smiling together

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Ninetta recently surprised me with a thoughtful and gorgeous gift on my birthday. She sent me the pattern for her cute little flowers which she named after my moniker Muskaan which means Smile! What an honour! This sweet Hiding Lady knows how to impress and she shared the Smiling Flowers (rose) pattern here -- https://ninettacaruso.blogspot.com/2024/07/smiling-flowers.html 

This is my adapted application into a rakhi/bracelet choosing to represent our tricolour (tiranga) Indian flag. This month we celebrate our Independence Day and Raksha Bandhan just days apart.

Saffron Marigold impression - Marigolds are considered pure and auspicious flowers and you will find them during any Hindu festival or ceremony.

It largely follows Ninetta's instructions except for the petals on the 2nd row where I used graduated treble tatting with 4 wraps. 

(For graduated tds, refer - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2018/07/multiples.html)

 

White Lotus impression - Lotus is our national flower and also symbolizes purity and peace. 

Although not very clear in the pics, the 2nd round petals have distinctly graduated tds with a pointed tip. Instead of 5tds, there are 7 tds with 1tds(1,3), 1tds(1,4), 1tds(1,5), 1tds(2,6), and ditto on the other side with 5, 4, 3 wraps.   

(For notations, refer - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2020/05/double-trouble-motif.html)

Blue Center - Clear blue bicone faceted crystals at the center for the Ashok Chakra in the center of our flag. I didn't have any blue bead larger than this.

Tempted to tat one more round of petals for the marigold but I desisted for two reasons - one, I ran out of thread; two, how can a marigold be larger than a lotus, LOL.

( Find treble tatting tutorial/video links here - https://ninettacaruso.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_95.html and on my Tatting Resources page.)

Green Leaves - The third colour of our tricolour is green which symbolizes prosperity, vitality.

Ninetta used the tds rings as calyx for her flowers. I used it to make leaves with more tds and some graduation.

Tatted continuously with a single shuttle, the leaf clusters are connected with a ring braid with pulled loop joins (leave bare thread at the back of the ring and make a lock join to the picot). This will act like a frame to secure the flowers.

Assembled together and attached to a doubled string of beads (12 on one side, 14 on the other for that 'gap'). All sewn in.

The beads are actually silver - like silver lining clouds against a blue sky.

So this is my Rakhi/Bracelet 2024 from Ninetta's beautiful pattern! Over the years, I have often used the tricolour to celebrate August 15th (including Har Ghar Tiranga with the 75 year old coin), and have also shared some of my tatted rakhis. 

And making short work, I am submitting this for Natalie Rogers' PICOT Bingo game, crossing off three boxes --- Treble Tatting Stitch , Add Beads , and Tat a Bracelet! 

Oh, and I used Anchor Pearl Cotton, size 8, throughout. 

I find the treble tatting stitch quite addictive! I honestly didn't want to stop tatting. If it weren't for the thread and time running out, I would've continued!

In my haste, though I forgot to add a clasp to the beaded ends!

Small 3D flowers always remind me of Carollyn Brown who had made it her personal goal to tat one floral sprig every month for a year! She always managed to amaze me. You can find her blog here - https://tennbrown.blogspot.com/2020/11/

And adding to the all-encompassing nature of this post, this rakhi/bracelet in flag colours is my August submission to splocik's Small Decorations game. Please do head over to the July gallery to check out the talented and diverse submissions compiled there - https://splocik2.blogspot.com/2024/08/male-dekoracje-2024-galeria-lipcowa.html

Thank you my dear partner in crime, Ninetta, for the honour and friendship you bestowed on me. It is precious! Keep smiling, always :-))) 

barely in time

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This pattern was long since completed and waiting to be blogged on the 14th of Jan when we celebrate the entry of the sun in Capricorn. generically called Uttarayan (movement towards the northern hemisphere), a harbinger of spring and summer. A pan-Indian festival with numerous regional names and slightly different ways of celebrating. 

unblocked motif

It also indicates the beginning of the harvest season. Diversity apart, sesame or til and jaggery or gur are the two common ingredients throughout, though the resulting sweet is prepared differently in different regions, but distributed around. It is only in Punjab, where a bonfire is lit to celebrate 'lohri', that corn, too, is popped and distributed. This is why I was waiting to share the pattern. This year both 14th and 15th were celebrated, hence I'm really not that late, LOL.

pinned picots

You might remember the range of design possibilities of one motif from Endrucks' pattern #15 shared here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-power-of-15.html

uncut picots

This time it is another doodle called E15 Ear of Maize, which with minimal changes can become a lavender sprig, any other inflorescence, wheat or other cereal spikelet, or even a feather. Perhaps you can come up with another idea?

snipped and trimmed picots

I have used 3 colours, but only one shuttle throughout. And you don't even need to hide the tails of the husk and stem! By force of habit, I forgot to do it in both models and hid most tails. Just leave ample lengths at the start and finish and trim later.

Hope you like this and enjoy tatting it. 

E15 Ear of Maize pattern pdf :  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GEms2X1Xmk1YHwrDz_3F7FiDLgIVpmz-/view

second motif

The motif actually jumped out when I saw Paola Emilia Rotuletti's E15 Star pattern worked in shades of yellow by other tatters!  

Add findings and we could have a pair of earrings or pendant? Perhaps even add beads to the kernels?

Related posts -

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-power-of-15.html

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2023/12/lets-flourish.html

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2023/12/lighting-up.html

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2024/01/unlimited.html

dual-faced

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The very night I blogged about this first poker attempt, I completed tatting it. I decided to make it an earring or a pendant. My earlier idea was to create a kind of garden of blooms for a greeting card. Making a whole bunch in size 80 was no joke – I was working blind! One can only bluff to an extent ;-P

Added a pearl bead with spiral ring to hold the appropriate findings.

Mulberry Earrings / Pendant pattern

Here’s the pattern, if interested.

2 shuttles with different colours. Tie threads.

CATKIN :

All are picot flowers, meaning each ring is made of picots separated by 1ds. There are 3 sizes :

1. large, with 7 picots : 2±1-1-1-1-1-1-2
2. medium, with 5 picots : 1±1-1-1-1-2 or 2±1-1-1-1-1
3. small, with 3 picots : 1±1-1-1.

Tat 3 large rings, 2 medium, 3 small, 2 medium, and 3 large rings.

Leave bare thread between rings, and join to previous ring.

TIP: If you wish to have some green thread show up like I did, here’s how –

After the first 6 rings, tat the 7^th (small ring) But before closing the ring, pass green thread through it, then close.

From 8^th ring onwards, make a lock join to corresponding bare thread, trapping the doubled green thread within.

STEM & LEAF :

Josephine chain : 15 long picot 15.

Chain : Insert paper clip on core thread to hold inward picot. 3-3-3-2 fold 2-3-3-3, join to inward picot.

Josephine chain : 15 long picot 15.

This is one sprig. One can tat a ring for findings and continue for the 2^nd sprig.

TIP: In order to change the direction of Josephine chain, switch to the other half stitch. So, if 1^st stem is tatted with 1^st half-stitches, tat the 2^nd stem with 2^nd half-stitches. It creates a sharp turn.

For 2^nd sprig, repeat the first or alter the number of picot flowers.

So how’d the cards stack up?

Card #1 for stem

Card #2 for large picot flowers

Card #3 for leaves

Card #4 for small flowers

Card #5 for medium flowers

Natalie thought the first part looked like a hyacinth, while hubby thought it looked like yummy mulberries! Your deal ;-D

I can’t even remember all the little ideas and off-shoots that came to my head while playing this game! A few I sketched out for later, but most have since evaporated.

Here’s my trial of one of them. It has fancy onion rings, thrown rings, and picot flowers. Could be an edging or return back for a bookmark or insertion. But I’m done playing for the present ….

I fold.

Many many thanks to Natalie Rogers 

for sharing & organising this creatively fun  game!

It is a semi-structured designing process. It is a great way to start a design and tweak for perfection. Add more types of cards such as techniques or effects or perhaps colour combos, etc. and we can spread our imagination further.

To see what was on other players’ cards, check out this facebook page and do visit Natalie’s blog for her previous games and details.

first leg of tatting adventure

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Sometimes one stumbles upon an old, neglected blog and their blog list takes you to contemporary blogs. Always fun scrolling through them!

Over a year back I came across Natalie Rogers’ Tat Your Own Adventure and thought it was a brilliant and fun designing idea! I saved it to try out privately but guess what, she has started a new round on facebook! Of course, I am participating, and this is my first motif - 

I’ve never played poker, but I do believe I’ve been dealt a Superb hand! (Should I take it up professionally? ;-p).

The 2nd card with a ‘?’ is like a joker – I can choose any stitch count. 

And the ‘7’ is the last card can be turned around to make it a ‘2’ if desired. So my options have multiplied.

Anyway, I only had energy to tat this little freeform piece last night. Will continue tonight and post the final. I have a few ideas for a flat symmetrical motif, too.

Worked in Lizbeth size 80, it measures 4½ cms high and 1 cm across.

I started with three 7ds rings (picot after every stitch), followed by two 5ds rings, and two 1ds rings, all separated with bare thread space. Turn back with the same number of rings, but I made a lock join to the bts between rings, encapsulating green thread within, since I wanted a touch of green in the inflorescence.

The stem is a Josephine chain (15-15), followed by 2 chains of 11 folded over, followed by another JCh. I left a paperclip on core thread after the first JCh. After completing the leaf, I made a join on this inward picot before continuing the remaining stem.

This is a great way to overcome designer’s block or for budding designers to take a semi-structured fun journey.

Onemadtatter came up with another creative option translating chemical notations into tatting stitches! Read how she saw tatting notations in valence electron configurations and actually tatted a Krypton motif!

Aren’t we richer for the options shared by creative tatters and designers?!

My adventure will continue – this is only the first leg and I am already having fun! 
Come travel with us !!!  

Thanks, Natalie J

Click to see a few of my own design processes.