Colour adds the happy spark
In the midst of all our strife
A silver lining to a cloud dark
There's a rainbow in every life
- muskaan,
April 2016
The Third Day of
December Snowflake
Of all her exquisitely designed snowflakes, this is perhaps
Lene’s Defining Pattern. One glimpse & we can identify the designer!
All along, the central rosette appeared like a rainbow to me.
The spectrum requires many colours, and that is the reason I delayed tatting
this snowflake, waiting till I was feeling very relaxed. Multiple colours for a
multi-layered effect.
Having successfully tatted with 3 strands of embroidery
cotton in Day 6 snowflake, I felt
confident of being able to tackle this one without messing up.
One should frequently rummage through one’s craft supplies.
I had Metallic embroidery thread
(1 skein each of silver & gold)! What luck & what lousy memory !
Using only 2 strands for the centre, it is pretty easy to tat with.
I started with the original stitch count for chains-only round; but after trying out the purple, then a bit of dark blue, it felt like the fluffiness of picots will fall short on both sides of each chain. So, cut off & restarted below
Keeping the overall chain count the same as original, I increased the number of picots
to make it fuller & fluffier. Each chain started with a very small picot
to which Lock Joins were made in later rounds..
Each round was started CTM using 3 strands.
A short length was wound on one shuttle, & the rest remained on the skein.
Image of each chain round is a montage of 2 pics -
the left is taken from above; the right from a much lower angle to show layers.
Had to solicit the help of my DH to confirm my choice of a couple of shades.
He readily helps with such minor tasks.
Finding it difficult to sew in the tails, I cheated.
After making a tight square knot, I simply snipped off the threads at a short distance.
The shortened lengths merged perfectly with all the picots. Phew!
Each round was started with a 'phase-shift'. No 2 rounds started at same place.
This helps to disperse any visible line of beginning or ending.
I use the same policy with crochet, embroidery, etc.
This red is an extra round in order to complete the spectrum.
Wouldn't this make a great Rakhi bracelet, with braids or twines attached ?!
This is how it looks from behind. Thus far, it is less than 2 inches in diameter !
When I started with silver in center, my idea was to use it again for the final round -
the silver lining !
But as you can see it did not do justice to the spectrum. Tried a mix of white & silver,
but finally settled on plain solid white in size 40.
I had deliberately started with the inner ring & chain, so that I could hide tails
in the last floating ring which is a Single Shuttle Split Ring
(Miranda's method of finishing with SSSR to hide ends - love it).
It is the one at 6 o'clock position in above pic.
Factoring in the extra round, I increased the stitchcount of final round by 1 DS
for each segment between picots on both rings & chains between 2 picots. It worked.
The final snowflake measures a tad over 3.5 inches.
Techniques used : CTM, LJ, floating rings, SSSR to hide ends, square knots,
multiple strands of embroidery floss/cotton & metallic thread for tatting.
I am very satisfied & happy with the outcome. Hope you like it too.
It is a spectacular design & fun to tat, especially with the shortcuts I took!
This completes 6 snowflakes for the Craftree Snowflake Tat-Along. I've completed the first round of Day Seven, but am busy with a lot of other activity around the home, hence it is going slowly ...
happy tatting always :-)
Related Posts : Rakhi Bracelet patterns
