literally out of the box

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and functioning as a threader holder! Why didn't I think of this solution ages ago?! Here's the full story ...

Going back a few weeks, Anita showed me a vintage edging she had picked up at a thrift store. A single shuttle trefoil/clover edging with a curious way of joining the rings. It looked so good, too. Thought I'd work a sample but somehow I let my shuttle take over and ended up with this medallion.

Now I wasn't in the mood to use a picot gauge despite having a few handmade folded picot gauges, which is why the bare thread spaces are not perfect.

Nevertheless the highlight of this medallion is the little twist at the base of each ring. 

All I am doing is attempting to make a 1st half-stitch (ie. bringing the thread from Under the previous thread) without actually transferring or flipping it. This leads to all that twisting. One has to be careful with it. As you can see, the stitch is not tensioned and snugged completely since I wanted a loose twist. 

There is ample scope to play around with the effect, adding more half-stitches, etc.

It then reminded me of something that Ninetta had done. Turns out she used a lock join to simulate a twist in this vintage motif here - https://ninettacaruso.blogspot.com/2020/08/locked-in-old-corner.html - from Emmy Liebert's 1916 book.

So coming back to the problem that was awaiting a solution. I whip stitch tail ends using tapestry needles and a threader to thread the needle. The latter is kept in a different box within the larger project box. I wanted a way to have both the needle container and the threader to be together - pick them up in one go. Didn't want to use tape; couldn't use a magnet; couldn't glue it down for obvious reasons. 

This medallion which happened to lie over the circular box struck me as the perfect solution. I glued it down with a spot of glue at 3 points, that's it! 

Being so open and airy, the threader easily slips through any space yet stays put! And no fear of the wire being bent or getting caught anywhere. A safe haven!

Anita called this the Threader Keeper!!! Now she's one to think out of the box and guess it is rubbing off on me, LOL.

Oh, and I am submitting this BTS medallion (my 5th submission) for Natalie Rogers' Picot Bingo 2026 Level 2, crossing out one box -  

• Use Bare Thread Space. 

(Details here - https://www.patreon.com/posts/happy-new-year-147124370)

hospital tatting

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 Its been over 10 years that I took any tatting along with me. This time I felt like taking my shuttles along to my doctor's appointment. In our minds it was supposed to be a routine visit after 6 months and since everything was stable, we thought the regimen would just continue. We spend anywhere between 3 to 5 hours there, mostly just sitting around. 

A question that has constantly plagued me .... Which came first - patient or patience?!

So anyways, turns out we started a new line of treatment (basically injections at stated intervals) in order to get rid of the oral steroids. I only have a 50/50 chance but any little decrease is better. So off we tromped to the hospital again the next day which required a few hours of hospitalisation for observational purposes, and along came my shuttles again. Following are the motifs I tatted as a patient patient. All in Anchor size 20.

I gave away a couple of butterflies. One lady noticed the hook on my shuttle and asked whether this is how crochet hooks are made nowadays! I explained to her that it was a shuttle used to make tatted lace. She bemoaned the fact that nobody wants to wear or use handmade stuff any longer.

I kept each motif different. Couldn't bring myself to repeat the same counts, LOL.

All tatted with single shuttle or one thread aka single tatting.

These are all very generic patterns hence feel free to copy-tat ;-P

These came home with me. I have decided that it is better to glue them on cards or bookmarks and then gift randomly. Easier than explaining what one can do with the motifs, how to wash and block, etc. So, whenever I'm in the mood, I'll be gluing them to card stock and adding a bit of background. 

And while I had no side-effects from the injected biologicals, I did come home with viral flu which later shifted to my stomach and I lost about 10 days doing hardly anything due to the fever. Back on track now and tatting up samplers, etc., writing an article, creating PDFs, and catching up with blogs.

happy ITD 2024

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 A day early, but we love our tatting year round, don't we?! So, keep your tatting tools and materials ready, choose your pattern, friends, and location, and have a blast with chocolate, tea, and chatting!!!

This is such a quick and fun medallion from Rebecca Jones' 'The Complete Book of Tatting', Fig. 123.

Tatted in Lizbeth size 20, with half-closed rings (HCR) instead of chains or bare thread to bridge the distance. A single-shuttle pattern obviously.

TIP: Notice how the top and top right cords appear more pointed than the rest? It shows how you can change the curve by changing how far you close the ring! The middle ring in both is closed more than halfway as seen in the shorter bare thread space. I'm tempted to tat another with a sharper pentagon shape, LOL.

I did use a folded picot gauge for the HCRs , but messed up with some of the rings. Of course the sure shot method would've been to use beads.

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

After a hiatus of three months, we begin our new game of the month for this year tomorrow, in the Endrucks FB group! Let me know if  you wish to join even if you aren't on FB. This is our pre-announcement:

A game of decoration where you will get a chance to

• Refresh your skills
• Learn something new
• Apply your new learning
• Do a bit of designing
• And all while beautifying a little model!

It all depends on how far you wish to take it! But let us warn you that this can be quite addictive!

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 Once again, a very happy International Tatting Day to all 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

corralled

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- tied and taped 

Blossoms Motifs 10-15

The number of thieves caught is growing. Alibaba has to find a way to keep them at bay while going after the rest. Yes, they have to be corralled – all tied around and taped behind securely!

Remember I asked about a way to store them besides the clear envelope? I got some very good & helpful answers. Except that I hadn’t explained the entire scenario. So here’s my solution where I can see each motif frontside up, in the orientation I think is best. Tied with a string on a transparency sheet and taped over the knot behind. This method helps me keep track of many factors and makes for easy reference when working a new motif. September-end saw 20 of them corralled, though I am sharing patterns for only the following 6 this time.

All worked in Lizbeth size 20 from the Sunkist pack and green from the Ice mix pack. Another possible garland with Motifs 10-16.
Techniques : single shuttle, rings only, rosette, picot join to the right,  lock join, lark's head or luggage tag, bare thread space, fs/bs tatting .  

Blossoms Motif #10

2" × 1½"

Blossoms Motif #11

<2” × 1¼"

Some of the motifs look good when oriented differently.

I had shared a pic of the 6 fully wound shuttles here. 

A Pony bobbin holds around 8 meters or 8.75 yards (320”) of Lizbeth size 20 thread.

Finally after 11 motifs + 1 corner + 1 butterfly, all bobbins were free of their load. 

Green shuttle emptied earlier, after 9 motifs and 1 corner.

Pretty good use, eh?!

Blossoms Motif #12

2" × 1¼"

Blossoms Heart (idea)

Motifs 10, 11 & 12 arranged in a somewhat heart-shape. With a bit of tweaking, a deeper dimple, it could work ..

Blossoms Motif #13

<2¼” × 1¼"

Blossoms Motif #14

>2" × >1¼"

Blossoms Motif #15

2¼"×1½"

Here the numbers in black show that the segment is split in order to make a join. Rest of the petal(s) are worked according to the white numbers.

Since these are all first attempts and I won’t be repeating any, I just have to wing it as best I can. If I were to repeat, I would tat a few of them a bit differently – in terms of where to join or where to place leaves or size, add a joining picot, etc. so as to give a better visual effect/shape. Overall, though, I am quite happy. Each one is unique, yet fits into the theme!

Motifs 13, 14 & 15 reoriented

Blossoms Bracelet/pendant (idea)

Motifs 13 & 15 placed in yin-yang style. 

I like to think of this as the start of a possible bracelet or pendant. Add a pearl in the center of each rosette and tat a braid around. Or perhaps just add a string(s) of pearls?

That's all for now, folks. Show's over and you may return to your tatting :-D Thanks for stopping by and "cheer"ing ;-P

All Blossoms Motifs patterns are being listed under Nature 2D.

treble no trouble

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treble tatting (tds) motifs

I wondered why some of my trebles caused trouble here!

The problem reared it's head again but this time I hit treble 20 (reference to darts)!

Turns out I was rolling the core thread rather than 'transferring' the rolls on to the ball thread loop. How terrible and how silly – if only I had paid more attention to the video!

Once this puzzle was solved, everything went smoothly and happily.

In fact I stopped using a separate crochet hook – my shuttle hook sufficed. This is what a bit of practice can do ;-D

I made a mistake joining the 3rd ring in wrong space -- noticed only when the 4th ring needed to be linked.  Instead of cutting, I unwound the yellow core and pulled off the chain stitches. Imagine my immense surprise and pleasure when even the tds unravelled !!!
Pattern for this motif. 

TIP : For climbing out -- I reversed the order of work, making the lock join with 2nd shuttle first. Then performed the same with shuttle1 but before closing the loop I inserted/encapsulated the shuttle2 thread.

I got so engrossed watching an exciting match that I made chains instead of rings around the center of the flower. Thankfully I was using short lengths of thread (leftover), so it was easy to pull the stitches off the core thread.

With the blue flower, I became comfortable hiding the cream tail within first few stitches (tatting over tails) – ds as well as tds! Pass the tail through the base of the tds loop just before pulling it close.

I noticed one thing. Even if the central tds ring lies a bit flat, the next round of rings pulls it all into a 3D flower.
Pattern for the 3D flower.

The tail(s) have been left uncut because I may need to work them into a tiny bouquet in future. It’s messy to store but keeps my options open.

It is easy to invert the petals with a sleight of hand! In the center, the blue petals are inverted. In the inset, both flowers have downward facing petals. I see a toothpick attached to the base of these to use as an umbrella for a drink!

I’d like to explore treble tatting a lot more, but it’ll have to wait a while. For now, I can only hope that Ninetta doesn’t distract me further ;-P 

I suggest reading her recent posts for a clear understanding of this technique and it’s place in tatting. For all posts/info on Treble Tatting start here.

UPDATE : see Ninetta’s comment below for TWoT tip

Many thanks, Ninetta, for this new technique and the lovely patterns !

(and keep the sneak peeks coming)  ;-P

undulating with one shuttle

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single shuttle medallions with tatting pattern

Thought I’d take a mini break from the project I’m working on (forgot to ask permission for sharing, so we’ll have to wait a while longer) to keep my blog alive ;-D

These were done earlier in the month, continuing with the theme of single shuttle medallions.

Undulating !

single  shuttle  medallions

There are 2 versions, with more to come – there is so much scope in the basic idea. What I showcase as Version 2 was really tatted first, but the pink one is pretty generic with huge potential, as seen in the montage below ....

version 1  prototype

This is a simple braid of half closed or half rings (HR), each of 15 stitches.

In size 20 thread, I used a picot gauge of ⅜ inch for bare thread space of half-closed rings.

Reverse work (RW) after each half ring so that alternate rings face in opposite directions.

8 half rings can be joined back into a square.

10 half rings can be joined back into a star or flower.

… and so on.

Add picots for securing the inner rings, and decorative picots on outer rings.

A pearl in the center of each half ring would look pretty for jewelry.

version 2  prototype

This is made in 2 continuous rounds, with a rosette center and half rings (HR) around. A single shuttle split ring (SSSR) is used to climb out.

Leave a tail at the start in order to secure the last SSSR*.

Rosette (worked in clockwise direction from front)

Ring1  : 3 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 3 DNRW

Ring2  : 3 + 5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 3 DNRW

Ring3  : 3 + 5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 3 DNRW

SSSR4 : 3 + 5 – 5 / 5 – 5 + 3 . Pass tail through the loop before closing ring. DNRW

Outer round of half rings (worked clockwise from front)

[HR1 : 15 RW    (⅜ inch bare thread space in each half ring)

HR2 : 15 LJ , RW] x 4

* The last SSSR has to be joined to first ring, and I chose to do it Takeda-style, passing the starting tail through the SSSR loop before closing it finally. 
Tug on tail and then sew it under caps of ring to hide. 

One can use Dora Young’s split ring technique, too. Some SSSR tutorial links are listed here.

Add decorative picots or beads as desired. These can probably make nice pendants & earrings ?

I was hoping to make many more variations of the above, and more versions. But all that is taking a backseat.

Okay I’ve had my rest, unwinded a bit, and some of the blocked pieces must’ve long dried. Back to my secret project, then…

More from single shuttle medallion challenge - PART 1 ; PART 2

Happy Tatting !

cross my heart

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tatted square, cross and heart with patterns

I was bullied into testing this enchanting square - ‘expected’ not ‘requested’. ;-P Aye, aye Cap'n !

This post is also about the mistakes revealed through photography – too late to undo and too lazy to redo L

a square ...

The Enchanting Square by Usha Shah is a pretty small square, cleverly vinstructed, and quickly tatted up. The little dots and short chains make an interesting frill as an octagon.

Taking photographs is both a revelation and a headache. I could immediately see a cross emerge from this square if one of the arms were elongated. But it also revealed that I had wrongly sewn in the last chain. Oh well !

The motif ruffles while tatting but settles down with blocking.

a cross ...

Set about tatting the cross. Again, pretty easy. But I tatted with medium tension to prevent ruffling in next round. Ooofaff,  not a perfect circle. Deal with it. 

Unsure about the length required, I tatted the 3 short arms first. This gave an idea of proportion,. 3 repeats on the long arm were sufficient,  going down one side and then back up with chains only. 

I’m ashamed, but yet another mistake reared it’s ugly head in the pics – yes, yes, the inner ring of top arm has uneven number of stitches. No wonder it skews a bit. But I’ll just jot it down to design element coz thankfully it is on the top arm, not on one of the sides :-D

And yes, the cross ruffled too, but settled easily with blocking.

I must apologize to the designer for these inadvertent mistakes. If I had more time, I would certainly tat these up again.

Many many thanks, Usha, for sharing another lovely pattern J

and a heart .

I spoke about this single shuttle challenge in my earlier post (check out some of the lovely tatting displayed by the group here) .Hadn't realised that the challenge was to tat, not strictly design. But I like the create-own-design & already have another almost complete) that I had started a fourth medallion. I had a different path and design in mind, but shuttles – even a Single one – have a mind of their own ! It just would Not follow my command, and decided to turn into a heart.

I am sharing the prototype pattern (for the record, completed on June 1st) …

 Have a Heart!

prototype pattern of a single shuttle motif

A single shuttle motif with split rings (SSSR), half rings (HR), & curled rings (CR).

Showing sequence and types of ring

Round 1 -

Start 1^st SSSR with a tiny picot.

SSSR 1-4 : [3 – 10 / 5. post shuttle front to back]x 4. Join to picot. 

Round 2 –

R1 :3 + 3 – 3 – 3 DNRW

R2 : 3 + 6 – 3 – 3 DNRW

HR3 : 3 + 9 vsp 3. LJ DNRW

HR4 : 3 vsp 9 – 3. LJ DNRW

R5 : 3 + 3 – 6 – 3 DNRW

R6 : 3 – 3  – 3 – 3 . LJ 

BTS, Rotate

CR7 : 12 medium p 12. Pull ring thru nearest SSSR from under – over. LJ to curl. RW

HR8 : 2 – 2 RW

CR9 : 12 medium p 12. Pull ring thru nearest SSSR from under – over. LJ to curl.

T&C  

Can you see the head of an elephant, too ? Or a tatted impressionism of Lord Ganesh. Elongate the bottom half ring into a trunk and we have an elephant!

Don’t you agree that this heart needs tweaks?

I welcome your suggestions on how to improve this.

happy tatting mistakes and all J

  

journey of a single shuttle

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single shuttle medallion prototypes with pattern and dot picots on a ring !

How far can a single shuttle take you ?! Come journey with me ....

update June 6: star pattern edited

single  shuttle  medallions

Usha told me about a challenge her whatsapp group, Happy Tatters, is doing – tatting a single shuttle medallion or motif daily for a week. While I am not on any SM, InTatters members will certainly remember the gorgeous doilies tatted by Madhur, who is also a member.
What better way to get one’s creative juices flowing ?!

I let my shuttle loose. A couple of mangled attempts were thrown away (I keep forgetting to include picots). The ones that have survived so far are these … still in the process of completion. But if I waited to show till each was complete, it’d take forever.

I find myself using different techniques to overcome the ‘handicap’ of a single shuttle. To my pleasant surprise, there is hardly anything one cannot do with a single shuttle !!!!

I am really enjoying this challenge and drawing on all the techniques I’ve learned so far to tackle each piece differently.

1. Star of Halves

A 2-round one pass single shuttle medallion in size 20 thread

Techniques : half or half-closed rings (HR), lock join (LJ), onion ring join (ORJ), very small picot (vsp)

Round 1 : comprises of twin rings separated by tiny half rings.

*** R1 : 5 vsp 3 p 5. DNRW

R2 : 5 + 3 vsp 5. RW

HR : 3. RW ***

Repeat 5 times total, ending with a join to base of first ring. Do not cut thread.

Round 2 : This round is made up entirely of large half rings, joined to previous round using onion ring join for a slight texture.

Make a LJ through bare thread of last HR in Round 1.

*** HR : 6 ORJ (vsp of R1) 8 p 8 ORJ (vsp of R2) 6. LJ through next HR ***

Repeat 6 times total, joining back to start. T & C. Hide end or use as dangler.

One can use Anne Dyer’s Join to smooth side (JSS) instead of onion ring join, but I wanted a subtle dip. Pull loop of the other thread through picot, pass shuttle through, tension; make 2^nd half stitch.    

2. Rambling

I wanted more rings in the center, but that wasn’t going to work. Hence left it as a diamond, to ramble along the next round.

Made in one pass with 4-ring rosette in center, and half-closed folded rings (setb then seta) and Josephine rings , lock joined (twice – on either side of JR) to the picots in Rnd 1 rings.

It does seem to have a diamond in center and an elongated hexagon along outer edge.

This one will probably be discarded; still, grist for the design mill.

3. Tiny Wildflower

This was actually just the first round. But I kinda like the look of it as a tiny flower.

Techniques : picot join to the right, Josephine Knot (JK) on twisted picot (TwP) 

Note : for picot join to the right, one can use a folded join, rosette join (twisted picot join) or avoid a folded join, since these are outward facing rings.

Ring 1 : 1 vsp 7 p 7 vsp 1

***Leave about ½” bare thread. Tat 1 JK (7hs). Twist bare threads to make a picot with JK at tip.

Rings 2 : 1 + 7 p 7 vsp 1 ***

Repeat till end, joining last ring to the first using a picot join to the right, and another twisted picot with JK.

Tie & Cut, hide end.

Exciting news : Usha (link to her channel) has graciously demo-ed 2 videos on the twisted picots Twisted Picot (with and without bead) and Twisted Picot with knotted bead In the latter, one can substitute a Josephine Knot for the bead. Thanks so much ((( hugs )))

Dot Picots on a Ring !

This started out as a medallion too, but I got into experimentation mode.

I started with SCMR using a length of tail (smallest ring). easy to make dot picots here since it is basically a chain.

Middle ring is a true ring with dot picots, but they tend to unravel (middle one is fully unraveled, while the right one is beginning to) .

Large ring was another idea to secure the dot picots – and it worked ! A wee bit fussy initially, but very much doable.

Those bare threads visible on the left of the 3 dot picots was left on purpose – I wanted offset picots. The BTS needs some tweaking to get my visualized effect.

I'll leave you to figure it out for now ...

I started another medallion last night, using other techniques. But no pics yet, and is still unfinished. 

Anybody game for a similar challenge ?

happy tatting always :-))) 

More of my Single Shuttle motifs /medallion patterns : Jewellery Medallion , Ring in the Bouquet , Inchies.
Latest in this challenge series - Have a Heart (June)