dizzying no more

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.... thanks to Ninetta who always delivers with her engineering brain! I was trying out Mark Myer's (Tatman) Dizzy Double Stitch and simply could not get the 1st half-stitch right. Sought Ninetta's help and she surprised me with a video showing the process! I based my pictorial on this video. 

'Tatman' Mark Myer's DIZZY  DOUBLE  STITCH

Tatman Mark Myer's diagrams (July 2009) - https://web.archive.org/web/20090703064724/http://tatmantats.wordpress.com:80/dizzy-double-stitch-instructions/ 

Ninetta Caruso's video (Feb 2025) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U2SwGQGFf-zbn24ANMIxNmotW8l7-uIe/view

Muskaan's pictorial PDF (Feb 2025) -https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WymeZxilPxO159R2kz0mX19O-3LUBTjz/view

This stitch can be considered a form of padding the stitch where only the knotting thread has extra bulk or padding while the core thread remains unaffected. See Padded Double Stitch - http://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2014/05/tatting-experimenting-with-stitch.html
The extra twist in the thread creates a nice texture and height and tries to recreate a crochet stitch. We now know of another tatting stitch that mimics crochet - the Treble Tatting Stitch!

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Above is my first trial while following Ninetta's video. Notice the extremely thick cord I used, LOL!

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While I am sharing all pics for the pictorial here, for more details, please refer to the links given above.

 

1. Working in two colours, blue in shuttle and yellow ball. I started by making a small ring followed by a chain with a few double stitches (DS) and 3 dizzy DS. Here’s how the latter is done …
2. 1st half-stitch: Make a loop with the ball thread keeping it behind the shuttle thread. Hold the base of the loop in a pinch along with the shuttle thread (black arrow).The loop is held taut around your other finger- middle or index finger, whichever you use (red arrow).

TIP: It is very important to know where to insert the shuttle and which thread to pull while snugging.

 

3. Bring the shuttle above the loop and
4. pass it through the loop from back to front, from the lower/right part that lies behind your finger ...

 

5. and pass the shuttle from behind the core thread (between loop and shuttle thread).
6. Transfer/flip and remove all slack by pulling on the upper/left part of the loop. Notice there is a twist in the half-stitch.

 

7. 1st half-stitch of the dizzy DS is made and neatly snugged.
TIP: For the twist to show, keep the stitch a bit loose. Pulling on the ball thread too much will hide the ‘weaving’ effect. 
8. 2nd half-stitch: Start a loop just like for the 1st half-stitch and hold in pinch. Refer #2.

 

9. Bring the shuttle up keeping the thread in front and
10. pass it through the loop from front to back at the lower/right part of loop and above the core thread between the space between loop and shuttle thread.

 

11. Transfer or flip the stitch and remove all slack. Again, keep the stitch a bit loose for the twist to show. 
12. 2nd half-stitch made and neatly snugged.
One Dizzy Double Stitch made. Repeat the steps for as many stitches as needed.

A chain with dizzy DS. Notice how the stitch gets better when I kept the knotting/ball thread 'loose'.

A dizzy DS chain joined back for a mock ring.

TIPS / NOTES:

Tatted by Anita Barry (comparing tightly snugged and loose stitches)

• The samples above clearly show the reason why we need to keep the dizzy DS a bit loose.
• Ninetta 'cracked' it because Mark pointed out the similarity with working the 2nd side of a split ring. Perhaps this can be kept in mind.
• It is a good idea to leave a small picot before the first stitch and after the last stitch to compensate for the extra height (Ninetta).
• Picots can be made in the normal way by leaving space in the ball thread.
• For a straight chain, use a thicker core thread. 

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Initially I thought we couldn't use the stitch in a ring. However, when Ninetta said we can, I gave it a try and it worked! However, it turns out that I approached it a bit differently, reminiscent of a Loop Tatted Ring! Meanwhile Ninetta made another video for a ring, following Mark’s instructions. 

Ninetta's video for Dizzy Double Stitch in a Ring - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WhDgd9w1U7PZ9buVq_c8r8FA0-VIU5gn/view

So here's my slight variation .... 

I started a ring with 1DS. And above is how I worked the dizzy DS, just like in the chain. I divided the ring loop into two and held the base of loop and shuttle thread in a pinch. On the lower/right part of the top loop, I followed the steps for each half-stitch as shown in the chain pictorial. 

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Jane Eborall (2009) used the 2nd half-stitch to make textured Josephine Rings that are denser. Josephine Ring (alternative way) – http://janeeborall.freeservers.com/TipsAssorted.html

I had used this in the buds for my Poppy pattern back in 2014 -https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2014/09/tatting-pattern-tiny-heart-poppy-part-2.html

Karen Cabrera (2010/11) shows a slightly different method of working the stitches which can be considered a variation of the original. Lesson 37 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUtHpsIIknE
Ninetta Caruso (2025) compares Mark’s and Karen’s stitch in this video - 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UGlvqk4mPiWz9BEQ4AoKVnkxhQw72Blt/view

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Download PDF - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WymeZxilPxO159R2kz0mX19O-3LUBTjz/view

I hope you like this revisit to a 'forgotten' stitch and will use it to decorate some of your future tatted lace. It's a fun and quick tat once you get a hang of it! You can find tutorial links for all terms mentioned here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/p/tatting-resources.html

Many many many thanks to all mentioned above!

refresher samplers

Pin It now! Another quick post with refresher samples. It feels good to refresh one's memory and skills.

There was a time long back when I found it difficult to do a SCMR (self-closing mock ring), let alone Interlocking SCMRs! Hence my trials and study focused on interlocking with normal rings but with shuttle instead of needle - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2014/05/interlocking-rings-using-shuttle.html

Over time I have come to adopt the SCMR as a convenient and often useful 'technique' and effect. And the above sampler is tatted following the pictorials by Sue (His Kid) and Umi & Tsuru. Sue's instructions are clearer while the latter's images are sharper. Hence my model utilizes both instructions.

The bare thread between rings should be long. If you look closely, a couple of segments don't lay flat because i used a relatively shorter BTS.  

There are a number of other ways to make 'flat' IRs - scroll down for all the links here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/p/tatting-resources.html

Jane Eborall left a comment and link in my previous post about an Alternate Way to make Josephine Rings. I had tried them back in 2014 and used them to create 3D buds (above) for the Tiny Heart Poppy - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2014/09/tatting-pattern-tiny-heart-poppy-part-2.html

However, it was time for a refresher! And this is what I made last night - 

This time I made the half-stitches in such a way as to leave 'picots' . They create a lovey twist! And they are more stable than Interlocking Picots and can be used for joining with care. However tatting them required a bit of calisthenics and keeping all the loose half-stitches under one's pinch meant the size of the ring was limited. This is not an issue if we remove all slack and snug the stitches without 'picots'.

UPDATE: Is this similar to Mark Myers' Dizzy Double Stitch (DDS)? It certainly appears so. He seems to use the same movement for the half-stitches but makes normal (double stitch) rings instead of Josephine rings. 

And today is International Lace Day. In the morning I wound my shuttle with Lizbeth (s0ze 30), sought out the brown ball (Anchor) and will tat the E14 autumn tree again. The one in the pic has mistakes as I had pointed out here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2023/06/impressions.html

Kind of refreshing the model, huh?!

With the reworked tree I would've finished the tatting part of the #colourmeEndrucks project.

Wishing everybody a very creative and happy ILD!

and many thanks to Sue, Jane, and Wendy for their wonderful tutorials!

slippery paths

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a TWoT analysis of climbing out in tatting

Mark ‘tatman’ Myers’ Luster Snowflake

Studying Pathways and Process – a stepwise pictorial

Luster snowflake by Mark Myer is an excellent study in tatting continuously without cutting the thread, using techniques such as split rings (SR) and self closing mock rings (SCMR) to climb out. The pattern also provides plenty of SCMR practice.

We’ve all been there – we can do the split rings and SCMRs, yet the orientation and which shuttle goes where can get confusing during early stages of learning. Which is what happened with Amritha from the online class. She is aggressively learning many tatting techniques and often emails me for help. I can usually answer her questions using various means, but this particular one needed a holistic approach. It required more stepwise visuals, despite the accompanying diagram and notations therein. And I discovered 2 pathways in the process!

With Mark Myer’s kind permission and lovely email, I am sharing the path/sequence of elements in the snowflake, through the use of 2 different colours, in the hope that others facing similar situations may also find some resolution. 

This exercise will be beneficial in future 2-colour tatting to understand placement of colours, direction of tatting, shuttle choice, and directional (frontside/backside) tatting - to make choices and understand effects.

This project was started & completed in May when his Tatterville site was still operational. Since then, most of his patterns have been shifted to facebook. 
This pattern can be downloaded from Photos → Tatting Patterns album.

Click to download Pictorial pdf of Luster Snowflake Process

The stepwise pics and explanation are in the pdf along with notes, tutorial links, table and tips such as when to switch shuttles, etc. 

When you climb out with a split ring and the very next element is a chain, how do you work this ? Do you reverse work and tat the chain from the back side (path 2) or do you simply switch shuttles and continue from the front side (path 1) ?

My own feeling is that the former is almost a natural subconscious movement and often unwritten/unspecified in written patterns & diagrams. The switch shuttles is a more ‘modern’ phenomenon. And I guess tatman used the Reverse Work path - it all fits in.

I faced a somewhat similar directional dilemma in this heart pattern where the diagram & instructions went a certain way & my tatting the other.

Your choice determines the overall direction of working the round, the shuttle required for elements such as thrown rings & SCMRs, and also the colour of chains, thrown rings, mock rings in two-colour tatting. 

This is one of the TWoT (This Way or Tat?) rules that is yet to be shared through diagrams.

Let's examine it partially through the snowflake ....

In both models, shuttle 1 has copper thread and shuttle 2 has green. The center is worked exactly the same. Only after the climbing into outer round with split ring, do we need to take a decision on how to proceed.

TWoT Rule for climbing out with a split ring : 

Path 1 involves choosing the nearest shuttle . Thus tatting progresses from the front, in a clockwise direction. 

Path 2 involves reversing work (RW) as we would do if it were a regular ring-chain pattern. Here, tatting progresses counterclockwise when seen from the front. (The same consequences are seen if we Turn Work here)

Compare also the colour changes that occur in the outer round because of these choices - in the chains, the rings and the thrown clover!

And obviously the working shuttle changes.

So how do we decide which shuttle produces what effect in some of the common techniques used ? Especially in 2-colour tatting. The following table works as a quick reference. 

Red thread in shuttle 1 & blue thread in shuttle 2. 

The table shows the colour of stitches and the lower row shows core thread colour (which is the same as the working shuttle, except in case of split rings).

And these coloured arrows depict the core thread colour in the luster snowflake (path 1) model ... where red is shuttle 1 (copper thread) & green is shuttle 2 (green thread)

This post has probably become more technical than I'd intended, so if you managed to read through, you are my hero :-)))

I thoroughly enjoyed tatting the 3 models, although I do prefer working in size 40 (white). And I hope some confusion will be laid to rest through the pictorial in pdf.

This is my first tatman pattern, but definitely not the last.

Many many thanks to Mark ‘tatman’ Myers

for his gracious permission and generosity

Related Posts :
How to avoid gapsosis in ring clusters (Luster snowflake used for pictorial)  

Part 3 snaking it's way through

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...... continued from Part 2

Starting the last leg of our picot tat-along, with a treat.

Method 3 picots of Mituko Ikuta (from her book "Shuttle Lace - Tatting & Bead Tatting 3", is the effect that, to me, distinguishes it from all others. I haven’t come across this intertwined overlap so far. The picots are not just layered and overlapping, but also snake in & out through each other. This effect is more visible when the picots are spaced apart. (Please read discussion at end)

We have made them on a chain in Part 1 - Sections III & IV. 

We will now try that effect on rings.

We start and work exactly like the layered picots in Part 2. However, there is one extra step involved : POSTING THE SHUTTLE THROUGH THE RING. Hence TWO shuttles become necessary here. That’s all there is to it.

OVERLAPPING PICOTS ON RINGS

(inspired by Mituko Ikuta)

PART 3 of tat-along exercise

To refresh memory, the pic below shows how to wrap & position the threads. (it is fine to drop the ring loop while working on the chain, & pick the loop again) .

In my first pictorial pdf I have used the terms ring segment for the blue stitches since these are made on the ring loop; and chain segment for the yellow stitches since these are made on the chain thread.

And this combo pic below shows the parts that the text will refer to …

VI. Over-Under Overlapping Picots on a Ring

Each overlapping picot on the ring interweaves with adjoining picot. It lies over the previous picot but under the next picot.

Load 2 shuttles and Start ring for each section with blue thread (SH1) and make 3DS.

Make 3DS on the ring loop with the blue SH1. 

Post SH2 back to front : Pass yellow SH2 through the ring loop from back to front , but …

... keep yellow thread Between ring loop and blue SH1 thread.

Thus we have SH1 thread in front, followed behind by SH2 thread, and the ring loop right at the back.

Leave picot space and tat yellow chain of 3DS (with SH1 as core thread). (notice that the ring loop is not active in this step & remains at the back)

Let yellow SH2 remain to the left.  Leave picot space and tat 3DS (blue) on ring loop. 

Post yellow SH2 back to front again, as in Pic 29 ; leave picot space & tat 3DS yellow chain.

Continue to make alternating segments for required pattern, posting shuttle back to front before each chain segment, and close ring.

Yes, that's all there is to it !

The Treat !

Are you confident ? Then here's a treat. Try out Ninetta’s Butterfly pattern which uses over-under overlap.

I tatted this in embroidery thread - 3 strands 0325 and size 40 Anchor 0185. 

It measures less than 1 inch

Please refer to Decorative Alternatives in this pictorial for hiding tails when starting and ending (Sec III) ; continuing with the next ring (pics 21-22 on p4) ; and for the faux picot (Sec IV). These are on pages 5-7.  

Now that we know that the chain shuttle (SH2) needs to be posted, I encourage you to try the alternate effect of under-over picots without reading Section VII. Only remember to do the opposite : post the shuttle from front to back, in order to get under-over overlapping picots. 

VII. Under-Over Overlapping Picots on a Ring

Each overlapping picot on the ring interweaves with adjoining picot. It lies under the previous picot but over the next picot. 

(This was covered in Sec I of pictorial pdf )

Start ring with blue SH1 and make 3DS (blue). Then leave picot space & make 3DS yellow chain with SH2 using SH1 as core thread . At present both shuttle threads are in front of the ring loop.

Post SH2 from front to back through the ring loop.

Notice the position of threads – blue SH1 thread is in front, the ring loop is in the middle & SH2 thread is behind.

Compare with pic 30.

Leave picot space & tat 3DS (blue) on ring loop.

Leave picot space & tat 3DS (yellow) on SH1 core.

Remember what to do next ?

Post SH2 from front to back as in pic 36/37. In above pic, the shuttle has been posted & threads re-positioned. SH1 is all set to tat 3DS in ring loop...

Continue to make alternating coloured segments for required patterns, posting shuttle front to back before each chain segment, and close ring.

This completes the tutorial. But so much fun can be had by trying out 

variations of the picots  ...

different picot sizes ;

spaced by a single double stitch or more ;

in single or different colours ;

with addition of beads ;

interspersed with normal picots - within or between ; etc.

These picots, besides being decorative, also provide two (or more) joining points if required in next round, with slight Celtic effect !

DISCUSSION

sources of confusion

the name

The name Ikuta’s Picots has confused many, and also been challenged.

Method 1 is what we commonly know as Double Picots ;

Method 2 is a variation of the Double Picot where the very long Double Picots are joined to adjacent rings, creating a criss-crossing Celtic effect ;

Method 3 is a variation of the pearl tatting picots described by Mlle Riego’s, where instead of simple layered overlapping (as in Riego’s Raised Tatting Book, and covered in Part 2 of tat-along), there is also an interweaving between adjacent picots.

The reason why Georgia Seitz chose this name, in her own words : 

“I used the name Ikuta out of respect from Mrs. Mituko Ikuta from whose book I learned the method and it was to honor her memory that I taught the class in Spokane . Ok so no disrespect to anyone, this was just my way of indicating the type of picot.”

She has now decided to discontinue the name, and hence in this post I have used only Overlapping Picots. The term gives some idea of the effect created. I will be updating previous posts, too. But changing the notations on the pics will require a major overhaul, so I will have to let that be.

the Daisy Picot

Another source of confusion was the Daisy Picot . Now that you have successfully completed the exercise, what do you think ? Is it similar to or the same as the Daisy Picot ? 

Section II of the Pictorial pdf also shows how to use direct tatting for the chain segments in ring.

Here's a collage showing the main steps of making a Daisy Picot, and a couple of variations.
For easy comparison, the thread/shuttles remain the same – SH1 is blue thread, SH2 has yellow thread.

and to add some more confusion .....

the Dizzy Picot

Now consider Mark Myers’ Dizzy Picot. And Sherry Pence’s variation of the Dizzy Picot.

How similar or different is it from the overlapping picots discussed in this Part 3 ? The effect, the construction ?

This is your homework :-)

I have a few more interesting picot effects to share (some already shared on Craftree), but that will have to wait. I’m kind of tired with all these picots snaking in & out of my blog, aren’t you ?

So it’s tata to the current tat-along 

Happy tatting with a :-)

Related Posts : Tat-along Part 1, and Part 2 

Pictorial of Picots pdf 

outlining the picotorial pdf 

Method 2 collage