Beads and Ruffles

I made a couple more snowflakes from Vida Sunderman's book.

This is the "Beaded Snowflake". I really like how the shapes of the negative spaces jump out at you in this design. This was a very quick tat, too. Round 1 is so small and simple, it only takes a few minutes. Round 2 is all chains (those things that look like rings in round 2 are actually chains joined twice to the same picot; I like this look, which I consider to be a form of mock ring), so there's no unwinding and rewinding of the shuttle or reversing work. All the beads are on the ball thread, too, so you don't have to worry about spacing them on the shuttle (which I don't do well at all).

I couldn't take an in-focus photo of tatting to save my life this morning, so I had to use the scanner, even though I knew the beads would be too shiny to look good in a scan. They are Miyuki delicas in the brightest, shiniest silver color they make (the actual color name has worn off the tube). The pattern calls for size 10 thread, and I used size 20, which resulted in the beads being just a little more crowded, but not excessively so, I think. In fact, I like how the beads in the center sit right next to each other in a tight circle.

This is the "Ruffle-Edged Snowflake". I got lazy and didn't block this one, but I probably will, just for good measure. It lies pretty nicely without blocking, but it could be better.

The outer round is all in Victorian sets, but I did add a regular DS before and after each picot so the picots would sit straight. I also used size 20 Lizbeth for this one.

I have one more snowflake I'd like to tat from this book, and then they're all going in the mail tomorrow.

Elegant Snowflake

That's the name of this flake from the book Tatted Snowflakes by Vida Sunderman.

I like the shapes in this one. The middle looks like a daisy, and the points look like Christmas trees. It's all tatted in one pass, which is always good. I used Lizbeth size 40 in white, combined with Coats and Clark metallic thread in silver. I wish I could figure out how to get metallic threads to show up well in a photo.

This was the first tatting pattern book I ever bought, in 1996, in Bloomington, Indiana. I was 19 and had just learned to tat from a friend a few months previously. I chose this book because it was one of the few I could find at the bookstore-- the Internet was still in its infancy back then; there were few tatting websites, if any, and anyway I barely knew how to use a computer. So I had to buy whatever tatting books I could find, wherever I could find them, and work with whatever cheap crochet thread was available locally. The Jo-Ann's I worked at didn't even carry tatting shuttles, but we were able to special order one. And of course, I didn't even know that the thread I had wasn't any good. A year or two later, I got Internet access and discovered online craft retailers and DMC tatting thread, and vowed never to tat with cheap thread again.

I remember coming home from my very part-time job every day, to the badly-lit apartment I couldn't have afforded without my parents' help, and poring over this book and the other two tatting books I owned, trying to learn whatever I could. I must have read Elgiva Nicholls' book Tatting Technique and History a dozen times that year. And I did learn a lot from these few books-- how to work with beads, how to work with two shuttles, the continuous thread method, and how to properly work the ends in and block the tatting.

It's been a long time since I've pulled this book out, but I'm glad I did. It has a lot of really pretty snowflakes in it, and I plan to start using it more.

The Deadline Approaches...

Good news: Today is much sunnier than yesterday, and upon holding yesterday's snowflake up to the window, I found that the metallic thread does retain most, if not all, of its sparkle despite the lemon juice treatment. Yay!

Today's flake also has sparkle, this time from lots of seed beads.

This is Jon's Rings Only Snowflake with Beads. I printed this pattern out a long time ago, but for some reason I never made it till now. I'm glad I finally did. It's a pretty little design that's lots of fun to make.

I used Lizbeth size 20 in white, with Miyuki delica seed beads in pearl white.

If you want to make any snowflakes for Sandy Hook Elementary, remember that they need to be there by the 12th, so you'll need to get them sent off soon.

Working with Doubled Threads

Here's the latest snowflake, "Angels in the Snow"; see sidebar at right for pattern information.

You can't tell in the scan, but I used a doubled thread for this one. The main thread was DMC tatting thread (size 80), and I wound it onto the shuttles with a Coats and Clark metallic thread. The metallic is also white, so all it does is add some sparkle. It's a very fine thread, so you have to have really good light to see it; unfortunately, it's cloudy today. But I know it's there.

As metallic threads go, this Coats and Clark is pretty nice to tat with. As I said, it's very fine, so you definitely want to double it with a cotton. But it's very smooth, not excessively stretchy, and doesn't kink up like some metallics do. If you just want to add a subtle sparkle to a piece this would be a good choice.

When I wind a doubled thread onto two shuttles CTM, I always find that there is some difference in the lengths of the threads between the shuttles, no matter how carefully I have measured them and tried to wind them together.

I deal with this by simply cutting the slack thread halfway between the shuttles.

I then start tatting as normal and tat over the tails of this one thread.

This way, at least one of the threads is CTM, so I only have one pair of tails to cover instead of two.

As I was working, I found that a small section of the cotton thread was slightly discolored, just enough to look dingy compared to the rest of the snowflake. I went ahead and finished, and when I was done I soaked the flake in a baking soda solution. That didn't work, so next I tried lemon juice, on the theory that if a base doesn't work, try an acid. Well, the lemon juice got rid of the discoloration, but I'm afraid it took a little of the sparkle off the metallic thread. Or maybe it's just the clouds today; I'll check again later when it's sunny. Now I know what works on a cotton thread if I ever have the discoloration problem again; but if there's also a metallic thread involved, I'll either cut that section out or start over, depending on where I am in the pattern. Live and learn, and the snowflake looks fine regardless.

And Another

Today's flake is the "Criss-Cross Snowflake" by Frivole.

I often think that Frivole's snowflakes look more like real ones than most tatted snowflake patterns, and this one is no exception.

I used Lizbeth Blue Ice, number 163, in size 20.

I want all these snowflakes to be as close to perfect as I can possibly make them, so I've been using LadyShuttleMaker's very useful blocking template to block each of them. When using a template, you can get multiple uses out of a single print-out by covering it with waxed paper before you put the tatting on top of it. That way the template stays reasonably dry and doesn't get all wrinkled the way wet paper does.

Quantiesque

So fcddddddddddddddd=]]]]]]]]]]]]]]][-p

-- says Squijum

What I was intending to say was that so far, I seem to be putting blue accents in all my snowflakes for Sandy Hook. Makes me think of Diane. :)

This one is Jon Yusoff's "Quantiesque". It's such a pretty design, and this is the type of Celtic tatting that even a beginner could manage (although with this particular pattern, you do have to be comfortable with two shuttles, but it's all just rings and chains). You make the first two rounds separately and insert the one into the other, then add the third round to hold it all in place. Much easier, and in my opinion, more enjoyable than the other kind of Celtic tatting, where you have to weave a long chain around itself to form a Celtic knot. Well, to each their own, but I think we can all agree that Jon's design is gorgeous.

I used Lizbeth size 40, in White (601) and and Wedgewood Light (655).

I've also started a new knit, this time for myself.

Don't worry, I'll straighten out the curl in a couple of rows. And although there is a knitted hat in my near future, this is not it.

Snowflake for Sandy Hook

The National PTA is asking for donations of snowflakes for Sandy Hook Elementary School. They want to have the new building they will be using all decorated for when the students return. If every tatter could send in just one snowflake, that would be a lot! And of course, they want flakes in all sorts of media, so tell all your crafty friends! They need them by the 12th, so you'll need to send them off by the first week of January. Full details can be found here.

One thing, if you're going to do this. The plan is to decorate the school as a "Winter Wonderland", so the snowflakes need to look like snow; in other words, white, with maybe some silver or blue accents, but not rainbow colors. In Tatland, we have a tendency to call any 6-pointed motif a snowflake, even if it's tatted in green and purple. Nothing wrong with that for yourself; but if you want other people to recognize it as a snowflake, you should probably use snowflake colors, don't you think? Otherwise, it's just a motif.

I've made one flake already, and hope to do several more.

This is Frivole's "Regal" pattern. I used Flora size 20. The larger beads have tiny little bubbles in the glass, which gives them a nice sparkle if you see them in person. The seed beads are Miyuki Delicas.

This is a beautiful pattern in many ways, but my favorite part is how she changes the direction of the chain at each JK. I think this makes for a very elegant, flowing line.

I'm planning to make as many more as I can. I don't know how they plan to display the snowflakes, so I think for each one I'll put a length of thread through a picot. That way they can use this as a hanger if they want to, or they can cut it off if they don't need it.

I hope you'll all join me in making at least one snowflake!