Goldilocks meets a friend

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Remember how I couldn’t introduce you to Goldilocks since she was already in bed? 

The wait is over. Meet Goldilocks and her friend, Elana! 

Well, opposites attract again (see comments here)! Gold / silver; tiny / large; warm / cool; quick project / long project; AND our two friendly designers from different hemispheres!

Goldilocks is actually Ninetta’s Valentine earrings shared here. 

Closing the spiral ring using metallic thread was a tad dicey. Anyway, after making it with single shuttle, I switched the shuttle thread to regular cotton size 20, using gold for the visible stitches.

Lenka shared some nice pics on how to add beads in spiral rings. Do check out her beautiful applications of the spiral rings. 

Red Rose metallic gold size 20 & Anchor size 20. size 16 seed bead & crystal teardrop.

2+ cms across & 3+ cms long without teardrop.

Jane McLellan’s Elana has long been on my to-tat list. It is such an elegant pattern.

And I wanted to stick with blue and white. This is actually my 2^nd attempt; the first being left aside after 4 repeats for 2 reasons. But read what happened in next post here. (Update)

Notice the missing chain in first round? I used the double ring & chain sequence. And the rings on the back are 5-5-5.

I used bead as picot gauge method to load bead with a crochet hook only when it was time to link. Yet the small Pony shuttle bobbin had to be loaded twice.

Adjacent Ankars motifs are slightly tightly packed with some overlap – perhaps my seed bead was too large?

But I love how it looks despite the thick white thread! And finally another struck off the unending list

Blue glass gem - 2¼ cms x ½ cm high. The pebble is not absolutely clear but has shaken snowglobe effect.  Anchor white 20.  3½" diameter

2 projects, but so many techniques have been incorporated! My knid of tatting ;-P

And now that I have my beads and gems out, there are a couple more projects queued ;-D

simple in spring

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‘Vasant Panchami, also spelled Basant Panchami, is a festival that marks the arrival of spring, celebrated by people in various ways depending on the region.’

The Hindi word for spring is ‘basant’ and from it is derived the colour ‘basanti’ which is similar to the yellow of mustard flowers. (Remember my 2017 spring garland with it’s mustard fields, etc.?)

By chance, but perfect timing!

When I saw Elaine P Gan’s Rose Heart, I wondered whether 2 shades of yellow would work well here.

This is my first project from any of her patterns, though as you know, I’ve been a frequent user of her reverse join! And, through Sue’s test tatting, I have admired how she puts together patterns using simple motifs and fairly basic tatting.

Worked in Anchor size 40 (00293 & 00302), with ball and shuttle.

No heart should be alone!

I’ve been seeing lovely models of Gloria Nelson’s With All My Heart in facebook and liked it’s simple elegance. The outline appears like a free-flowing scroll!

A clover is arguably the simplest heart shape in tatting. So why not highlight that with a contrasting colour? How to do it without too many ends to hide???

Aha. SCMR – self closing mock rings! And all worked with one shuttle only! Same as what I did with the very colourful scrappy doily! 

I wound yellow in the shuttle without cutting it from the ball. The magenta is ball only.

Work all 3 clover rings as mock rings using yellow core thread from shuttle.

Then snip off the magenta (with tail to whip stitch later) and continue the outer round using yellow ball thread.

The thrown/floating ring at the bottom is also worked as a mock ring.

Worked in Anchor Pearl size 8 (00291 – shuttle & ball ctm & 04380 ball).

Both hearts measure approx. 4cmsx4cms (bit longer than wide) and are quick enjoyable tats. And I used Ninetta's blipless join again. 

I like the contrast of these designs - one frilly the other stark. Yet both so beautiful. Although I worked both as simple motifs for now, Gloria's pattern is for a beaded lanyard and Elaine has used hers on a card.

AND, Buddy Hearts will be taught in the Online Tatting Class by Georgia today ! All are invited and hope I can join in.  With frequent and long spells of illness over the past year, I haven't been able to attend regularly,  if at all  :-( 

a heart in spring

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I do love a challenge! And this time it was kind of a double challenge with Jane McLellan suggesting the use of more colours. It is Sharon Briggs’ 1-31-2019b Heart and read the comments there. I certainly wish the heart had a better name ;-D

In order to get a feel, I worked the first one in single colour (except for the dimpled heart motif). 

TIP : Leave some space between the dimpled heart and ring at it's base in order to accomodate 2 lock joins later. 

 Also took a few in-process pics in case someone would like to reference later. 

Wondered whether a smooth outline would look good; so I decreased the count in the outermost chain and used Catherine Wheel join (cwj). Nope, I don't think it works!

Having tatted many of Sharon’s patterns, I’ve come to realise that my chains (and tatting in general) are more taut than Sharon’s and I need to factor that in to avoid cupping.

Now for the coloured spring impression.

I started the yellow flower on the right, climbed out to the left, then added a short 10ds chain between the yellow flowers in order to get back to the right side and follow as per diagram. (indicated as 1 in pic below)

BUT I realised after completion that this short chain is not required IF one starts with the flower on the left!!! Work left flower, climb out to right flower, and then add green to continue working as per diagram.

Work counterclockwise to complete the left foliage (2). Notice where the split chains and rings are. The lower SR that links to the heart is worked last, so as to continue along to the next round (3).

Interestingly, I got to work split chains in both directions - left to right & right to left! Check out the tutorials here.

Another change – omitted the little ring in the dimpled heart motif. I think this stands out much more as a tiny heart framed by the large one.

In order to frame & highlight this spring-y impression, I added the beige for final outline.

Can’t say how much is evident, but a couple of my split chains are incongruent making the overall heart a bit lopsided.

So, Sharon & Jane – your thoughts ?

Both are worked with size 40 threads and measure around 5cms X 6cms.

Anchor 4054-40.

blue – 00130 ; teal – 00528.

red – 00046 ; yellow – 00293 ; green – 00229 ; beige – 00368.  

With these hearts, I have now officially used every size 40 colour bought recently ;-D