September update

What an exciting month September 2019 has been. Palmetto Tat Days, a new grandson and a trip to Canada for Fringe Elements Tat Days. No more tatting events until April. In the next few weeks I need to get busy writing up teaching proposals for 2020. Karey Solomon says there is an interest in the Cro-tat I taught in New York (Finger Lakes Tatting) last spring so I need to come up with something to teach.

For the Fringe Elements event, several of my Face Book Tatty friends made tatted hats. It started with the two Carolyn's in Indiana showing a picture of their hats. .


It became an I will if you will sort of thing. My tatting travel buddy Mary Anna got in on the game. When I got to her house Wednesday prior to heading North to Canada, we showed  off our hats, and then Mary Anna decided the hats needed to be embellished. She gave me a tatted butterfly (Nina Libin pattern) sitting on a silk flower for my hat. Then she called Jane (Canadian tatter) and asked if Jane had a mouse she could put on her hat. We got a little crazy.

All hats are patterns from Jan Stawasz. I left off the last 2 rounds on mine.

 Mary Anna added a large mouse, butterfly on a flower and a needle lace flower to her hat.

I did not get a picture of Jane's hat, which also had a mouse on it. Bernice's hat can be seen on her blog.

Edging with shuttles

After working the edging/insertion via needle tatting for a fellow Face Book tatter. I worked the same pattern using shuttles.

Pattern requires two shuttles.


Begin at upper left of diagram and going left to right for rings A, B, C , D 


Ring A         2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 - 2 RW

Chain  14 – 6 Reverse Work (RW) and Switch Shuttles  (SS) join to middle picot of ring A , chain 20 RW


Ring B   2 – 2 – 2 + (to area of chain joined to ring A) 2 – 2 – 2   close ring 
 DNRW (Do Not Reverse Work)


Ring C    2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2  RW


Chain   14 – 6  RW and SS join to picot on ring C.  chain 6  join to the first chain you made  14    RW


Ring D   2 – 2 – 2 + (join to previous chain area where ring C was joined) 2 – 2 – 2 close ring DNRW


Ring E   2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 



Ring E is the same as ring A and begins the sequence of the pattern again.  The chain following ring E will join to the chain beside it.



Notes: A lock join could be used when joining the long chains, but I found that reversing the work and then doing a regular join made for a smoother looking transition. I tried several ways of making the join at the junction of ring/chain/ring. Reaching around the chain and into the ring’s picot looked OK. Putting a placeholder (paperclip) to hold open a little space on the chain until you got back to make the join
 worked best for me.

The more I tat and teach, the more I learn. Sample was needle tatted with Lizbeth size 10 and Havels size 6 needle. It has not been blocked. 

The above diagram appeared with a question on one of the FaceBook Tatting groups. This edging/insertion pattern is one I have seen many times in older tatting books.  Here is my interpretation for needle tatting this pattern.


Begin at upper left of diagram and going left to right for rings A, B, C , D

Ring A         2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 - 2 turn and tie

Chain  14 – 6 turn and tie join to middle picot of ring A , chain 20 turn & tie

Ring B   2 – 2 – 2 + (to area of chain joined to ring A) 2 – 2 – 2   close and tie. DNRW (Do Not Reverse Work)

Ring C    2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2  close, turn and tie

Chain   14 – 6  Turn and tie off then join to picot on ring C.  chain 6  join to the first chain you made  14    Turn and tie 

Ring D   2 – 2 – 2 + (join to previous chain area where ring C was joined) 2 – 2 – 2 close ring and tie off, DNRW

Ring E   2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2  



Ring E is the same as ring A and begins the sequence of the pattern again.  The chain following ring E will join to the chain beside it.



Notes:   When I first looked at  this pattern diagram,  I thought Lock join for the chain to ring join. I tried this, but in order to have my threads in the proper position  to continue I had to then tie a second shoelace trick. This did not look nice.  I then realized if I tensioned,  reversed and  tied off the chain, a regular join would work and threads would be positioned to continue the chain with the desired curvature.



I am a Front side/backside tatter. Every time I reverse the work, I reverse the order of my double stitches.

Holding a piece of History.

This afternoon I began teaching a 98 year old knitter how to needle tat. We began forming double stitches with size 10. She had a bit of trouble, so we switched to size 3. She did better with the larger thread, and using her thumb to form the stitches.  By the end of the hour, Thelma was making double stitches and a few picots and was thrilled to have closed a couple of rings.

I held a piece of History in my hands. This bonnet was made for Thelma's mother. It was made in 1901. That makes it 118 years old. I think it's size 80 thread.

We  put her smallest mixing bowl inside for the photo.  It is all rings and bare thread spaces. No chains. Decorative picots are only used on the final round.

In the bag with the bonnet was this shuttle. I think it is celluloid, it is more blue than it looks in my photo.  Treasures! I got to look at, and hold and examine a piece of tatted history. 

Hybrid Tatting

2019 Is the year that I ventured into teaching Tatting. It took a push from my knotty friend Maryanna Robinson. She urged me to apply to teach at the Shuttlebirds tatting event in Post Falls Idaho back in May. I was accepted and the rest is history.

I taught a Hybrid Bracelet at ShuttleBirds and at Tatting Corner Tat Days (Chesterfield Indiana). I taught two classes at each event. My students learned the technique and seemed to enjoy the class. I have posted a few pictures on Facebook and been asked about the technique. Now that I'm finished teaching for the year, it's time to share. 

This technique was developed by a Puerto Rican Tatter named Rosario Ruiz Moreno. Wally Sosa taught the technique at Palmetto Tat Days 2017. I was able to take the class. I went home and played with the technique and realized it would be easy to put a bead between the split rings.  

Shuttle tatted split rings require 2 shuttles. For this bracelet you have a shuttle on one end and a needle on the other of your continuous thread.  Beads that your tatting needle will go through are on your shuttle.  For class we used size 10 thread and size 5 needle. I made kits with flower beads   from Fire Mountain. My friend Di used 6/0 beads from her stash.  

After making a regular ring in the middle of the two tools, begin making hybrid split rings. 

The first half of the slit ring is cast onto the needle using the needle thread (as though one were making true rings)  

The second half of the hybrid split ring is made using the shuttle to form the stitches on the needle, wrap the needle as if you were doing the second half of a split ring (no flipping involved)

My sample shows the needle thread in gold and the shuttle thread in light purple just before closing my ring. Note the needle thread forms a loop below my tatting.

After all the stitches are on the needle, carefully slide all stitches off the eye of the needle. Ring will close itself -- just like a needle tatted true ring. 

Slide first bead from shuttle, put the needle through the bead and place bead against your completed rings. Place the needle on the bead and begin your next Hybrid split ring.  Make as many rings as needed for your bracelet with a plain ring at the end for your findings (toggle, clasp). 

I remembered to take a picture at the end of the class at ShuttleBirds. My students did well. I had students who did not needle tat, one who did not shuttle tat but all were successful in learning the technique. This was a terrific learning experience for me. For easier handling of these large, odd shaped beads, I found it best to use a larger shuttle like a Starlit. 

I'm still here

Oh my! I just realized it has been 4 months since my last post. Once again my blog has been neglected. I will try and do better. I check other blogs daily and enjoy seeing what other tatters are making. It is only fair that I share also. I guess I need deadlines or something.
   

This past weekend was Tatting Corner's Tat Days in Indiana. These are my purchases.  The white shuttles were from Patricia Greninger - these were made on her 3-D printer.

I didn't buy much this time. ( I have a nice thread stash already) I got:
3 balls of size 10 Lizbeth
1 ball size 3 Lizbeth
Pack of Havels tatting needles (The size 6 is my favorite!)
Size 9 Tatting needle (It might never come out of the package as I prefer to use size 20
Little scissors (actually bought 2 of them, but one immediately went in my tatting bag)
Needle threader (always keep a spare)
Wally's new book.
2 skeins of Karey Solomon's hand painted thread in size 20.

Moving along

Round 6 is completed. And so is round 7 

 

Progress

Round 5 of the Jon Yusoff tat-a-long is finished.

Round 4

Progress continues on Jon Yusoff's Tat-a-Long doily. This round has lots of lock joins (as do some of the following rounds. I am bothered by blips of color in my joins. I use Jane Eborall's  blipless join to avoid this. For lock joins, I usually pull up a loop for the join. I discovered that if I pull the loop Down, the blip of color in the lock join is less obvious. Who knew??

Tat-A-Long

Jon Yusoff is hosting a Tat-a-long doily on Facebook. I have joined in the fun. Here are my first 3 rounds. I am using a ball of Manuela size 20 in a lovely shaded blue color. I only have one ball so I hope the doily does not get too large or I will have to use another color for the outer rounds. I love this thread - it's a nice Cordonnet but not as twisty as Lizbeth. 

Valentines

I've been making little hearts. Lots of little hearts. This pattern is from Gloria Nelson. I've shuttle tatted it, and needle tatted it. The smallest is size 40. The larger hearts are needle tatted in size 10. It's a great pattern for practicing needle tatting and for  emptying off shuttles too.

Finished gift

I have wanted to tat a pair of baby booties, but both my grandsons are boys. A special friend is expecting a baby girl next month, so this is my opportunity. The pattern is in Cathy Bryant's book. I used DMC Cordonnet in size 20. The booties are about 3 inches long. Hubby says they won't fit, guess I will find out when the baby gets here.

Teaching Tatting

I just registered for the Shuttle birds Tatting event in May. I'll be teaching needle tatting at the event. My first classis  basic needle tatting class -  We will make true rings as shown in the edging above with the bare thread spaces between the rings. Students will make a motif using the ring and chain method.  

My students will practice their new skills by making a snowflake with floating or non-floating rings.