Kitty with an Auxiliary Tale

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A blue-eyed Tortoiseshell Kitty !

“Kitty Face”

Designer : L Shelby *

This kitty face was designed & shared by Lavenderbard, here, as a Halloween piece. She shares the pattern on her site, and is in the process of preparing a pdf too.

I got a bit muddled up on my first test trial. Sometimes I focus too little, sometimes too much :-( Or was my long-term Eleonore’s Angels Project messing up my neurons ? Whatever it was, the 1^st trial was left unfinished because of a mistake that needed untatting or snipping, I decided to start afresh. This first attempt, though, did help me get a clearer picture ; and the experience was applied to tat it my way (I always have to challenge myself, why?!). 

Fur colour choice was inspired by Ginny's working of this adorable cat, here , and without realizing, mine turned out to be a  blue-eyed Tortoiseshell cat ! Thanks Grace & Lavenderbard - didn't know it was a "tortie" :-)

Techniques (including those I used) : starting chain with vsp, Split Ring, very small joining picots, Lock Join, CTM, Turn Work (I used Fold/Turn Chain instead), auxiliary thread tatting, Single Shuttle Split Ring, Catherine Wheel Join,.

Thread : Anchor Mercer Crochet Cotton, size 20.

Variegated fur -1218 ; Blue eyes – 0131 ; black ears & nostrils. 

I loaded 2 shuttles, CTM, with variegated thread. Since both shuttles had same thread, I did not have to worry about colour blips, etc.

A study of the pattern showed that the 2 other colours were required in Rings, & each ring was anchored. So, auxiliary threads should work well, I reasoned. Here’s how I did the rings using short lengths of auxiliary thread ...AND  NO  KNOTS !

UPDATE :

I was given to understand that the following is a bit technical.  That made me realise that I hadn't set it down logically or rationally. So let me try to explain .....
When we use auxiliary thread,  ie., a 3rd thread, one of the 3 threads is usually Encapsulated or hidden within, and carried along to the point where it is made visible again; and at that time, one of the other threads/colour may become encapsulated.  Encapsulation requires Unflipped or Reverse Stitches.

What I attempted was simply to add a 3rd thread of desired colour at a given point, tat 'normally' (without encapsulation) , and then continue along with original 2 threads. No need to carry a 3rd colour for any distance, hidden.  Simply bring in where necessary....

Moreover,  I didn’t have to use knots anywhere. Also, the resin why the blue/auxiliary thread was not joined at base of ring right at beginning,  was so I could get the final SSSR loop to become anchored, since the ring is not a 'free' ring - it is joined to the chain picot .

I hope this brings some more clarity ? Thank you so so much for the feedback !

I have not shared stitch counts & other details ... For that please refer to the pattern at L Shelby's site (direct link given above).

**************

For Eyes & Ears  

1. 1^st eye made. One can see the cut blue tail ends. 

I’ve now reached the point where 2^nd eye needs to be made.  

2. Start the ring ‘separately’, hiding the tail within first few stitches; 

and join to the picot on left.

 3. Continue & complete the ring as an SSSR. Close ring. But before pulling the lower loop, pass SH2 through the loop, to anchor/lock the SSSR.

4. Then pull the loop tight, having encapsulated SH2 thread.

5. The ring is now anchored at base (as if it had started right there). Cut the blue tail end (or if you prefer to sew it in …) and continue tatting with the 2 main shuttles.

[ After completing this right eye (Ring C),  I made a CWJ to join to the central nose ring (Ring B). That is the only place it was used.]

Similarly, add black auxiliary thread twice for ears (again SSSRs).

There was one hitch, though. The tip of the ear has a 1ds, picot, 1ds join, which became tricky with the SSSR. So, I had to skip that part & continue, thus making the ears more pointy. But I’m still happy with the result.

For Nostrils 

The lower nostrils are Split Rings, and include a chain in black. Hence, for this, one can cut off SH2 thread before starting with the SR (or leave the SH2 thread dangling, & cut it off right at the end & hide).

Make SR in 2 colours, using black auxiliary thread, continue with chain above, in black (with SH1 core thread), climb down through the right 2-coloured SR, and then continue with black as core thread & beige stitches showing in the chin. Join to starting picot & tie & cut & hide.

L Shelby has done a tremendous job of diagramming & writing out the pattern in detail. Love her quirky kitty-ear-shaped picot notations in the text :-)

One can use this face as a little mask on a stuffed toy/ornament, by blocking over a curved surface ! Finished face measures 2”x 2¼” in size 20

I haven’t blocked the piece – my laziness got to me again :-(

happy tatting :-)

Motif #11/III for 25 Motif Challenge

Padded Tatting Solutions part 2

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Ending with Auxiliary Thread

Continuing from the previous post where I showed one way of adding auxiliary thread to tatting, anywhere, anytime, here is another way of Ending with an auxiliary thread, when the rest of the tatting is done with normal single threads.
I continue with the second bud in the Tiny Heart Poppy flower.

 

10. Continue up with Josephine Chain for desired length (~5cm), 

after leaving a small picot at the base, for attachment to main stem. 

 

11. Unwind Shuttle #1 bobbin

 

12. Position the tip of this Sh1 thread near the Josephine Chain & then 

fold along the middle, thus doubling up the thread. 

Start rewinding bobbin from this doubled-up end. 

 

13. The bobbin can now be loaded back into shuttle#1 to start tatting 

with this double thread acting as an auxiliary thread.

 

14. Josephine Ring started, hiding the tail of auxiliary thread within the hitches.

 

15.  Inner JR (15 hitches) complete. Snip off Shuttle #2 thread, leaving a short tail.

 

16. Using Jane Eborall's alternative technique for making the hitches, 

make Perpendicular Conncentric/Onion Josephine Ring (22 hitches). 

TIP : For this tutorial, I finished it off with Single Shuttle Split Ring method (SSSR or rather SSSJR in this case), so that  no weaving of threads would be required later. Simply snip off the tail ends.

 

Voila, the buds, with stems are ready !

Advantages / Potential

As I wrote out this tutorial, the immense potential & diverse use of this technique started to emerge. What had started as a quick-fix solution, has taken on a whole new identity of it's own.

• Scrap or short lengths of thread can be used up as auxiliary thread for single or few elements.
• One can select the elements that need padding.
• A different colour of auxiliary thread can be added, to create transition, interest or focal point.
• One can add as & when required - great flexibility & varied texture possible.
• Can add more than one auxiliary thread , and in different colours too !!!
• No requirement of a double-bobbin shuttle or for taping together 2 shuttles. Hence easier to tat as well.

An incidental advantage of ending with auxiliary thread as depicted in the above tutorial : The leftover thread in Shuttle #1 is a long continuous strand, instead of 2 short separate pieces.

I hope these techniques /solutions are of help &/or source of inspiration.

Happy Tatting :-)

Padded Tatting Solutions part 1

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Auxiliary thread techniques

used in 3d tatting.

Back-to-back posts elaborating how I added/used auxiliary thread while making the buds in Tiny Heart Poppy. In the absence of context, the explanation there might have been a tad confusing . Additionally, these 2 methods of adding auxiliary thread can have plenty of uses independent of the current 3D application.

It all arose because I needed the buds to be bigger than the flower center. However, increasing the stitchcount of the 2 concentric rings would only make them floppy ! I could think of only a couple of options – 1. padded Josephine Rings or 2. padded tatting . Since I’d already ‘learned’ the 1^st, I decided to try my hand at the 2^nd.

But how to add an auxiliary thread to the core, now that my 2 shuttles were already loaded CTM ?!

The following is how I tackled that dilemma, along with a step-by-step pictorial of how the buds were made.

Starting with Auxiliary Thread in CTM

NOTE : This method can be used to add auxiliary thread Anywhere & Anytime, not merely at the start.

1. Two Shuttles wound CTM

 

2. Auxiliary thread (black tips) being added to Shuttle 1 

 

3. Shuttle #2 with single thread, but Shuttle #1 with two threads

 

4. Inner/first Josephine Ring started with Shuttle #1. 15 hitches.

 

5. Josephine Ring (15) completed

 

6. Perpendicular Concentric/Onion JR started with Shuttle #1. 

Here Jane Eborall's alternative technique is used.

 

7. JR2 has 22 hitches. One Bud completed.

 

 8. Snip off Auxiliary thread, leaving a tail for encapsulation.

 

9. Encapsulate both tails of Auxiliary thread with Josephine Chain. 

Continue the JC stem for about 5-6 cms. (It is much shorter here)

TIP : When making Josephine Chains (Spiral Chains), I have found the using 2 shuttles works much better than a shuttle & ball. JCs cause a lot of twisting even to the ball (working) thread; hence if the working thread is on a 2nd shuttle, it becomes so much easier to suspend & untwist as frequently as one wants.

Part 2 of this tutorial shows one way of how one can end with an auxiliary thread.