Ruth Scharf, Blatter, Tischband .....

I recently completed a project from one of Ruth Scharf's two books.  I have had the Ruth Scharf's books for a while now but have not attempted anything from it. I guess I was slightly intimidated by the look of the leaves pattern.  As it turned out, it was quite easy after all. I just need to refer to the stitch count frequently though, to make sure I did not miss anything.  It did not help that the book was written in German.

 The pattern above is from the book on the left in the photo below. 
 

I had not anticipated the flurry of interests it caused when I posted about this in my Facebook page, Tat-a-Renda, because it was not a newly-released book.  In fact, there was a tat-along of one of the patterns from the book organised by blogger Umi & Tsuru way back in 2012, the Tischband Tat-along. A number of tatters participated in that Tat-along but I didn't.

As far as I know the books are out of print but one of my Facebook page readers contacted Ruth Scharf's family and received the good news that they are still available upon request. This is the reply that Harriet Pollak received from Volker Scharf on her enquiry about the book.

"There are two different of my mother’s tatting books for sale.
1) Occhi - Blätter, Streifen, Pfeile, Bänder, Zacken (german)
2) Occhi - Neue Blätter (german, translation in english as inlay)

Each 20 € plus 8 € shipping cost. Payment via paypal.
If you like to order please please let me know which one and how many you like and send me your paypal email address and your postal address"


If anyone reading this is also interested in the book, please contact Volker Scharf for more information at this e-mail address, Volker.scharf@t-online.de

A little more about the book that I have:
The two books are written in German but an English translation was provided as insets for the 2nd book, Neue Blatter. There are only minimal diagrams/charts in the book. The charts are for the construction of the leaves and similar panels.  The instructions for the actual pattern (doilies) are not charted.

Tat-a-Renda Tat-along Doily

This doily was first posted in my Facebook page as a tat-along.

• Thread: Olympus Gold Special, 2 balls. 
• Tools: Shuttle, 2 shuttles in certain rounds. I tatted this with shuttles but I believe needle-tatters should be able to tat this with no problems. 
• Techniques: Rings, Chains, Thrown Rings, Split Rings (Optional), Split Chains (Optional), lock joins (besides the regular join). 
• Finished size: 28cm.

This tat-along doily can be tatted with shuttle-and-ball except for rounds 4, 9 and 11, where two shuttles will be required because there are thrown rings in these rounds. Additional techniques used, besides rings and chains, are thrown rings and lock joins. You can cut and tie after each round but you can continue into the next rounds without cutting by utilising split chains and split rings where suitable.

Round 1:
All rings are (7+3-3-7), joined to each other as shown in the photo.
All chains are (4-4-4-4).

Round 2:
The rings are all (4+4-4-4) and joined where shown.
One ring is joined to the middle picot in the chain from Rd 1, in a three-rings repeat.

Round 3:
All rings are (2-2-2-2+2-2-2-2) joined to the chain in Rd 2, as shown in the photo.

Round 4:
This round is slightly different and needs two shuttles because there are thrown rings in the chain.
The chains are attached with a lock join to the middle picots of the chains in Rd 3.
The small thrown ring is (2-2-2-2).

Do Not cut the thread after this round as you can continue into Rd 5.

Round 5:
This round is made up of all chains.
The stitch count for each repeat is (7-4-4-4-7), and a lock join to the space at the lock join in Rd 4.

Round 6:
All rings are (4-4+4-4) and joined as shown in the photo.

Round 7:
All rings are (2-2-2+2-2-2) and joined to Rd 6 as shown in the photo.
All chains are (5-5).

Round 8:
All rings are (2-2-2+2-2-2) and joined to Rd 7 as shown in the photo.
All chains are (3-3-3-3).

Round 9:
This round require two shuttle because of the thrown rings in it.

It starts with a join to the centre picot in any chain of Rd 8. For cases where I have to start this way, I make a lock join to the picot I am starting from and the subsequent picots.

Do not cut the thread after this round as you can continue into Rd 10 after this. (See notes for Rd 10 below).

All small rings are (2-2-2-2).
All chains are 5 ds before and after the small ring.

Round 10:
This is another all chains round that is joined (with a lock join) to the small space where the lock join is in the previous round.

Continue from where you end Rd 9 without cutting the thread.

This is a "tight round", meaning you'll have to snug up the double stitches in the chains real close before making that lock join.

Make small joining picots in the chains so that the chains before and after the lock join stand up well against each other.

Round 11:
You will need two shuttles for this round because of the small thrown ring in the chains.
Rd 11 is as Rd 9 with same stitch count.
The small rings are (2-2-2-2).
The chains are 5ds before and after the small rings, lock-joined to the picot in the chain of Rd 10.

Note: there will be a slight cupping of this round but it will flatten out when you do Rd 12.

Round 12:
This round is similar to Rd 10 with a different stitch count.

This is an all-chains round which I started by making a lock join to the picot in any chain of Rd 11.
The stitch count are (8-5-5-5-8) joining as shown in the photo.
As I wrote above, this round will flatten the cupping in Rd 11. The full photo up to Rd 12 was snapped without the need for blocking.

Round 13:
This is another all chains round.
Start with a lock join to a picot in the previous round and follow the stitch count given in the photo.
Note where the (3-3) chains and the (6-6) chains are in relation to the arches of the previous round.

Round 14:
This is the final round of the tat-along.

Moving right-to-left in the photo; reverse work after each ring/chain. Please refer to the photos on where the joins are.

1. R(2-2-2+2-2-2), C(4)
2. R(3-2+2-2-5), C(4-4)
3. R(5+2-2-5), C(4-4-4)
4. R(5+2-2-5), C(4-4)
5. R(5+2-2+2-3), C(4)
Repeat from step 1 for the next pattern repeat.

Hello again

I have been neglecting my blog for a some time now - almost two years. I have been spending a lot of time on my Facebook page, Tat-a-Renda (https://www.facebook.com/tatarenda.my/).

I have no reason to explain my absence from here but I hope to update this blog more regularly from now on.
For starters, I will be posting pictorials of this doily that I created as a tat-along in my Facebook page. It will be a post after this entry.

The Wedding

2017 has been a rather exciting year so far for me.  I got to travel twice, to Japan (as I had blogged about earlier) and then to Nordic countries during July. Photos of my Nordic travel will be in another post.

To top it up, my daughter was married in October.  Following are some photos of the event.

Walking into the reception hall.
The marriage solemnisation was conducted earlier in the day.

Seated on the wedding dais

'Bunga telur' - customary at Malay weddings

All in the family

Beautiful friends came to share the joy

More beautiful friends who helped with the preparation

Friends who go back more than 45 years, still looking pretty as ever.
The one on the right was my tatting buddy when we were 10yo.

A close-up of the flower stalks that made up the 'bunga telur'

The 'bunga telur' is customary to have for weddings in Malaysia as a way of wishing a full wedded life for the couple blessed with many children. Literally translated, 'bunga telur' means 'flower (bunga) egg (telur)' or a flower with an egg attached to it.  Traditionally, hard-boiled eggs are used encased in netted pouches and attached to a flower stalk. The flowers are usually made of fabric/paper/plastic.

I decided to be different and asked a friend who makes soap to make some egg-shaped soaps.  These are the blue ones that you can see in the past photo above.  Instead of netting, I tatted the egg pouches used to hold the eggs. Well, what can you expect from a tatter!

It took me about seven months to that 150 pieces of the egg pouches. I tatted when I went to Japan, and when I was in Norway, Sweden and Finland. I only did the tatting pouches while the flowers, which are made of crepe paper, were ordered earlier because paper craft is beyond me.

All things done, it was a beautiful reception and everyone appears to be having a very good time.

Doublestitch brush

As most may know, I like to design my own tatting patterns.  You may see these patterns under the respective tabs in this blog. Sometimes I write the patterns in full and publish them together with charts, sometimes they are only in chart form.  Personally, I prefer charts to fully written pattern as I am more of a visual person and can grasp things quicker when I see a chart or a diagram or a tabulation in the discussion.

I have just finished a major tatting project and have some time at hand, at least before I am tempted to pick up the Monster doily again after putting it away for the recently completed project.

I draw my tatting chart/diagram using the computer software Serif Draw+ X5.  There is a later version but I don't really feel the need to change this to the newer version.

Anyway, this software has a 'brush' feature where you can draw lines or outline of shapes in different style/pattern. Here is  sample of embroidery stitches available with the software,

But, there is none for the doublestitches in tatting! So, I experimented with creating my own brush and this is what I managed to do.

This is how it looks as a flower.  This flower is drawn using the quick shape feature of the software.

Obviously, there are still lots of tweaking to do. In fact, I am not totally sure if this will come handy for my charts because of the different stitch counts in the different elements of the pattern.

Still, I find this kind of interesting considering that I am not a trained designer and learn as I go on how to use this software.

Oh, you are waiting to see a photo of the major tatting project!
That will be a later post, sorry .......

I was in Japan

Warning: photo-laden post coming up

A small group of old school friends, seven of us, decided to visit Japan early April.  We particularly wanted to catch the beautiful sight of the sakuras, and boy we sure did.  I am going to let the photos tell the story - not in the sequence that it had taken place

Entrance to the Osaka Castle

Found a piece of the homeland here

Chanced upon a monthly fleamarket at the railway station on the way to Nara

Was amazed at how tall and straight the bamboos shoot up to the sky

Bamboo groves - looking up as Arashiyama, Kyoto

Bridge over the Oi River, Arashiyama

Supposedly the oldest sakura tree in Kiyomizudera Park, Kyoto

A geisha at Gion Street, Kyoto.  Can't imagine how she can walk wearing that kind of shoes.

Himeji Castle, Himeji

The fishes, in clear water of the pond  in Koko-en Garden, Himjei

We feasted on the sakuras - Koko-en Garden

In the park leading to Himeji Castle

Leading to the Tokyo Tower

Went up the mountain to walk in the Ogimachi Village - a UNESCO heritage site

Took a ride on the Shinkansen bullet train for the first time and a couple more times after that

On one occasion, we had the whole coach of the Sinkansen to ourselves.

Another first - tasted onigiri, the japanese fast food on the go.

And to round it up, this was waiting for me when I returned from the trip.