NB's The Charm of Tatting at Round 3

This is an update of the Norma Benporath pattern, The Charm of Tatting, at round 3.

I decided to use two shuttles for this round since there are thrown rings in it.  I did start with shuttle-and-ball and utilise the shoe-lace trick (SLT) but the resulting effect is not to my liking, as shown below.

 The one on top is tatted with shuttle-and-ball.  What I get are 'kinks' in the chains where the thrown rings are.  Compare those with the smooth chains when tatted with two shuttles.  That is why I almost always choose to work with two shuttles when there are rings on the upper side of chains, unless the construction of the design requires that I do a SLT.

Another interesting feature that I have found of NB's patterns is the way the join is made when two rings are joined to the same picot.

What I have seen often is just as it is - two rings joined to the same picot.  But NB's joins are slightly different in that a small picot is made immediately after the first ring is joined to the picot, with only one double-stitch between the join and the picot.

 

The second ring is then, first joined to the small picot of the first ring and then to the picot of the chain that was already joined by the first ring.  Looking at the work so far, I think this method of joining gives a firmer result in the sense that the tow rings do not 'wobble'  and lay flat.

There will be one more round after this, the scallop round, and this piece will be done.

My problems with Blogger in Chrome seems to be getting worse.  I still cannot leave comments and this time it doesn't matter if I was using the old interface or the new interface.  I've been trying to leave comments on some blogs that I have read but when I click 'publish', it just disappeared like I have not been there.  Every time I click 'view blog' from the dashboard it will show that I have not signed into my blog.  I cannot click the pencil icon below the post from my blog page to edit the blog because it is not there anymore.

So, I have gone back to using Firefox and all the above have disappeared.  I can't recall why I changed to Chrome in the first place!

Malaysian Tatters Meet in BBBangi

It was an wonderful Saturday morning when the first group meet of Malaysian Tatters was held in Bandar Baru Bangi.  I have been tatting for almost 10 years now and during most part of that 10 years it felt like I was a lone tatter in this country.  I have met a few other tatters but they are more into other crafts and needlework.  I was longing to have some tatter-chat where tatting is the main topic of conversation.  Through personal contacts and online social network, I managed to bring together a number of people who are tatters and are interested in tatting.

We had our meet at a fast-food outlet (not mentioning the name here, but you'll know from the pictures).  When I arrived, at least three were already there.  Some I have not met in person, only through the different online groups, but somehow I just know who they are.  Haven't you experienced that sometimes?

I brought with me some shuttles and thread, lots of tatting books and a small booklet that I prepared for the beginners. Started with introducing the double stitch and was happy to see that all of them managed to get it although at different level of capabilities.

I finally met Surya of Sunshine Crafts for the first time though I have visited her blog many times. We had a customer of the outlet who came over to see what we were doing and stayed on to learn some tatting.

Here are some photos taken during the gathering.

Surya is the one with tatting in her hands 

Zalita (left) tatted left-handed but managed to follow my right-handed instructions, seen here with Umi (centre) and Zunaidah (right) and Mikko (stooping over)

Surya, K Nora and her sister with Zarina's HDT on the table

Showing the flip to Bee and Ina (both seated)

Rozi (left) managed to pick up tatting from online videos and produced some lovely pieces .  Naza  (right) caught the concept of the ds quite quickly too.

... as did Fid (left) and Mikko (right)

I was unravelling a thread to show the different plies in the tatting thread.

Zarina taking a look at an Aero Shuttle 

Time flies when you are having fun.  We started at 10.30 in the morning and before we knew it it was already past 2.00pm and time to leave. It was certainly a fruitful and enjoyable four hours.  There will be more of such meetings, that I am very sure.

You Will Always be Remembered

In Memory of Gina Brummet, the Tatting Goddess

I only know Gina through her blog,

 Threads of a Tatting Goddess

She had been generous and encouraging with her comments on mine.  

There had been a number of e-mails exchanged.

Her views on tatting were precious and very much appreciated.

I was lucky to be a winner in one of her giveaways.

What she sent me will always be treasured,

as will all the knowledge on tatting that she willingly shared.

Gina, you will be missed.

The Charm of Tatting

This Norma Benporath pattern was published in the Queenslander on 15th November 1934.  As I wrote in the earlier post, I am going in blind with this one because the scanned picture from the newspaper only shows a big black square with what look like scratches of white for the tatting part.

Surprisingly, the instructions for the first two parts were quite easy to follow and translated very well into tatting.  I didn't have much trouble with it so far.  Here is the picture of the first two sections or rounds.

Thread is size 60 Anchor, with a Clover shuttle included for size comparison of the work.

The construction thus far is slightly different from the usual. The square motifs (with the eight rings) were made first as the foundation round, followed by the round on the inside of the squares.  The original pattern was intended as an edging where a number of square motifs are made and joined together to form a big square shape.  Then the inner edging is tatted all round.  On completion of the whole piece, a piece of linen is to be sewn to fill the empty space in the centre.

But, I am not aiming for the full works and decided that I'll make a doily out of this. So, I have reduced the number of square motifs to just 4 x 3 squares and tatted the inner edging, resulting in a small empty space in the middle.  I could have tatted two square motifs to fill the middle, but I will not be able to show you the inner edging as per the pattern.  I will decide later if I want to leave the space as it is or fill it up with something or other.

The next two rounds needed a bit of thinking. I had to read the instructions for Round 4 to realise that I will need two shuttles for Round 3.  Reading the instructions, I made a sketch of Rounds 3 and 4 to make sure that I get a reasonable shape for the two rounds.

Sketch of Rounds 3 & 4

NB Edging No. 4 again, with beads

This the Norma Benporath edging No 4 from Five Dainty Designs again, but with beads added.

Thread used is DMC Dentelle 80 #3687, finished size is slightly over 10cm diameter

This will be attached to another project which I will share in a different post later.

After a number of reasonably easy Norma Benporath patterns from the Trove, I think I am ready for another challenging one.  And this time, I think I will be going in blind.  This is the pattern that I want to attempt, The Charm of Tatting, A New Border Design.  Click on the link to see if you agree with me.

Oh dear .. have I jumped in too deep?!!!

Five Dainty Designs - Edgings #3, #4 and #5

As I wrote earlier, the NB patterns that I have been tatting do not say when to reverse work or change shuttle, or even if two shuttles are required.  In this situation, a reasonably clear photo of the finished model is of great help.  In the case of these edgings, I found that using two shuttles greatly eased the method of construction to achieve the desired shape.

Edging No. 3 from Five Dainty Designs is an example that it can work in any which way.

Looking at the scanned photo from the newspaper, I know that two shuttles are required because there are also rings on the other side of the chains. For the 1st ring (above the chain in the pic), I reversed work after the ring at the bottom, made the 1st part of the chain, did not reverse and switch shuttle to make the ring on top of it, switch shuttle again to make the 2nd half of the chain.  The result is a smooth curve in the chain holding the ring.

For the 2nd ring, I did not reverse after the ring at the bottom but switched shuttle and made the 1st half of the chain.  Then, I reversed work and made the 2nd ring, reversed again and finished the 2nd half of the chain.You can see in the picture above that, these two different construction methods give a totally different effect to the chains attached to the single ring.

Edging No 4 is quite similar to edging No 2 in the design, except that the single rings are replaced by clovers.

Comparing the two methods of Edging No 3, I decided to go for the 2nd method of construction.  This edging also makes a pretty bookmark.

Edging No 5, is rather pretty too but, because of the width of the motif, is not suitable to be converted into a bookmark, I think.

All models are tatted with Lizbeth #40, Butterfly Breeze.

And where is Edging No 2, since there are five edgings in all?  I tatted a snippet of No 2 and found a mistake in the scanned instructions.  It was a very short piece and it got dropped somewhere before I could snap a picture of it.