multiplier effect of mistakes !

Pin It now!

Doubling the Fun …

Mistakes can double the enjoyment; can double the opportunity. That's the reason you see 4 'snowflakes' instead of the desired 2. There is a common thread running through both ‘mistakes’ which involves a thread size mismatch.

The Snowflake Within

Remember ‘The Flower Within’ series where I tried to highlight the flower within various snowflake patterns ? Well, this time I reversed the trend, trying to bring out the snowflake within – oh what a cold heart this snowflake flower has ;-)

The Twenty-First Day of December Snowflake

Lene Björn

from 24 Snowflakes in Tatting

for 2016 Snowflake Challenge on Craftree

Threads : Anchor embroidery 4615-1335 ; Anchor MCC size 40 (4054) black & white.

Techniques : Josephine Rings (JR), thrown/floating rings, Lock join (LJ), Catherine Wheel join (CWJ), directional tatting, 2 shuttles

Mismatch of threads !

 

I started with 2 strands of the variegated embroidery thread . Only one black JR could fit in the cramped center space! Further, the size 40 white in Round 2 was much stiffer & thicker. Made a few stitch adjustments - decreasing chains by 1ds. Interestingly, black thread is 'normal'.

Yet, I realized that continuing on to Round 3 with 2 strands would’ve definitely cupped the piece. It was looking so pretty, that I went ahead to complete the present round, and stop at Rnd 2. I like the smaller size as well – just over 2 inches.

Measurements : Rnd 1 : ¾” ; Rnd 2 : 2¼”  

 

Started a new one right away, this time with 3 strands of embroidery thread along with the size 40 crochet cottons. Went smoothly & lay flat.

Measurements : Rnd 1 : 1” ; Rnd 2 : 2½” ; Rnd 3 : 3¾” 

TIP : I used 1 CWJ to anchor the trefoils in Rnd 3. This was counted in the chain stitchcount. Experimented with placement, & found that it did not matter whether the join was made before or after the trefoil.

• Perhaps the JRs in last round could’ve used fewer half stitches. They are too close to each other; compounded by variegation it all looks too dense & busy :-( 
• This is a great pattern to showcase fancy variegated threads or expensive HDTs because a lot of the tatting is on chains. 
• One thing that escapes me is why the black JRs seem to fill the inner space. Need to see whether it is a matter of using 2 different threads/colours or just my own tatting goofs.  

The Twenty-Second Day of December Snowflake

Lene Björn

I’ll start with the correct version (left one in pic), and then recount my mistake, which of course occurred prior to this & was shelved for over a month.

Threads : Anchor Mercer size 40 (4054) – black, tinted pink – 1203, & green - 00229

Techniques : Josephine Chain (JCh), thrown/floating rings, Lock join (LJ), Catherine Wheel join (CWJ), 2 shuttles

 

• A Lock Join causes a slight dip in the chains & this would’ve given a more petal-like effect in round 2, but with the black core thread blip showing. In order to avoid this colour blip, I chose to do a CWJ. 
• Again, as in previous snowflake, it made no difference whether CWJ was made before or after the thrown ring. CWJ was counted as 1ds here.
• I couldn’t get the star-like points that Lene has in her tatted model. Probably had to do with smaller size of green thread. 

Measurements : Rnd 1 : ~2⅜” ; Rnd 2 : ~3¼”  

• For the Josephine Chains, I went for a mirror effect, using all 1^st half stitches on one side, a very small picot, & all 2^nd half stitches on other. (In the correct version I did the opposite - shs on the way up & fhs on way down).
• The pattern doesn’t call for a vsp since the thrown rings are on the Josephine chains of round 1. Since I wanted to play with colours, the ring was thrown to 2^nd round & a vsp was needed in round 1 for joining.
• This is a pretty straightforward pattern. However, to keep tabs on the half stitches, I drew tally marks for every 10 half stitches, while dropping & 'posting' the shuttle after every 5 !

Now for the "forced adaptation" due to mistake in first attempt ....

The Heart Within

Day 22 adaptation

Doubled Up !!!

So here’s what happened … I got confused about the stitch count for the Josephine chains & got no answer when I asked on Craftree. Was the number meant for each side of the chain or for the complete chain ?! I went with the former, resulting in Double the chain lengths !!!

This pic shows the correct version on top. Inset, to the left, is round 2 which required doubling of the stitches too.

But doubling also brought an opportunity to try something different.

I played around with the long Josephines (they actually looked like a large flower - it is over 4" wide across)! Folded them over, and I saw Hearts being formed !!! 

The collage showcases the process I went through - very very fiddly, since this was an afterthought. If one has to make it again, one can add picots for joining & securing as one tats. In the collage below, I used sewing thread to join temporarily, snipping it off in the end.

In this case, though, a mismatch in thread sizes actually came to the rescue ! It is probably the first time I’ve tatted with different thread sizes in a regular pattern. The larger size 20 for round 2 helped me keep the same stitchcount that was used for size 40, but it spanned the distance & avoided the cupping issue. Easier to change thread size than to rework stitch count.

Threads : Anchor Mercer size 40 (4054) – black & tinted pink – 1203 for round 1

Size 20 vintage maroon (022) & black for round 2. The new black thread is much thicker than the vintage thread.

Techniques : Josephine Chain (JCh), thrown/floating rings, Lock join (LJ), an adaptation of Join on Smooth Side (JSS), shoe lace trick (SLT), very small picot (vsp), split ring (SR), reverse join (RJ), 2 shuttles

Measurements : Rnd 1 : >4” before folding ; 2½” after folding . Rnd 2 : 3¾”  

Pattern for Round 2 of adaptation :

Shuttle (SH) 1 – black ; Shuttle 2 – maroon

abbreviations listed in Techniques above ; fhs - 1st half stitch ; shs - 2nd half stitch.

Join to a folded arm of chain from the previous round . (refer to enlarged pic above)

With SH1

Ch : 6, 4shs, vsp, 4fhs, 6. JSS to next arm BUT instead of completing the JSS with a shs, make a SLT in order to switch shuttles.

With SH2

SR : 8/7 .

R : 8-8 .

SR : 8/7 . RJ to next arm thus switching shuttles.

Repeat from chain all around.

NOTE : If only 1 colour is used, simple LJ can be made instead of JSS & RJ. The latter were used only to regulate the colour blip.

Okay, I’m off now … apologies for boring you out of your wits … but you know I’ll never learn ;-p

happy tatting

&

happy Tat Days to all who are attending

Of long chains & large rings

Pin It now!

I keep telling myself that I will Not be distracted. Huh, as if that resolution lasts for long!

Yesterday I got this cute angel pattern in my mailbox & recently some experimentation on Mock rings held my curiosity. Of course I had to jump in ! You know the feeling, right ?!

Angel with Paisley Wings 

by Sheila Heneise    

On May 16^th, Georgia Seitz is revisiting this cute angel pattern as she some story to tell !

I took the opportunity to tat this minimalist, but happy angel.

This time I went with single shuttle & ball thread, in Anchor size 40 white.

Techniques I used : direct tatting, directional tatting, decorative picots, Join to Smooth Side (JSS), inward picot (held by pin), long picots, very small picots, turn work.

Size : approx. 1¾” x 1 ¼“

Instead of reversing work each time as instructed, I used direct tatting (reverse stitch) for many of the segments. It is a fairly quick & fun tat, but I could’ve done better with the chain shapes.

One can make the wings using Martha Ess' Folded Rings.

TIP : Switching from normal tatting to direct tatting (and vice versa) can create a distinctive pointed chain/tip at the turn. 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO 

Large Ring Options

Each of the 4 large rings in the motif has been worked differently using the stitch-count given by Eliz. (links to respective posts & tips in the discussion below).

RING 1 : Normal Ring

Working large rings has become very comfortable ever since I came across Patty Dowden’s technique. I have my own version of it – looping the thread round the entire hand (all fingers) gives me lots of room & slack, without having to wind extra thread.

Conditions : stitches should not be tensioned too tightly ; 6-ply tightly twisted thread works best

RING 2 : Mock Ring with inward picot

Jane McLellan’s experiment with normal ring, self-closing mock ring (SCMR), & mock ring, led her to choose the latter for the large rings’ motif she was tatting. She used an inward picot (picot on the core thread), held in place by a pin/clip, at the start of a long chain which was then joined back to the picot to simulate a ring. She also used a SLT/overhand tie to change direction of chain for the ring. Instead of SLT, I switched shuttles.

TIP : SCMR is a ‘fancy’ Mock Ring (MR). The only difference is that the inward picot loop is drawn out & held on a finger, allowing the whole shuttle to pass through at the time of linking & closing. In MR, we make a normal picot join.

RING 3 : Mock Ring with scroll/overlapping effect

This was followed by Eliz Davis' mock ring where instead of an inward picot, she used a normal picot, tatted the long chain, curved it back into ring shape & linked it to the picot below as in stacked rings. She also shared the stitch-count which I used.

This was an interesting ‘twist’ not only in terms of visual effect, but also in terms of working it. In Jane’s MR, we continue to tat the chain & join to previous elements in clockwise direction, since the SLT or the switch shuttle made the directional change right at the beginning.

In Eliz’s MR, the chain is continued as normal, hence it is looped back in counterclockwise direction & joined to previous element accordingly !

TIP : Visually this is very similar to a Running Scroll in Elgiva Nicholl’s book . And one can choose the direction of overlap. The overlap in my trial is opposite to that of Eliz’s. Also, instead of a picot, one can use an under-over or alligator join.

UPDATE : Mock Ring pictorials and options in series of posts starting with .... https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2018/05/mock-rings-1-under-and-over-join.html  

RING 4 : Folded Chain Mock Ring

I’ve used the folded chain many times, eg. in the Super 17 Butterfly. Would it simulate a ring ? At the point where ring has to start, make a very small picot and 2 SHS (2^nd half stitches). The chain folds immediately, leaving the picot protruding outward for joining at the end. I counted the 2SHS as 1DS (but it is optional). Continue with chain & join back at base to the picot.

I could’ve made the picot even smaller.

Factors that may determine choice :

• Thread colours & desired position in pattern
• Individual ease & comfort with particular method
• Whether working with single shuttle & ball or with 2 shuttles (The above motif can be tatted with a single shuttle & ball, irrespective of the method !)
• Thread characteristics
• Desired visual effect

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO  

Update

In the previous post, Set 1 of Common Threads has been renamed ‘Overhand Tie’ (instead of overhand knot) after a discussion on Craftree. Two ties in succession create a knot. A knot conjures up the image of something that has been tightened, whereas a tie is like a ‘half-knot’ with slack that can be loosened easily if required.

Related Posts : butterfly patterns

Common Threads