies in Craftree and I find that I have posted round-wise pics of only one doily! Time to rectify the situation. However, I will have to limit myself to pics, 'coz it is too much work to hunt down my notes for each round I either designed or tatted. Good for you, huh, less to read ... but plenty of pics! ;-D 

Dancing Peacocks

Design Round Robin 2018 (DRR 2018), Craftree

Muskaan, Coretta, Kathleen, Tim, Coretta.

pattern link

Worked in Anchor embroidery threads, 3 strands equivalent to Lizbeth size 20.

Round 1 - Muskaan. I designed the center for this doily. 

The green/blue one was made first but not being happy with my tatting, I started over with the bottom one. This pattern is originally from my enclosed space medallion phase with only minor tweaks to add picots for joining subsequent rounds. It has triple onion rings where the innermost Josephine ring is made using the floating beads method so that it stands a bit apart. 
Dancing Peacocks Medallion design process - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2018/01/mad-or-maddening.html
Dancing Peacock Earrings derived from the medallion -https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2018/01/floating-with-tatting.html  Later that year Anita Barry taught this pattern at the Palmetto Tat Days.

Round 2 - CORETTA L.  

I like how she opened up the design!

Round 3 - KATHLEEN M.  

So much to learn in this round. However it started with me having to snip off quite a length and restart because of some mistakes - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2018/06/rotten-core.html

She used her tweak on the Captured onion ring technique, which I have been using since. 

Round 4 - TIM K.  

He designed the round in such a way as to fit any tension.

He used Split SCMR and also shared a video on how to make it in his blog - http://timtatstoo.blogspot.com/p/the-split-self-closing-mock-ring.html

However I remember discovering that the split scmr was not really needed in this case and explaining how to go about it. 

This completed our round robin of four designers. Started in Feb 2018 and finished within the same year. Design round robin entails we each tat all the rounds of each doily sequentially designing and tatting by turns. No need to mail off the doily ....

I felt we could do with another round or two, but was not sure how to go about it. In March 2023, Coretta worked out a 5th round and shared it!!! I tatted it early this month.

Round 5 - CORETTA L.  

After mulling over the colour scheme since I wanted the round to reflect the earlier colours, yet not be too overwhelming or bright, I came up with the following solution... 

The onion rings are tatted in three peacock colours but as separate motifs. Carrying 3 extra threads encapsulated within the chains would add too much bulk and skew the arches.

The tails are hidden or sewn, but left untrimmed. Couldn't risk any tail being pulled out when the outer chain round was tatted and joined! 

Green for border would make the entire composition too greenish which is why I chose to repeat the inner round blue; it also carries forward the peacock impression.

All trimmed and done. However, I used 4 strands of blue after realising that 3 might not allow the doily to lie flat since my chains are usually tight.

Anchor embroidery 3 strands equivalent to Lizbeth size 20.
Orange - 0333 ; Yellow - 0306 ; Green - 0258 ; Purple - 097 ; Blue - 0170 (4 strands in last round).

Final diameter - 17 cms or just under 7 inches.

This additional round has really brought the entire design together and I love how it looks. What do you think? Too many colours or ....

You can find the Dancing Peacocks doily pattern here - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LBml-8Q0WYbCQyBrSLVKg713T9D3HE9YAPlKmg3wxTo/view

Many many thanks to Coretta, Kathleen, and Tim and a very special thanks to Grace Tan for her forethought in creating the Google docs for each doily!  

I am also entering this doily for both the 2024 games ....

Small Decorations hosted by splocik - This doily is my submission for September.

The August gallery of submissions is posted here - https://splocik2.blogspot.com/2024/09/male-dekoracje-2024-galeria-sierpniowa.html  with such a diverse range of projects!

And this doily also crosses off several blocks in Natalie's PICOT Bingo!

- Tat a Doily

- Josephine Ring

- Onion Ring

which means I have a 2nd BINGO - the 4th column is done!!! My first bingo was posted here - https://www.patreon.com/posts/picot-tatting-we-110762797

Actually I've finished tatting some more but blogging is taking a backseat ....

Thanks for the fun Natalie and splocik!

no cash only credit Freebies

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 Credit to the designer that is ;-P Otherwise all is absolutely free if you kindly refrain from including the cost of your threads, beads, tools, time, and effort :-D

'Tis is the season, and though a bit late notifying, here is the up to date G-docs file of my Snowflake as well as Holiday patterns. Some are adaptations from other designs but most are my original.

All my Snowflake, Stars, etc. patterns. I included hexagonal motifs and medallions as well, though technically not snowflakes https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r4OmXX_c5LjFebMN2UbSNiYqXYETLmoridK0X1YIQco/view

And these contain some more Holiday motifs in the shape of wreaths, trees, crosses, bells, and so on -https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q-of3aKPFKlqMnXuEyhupbGHIW18OjH2yZYzlaTJHnQ/view

Of course there are motifs for other holidays and festivals as well, and they are all jumbled up. But at least it is all in there for now. 

All in one place, easy for me to update, easy for you to access. I always put the date of my last update on top right of 1st page. Hope you find something you like and enjoy tatting it, tweaking it, and most of all Sharing it! Show me pics :-)))

Oh, and do please visit the respective blog post before starting any pattern. There are usually many more pics in there and possibly some tips and updates, and often splendid ideas in the comments!

more than a butterfly

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I have finally completed the pattern for Butterfly Bandhan in pdf. But it is so much more than a butterfly as you shall see, scrolling down .... 

Butterfly Bandhan 

jointly designed by  muskaan  &  Harsha Creations

Butterfly Bandhan Pattern pdf - click to download

Pattern is for a single colour, one-pass pattern. Hence there is a bit of mindfulness required, especially for first try. I tried to break the pattern into blocks with respective diagrams, to make it easy to follow. Not too happy with my diagrams (hand-sketched), but will have to do for now. I was going to get it test-tatted, but life got in the way and instead of delaying further, I went on a roll working non-stop since yesterday. 

This is the 2-colour model by Bandini, worked in separate pieces. A much easier option if you don't mind hiding tails, or find the one-pass method confusing. With this method, one can make all 4 rings a different colour!

Above is yet another working alternative. This 2-colour version is worked in one-pass, using 2 shuttles. It uses lots of Lock Join Plus techniques (SLT, reposition/TwW, RJ, etc) to position colour as desired.

This was one of my trials, hence not exact.

If the instructions are followed, threads/shuttles will be in the correct position for next element. However, tatter is free to choose their own method and techniques.

As detailed in this post, the butterfly would have remained cocooned as a potential idea if Bandini of Harsha Creations hadn't taken it upon herself to start with the early trials of converting 4 separate motifs into a proper butterfly! I cannot thank her enough <3

Future Ideas !

So how is this motif more than merely a butterfly? 

Check out how well these motifs work, creating different shapes, depending on where adjacent motifs are joined.

A broad Straight Border or edging if top wings are joined at 2 picots.

A Bookmark when adjacent butterflies are joined at single picot between top wing of one and bottom wing of other.

A Circular Collar or Doily when top wing and bottom wing of adjacent motifs are joined at single picot.

A Square Motif or Coaster when 2 picots of bottom wings are joined. Of course, we need a fourth butterfly to complete the square, but notice the interesting negative design it will create in the center? A few smaller motifs can fill in any spaces for a larger square and fabric.

 

• Adaptation into a Maple Leaf - in the earlier post Linda Reiff saw a possible leaf and this is my first trial adding a motif in the center of the same purple butterfly. (the green is merely playing around with the photo effects ;-D)

Although it all lays flat, I feel the 3 chains are incongruent with the 4-chain 'wings'. I received some valuable feedback from experienced friends, and will try it again with 5 chains.

Meanwhile Bandini tells me she will be finishing her leaf version in a couple of days - eager to see what she does again!

• Adaptation into a Peacock - When viewed from this side, does it not look like it could become a dancing peacock?! Of course, a lot more work is required, including shortening the 'legs'.
• A Tree - And with a tiny bit of adjustment, the antennae could become the trunk of a tree, obviously in the right colours!!!
• Angel Wings! - Grace Tan noticed these.

Butterfly Bandhan Pattern pdf - click to download

I invite you to work the butterfly alone, or to make any of the ideas displayed here. Please don't forget to show me what you've done - I could add your model as part of the pattern instead of working them all myself ;-P

influential intrusion

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It all started when Grace Tan saw the intruding picot and brought out her long-stalled pattern. She thought it could be used in her serpentine pattern and simplify the working instructions. And I was one of the first few she roped in to test tat Endless Hearts Braid with Corner.

Grace adapted her heart patterns into an undulating length of lace - a clever symmetry - and a larger heart for the corners. The frequent directional changes take a bit of getting used to, but soon one can set a rhythm. It still needs some concentration, especially if one resorts to fs/bs tatting as I did, in two colours, trying to keep the blips at the back. I had to draw my own diagram for reference initially.

 

Inward facing  picots - She substituted the Intruding Picot (ip) with Ninetta's Face Inward Picot (FIP), although the ip worked for me (above pics) in the 3rd and 4th corners. FIP was my first time and it was not easy to tease out the leg in perle cotton. I followed instructions for the braid, using FIP in first 2 corners.
Encapsulating Picot Join (EPJ) - I got to try out this new blipless join that can link several elements together at a later time. As the term suggests, it is a picot join that encapsulates or traps another element or picot. More elements can be linked to the same point later as well.

Sometimes I got the EPJ looking almost invisible from the front, at other times a thread bulge was visible. I played with many tweaks, such as up and down loops, etc, but need more study in thicker thread to figure out how best to avoid that thread to make it consistently indistinguishable.
Layered Picot Join - My 'easier' alternate to EPJ -

1. Make a longer picot on the ring such that it can span the chain(s) that it intends to encapsulate.

 

2. Keep this picot at back of work and make a normal picot join through Both picots simultaneously. 

3. This is how it looks from the back. 

Note - these pics were taken when I was working backside. 

 

4. This is how it appears from the front - the join is invisible here.

5. This is how the hook will be inserted through both picots when working frontside.
And a 4th element can be joined to that same picot through the back. I love how clean the chains look - the join is invisible.
Drawback - the rings tend to lie slightly below the chains, but with sufficiently long picot, it can be avoided. Mainly, there is a colour bar at the back (clearly visible in #3).
Turn Chain (tc) - Of course there are several other ways to work this, as outlined in Grace's post. Overall, I limited myself to very few tweaks and substitutions, trying to largely stay true to the pattern. I have used many ways to turn a chain, but stayed with her version of turn chain which was to simply rotate the stitches in such a way as to reposition them, like this Twist Work (TwW).
There are also several applications to this versatile pattern! -

Add a drop crystal and beads for a beautiful V-shaped necklace or collar; or a square collar to sew on!

Without the corners, it is easily a braid, bracelet, bookmark, ring, choker, etc. 

In Anchor Pearl cotton size 8, the braid is 1" broad ; 2 hearts = 1.5" long. The entire frame is 3" on the inner edge and just over 5" at the outer edge.
All in all, a good learning experience with tons of ways to work it.

Romancing With Life - an autobiography by Dev Anand -

This all-hearts pattern seemed a fitting frame for this true karma yogi's life, work, and joie de vivre perspective. Ageless, who died at 88 with his boots on and with more energy and curiosity than his juniors by generations.

Dev Anand needs no introduction to Hindi film buffs and Indians in general (isn't that top left pic just great?! - the 3 great contemporary heroes). But my international friends, can you identify who he is with in the top right pic?! This hardbound book is a feel-good read for the most part, dwelling mostly on his various loves - be it nature, mountains, films/film-making, women, beauty, etc. There are more areas and depth one would have liked to read about, but it is understandable how the entire focus was on romancing.

back to back reading

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Grace tagged me on facebook to share 7 of my favourite books. Really? ONLY 7?! With 5 decades of reading and a personal library of close to a 1000 books, How can I choose just 7 - you can relate to this feeling, right!

But I took this as an opportunity to start a new album and share the books that are in my home. It is taking me through some nostalgic moments. I invite you to share my journey .... No promises, but I’ll try to do one post per week on my book collection.

Under the tag "books I read", you can find my old posts & pics about a few books, most with a tatted bookmark. I'll try not to repeat them, if possible.

Back in the ‘80s, with my very first paycheck, I ended up in a bookstore. This became a monthly habit. My checklist included classics, complete works preferably in hard cover/binding.

The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde was among the very first of such buys.

Oscar Wilde has such a wonderful way of presenting stories laced with humour and satire, whimsy characters, and witty epigrams. But reading his plays back to back revealed that he often repeated them! I penned a few thoughts on back-to-back reading here

I wonder if these plays will impart the same pleasure now - age and experience or time has a way of changing one’s preferences, one’s perspective…

The Picture of Dorian Gray remains one of my favourite novel for the message it imparts.

I’ve read all his short stories, a few of his sonnets, ballad, and De Profundis. The latter revealed a sad and weak side of the sensitive author. He was also born in the wrong era. 

I didn’t get around to reading most of his essays, and a lot of his poems, etc.

Though huge (almost 2 inches thick!) and hard cover, it is surprisingly lightweight! But the print is too small to read comfortably now - this is where e-readers score over print. Nevertheless, it sits proudly and worth every penny.

()()()()

The Complete Sherlock Holmes

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This is a box set of 2 volumes, and I have All 4 novels and all 56 stories, back to back or more literally,  cover to cover!!! (the marks of reading are visible on the spine and covers ;-P) Just could not put it down. I consider this character the best sleuth among all I’ve read, and Doyle’s suspense consistently the best. He generally has very few characters, and spins the mystery around those handful….unlike Agatha Christie who collects oh so many characters in every single story.

I also enjoy the single-minded focus and logic of the story and of the detective work.

One peeve, though, is that the complete picture is not painted and a vital clue is mentioned towards the end, thus preventing the reader from participating. But the story still holds one’s attention to the very end.

I liked the TV series where Jeremy Brett plays Holmes – a bit over the top, but like I said, the stories are so compelling ….

This box set is actually my 2^nd or replacement buy. I had lent my original collection (a leather-bound complete works) to a friend and it never came back!

So what are your thoughts?

needle tips

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When I was tatting back in the mid-80s till about a few years back, my Anchor tatting book & a few other patterns said “tie and oversew” at the end. Despite asking/searching, nobody seemed to know what it really meant. Similar questions are often faced by beginners who start on their own. Which is why I was recently requested to write a post about the tools used to hide ends and the tips I shared privately. When somebody shares, we all learn.

So, at your request, Jean ....

Which needle to use?

I remember Grace Tan telling me about tapestry needles for sewing in ends. These have a long/large eye and a blunt tip which prevents snagging & fraying the tatting thread. They are also called darning needles or long- or large-eyed needles.

This is the Pony tapestry needle set with coloured ends. 

I also slipped in a few larger wool needles for the extra thick threads.

This image shows the comparative size of needle and thread...

from top -

Large eye blunt needle – size 3 or 5 crochet cotton

Size 22 – size 10 Anchor knitting cotton

Size 24 – size 20 Anchor crochet cotton (about as thick as a Lizbeth size 10)

Size 26 – size 40 crochet cotton
Size 28 – size 50 and finer. Here it carries simple sewing thread which is knotted. I use this for stringing small beads.

A needle-threader is essential.

A couple of tips, that work for me, on how to use it effectively.

Hold the threader horizontally through the eye. 

In other words, let the needle stand erect/vertical and the wire loop open when seen from top. Then insert the thread through loop, pull loop and the thread is smoothly pulled through.

I find that holding the threader as in the bottom left, is not always effective, despite what the instructions on the threader show.

Secondly, keep the tail end short while threading. 

By doing so, we can go down a needle size! It may fray a bit at the tip, though, as seen in the collage. But the advantage is that we get a finer needle to sew through the stitches.

Whip stitching

Sewing in the end tails is the most common and secure method of finishing off. The various ways of sewing in the tail pertain to where the needle is inserted in the tatting stitch – weaving under the caps from top (whip stitch) or through the legs. You can find some of the how-tos here. 
Ever since madtatter80 posted her video, I’ve been hooked to whip stitching. It is almost invisible, easy to do, and does not add bulk.

I’ve used my earlier diagram to indicate where to insert needle. 

I prefer weaving the needle under the crests, but one may choose to do it under the troughs. 

For a pdf download of this diagram, click here

Note that I have not drawn the woven tail in the diagram but can be seen in the tatted model and collages below.

Here I have used a different colour to show whip stitch 

and am piercing needle through the crests. 

Weaving progresses from right to left here.

Once the thread is pulled, it almost disappears!

Here the cream thread is hidden under the ring stitches,

woven from left to right under the crests. 

see the complete post (with pdf) here

And of course, one can hide ends without sewing, whichever may be the last element(s)! As I said before, this post is in response to a specific situation and question.

happy tatting always :-)