Saturday, February 26, 2011

A Few More Rounds

Happy Weekend to you all!

I'm still working on the large doily. Yesterday it was a hot mess because I have not blocked it yet. Here's yesterday's mess...



So, I started the next round connecting to the previous round. It really helped make sense of the pattern. Come to find out...you might have seen this in Rhona's hanky which I tatted several months ago.



And for a close-up



Oh...and one more thing. I'm tatting an Anne Orr pattern from the 1930's. It's the large table doily on the cover of Tatting with Anne Orr. I've got two more rows before the round motifs around the outside.

Have a wonderful day!
j.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

1 & 2 & 3 &...AAaaarrrrrrGGGggghhhhh!!! pick & pick & pick & ...!

Well,
The pattern I'm working on calls for the next round to consist of twenty some motifs based on a four ring pattern....close, tie, and cut. I've chosen to use two shuttles and work with split rings and a mock picot to 'jump' to the next motif. You can see it here.



Problem is, I'm having a difficult time with the fourth ring in each motif. It's a split ring preparing to 'jump'. I'm twisting the stitches somehow. a couple questions: 1. do you do a down join for the second half of the ring, and 2. do you start with the second half of the double as you begin the second half of the split ring?...am I being clear here?

Look close and you'll see the mess...don't zoom in and maybe it'll look o.k. There is another round of these motifs later in the pattern..so, I've got practice ahead of me.

Also, I counted the picots in the previous round...guess what...not enough. WHAT?!!! How could that possibly be? I counted and counted and then looked close at the pattern....SHE fudged it!!...so, my perfectionist self must be content with the same.

Have a great day!!
john

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Round and round we go!

Well, here's the latest installment.



I've completed the two rounds tatted completely with chains.



You can see from the shadow in the second picture how the inner motif is cupping...again, I'll worry about that later.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Chug, Chug, Chug...

Well, chugging along on the doily. The time of rings and space has now come to an end. The next two rounds are chains only.



I'm very happy with this so far....Except, It has begun to 'cup' a bit. I hope blocking will take care of that concern.



What can I do in the future to avoid the cupping effect? shorter blank space? shorter picots? longer picots? What are your thoughts?

Happy Day!
John

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Off to a new challenge

Greetings to you all!

Recently, tatting has been a bit tangential...meaning, I started the artisan phase of the T.A.T. program and have now drifted to a different 'major' project. I completed all 18 of the picot exercises and started the Self Closing Mock Ring (SCMR) piece. I accomplished the learning, worked through the project and quickly realized it will take a few tries to perfect the overall desired look. Ergo, I got bored and am now working on another project.

So, here is the beginning....




A fun quiz, can you tell me by looking at this, what it is I'm working on?... I think the pattern is out there and frequently tatted. So, who's pattern is it?




I'll keep posting pics of my progression and will chat ya'll up from time to time.

I hope you are all well and enjoying the approach of spring.