Tatting adventure continues

Due to the time restriction I haven't been able to update as much I would like. Still working on mignonette technique I given up on the pattern in antique German book because was bored of the design so I made my own. The weather is so nice I have been tatting in the garden since inside is too noisy and have no workspace. No. 20 Lizbeth or Flora thread is used unless stated.

Here is the Daisy Picot snowflake by Jon. She has wonderful tatting pattern on her blog and been meaning to add on my blogs to follow list. The post includes tutorial on how to make the daisy picot. Another way is to use SCMR the trouble is you won't get the colour of the shuttle thread. Her techniques works because connecting ds on top thread doesn't show up.

Dimple Ring Angel by Lenore English, the pattern is hovering on the net I believe it was in a geocites site which now closed down. I found it hard to close the dimple ring so I tied 2 chains together some part went wrong. My attention was half focused on MMo I was playing.

Rosemarie Peel Heart of England pattern, the extra picot on the left ring is a mistake. I was tatting late at night and felt stressed at that time. Noisy environment doesn't suit me with moronic giggling or watching TV. I didn't like it when the damn box was moved back into my room. Some people want to work in peace you know.

Another of Rosemarie Peel design second pattern on her Stars tatting leaflet by Lacet Publication. The leaflet was in sale and has 3 star tatting patterns. I used beading thread and stuck the motif on an atc.

No.51 pattern on Tatted Artistry by Teiko Fujito translated by Connie Prener. This motif has twisted picot central ring. On the diagrams looks this ring is made first and final round is joined. I used split ring and twisted the first two picot before joining on to the ring.

I'm fining while I tat the work becomes distorted so blocking is must to make the final piece look right. The cotton shrinks slightly keeping the pinned shape in place. Here are some handmade shuffles I created out of shrink plastic the downside is the top part break of so easily not even gluing helps. I could make some out of Fimo.

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Tatted projects completed so far

I haven't been tatting much because I started to learn crochet which is closest thing to knitting and much easier. I brought this book from Hobbycraft and turns out to be useless despite the fact aimed at skills at all level. The reason for crochet because  I have found a amigurumi chart of rabbit and bear in Gothic and Lolita bible extra. Amigurumi is knitted stuffed dolls there are loads on images and patterns on the net, all the skills you need is magic ring, single crochet stitch, increasing and decreasing single crochet and slip stitch plus darning/sewing skills. Waste of money buying that book because I can learn from watching videos on the net. Pfft! In general Japanese craft book have clear diagrams why can't English books do the same. Following written instructions is difficult- more show and less tell. Below is the Onion Ring butterfly by Hope Green. The original term is doppelringe which means double ring. Where exactly is the onion in this ring did they use babelfish to translate the term.

On larger rings additional picots can be added on the small ring for stability. This is my suggestion.

I adapted this pattern by using a single shuttle, yes I tried needle tatt the motif become uneven when removed from the needle and the stitches were large as well. So shuttle tat ftw. Free pattern by Iris Niebach.

Here is completed work, says 5 days took me 7 days because I was er gaming inbetween. Crochet like tatting is addictive can't stop and two can be compatible I have seen tatting patterns with crochet symbols and love the try them out. Still doing a motif for mignonette with the current pattern it's mostly composed of rings and is autonomous. I'll see if I can adapt another tatting pattern and the mignonette netting.

Recently acquired a book called The tatted Artistry of Teiko Fujito translated version from Japanese to English. Don't normally buy tatting books because majority of the pattern comes from the net or my head. Just as I suspect it has clear diagrams and new technique called split stitch it requires a separate thread and eliminates the need for cut and tie. There's some pattern involving twisted picot and crochet patters to try once I have finish the dimple ring angel (there's an easy way to make a dimple ring). With the short crochet adventure over it's back with tatting and gaming. Heh heh.

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Bead tatt and double/triple picot.

I'm still continuing learning new tatting techniques. My level is in between intermediate to advance I'm learning a new technique every week or fortnight. Feel like my tatting is slow because haven't mastered pull the top thread when ds is flipped.

I tried to follow the instructions for beaded snowflake motif it was pain taking out ds when no. of beads tatted was wrong in the end I designed simple motifs to make. There are numerous ways to bead tatt such as adding to joins or picots there's even split rings. I discovered a way to pull thread through 11/0 seed by using bent piece of beading wire (can't remember the gauge). As all of the hook are only suitable for 8/0 or E- beads however it is possible use 3mm Swarovski bicones. Beads themselves are not a problem as I have a plentiful supply and is good way to use the odd ones. Not possible to add beads on mock picot as I discovered.

Frilled Snowflake medallion by Lisa C.Trumble and another snowflake motif by Sally Magill. Sometimes I'm finding on complex techniques such as split rings I watch video on you tube to get an idea on how it's done. I find following written instructions difficult what happens if it was in different language. This time around I figured out how Josephine knots, node tatting/Victorian set and Double/triple picots are made. Possible to do 4/5 and even 6 something to experiment because the long picot is folded over the join.
Also learn split chain tatting I'll add this to next post, other techniques I hope to learn are block tatting and making cluny leaves.

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Tatting adventure

I decided to continue where I left off in April there's so much to learn. Such as self closing mock rings (SMCRs) and lock joins.

Been along time since I last did tatting so best to start off some basic work, unfortunately the timeing wasn't good as I had little sleep thanks to some idiot staying up late. I had difficulty trying to make a ring it would close when the shuttle cord was pulled. It seems the top cord should flip and not the shuttle. Above are samples of the Dhamana bookmark as you see my first attempt wasn't good. The one below is better maybe because had more sleep. (hint, hint)

This wasn't a basic motif as I discovered as it involved the use of shuttle/lock joins. The shuttle cord is pulled through the picot instead of the top cord. There was some problems when it came to cut and tie the tails had to sewed through the ds which was tricky because the tightness of knotting. A tail should only be pulled through one set of knotting otherwise the ring will detach itself slighting from the chain.

On wednesday I was looking for some crochet/tatting yarn and found this instead Twilleys Goldfingering. Yarn with woven metallic thread I think is suitable for tatting but there is danger of the cord fraying. I used it for Rosemarie's Heart pattern and the yarn didn't fray some part snagged when pulled thorough the picot. Having a shuttle with a combine crochet hook is bonus so I won't lose track of which is the shuttle or the top cord.
 Next I will try the SCMR which looks tricky on first glance hopefully it can mastered easily as the others.

Little note I am NOT addicted to videogames and MMOs  and rather use the time for crafting. If anyone is addicted it's the selfish moron I have to put with she used the internet till 4.00a.m! and plays on the Wii before 7.00p.m.
Crafting FTW.

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My attempts at tatting.

On Tuesday I finally made an attempt at tatting, at the moment I'm using the shuttle method later on I will try the other method needle tatt and also I brought a beginners guide on the subject. My first impressions were it is tricky and after a while I quickly got the hang of it. Still don't understand how the shuttle thread picks up the first thread to form a loop it just does. If the shuttle thread is caught usually means something is wrong.

I didn't follow the instructions properly and forgot to reverse the chain before a ring. I had the problem of loose thread and shrinking length of thread loop while the ring was being tatted. Solved this problem of starting close the end of the chain and lengthen the loop by reverse pulling the thread.

At first I didn't like making rings because they took a long time to make but usually I find the tatting process is very quick to complete compared with cross stitching. I discovered by pulling the thread of the chain I can keep the tatting more uniformed. Here's my second attempt at first edging.

I feel like with each practise I'm being more confident at tatting. Last night I attempted the medallion motif which involves the joining of rings via picots. I finally figured how the picot gauge works because the measurements were in Imperial only by measuring with a ruler was whole thing clear. Don't understand why America kept Imperial measurements here in the UK the metric system was adopted decades ago. Never mind I usually figure out these things out. The Gundam Wing Zero paper model still isn't finished because a piece was lost. The whole thing is almost complete I need to assemble the wing structure.
Things have been slow because I haven't slept well since last Wednesday and discovered the wonders of online RPGs- check my mailart blog for more details.

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