4 plus 1 is 5

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This is the start to Ninetta Caruso's Swirling Butterflies doily which I am privileged to test tat. If you remember, she had posted these 3 rounds as a tat-along in which I participated here.
See all her related posts here.

This time I am working in Anchor size 40.
Round1 - 2.5cms worked clockwise with shuttle and ball;
Round2 - 4.5cms worked from right to left (counterclockwise) with single shuttle.
Techniques - spiral rings, treble tatting

2nd round is worked first, but joined into a circle only after the 1st round is completed. It is such fun to tame the linear spiral rings braid into a circle!

Round3 is worked with 3 threads due to this colour placement. However she also gives the option to work it with 2 threads. This is where my confusion arose. Her diagram says 4ds chain before and after the butterfly, but her 2-thread pictorial showed 5ds chains. Hmmm, turns out in the former there is 1ds made on either end, with the blue thread, thus equaling 5ds! Back to kindergarten....

All my notes are in the above link.
The butterflies are worked from the back. The chains have 2 core threads, and is easier to work as encapsulation or direct tatting (reverse/unflipped stitches)  moving counterclockwise.

With butterflies, it measures 7.5cms and without butterflies this would be 6cms across.
Techniques - treble tatting, encapsulation, treble join (layered)

Now to continue with the next rounds.


All my projects are on hold as I focus on this doily. But I have decided on the colour scheme Ruth Perry's bookmark adaptation as a mat. I might have to discard the length already made in case there is too much difference in the thickness of threads.

A gorgeous hanky edging from Kathleen Minniti is also in queue!

3 little bears but where is Goldilocks

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It all started because I really wanted to tat Ninetta’s latest heart earrings. But I started out with her 3 little treble stitch motifs, the first of which I had done in July 2018. That's Mama Bear!

Papa Bear looked like a dahlia (yes, you can laugh at the incongruity!) and I worked it accordingly – flower surrounded by a bit of foliage. My intention was to tat only 3 rings in the green part to resemble leaves. While tatting, I kept admiring how well Nin had tatted those tiny rings. Little did I realize they were 12ds each and I made them only 6ds! But it worked out fine and I really like the overall effect!!!

The flower part ruffled a bit but flattened after a rolling pin block.

In Anchor size 40 (yellow 00302 & green 00269) it works out to just under 6cms.

Baby Bear was surprisingly quick to work. This has SCMRs with tds segments and thrown rings. As usual, I made an unflipped half stitch after closing the mock ring. She shared some process pics here.

In Anchor perle size 8 (01215), it measures around 3cmsx3¼cms.

Have you noticed the missing J & K in Ninetta’s diagram? She tells me that standard Italian alphabet does not have j, k, w, & y J

When it came time to measure and select beads for the earrings, I found Goldilocks had already gone to bed! Before she woke up, Sharon shared a challenging heart pattern, which I started instead - always sleepy when it comes to beads ;-P No problems, Goldilocks will soon have her earrings!