Dedicating my 1000th

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For this 1000th post I kept musing on the choice of subject. And I finally decided to dedicate it to some of my favourite people who have shaped and inspired my tatting journey. This is a symbolic gesture to ALL the tatting teachers, designers, innovators, experimenters, explorers who have shared their own learnings and experiences. 

Three Geniuses and a brand new stitch in tatting!

Two years back I stumbled upon two drawings that gave Ninetta Caurso's treble tatting stitch a basis in tatting history! 

A drawing on page 31 in Anne Dyer's 1994 book, To Boldly Go Where No Shuttle Has Gone Before, showing the decorative chain picots. 

A drawing on page 85 in Rhoda Auld's 1974 book, Tatting: the contemporary art of knotting with a shuttle showing her twisting the thread (this twisted picot is something I had pointed out in my pictorial) and passing the shuttle through it. Her tatted model is what we now call the vapour stitch.

Well, our very talented Ninetta engineered the two movements to create her treble tatting stitch (tds) all on her own! At the time she did not posses either of the books and till I pointed it out to her, she had not noticed! Basically, the chain picot became the 1st half of the tds while the vapour stitch became the 2nd half of the tds! 

💧One of the reasons for the delay in posting this was ambiguity about whether I could share the diagram pic from the book with due credit. Anita suggested I ask Tamie Montgomery, who now runs The Online Tatting Class and is very mindful of such issues. She was very receptive and we discussed it. Although she said it was okay to use the accredited pics (like Georgia had done) since it was a 'technique', I still wasn't comfortable, till I hit upon the idea of showing it in thread as above. 

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Auld is gold bead effects!

Last year I found some new beading effects by Rhoda Auld in the same book and took the liberty to give them each a name based on words used by her.

Framed Bead - The diagram on page 107 has been in circulation through Georgia Seitz's classes for several years now. Georgia pitched it as a way to add a bead in the center of a ring and I used it in this butterfly. 

However, Rhoda showed it as a way to add a free bead on a long picot with bare thread framing the bead on both sides when slack is removed. Makes for some good possibilities.

Piggyback Beads - Now this was fun to discover! On pages 99-100 Rhoda shows how to place two free beads one over the other using simple movements. I tweaked it a bit to make it easier to tat.

Instead of loading the bead on the core thread where she has to move the chain stitches, I loaded it on the knotting thread (teal in above sample) and the rest of the process remains the same. On an earlier page, Rhoda makes the teal picot longer and ties up both picots till required for joining. Hence there are many options depending on the pattern.

My sample is a bit wonky, but you get the picture, right?

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Generosity knows no bounds!

💧I can't thank Anita Barry enough for gifting me so many vital books on my list. Without these I wouldn't have been able to review and edit Net Best's, Six T's of Shuttle Tatting, not with any satisfaction or confidence. These have helped me to confirm, correct, or refine terms for her glossary, and even understand and discover so many gems, some of which I took the liberty of adding to the glossary.

💧Judith Connors has been taking an active interest in the glossary, too, either as an answer to my question, as a reaction to my blog post, or reaching out on her own privately. You can imagine what a treasure trove of knowledge she is and how lucky we are to benefit from her skills. 

Judith sent me a copy of her 2000 book, Creative Tatting with beads, shuttle, and needle. It has some of my all-time favourite patterns besides numerous interesting effects and applications. While I read the book, tatting models will be later in the year. 

💧Late last year I received a wonderful digital book by Carin Jansen, Riego ReTatted (2023).  She needed some advice on selling the book through the USA, not being sure of its reception. With permission, I sought Anita's advice and we both gave our respective take urging Carin to put it on the market. Eventually she decided against it for personal reasons, though she has shared her Dutch version within her group. It is such a labour of love and we hope she will change her mind in future. Carin has chosen patterns from each of Mlle Eleonore Riego's books (1850-1886) and shared detailed steps and modernised versions/tips in a pleasant format alongside diagrams and written patterns. 

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I'd like to think that my blog has stayed true to its name to the extent that almost 95% of my posts have a tip of some kind. Unfortunately I couldn't stay true to the url since this blog soon turned into a tatting blog ... not that I'm complaining, LOL. 

Hope you continue to follow my blog and read my posts. 💞

You will find tutorial links to terms in this post here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/p/tatting-resources.html and you can use the search box on the right panel to look for past posts on the tags used here and much more.

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Many many thanks to all the wonderful tatters mentioned here and also to those not mentioned who have influenced, inspired, and improved my tatting journey and maintained my eagerness to blog.

veg patch game

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Game of the month in the Endrucks 1920 Project FB group this month is to tat either of two pumpkin patterns derived from pattern #25 - one is flat (Julie Myers) the other 3D (Daniella Galli). Obviously I would've liked to tat both, but went for the quicker option. 

Julie Myers' adaptation of E25 Extract Me Pumpkin pattern PDF for #VegPatchEndrucks Aug2024 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WKxGqijegF911nOvbmNjUuPVOQkHNZyF/view . Incidentally she derived this during our Sep 2022 game - ExtractMeEndrucks (as did Daniella!). Hmmm, one month shy of exactly two years!

My version reflects the type of pumpkin I enjoy eating during summer months - the green pumpkin (see next image). It is not fully ripe, has a mottled green skin and pale yellow pulp with a few scattered seeds. I visualized her pattern as a cross section of the whole pumpkin - the rings as white seeds, the pale yellow pulp, and a green skin. 

https://images.app.goo.gl/qpWbJWvj4BTVDEU5A

This is the only good image I could find which is identical to what I buy. Most images have an orangish pulp and green or brownish skin. Perhaps next season I'll remember to take a pic when I buy it.

I make the sabzi (kaddu/sitaphal) in summers till raw mango is available. Cut into pieces (one can keep the skin on or peel it), also dice some raw mango into small cubes, mix in spices, temper with whole fenugreek seeds and asafoetida, cover with plate and microwave for 3 minutes, stir and zap for another minute or so as required! It is such a quick-cooking dish and tastes wonderful with roti, puri, paratha, rice. 

I have a traumatic experience with the kaddu raita, though! Mummy once made it and it was horrible. But she insisted we finish it and I shudder ever since, despite enjoying various kinds of raw or cooked/grated veggies in beaten curd, LOL.

Wanted to use beads for seeds, and had even selected the pearls. Then decided to tat in 3 colours. 

NOTES - 

• In Gopi size 40 threads, the main body is 4.5cms high and 4.2 cms wide. 
• I used a single shuttle wound with the white thread. Yellow and green remained on their respective ball. 
• Started with false ctm - pulled out a short length of yellow, and finger-tatted the first chain, leaving a starter picot. Then continued with white shuttle, hiding & snipping off the extra yellow length.
• Tatted continuously, all clockwise. I didn't feel the need to turn work after every round. Especially since I was using the one shuttle and the colours positioned themselves as needed. Just left a very small picot at the start of each round to join back to.

• Treble tatting on the outermost round. While not strictly realistic since the actual peel is thin, but tds is fun and gives a nice finish and texture I hope. Would look good for a floral effect!
• I didn't count the tds, eye-balling the length of each segment by placing it along the corresponding chain segment below it. 
• TIP: After the required tds, I worked in 2ds, lock join, 1ds, p, 1ds. Now join simultaneously through both the hidden picot of last tds and the picot of new segment, and continue this as the 1st tds of new segment. Repeat at each join. This gives a nice, clean dip (You can see the difference on the join between 2nd and 3rd chains on the right side. The dip is not pronounced because I experimented without the picot, joining directly). Another advantage is that there is no 'gap' at the base of the join. I think it came off nicely.

• The stem encapsulates all the tails and since I had used leftover thread, I simply ended with the long tendril, without extending the stem further. 
• I had intended to add leaves, but one of our participants has already done a stellar job of it! Perhaps I will still tat a leaf or two from the same 2022 game - this would act as an incentive to share the E25 palm leaf pattern which inspired Elisabeth's Multifaceted leaves. See how the branches keep multiplying?!

I enjoyed tatting this piece despite the somewhat unorthodox colours which don't immediately identify it as a pumpkin, and hope that soon I'll get a chance to tat Daniela's 3D version, too. 

🌿🌿🌿🎃🎃🎃🌿🌿🌿

UPDATE: https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2024/08/lollygagging-or-not.html

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We do have a few other veggies in our Endrucksian garden patch as inspiration, including another 3D pumpkin (from E12) by Krystyna Mura. Check them out in the Foliage directory - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EIgPKHH9V2Dg4gDZNefVfSVNRZQC6LbSfhiaWA_s-G8/view  

Many many thanks to Julie and Daniela for graciously sharing their patterns 

and to Ninetta for hosting the game! 

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 :-))) 

lighting up

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The 2nd candle motif is complete, with pattern. As mentioned here (https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-power-of-15.html) I used treble tatting stitch chains alternating with regular double stitch chains to block tat this textured candle. 

While I wasn't successful in obtaining the intended spiral effect, I have since found a solution and even tried out a very quick trial. I believe it should work. No pics yet.

E15 Candle Motif version 2 pattern pdf - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r3SXvBp6bTwrHxU0Y6veyl2M5lnqA1uv/view

The flame is slightly different from version 1, both derived and adapted from a motif of pattern #15 from Endrucks' ‘Die Schiffchen-Spitzen’,1920.

The flame is tatted separately first. When we start the candle body, the first ring is joined to the final ring of the flame in onion ring style/join.

And the base or candle stand is also different. 

I'm not at all happy with my tatting, especially the stand. I need a change of glasses to see more clearly! And working under a magnifier limits the fun. Hmmm, come to think of it, I could easily have re-tatted the stand from scratch! Perhaps I will.

If you tat it, please do share your improved versions! May these candles brighten up the new year as well. Happy tatting! 

14 times 3 minus 14 times 3

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UPDATE : Oops, the equation should read 14 times 3 minus 7 times 3!

Continuing Ninetta Caruso's Girandolina di Farfalle Swirling Butterflies doily - Round 10 without the butterflies!

All my previous rounds and notes - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/search?q=swirling+butterflies

How slow am I?! Ninetta started much later and finished way ahead - check out her exquisite 2nd version here.   

Round 10 : without butterflies - 33cms/13" in Anchor size 40

Techniques I used: fs/bs tatting, treble stitch, spiral rings, lock join, direct tatting (for brown chains only, hence 2 shuttles)

Giro, giro, giro (round, round, round)! 

So, Round 10 requires 14 motifs comprising 3 rounds. Half of these motifs have 3 butterflies, the center butterfly (Cedronella) being a separate motif joined later. Hoping to work at a faster pace, I decided to make all 3 butterflies individually and join later. Hence the 3rd round of each motif (green) could be worked with ball and shuttle instead of 3 threads.

Farfalle (butterflies) 

I did a trial to see if they could be tatted separately, and without tail ends to hide. In the pic they are joined to picots, but when I make them now, I will try to place them on the chain directly - to lower the height, and to decrease the overwhelming green.

And none of them will need any hiding ends!!! Although I think one might have to apply some fabric glue to keep the antennae from curling and distorting when washed. We'll see ....

TIP : Since adjacent motifs are unattached except at the base, they are floppy and interfered with my tatting. I solved this by tying with scrap threads and holding them together as a unit. Worked beautifully!

The scrap threads will be snipped after I finish with the butterflies.

Girotondo (round dance)

Despite the huge amount of tatting required, I did not get bored at all. There is so much variety in terms of techniques, directions, sequence, and colours, that it keeps me happy and engaged! And instead of doing the same round consecutively 14 times, I did them in batches of 3 or 4 motifs, working lighter colours at night.

 

Lasagna (yummy ;-p)

I enjoy playing with in-progress lace, especially layering. Ideas swirl around and spring out! So, this is the 14 motifs folded inwards, overlapping. Not sure what idea is swirling, but I do like the effect :-D

This is the same folded round against a white background. It is so difficult to get the colours look as good as in real. A photography course?

Minore (minor) TIPs :This may be unimportant, but sharing nonetheless since it is part of my journey. 

For the spiral ring round, I did not make a lock join for the last ring. Instead, when it came to joining the last to 1st spiral, I passed tail through the 1st, and back to the space where lock join was required, and then made a knot/lock join.

As with most of my knitting, etc., I try to avoid starting at the same point. Ditto with the light yellow rings. I started by joining to the 2nd/3rd last spiral ring instead of the last. 

Errori (mistakes)

One glaring mistake reared it's head all the way back in Round 3 (the green round)! Despite all the pics I've taken and worked on, the missing ring revealed itself only when I was attaching the the 1st motif of Round 10! 

Can you spot it in the above pic? I can't 'unsee' it now ;-/ Should I add it or let it be?

There are 3 other minor errors - 1 in the light yellow picoted spiral ring round (a picot short of the required 14); 1 less tds in one of the tds spiral rings; and 3rd in one of the 14 motifs where I made a ring (3-3+4) instead of (3+3). But neither is apparent. Oh, and not using a picot gauge means my picots are not all symmetrical.

The blue and cream really stand out against this polished wood background, although all other colours have dulled down!

Nessun picot, nessun aggancio (no picot, no hooking)

As in my 2018 tat-along version, I avoided the picot and joining between the 2 green rings. The joining picot did not seem to add any value. Instead it slowed me down, trying to join such tiny rings in this dark colour. 

Keeping the count same, here's how I worked them -

    small ring : 3 +(to 2nd round) 4.

    large ring : 5 +(to 2nd round) 6.

Okay, I'm trying to show off some Italian terms I learned (or Googled) from the pattern! Hopefully some recognition, retention and recall will happen in future ;-P One can only admire how wonderfully adept Ninetta is at English - all self-learnt! 

I think this is my penultimate post on the doily. The next will be when it is all completed. 

3rd times a charm

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 continuing Ninetta Caruso's Swirling Butterflies doily - rounds 6 to 9 ... 

All my previous posts on this work in progress with notes - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/search?q=swirling+butterflies

Round 6 : 15.5 cms in Anchor size 40, worked counterclockwise with one shuttle only.

Techniques - spiral ring, decorative picots, treble stitch (tds), lock join (substituted with a DYJ variation)

This round consists only of spiral rings with long decorative picots and a single tds. I asked Ninetta about that single tds -- it is a clever visual effect to maintain same height!

This light yellow colour was a compromise colour although Ninetta approved early on, and later even my hubby liked it a lot, despite my continuing doubts midways

My first choice was this dark green in order to frame the large floral design. Unfortunately the thread turned out to be very difficult to work spiral rings! Notice the ugly bare thread and distorted rings in the inset above?! Not to mention eyesight difficulty in tatting with a dark colour

TIP : Quality of thread is very important to work spiral rings. The stitches should slide smoothly so that the ring closes easily without any tug on thread between rings.

The yellow was a charm - worked like a breeze! Especially since I did not use any picot gauge.

TIP : There are 13 long picots and a 14th vsp for the last treble stitch. I made All 14 picots long. 

TIP : In order to avoid counting back all the picots, this coiless safety pin marked the picot (7th) on which a lock join needs to be made to coil the ring.

During my failed green trial, in order to increase stability (and for peace of mind), I altered the lock join to a variation of the Dora Young Join (DYJ) and decided to continue with it in the yellow version.

Dora Young Join (DYJ) variation - Start with making a lock join, but instead of pulling shuttle thread to tension it, tug at the loop thread that is at the back of work (like we do for the DYJ and CWJ) to remove slack, In next step, pass shuttle again through the open loop, front to back, and tension.  

I'll have to try it with thicker thread to see how it looks up close. 

This round is quite floppy with rings tending to dance and twirl since there are 7 unattached rings in between. I had to be real careful to keep them facing correctly when attaching 8th ring to previous round.

Rounds 7, 8, 9 : 17.5cms, 19.5cms, 21.5cms in Anchor size 40 worked counterclockwise. 2 shuttles, ctm.

Techniques - fs/bs tatting, split chain, split ring (all 3 optional).

These 3 rounds are worked continuously, climbing out with a split chain and into the next round with a split ring. With only 2 SRs, I decided to work with 1 shuttle and ball.

All 3 rounds are identical!

Ninetta warned us that rounds 7 & 8 ruffle but settle after round 9. The waves after round 7 already seem to be flattening as round 8 gets underway. 

Ruffling has decreased even more along the portion where round 9 portion has been made.

I blocked (rolling pin) only after completing all 3 rounds.

Voila! Flattened! 3rd time was such a charm!

Working 3 identical rounds consecutively could've been boring, but it was truly Fascinating watching the taming of the ruffles!

Got me wondering if there was any other way to keep it flat and avoid ruffling. Here are my thoughts on the Design Options -

1. start with shorter chains and increase the number of stitches (1 or 2 ds per outer round) ; 

2. include stabilising picot after 2 & 1 ds, to link adjacent chains in rounds 7 & 8 respectively.

3. progressively increase ring size in subsequent rounds.

All options come with their visual consequences - it all depends on what the designer is going for!

The next round consists of individual 3-round motifs very similar to the center. (7x2) motifs will take some time to tat. The very last round is simple rings, chains, and thrown rings.

I had intended to keep blogging as I worked this doily on the side. But I get so engrossed and Love the tat, that all blogging is side-lined. Hopefully I'll squeeze in a few posts this time.