That pesky final ring!

I have been practising, all of two days in fact, to understand the movements of the interlocking rings. My main issue was to get the rings to overlap in the same directions throughout, but all I was getting was this kind of imperfections.

I know there is a way to get it, but it just did not come to me.  After many tries, I had no problem following the video for the other rings, but that last ring is not getting it. 

Finally, I have it and the picture here proves it,

Notice how the rings are all overlapping in the same directions through out.

After much trial and mistakes and re-opening of rings, I realised that it is how the thread is wrapped round the fingers for the last ring that determines the final ring's overlap position.  I could not get that part clearly from the video.  

Here, I am sharing a picture of how I looped the thread round the fingers to make the final ring.

In this picture, the bottom-most ring is the first ring tatted and the right-most is the last ring before the final ring.

After you have cut the thread enough for the last ring, arrange the earlier rings so that they are overlapping correctly.  Pinch the rings with the thumb and first finger so that they don't move.  Take the thread for the final ring and bring around the fingers. Pass the end through the first ring from below upwards, down under the last ring made and up over it. Make the final ring and close as usual.  Straighten the rings out as required.

Added later:  Just to confuse you further,

If you go to the video, just before closing each ring, the shuttle is passed through the finger loop.  I realised that the direction that the shuttle is passed through, upwards or downwards, will determine the direction of the overlap in the rings.  The direction of my overlaps is achieved by passing the shuttle upwards.

By jove! Have I got it?

Continuing from previous post,
I think so ... do you?

This picture should explain what I was trying to achieve, i.e. getting the rings to overlap in the same direction all round.

Now, can I tat this again? hmmmm .......
Karen Cabrera's video showing how to do this is here.

All in a twist

First read about it in Frivole's blog.
Then she posted her Eureka moment, hurray!
Fox commented that she got it by accident.
Then Frivole is all confused again, hah!
Michelle did it with the long and skinny.
And Louine thought she only need the needle for it.
And I am still in a twist.


Before your mind wanders away, here is what the buzz is all about.

Ever since Frivole wrote about the interlocking rings from Karen Cabrera's video, I have been trying to get my rings to do just that.  After the 9th attempt I still can't see it coming......  urggggghhh .......  I know I said nine attempts but these three are the only one close enough.  That last ring really did me in!

A Tale of Two Doilies

Doily No. 1

I have always wanted to tat the pattern Mat #34 from the DMC Book of Charted Tatting Designs ever since I saw Tattycat's version of it so many years ago.  You can see it here and here. I couldn't at that time because I don't have the book.

I finally got me the book last year but did not tat it right away because of other on-going projects.  Finally managed to start on it a few weeks ago. As it was, I picked a HDT and soon enough ran out of thread as I had blogged earlier.  I picked a yellow/lemon solid colour to continue and here it is at Round 6 of 7 rounds.

I think it is going along great with the yellow, even though not as colourful as Tattycat's.

Doily No. 2

I was attracted to Norma Benporath's(NB) pattern that were published in the Trove, firstly by the beautiful designs, and secondly for the challenge of deciphering patterns written in the old style.  I have attempted a few of the patterns, and came out tops here and not so here.  If you want to view all blog entries on my attempts of Norma Banporath's pattern, click on her name on the tags section on right side of the blog.

And here is the latest attempt.  As you can see, I have chosen to use the gold coloured thread for this round, and after reading all your comments, I plan to use the pink as well later. However, I may have to cut this latest round off and start again.  And, the yellow lines?  I will explain.

A characteristic of NB's designs, as observed from the patterns on the Trove, is the use of stand-alone 3-rings or 4-rings clusters as used here.  Each set of 4-rings is tatted individually, so imagine the number of ends to hide just for this round, 12 pairs to exact.  I chose to utilise the splits rings again for this round which I think will work nicely.

Now, these rings are really big, from 33ds in the smallest ring to 54ds in the biggest, with picots every 3ds.  That is too much to handle, so I decided to tat without picots except for the joining picots.  It is hard enough to close large rings, let alone trying to keep all the picots in shape.

The reasons for cutting them off ..

• When I counted the ds to determine the position of the joining picots, I miscounted the number in one of the rings (marked A).  Notice the odd shape compared to B?
• Continuing with the same ds count, I have the feeling that this row will ruffle and not stay flat.  You can see  from the yellow lines that the outermost rings (on left and right) have exceeded the span of what it should be.  I will be reducing the ds count in this row, hoping that it will not affect the next row. Will see about that when I get there.

... to be continued

NB Doily Progress

I finished the centre wheel motif up to Round 1 of the NB Doily from the previous post.

I want to use a solid colour for the next round and can't decide between these two.

Getting back to NB

After a long break, I thought I'd challenge myself with another Norma Benporath pattern.  This is the pattern that I am attempting, A Versatile Tatting Design.  As the title says, it is indeed a versatile design because it is a composite of several designs that can stand on their own.  There is a circular medallion which can be tatted in two sizes, an oval motif and an edging.

Thread is Lizbeth size 40 - can't recall the name right now.

This is the centre of the piece, the basic wheel motif.  As usual, I always have trouble working with bare thread spaces and it happened with this one, too.  It took me four attempts to get to the shape that I am happy with.  Once again, working with multi-coloured thread have resulted in an interesting arrangement of colours, though it is all unplanned.   Can you see the square shape formed by the same coloured parts of the thread? 
As with early patterns, the instruction was to make the centre ring, cut and tie, then start with the wheel design. Using two shuttles and split rings, I have managed to start with the centre ring all the way to the next round without cutting.

How to compare the thickness of two different thread

Remember this Mat #34 from here?

Marilee left a comment that I have three colour choices to proceed with this doily - green, white or yellow.
I have a ball of solid yellow that I think matches one of the colours of the HDT of the doily.

But the HDT that I used for the doily was marked size 30 and this yellow ball of thread is size 40.  However, when I feel both threads with my fingers, I think they are about the same size.  


From experience, I know that sometimes the thickness of thread show a difference even though the labels say that they are of the same size.  So, I did the number-of-rolls-round-a-pen test with these two thread to find out if they are of equal thickness.

I roll one thread 20 times round a pencil, and push the thread so that the strands lie side by side without actually squeezing them up and do the same with the other thread round a pen (don't have another pencil handy).  Putting them side-by-side like this, I can see that the thickness of the 20 strands of thread is about equal, the yellow solid on the left and the HDT on the right.

I think it is safe for me to use the yellow solid to continue with the doily.

More from MK and an unfinished doily

I was tatting Posy from Tatting with Visual Patterns and I must say that it is a good pattern to practice making joins at awkward angles.  I also found out that the way I usually make this join, the folded join, did not work with this pattern. When I need to make this type of join, I have the rest of the tatting in the cup of my hand and the picot I am joining to is right on top. But doing it this way resulted in my thread laying above the work, where as I need it to be beneath it. I had to change my method slightly to have the shuttle thread where I want.  And, despite this slight change, it turns out to be rather easy piece of tatting.

Next, I have below the Spinning Wheel Glass Mat from the same book, all done.

Lastly, a picture of a doily that I was working on a few weeks back.

This is Mat no. 34 from the DMC Book of Charted Tatting Designs by Kirstine & Inge Nikolajsen. This is only up to Round 3 of the doily out of seven rounds all together.  Could not proceed much further because I have run out of this particular thread.  I am still considering what to do next with this one.  I have a ball of yellow that is quite close to the yellow of this thread but it is size 40 where as the one I used here is size 30.

Still need to work on hiding those ends though,  .... not something that I like to do.  Wouldn't it be nice to be able to have someone just hiding ends ....... he he he.

Old Fashioned Heart done and a few others.

The Old Fashioned Heart mentioned in the previous post is part of a collection of hearts that I am tatting, as shown above.
Mary Konior's Queen of Hearts is easily recognisable in the picture.  The top two are the individual motif of the Rainbow Heart bookmark by Betsy Evans. Below them on the right is the finished Old Fashion Heart by Etha Schuette.  And lastly, the Happy Heart by Frivole.

All are wonderful designs and very enjoyable to tat.  Thank you to the designers.

"Old Fashioned Heart"

Finally started on the "Old Fashioned Heart" designed by Etha Schuette. Just finished the inner part of the heart,

Thread is Apple Blossom HDT by Tatskool, #20

But Fox's version is way more cool with the beads in it, which you can see here.
Will be continuing with the outer part tomorrow.

Spinning Wheel Glass Mat again, and other things

I was tatting this Mary Konior pattern and notice this as I tat.

Lizbeth Springtime #20

I am tatting this with shuttle and ball and doing the SLT at each turn on the outside and the inside.  As I was tatting this, I notice the rings in the centre are in the colours following the colour flow of the thread - another surprise from using multi-coloured thread.


On other matters, I have changed my browser from Firefox to Chrome after I saw the notice from Blogger  saying that Firefox will not be supported by Blogger and I may experience problems blah blah blah. .... The thing is, I used Chrome before and had problems with my blog (couldn't leave comments is one of them) and switched to Firefox, which I had no problems with.  I guess, I'll just have to wait and see if the earlier problems resurface after this.


Regarding leaving comments, I wish that Blogger can put in a "Like" button somewhere at the end of blog posts.  I make sure to read the tatting blogs that I am following, and some that I do not follow regularly.  Sometimes there are posts that I like but I am not articulate enough to compose a comment.  So, I just want to be able to click "Like" to say that I like what was written.

Verifying my tutorial instructions

I received a comment from a needle-tatter that my instructions for wrapping stitches round a plastic ring using a needle does not work.  This is the tutorial that I am referring to.

I have gone over the steps again and have not found anything that may not work.

A small example of what I did following the steps that I have given

However, I am not a needle tatter.  When I wrote this, my mind may have been working as a shuttle tatter and there may be aspects of needle-tatting that I don't know about.

When I first wrote that tutorial I did asked for some tatters to test it and have not received any comments that it cannot be done the way I explained.

Please, I am requesting from some needle-tatters who are reading this, to test the instructions for me again.  This is important because these instructions are also included in my book Tatting With Rings.  That book was published several years ago and I have not received any comments regarding this part of the instructions since then.  I am in the process of revising the book and if indeed there are errors, this will be a good time to make the amendments.

Thanking you for all the help.

Patterns from my books in pdf

I have received several requests from tatters who wanted to know if I can sell the patterns from my book in individual pdf files.

I would like to say that there are some new developments regarding my books which are currently in pdfs.  I am working towards producing the books in professionally printed form. It is a rather long process because I need to re-look at all my charts and text so that the layout I use is compatible with the printing company's requirements.  There is still some way to go before I can complete the steps for all three books.

Once that is on its way, I will then seriously consider having the patterns in the books sold as individual pdfs.   If would greatly helps if I can get some views from tatters on this suggestion (of having individual pdfs).

Thank you for any suggestion and feedback offered.