live and kicking

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...tatting in my pocket

2 years back (huh, July again!) I posted a few of my verses on ‘Tatting in my Pocket’. On 3^rd of this month Noelene Lafferty – the originator – revived it in the Just Tatting group on facebook!
If you haven't, do check out all the new contributions members made there.

I wrote a new verse immediately …
((English teachers, please excuse the poor meter! ;-D))

I have simple Pony shuttles

Threads I have galore

With tatting in my pocket

I couldn't ask for more !  

- July 3, 2019

I also shared my old verses there. But it is so addicting – lines kept whirling in my head and even though I didn’t get around to sharing them on facebook, I’m doing them here now.

To save our ecosystem, I'd

like to plant many a tree

but with tatting in my pocket

I'm on a lace making spree !

Ma taught me cooking

Pa taught me cycling

with tatting in my pocket

my hands are always singing

- July 4, 2019

And then some more ….

Sitting in the balcony

Watching monsoon shower

with tatting in my pocket

I ... have the Power

I don't need yoga

Nor do pranaayaam

Tatting in my pocket

Is my way to Dhyaan

- July 7, 2019

And more recently in O’Claire de lune’s post on lace v/s tatting, this is what I posted

In the world of lace

Tatting has no place?!

Tatting is alive in my pocket

‘n’ will ne’er vanish without a trace.

- July 17, 2019

The flower in the pics is an old prototype - the 3D Carnation. Tatting is alive and kicking !!!

tatting in my pocket !

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Yesterday I came across this thread on Craftree, started by Grace. She shared this link to a global compilation of tatting-related verses. Here’s what she says :

It was on e-tatters, and it grew for quite a while, with more and more people adding verses. Maybe we can add some more verses? The only rule is, the third line must include "tatting in my pocket".

There were already some excellent verses there and I jumped right in. All through the morning verses kept popping into my head. I’m just relieved it didn’t lead to any sugar/salt mix-up in the kitchen ;-P

Meant to be stand-alone, I’m sharing them all together here and would love to see you pick up the gauntlet :-)

No pocket, yet a pocketful of verses –

None the worse for want of a pocket ;-)

Okay cheesy, but I can't resist puns :-D

Except for the 1^st and last verse, all the rest have at least one tatting technique or term in it. I have edited a couple of lines to fit into the meter. Hope you enjoy ...

Tatting In My Pocket !

Chores are physically stressing
Global news is so depressing
But the tatting in my pocket

Is always very refreshing ! 

My head is in a swirl
Shuttles ‘n’ threads are in a twirl
And the tatting in my pocket
Is full of rings in a Curl

Non-crafters may think I'm daft
They might call me a loony
But with tatting in my pocket
I won't just stop at a Cluny !

'I'm going through a designers block'
One often hears this talk.
Use the tatting in your pocket
To unlock with a Block !

The hegemony of a Trefoil
I fully intend to spoil
Since the tatting in my pocket
Is creating shapes from a Quatrefoil !

Husband rrrrrolls his eyes hiding his smiles

When I ask for more supplies
He Knows the tatting in my pocket
Will make lace for miles and miles !

                            - ©muskaan  July 14 2017

With exciting Center Court matches, not much tatting accomplished. But here's a glimpse ...

Four shapes derived from the initial design hack ! Tatted in size 40.

I’ve now tatted all 4 shapes in size 20 to determine picot size before I present the final pattern. Will share those pics with the pattern.

These are the various Quatrefoil Triangle trials. I was too lazy to block them for a proper pic, but these generally lay flat.

Arranging the triangles into a hexagon – it makes a nice coaster in size 40 and can be tatted in one pass. Magic Triangle, you say ?! Hardly ;-P

Why waste, right ?

Retrieved #4-6 from the hexagonal scrapyard – sewn in layers, added a bead, etc. I didn’t spend time shaping or curling the ‘petals’.

Noticed the 3 leaf rings enclosing the stem ? Kinda cute, no ? I'm going to use this in future!

That’s all from me for the present …

Have a great weekend

and

let there always be tatting in your pocket !

were they hieroglyphs ?

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free vintage edging pattern in modern notation  
this post is in a lighter vein, though it involved serious work

 Hieroglyphic, err, Arsenic and Old Lace

 dedicated to the wonderful Online Tatting Class

                                            A mummy wrapped in old lace,

                                            I sought to make new and replace

                                            with minimal invasion –

                                            a diagram and notation.

                                            There arose a cry in class

                                            ‘how to tat this is one pass?’

                                            To a new diagram it led,

                                            but wasn’t clearly read.

                                            The new sequence highlighted,

                                            Why was not it sighted ?

                                            Was there a real glitch

                                            or words were like hieroglyphs ?

                                            Such tricks plays our brain

                                            This is arsenic, pain not again !

                                            The new mummy they turned over

                                            To decipher the top as the lower !

                                                                           -- muskaan, May 31, 2017

I promise, je promets, lo prometto – the last and final revision of this edging. And I do apologise for putting my dear readers through this yet again - March, April, and now May, oops - the mummy rises again !

This is an image from the original Georgia sent me, for working out the sequence and diagramming. Here all 5 rows were tatted separately, with tie and cut after each. 

During my first revisit of the tatted edging from Coats and Clark (Book 121, Pattern 295), without specific guidelines, I didn’t want to change anything, except climbing out of rows for a continuous tat. Hence rows I to IV were tatted as one continuous unit. Then tie and cut. And row V was worked separately.

Some tatters wondered how to make all 5 rows in one go. Hence I included this in a revised diagram (below), to be read in conjunction with the original modern notation, and all links and information were provided in that single page (shown encircled)

Yet confusion persisted. Eyes went straight for the diagram, skipping the written matter which was highlighted through colour coding, or within boxes and the tatting sequence was the first thing on the page ! They were Not hieroglyphs, were they ?! 

I recently finished reading The Brain by David Eagleman and it is an 'eye'-opener to see how our brain takes over all our perceptions, sensations, knowledge, learning, comprehension, actions and reactions.

Anyway, they solved it by turning the page upside down ;-D (Ingenious lot here, though momentarily blinded by the diagram perhaps, ;-P !)

Why ? Because then Row I became oriented correctly – the way we would tat it. Another TWoT lesson for diagrammers.

All this could’ve have easily avoided if I hadn’t tried to avoid some extra work (yeah, yeah, a stitch in time …. and all that jazz ;-P) I should’ve re-oriented the pattern (in pic below) for the revised diagram, but thought it’d be too much work. It is easy enough to flip a diagram in Inkscape; turns out it is just as easy to flip the numbers – individually or as a group !!! I did have to reposition, but it was all fairly quick work. Another happy lesson learned too late :-)

So I give you yet again, the re-revised reoriented and this time stand-alone pattern for the edging. download reoriented diagram-only pdf here. 

Since I was going through it all again, and I didn't want to show you the same old pic, I tatted another sampler, this time in black size 50. 

And I also made another pdf this time with the pattern in written notation too. 
download Complete reoriented pattern pdf with diagram and text here

I know you must be bored, but hey, “I’m picky” ;-P And hopefully no hieroglyphic this time!
I will be striking out all previous pdfs to avoid confusion in future.

Thank you Georgia and the Online Tatting Class

for new perspectives, 
and for making me work harder to improve J

keep tatting till posterity J

snowflake and TIAS

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blocks in snowflake and first block of TIAS !

Ninth Day of December Snowflake

Lene Björn

from 24 Snowflakes in Tatting

for 2016 Snowflake Challenge on Craftree

I was inspired by the same 2-colour working of this flake on Craftree as credited and also worked by Eliz here. And so, one of the threads had to be white.

I raided my size 20 stash looking for a colour to go with the white (which is a bit thicker than it’s counterparts), checking each by sight and feel despite my catalogue . I found only one that came closest in thickness – this aqua blue-green 4054-0185 !
For block tatting, equal thickness is critical.

I followed the same block tatting method as described in this snowflake. It works for me. The switching shuttles is too cumbersome. I prefer the flipped/unflipped (DS/RS) with a half stitch riser.

TWoT (This Way or tat?) note : For directional tatting or fs/bs tatting, start the chain backside with reverse order of half stitches. The thrown ring will also be tatted backside.

The snowflake is tatted in one continuous pass in clockwise direction overall.

But can it be tatted all from the front ?

Experiment with all frontside tatting : I tried a little experiment here. Since it is tatted in one pass, I wondered whether I could avoid reversing the work (RW) by using direct/reverse stitch chains and a reverse ring in the centre and tat the whole snowflake from frontside only.

Yes, reverse ring can be applied to thrown ring in this situation.

But I did not like the effect. As you can see, the chain arch is not as smoothly curved, and the base picot space is of 2 colours since core thread is white and ring stitches are green !

Better to avoid the reverse ring and stick to reverse work and normal thrown rings !
BUT, I now realise that I made a mistake in making the ring. If done correctly,  it would work except for 2-coloured base 'picot'.

Future Idea : Using a largish picot at both the inner and outer turns, tat the entire medallion in block tatting. An undulating braid of block tatting !

Techniques : block tatting, thrown rings, fs/bs tatting

Finished Size : 3½”

I Love the negative space in this flake. I'm pretty happy with this snowflake working – blocks and all. Do you share my feeling?

Related Posts :

my block tatting

about reverse rings
thrown rings off central ring

 YYYYYYYYYY

Tat It And See 

2017

Jane Eborall

And now for Day 1 of Jane’s TIAS that has TatLand excited … Yes, the fun has begun !

This little worm creeps out to see

the world in all it’s glory

What will it grow to be

we’ll have to wait, won’t we ?!

Her diagram seemed to indicate spaces between the rings. I hope it is so.
Lizbeth size 20, Vineyard Harvest..

happy tatting always Y

'coz we are tatters

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On International Tatting Day, 2015,

this nonsense verse is dedicated to us, the quirky Tatterati !!!

'Coz We Are Tatters 

The room is all a-clutter
The family a-grumble,  a-mutter,
But my heart is still a-flutter,
Stashing more thread is all that matters
'Coz I am a tatter.

"That money's for food !"
Oh, honey, I'm sure we're good.
Need a new shuttle in wood
Diversifying my collection is all that matters
'Coz I am a tatter .

There's a new book online
Well I mayn't tat a design
But that book has to be mine
Stocking my library is all that matters
'Coz, peeps, I am very much a tatter !
                     (muskaan . March 2015)

Make lace, not war :-D


Earlier today (31st March), Patty D, in a Craftree thread, wished that "there was a Tatter's Song". That’s when my brain went into overdrive ;-P   Well, I couldn't belt out a verse on tatting,  but tatters & our obsession with collection did emerge .

Feel free to use it as you wish (with credit).... spread tatting and good cheer today, and always :-D

 Chat 'n' Tat 'coz we're the Tatterati !!!