Soldiering On... and Meeting!

One more round completed.  Just two left!  It looks like I might make it to the end of this doily quicker than I expected.  Still, you don't know what can happen before completion of these two final rounds...  I could easily get side-tracked by something else...

And I'm delighted to say that I tatted some of that last row whilst sitting with Michelle of Telamagistrae!  She was in the UK visiting a friend and we found out we were not so far from each other.  We arranged a get-together and had a very enjoyable few hours together, chatting, tatting, sharing tips, eating and drinking!  It was lovely to meet her.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Another One!

Yes, another row completed.  Those rings were quite small so it went pretty quickly.  Again, I did the rings with normal flipped stitches and the chains with unflipped reverse order stitches.

How exciting! Starting yet another round.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Magic Square Magic

Oh yes squares!  I do love squares in tatting.  So when I spotted Robin's New Onion Ring Magic Square, I had to take a break from my green doily to tat it.

Tatted in Lizbeth 20, "Harvest Gold"

You should go and check out the whole thing.  There are different ways of combining the design and two squares.  Robin is really clever in designing these.  I'm impressed.  She even describes the whole process of designing a magic square.  It's really interesting.

You can tat this as a magic square but you can also just tat it as is and attach on the sides.  I love the magic square idea... but sometimes I also just like tatting smaller motifs and attaching and letting it grow as you go instead of deciding in advance how big you'd like it to be.

I like the contrast the onion rings bring to the design.  The outside chain of the onion ring is attached with a Catherine Wheel Join.   I had to refresh my memory on the CWJ as I'd not had to use it for some time.

Thank you Robin.  Another great design.

Best wishes,

Frivole

SCMR Round Done

I made good progress on the last round with self-closing mock rings.  I only needed to refill one shuttle once (and even then I only used half of it) so I think it was a good plan.

Design is by Jan Stawasz
(from his first Book)
Thread is DMC Babylo size 20

Do the SCMRs look ok to you?  Or is it obvious that I "cheated"?

I'm even going to show you up even closer...

I think they look ok.

Yes?

And I'm really getting into the rhythm with unflipped, reverse-order chains.

I can see I'll often be using that method from now on.

So nice not to have to reverse work.

And while I was at it, I also made a new video showing

this round of SCMRs, I'll be uploading it very shortly.

On to the next round!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Next Round

Here is the first of the rounds that make the whole circumference of the doily.  Again, I decided to use unflipped reverse order stitches for the chains but I also thought I'd try something different to not have to refill my shuttles so often:  I'm making the rings as SCMRs which means all the thread for the rings comes from the ball.  I'm not 100% convinced I like this method yet but I've gone so far in this round that I will complete it and then decide what to do for the next.  Ideally I'd like thread for both rings and chains to come from the ball and then you'd hardly need to refill.  It's do-able and I've tried it on a little sample.  You need to "cheat" a bit as after making a SCMR, the ball thread is not in the right place for making a chain next.  I need to experiment further to see if the look is good enough with that method to pass the test.

It seems a little bit more difficult to achieve very even, consistent SCMRs than it is with true rings but I don't think it's affecting the look too much overall.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Big Green Doily - Six Sides Done!

I'm so glad I managed to finish the separate sides (the right word for curvy sides keeps escaping me! - what would you call them?   Do you say "scallops"?).  The six sides had three rounds each which all needed cutting and tying.  No way to move from one round to the next seamlessly in this design I'm afraid - I did try!

Now it's time to make rounds that go all the way around the whole design.  So exciting!

I made a video of me working on this doily.  I decided to make the chains unflipped with reverse order stitches so I thought it might be interesting to make a video of it.  I called it a "tat-chat" video rather than a video about a specific technique... I just tat and talk about what I'm doing.  Still find it hard at times to keep talking clearly and not fumble on my words!  It doesn't quite feel natural and the camera still makes me a bit nervous although it's just me and the camera, no one else is watching or listening!  Silly really, isn't it?

It's only small if you view it on this page

but you can see it larger by clicking on the Youtube icon

after you've pressed "play".

Best wishes,

Frivole

Interlocking Split Rings and Crochet Top

Jeanie Schekel sent me a tutorial on how to make interlocking split rings.  I gave it a try.  Not quite perfect, but I'm getting there...

Do you have any ideas where/how you would use this technique?  What would you make with it?  I need to play a bit more and see if I could shape it into a nice centre for a motif perhaps?  It could make a neat little bracelet as is I suppose...

Once I get a better hang of it, I plan on making a video tutorial.  Oh, which reminds me, I have just made a new video on how to make the thick body for my butterfly.  If anyone's interested in viewing it, you can find it here.  I'd been meaning to make a video for it for a long time so I've finally done it!

I now feel like I need to go re-visit interlocking rings with one shuttle which I played with back in 2012 (can it really be five years ago already???!!) but not sure I will do that just this minute.  I want to keep making progress on the large green doily.

And my daughter is really pleased with how the little crochet summer crop top has turned out.  It fits her really nicely but I'm sure you'll understand why I won't show it modelled by her!  :-)

The back is more simple and I chose matching flower buttons.

Best wishes,
Frivole