The Sixth Day of
December Snowflake
Lene Björn
I chickened
out. Or was it jinxed ?! Whatever, but I had to keep aside my first working
despite a few pick-ups & retrotatting. Firstly, I used a Split Chain to climb out
to the 2nd round, which was fine, except that I climbed out at the
wrong picot Both Times especially since directional tatting just complicated the working. Moreover, due to the colour placement I wanted, I had to use SLTs
for the floating ring. Ugh – look at that unseemly pointed disfigured chain
twisting every which way! Abandoned it with abandonment & started afresh. Round 1 wasn't any great shakes either.
But no
trial goes unlearned! My observations from the abandoned piece :
1. the Reverse
Join worked great to switch shuttles for chains ;
2. the
yellow thread (an old ball) is closer to size 50, hence I used 2 strands of
variegated, which was probably a mistake;
3. the solid
yellow was too plain to highlight the variegated – needed a pick-me-up colour!
So I
chickened out of trying the same colour placement again. With renewed
enthusiasm, after a couple of weeks’ break, I changed the colour scheme a bit.
Abbreviation :
RS –
reverse stitch (unflipped)
LJ – lock
join
SH –
shuttle
TW – turn
work
RODS –
reverse order double stitch
fs/bs
tatting – frontside/backside or directional tatting
rnd – round
SS – switch
shuttle
DS – double
stitch
Threads
used : AMC size 50
Yellow – 0302, Black for Rnd 1; Anchor embroidery cotton – 1305 3 strands .
Measurements : Rnd 1 – 1½” ; Final - 3¼”
Techniques I used : 2 shuttles, direct tatting (RS),
LJ, LJ with SH2.
Below, I have described two ways to tat Round 2 :
1. Turn Work to make the middle chain (and can use RODS in case of directional tatting) with picot at turn to attach next floating ring ; for fs/bs tatting
2. All frontside tatting using direct tatting ie. reverse stitch chains & LJs with either shuttle.
TIP : Make LJs with whichever shuttle is closer to picot. In Direct tatting, LJ is made with SH2 (Refer I.3.c)
Here is how Round 2 can be tatted : (Refer
to WIP pic)
Start with floating ring with SH2
Chain with
SH1 & LJ to rnd 1
(TW, RODS
chain with SH1) or (SS, RS chain with SH2) & LJ to floating ring
(TW, chain
with SH1) or (SS, chain with SH1) & LJ to rnd 1
Here, I
count the LJ as 1st half stitch (as discovered while tatting the Mystery Doily) but it is up to the tatter.
Chain with
SH1, picot.
(TW, RODS
chain with SH1) or (SS, RS chain with SH2) & LJ with SH2 to rnd 1.
Chain with
SH1 , floating ring with SH2, continue repeats as above.
The
underlined option is the one I followed, never having to tat from the back
side. All tatting was done in clockwise direction from the front.
However, if
one is not comfortable with direct tatting (reverse/unflipped stitch), then one
can turn work & continue chain (either as RODS in case of fs/bs tatting, or
as normal DS).
I am always
amazed at how many options one has !
Can you see
the mistake I made while joining one of the chains (in 3 o'clock position in above pic)? Noticed only after the pics
were taken - too late. It has been joined using the wrong shuttle.
Overall, I think it turned out pretty okay, considering the initial tribulations.
And I Loved working with the embroidery thread - so smooth ! Although the silken sheen is not apparent in the pics.
I had an idea to snip & fray the picots, but again chickened out. May be some other time when I'm feeling more cocksure :-D
This completes 5 snowflakes for the Craftree Snowflake Tat-along. I'm now tatting Day 3 to get the first 6 done. Still have to catch up with two, but am not in any stress. Enjoying the journey.
happy tatting :-)
Related Posts : Lock Join with shuttle 2
