crown and sceptre

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I do love meandering designs! It takes some exciting moments trying to figure out the sequence, the best pathway; and then adding an additional level with directional tatting and colours. How could I not be enticed with this square that Natalia Haiduk (Наталия Гайдук) shared ?!

This time, I decided to go with single colour so as not to mess up a 2-colour placement with all that meandering going on! It is a needle-tatted pattern demonstrated in this video, and called Summer motif.

I quickly made a sketch and notated the counts. And then, as I worked, I wrote down more instructions regarding switching shuttles, reversing work, and so on. I haven’t asked for her permission to share the instructions, though. Would you be interested in the shuttle notation?

One has to tread carefully as there are rings that are left dangling for a while before being attached to a later element. I had to keep referring back to my diagram.

Love the mock ring - gives a much better shape to that crown-shaped motif. There is a slight overlapping of those large rings in the crown.

Doesn’t this square have a Victorian feel to it? Like an insignia with crowns and sceptres?! In fact the sceptre motif could so easily be an anchor!

Techniques I used: 2 shuttles - ctm, directional (fs/bs) tatting, thrown/floating ring, mock ring (with lock join to same picot), picot join to the right, lock join, common picot. 
Worked clockwise starting at one of the inner rings. 

Dimensions: In Anchor Pearl Cotton (size 8, 00134), 2½" sides and <3½" diagonally. 

There is only 1 mistake I made – the corner thrown rings are 5-5 instead of 6-6.
I also believe one can reduce a couple of stitches on the long chains leading up, or snug them even tighter. Notice how the first ones tend to curve.

I would Love to tat it again some day, perhaps in 2 colours or may be in single again, but with the little tweaks in my next.

Natalia has more patterns on her youtube channel here.

Many many thanks, Natalia, for sharing your lovely patterns