see the Cs

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June 28th is the 139th birth anniversary of Frau Eleonore Endrucks and what better game than to use her own patterns to spell her name?! Her patterns are so versatile that within minutes of opening her book and scrolling through it, I discovered 3 letters - 

• E jumped right out from E2 without requiring any change; 
• D could be extracted by rotating E5; and
• C was visible in E17 when flipped over! 

Not wanting to spoil the detective work for our participants, I simply stopped scrolling. But Ninetta sent me another which was again in plain sight - 

• N from E24 by flipping the pattern and two possibilities.

And thus began our game of the month for June 2024 - Name Me Endrucks, with Ninetta creating this fun cover pic! You can find all details about how to go about it here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zpZaumcrLJQyexy68EAZr2AhyGBi0pRg/view

Details of all our past games can be found in this active EP Events doc - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZiNdE53cvqj2cLlxVP-wlga8aocPtzs5/view

I was supposed to take a backseat for a couple of months since my PIC (partner in crime, Ninetta) was relatively free to host games. But along came the International Lace Day on 23rd June and it was too good an opportunity to pass by. Why not accomplish two tasks in one stroke!

Here are two 'C's I tatted all within a span of a couple of hours while watching 'Twelve Final Days' of Federer's countdown to retirement. A wonderful morning. Tennis has never been the same since his retirement, though, and while I generally know what's going on, we rarely watch it.

Two shuttles were already wound the previous day with Olympus size 40 thread and the pattern sketched with stitch count as preparation too. This year ILD celebrated it's 10th year and at start of event, there were 1558 registrations from 59 countries! It was my third year participating and all 3 ended up with Endrucks' patterns! Lacers are still uploading pics of their individual or group participation with gorgeous laces.

I think next year we should enter the Endrucks 1920 Project FB group in the ILD, too. We can all participate as a unit from our individual locations. If only the idea had come earlier...

This is from E17 with minor tweaks in the ring stitches to make them smaller. I like this one and it tats up quickly. There is a short bridging chain between the two rings at the bottom in order to work the motif in one pass. I will share the pattern when I can. It can be worked with a single shuttle and ball and can easily be used to create an entire alphabet and numbers.

E17 pattern - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sStHg5IQmuwizC7QcKRaX951CvVoURbn/view

And this second C is derived from E10 (version 2) with very little change. It was inspired by the superb letter D tatted by Manju Talekar from E10. I consider this a prototype trial since some tweaking can improve it especially if used as a monogram. However if a complete alphabet can be created, it might fit in. This letter can also be worked with ball and shuttle.

E10 pattern - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YFBYqbgssthqDKYi8YkTX-fvAPmIYbm-/view

Future Ideas - Looking at the E10 letter C image later, do you C what I C ....

1. an upright tortoise (rotate it 90 degree clockwise and complete/connect the lower part of the body)

2. a bent old person with a walking stick

3. a lady pushing a pram

C U soon!

counting magic

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Snowflake/Star #5 in Land of Laces’ 25 Snowflake Project ! 

You are well aware of my mistakes in simple counting! Not this time. Using an elementary numerical sequence, I created a new snowflake … oops, star. So you understand why I am calling it the MatheMagical Star.

On the drawing board, it started off as a simplified, symmetrical spin-off of the Spin Away flake and can be worked with ball and shuttle!

I started with the 1^st double ring (at the base) on top left arm, and proceeded to the tip of the arm decreasing each ring by 2 stitches.

I didn’t like the ring facing inwards between 2 arms, so changed direction from the next arm on.

The tip was going to be a single ring, but to avoid floppiness and to get a gradual gradient, I chose a clover….

As this progressed, I kept getting an uncanny feeling like it’s been done before. I first searched my blog and perhaps this is what caused the recollection – Sparrow Kelly’s ‘Celeste’. 

Hunted online (Google, Craftree, pinterest) for more snowflakes and stars and came across a few that seemed similar at first glance, but they all have single rings along the arms, not double rings. Usually the chain segments differ as well. 

However, if you think it’s been done before, please do leave a comment with details.

Started out as a snowflake, but could only fit in 5 arms, hence a Star Is Born!

Deliberated for ages whether to fill in the center or not. One of the ideas was this snipped off star from my doily. The 5 chains fit perfectly, but design-wise it is a misfit, right?

Another idea was to have inward rings. I tatted each ring individually to get a feel.

At the time it looked a bit cluttered and I liked the outlined negative shape. Hence started in Lizbeth size 20.

It measures 4½ inches. (In Anchor size 40 it measures 4")

I visualised the open center as a frame for a little photo. Or to dangle a charm....

This one has silver gunghroos (bells) like the ones used in anklets. And they make a dainty sound when jiggled.

The lead pic has a real sapphire pendant. Conch shell was another idea I had.

Comparing the 2 together, the tatted center doesn’t seem too bad. What do you think?

Should there be an open center or a filled one?

Or would you like to have both patterns? Since I haven’t had time to complete the pattern presentation, it will help to know when I upload.

I am currently tatting another smaller version (therein lies the magic of maths) but with those rings filling the center. More in next post along with pattern. This evening I have a date at Wimbledon and ordering-in dinner, yeah !!! Will Federer's star radiance increase by another grand slam win or will Djokovic dominate?! 

Wimbledon motif

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My personal tat-along for Wimbledon 2018!

2 weeks of Wimbledon. Not that I watch all the Center Court matches. Yet I needed to satisfy my tatting hands while I watched. Something medium-sized, not too stressful, where my eyes could focus more on the game…

Clover Mat

Lindsay Rogers’ ‘ Mastering Tatting’

 

July 2, evening.

After quickly completing my kitchen chores,  we sat down to watch Federer (defending champion) vs Lajovic.
I had earlier readied 2 shuttles, ctm, with Lizbeth 20, Vineyard Harvest. This variegation reminded me of the tournament colours and towels – but perhaps my memory was faulty coz I couldn’t find any magenta this time! Still, it had green for grass and shades of purple for royalty & tradition, and let's pretend the magenta represents strawberries! 

This is how far I reached after that speedy match ! 

I’d barely got the hang of the pattern when it was all over.

Now to watch Brazil vs Mexico - FIFA World cup. But the motif remains solely for the great W.

At the end of Federer’s Round 2 match. 

I had to switch to direct tatting (unflipped stitches) for chains to keep track of direction. 

The working of this pattern reminded me of the Magic Square.

His Round 3 match was too late for us to watch. 

So this was done during his Round 4 match against Mannarino. Another Master class!

Techniques : 

2-shuttles, thrown/floating rings,  inward picot, lock join, picot join to right. 

Optional: fs/bs tatting, direct tatting (reverse stitch).

Quarter-final and he’s out, shockingly. But this is how far I got.

I was pleasantly surprised that the mat was almost the same size 

as the one photographed in the book.

I finished it off during Kerber's semi-final match. 

Her quarter-final with Kasatkina was an amazing match with both ladies 

playing some spectacular tennis. Eyes glued to their play!

I had deliberately left off the central ring (which could’ve been worked as a thrown ring) 

because I had this fear that there could be cupping. 

Adding the central ring later meant I could tweak the stitch count to suit the space. 

Sure enough, I added 2ds to each segment.

Yellow is for the tennis ball!

The completed mat measures 5X5 inches.

I consider this pattern easy in terms of the techniques employed, but requires Mindful tatting- what joins where, etc. Possibly my attention was so divided that I could not memorize the joining points even till the end. 

But the book itself made me comfortable.  I absolutely love the book binding – a normal spine on the outside, but spiral binding on the inside. The pages lie completely flat and I can easily tat along without damaging the spine.

Diagram is large and clear with only a couple of picots missing. Easy to keep track and follow along. Central ring count was missing but easy to guess with the entire pattern following the same count. In fact one can easily choose a different multiple and yet get the same result - only smaller or larger depending on one's choice. 

evenings of tennis and  football are over for now

but tatting goes on forever !