The Evolution of a Snowflake

I thought I'd share with you the various stages that I went through with my snowflakes design, instead of just posting the finished one.

It began with this one. When I started, what I wanted to produce was the slight curve in the chain and I was thinking of something like a fleur-de-lis for the point of the snowflake. I think I managed to get the curve but wasn't happy with the point. That would be obvious because you can see that I tried several different ways for the points of the snowflake.


I finally decided on the style that I wanted and started on a new one. I wasn't happy with and cut off the thread before I got any further. The points were cuppping a bit, even though you can't really see it in the picture on the left.



Not happy with how it is taking shape, I decide to change the design a little. I made the picots of the centre ring long and change the form of the points. It seems to look okay but somehow not quite what I wanted. The chains that are holding the thrown-off ring are not in symmetry with each other. I think this may be due the self-closing-mock-ring. But I continued and finished it anyway. I wanted to see how the long picots spread out when joined. They looked like they are evenly distributed but now it is the thrown-off rings that I am not happy with. I think they have be held in place.

I did it all over again, and this time, instead of six picots in the centre ring, I made twelve. Well, eleven actually, because the last is a mock picot joining to a split ring used to climb out from the centre. And this is what I end up with. I am happy with it .... for the moment.


Though, if I were to make it again, I may join up the small rings together. Oh dear.... I hope I can remember where all the RW, DNR and the SS are. That is why I have to tat this again in order to write up the instructions.

More Snowflakes

I guess I just can't help myself when ideas are working in my head. And these are what came out over a few days last week.


These measure between 2.5 inches to 3 inches, working with Flora 20.

And I have not written/drawn out the pattern for these yet. I've always wanted to make sure I write/draw out the pattern after each design is tatted, but I am afraid I will lose my train of thought for the new ideas that are running in my head if I stop to write each one as they are made.

Now I have these five snowflakes to write the patterns for, and the seven that I made earlier, and a few more that I made during my first outing in the 25 motif challenge. Help!!!!

23 January 2008

Thank you all for visiting and leaving your comments.

Looks like the one at the bottom right is the clear favourite .. and it is my favourite, too. This is the first one from this group that I made. I am not good at giving names to my designs but this one will now be called The Twirl.

And yes, I am working on documenting the instructions.

An Analysis of a Vintage Design

I have looked at this design a number of times when flipping through the book Tatting with Anne Orr, but never felt like I want to tat it. I guess I was also intimidated by the way the instructions was written.

As luck would have it, I have some thread left in a shuttle with a reasonable amount in a ball, but not a lot for any big project. So, why not just do it and get it over with. Anyway, Mrs John has got me interested in trying out old designs, :-)

Surprise, surprise! I think this is a brilliant design. It is like an endless tatting. I can go on and on and on and make it as big as I want without any cutting and tying. The only time time I need to cut and tie is when I want to add thread to the shuttle.

And the stitch count for the rings and chain are consistent throughout. There is no need to go back to the pattern to check whether the stitch count is correct or not. After the first few rings and chains, I can forget about looking at the instructions page and just refer to the picture to see where to join next. And after a while, there is no need for the picture, even! To borrow JaneEb's term, this one can be made on auto-pilot.

But, can it be more than a triangular motif? Yes it can! Pardon me if I'm grinning ear to ear but I think this is beautiful even if I am the only one to say so ;-) For greater effect I may want to try again with two colours.


By adding an extra chain at the corner, I repeat the pattern for the triangle on the other side and it becomes a square. Didn't I say this is a brilliant design!

I love a Tatting Challenge

.... well, not exactly a challenge, but I was piqued by Mrs John when she wrote about the supposedly easy medallion motif from the Priscilla Book 2.

As I have some free time, and I am looking for medallions to tat anyway, I gave the pattern a try. Here it is all done -


Looking at the original pattern, there are three rounds - the small centre ring, the middle round where the long chains are, and the outer round with the clovers.

And my challenge here was to tat it from beginning to end without any 'tie and cut' in between rounds. And I did!

Rather than starting wirh the centre ring, I began with the long chain. I used two shuttle, wound CTM and slide a paperclip on the thread in between the two shuttle to hold a mock picot and start on the chain.

When I reach the part where the chain joins to the centre motif, I changed shuttle and make the centre ring. To make sure that the picots in the centre ring is long, I leave a short length of thread before starting this centre ring. And the rests of the picots in the ring will take this size. Then I continue with the rest of the chain and the small ring at the top of the chain, and follow the pattern as written.

After I have made seven of the small rings, I made the last chain, joining the length of chain on both sides, i.e to the previous chain and to the first chain. Then, I took out the paperclip at the beginning of the first chain and join the last chain to the mock picot made by the paperclip. The last small ring in this round is made as a split ring.

The last round is followed as written in the pattern.

To Mrs John, give this another try. It is a beautiful motif.

Goodbye ... and ......Hello!

Goodbye 2007 ...... Hello 2008.

Wishing all my tatting buddies and all crafting friends a very Happy New Year. May all of us be blessed with good health and happiness, and the new year be full of good tidings.

Thank you for allowing me to get to know you, in person or through your writings and through the e-mails that we have exchanged. I am looking forward to a more exciting 2008 and I hope that this friendship will go on for a very long time.

I have a few plans for the coming year -

1. Properly write down all the patterns for the tatting designs that I have come up with. Right now most are handwritten sketches and notes in my sketchbook.

2. Get a book out on tatting ... maybe.....

3. I will NOT stop designing, I promise.

4. Lose some weight, :-D - say another 5kg and not put it back on ha...ha.... I have to make sure I go for my 30 minutes brisk walking every morning.

6. Finish, yes.... really finish my WIP, especially the big tablecloth.


Yes, this one, and it has not even covered half of this 8-seater dining table. Hmmm... maybe getting a smaller dining table will get it finished faster.


I think I have my work cut out for the whole of 2008. Updates will come throughout the year.

More pictures

Not much to write - just photos ....

Snowflakes from Tatting with Anne Orr

Medallions - also from Tatting with Anne Orr. The square-shaped one needs blocking.

Two more medallions - own designs

A square doily for an exchange - from A new Approach to Tatting by Yusai Shokoin

Online Class Homework

Have not updated the pages here for a while but I am still tatting. The pictures here are the homework from the Online Tatting Class

This is Mary Maynard's butterfly pattern #3.


And this one is Nellie H Youngburg's butterfly made from the pattern re-written by Wally Soosa.


The third one is a bracelet using the pattern provided by Debbie Strickland. I used a size 10 thread with rose beads. The length is about 16cm (6.5 in), which can comfortably fit round a girl's wrist.

The patterns for the above are available at the site for the Online Tatting Class 2007 Lessons Index. You need to solve a puzzle first to get to the pattern for Mary Maynard's butterfly. Click on the Nov 27 Special Event Puzzle to get there. It is worth a visit.

I was also tatting more of the snowflakes shown earlier, this time in pastel shade of pink.