Thursday 8 October 2015

Splits are a Tatter's Best Friends

Split rings and chains that is!  I've said it before but I felt I needed to say it again after tackling this pretty star motif from a "Tatting by Penelope" booklet.  The instructions say to tat this in three rounds, cutting and tying after each round… who wants to do that when you can tat the whole thing in one go with the use of two split rings and one split chain.  Perfect.



I saw this motif on another lady's blog (apologies I can't find the blog again at the moment) and thought it looked so pretty I went on the search for the booklet.  Luckily I found it for a couple of dollars on Amazon.  The booklet is entitled "Tatting by Penelope - Book 3".  I only think it's a bit of a shame that these little booklets have no author or date of publication. 



I tatted this in Anchor Liana, a ball of thread I found hiding away at the bottom of a craft bag in the attic.  I had previously used this to crochet (many years ago!).  I find this is now discontinued - shame, as it's a great thread for tatting.

I didn't realise quite how large this would turn out:  it measures 5 ½ inches from point to point when tatted with size 20 thread.  A lovely design.

Best wishes,
Frivole

18 comments:

  1. It is pretty. Good move to update the technique and work it in one pass

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  2. OMG I remember buying that little book new when I was a kid! Thanks for making me feel old! Love the whole series of those booklets.

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    1. I guess we're not allowed to ask when that would have been?… :-)
      Maybe I should look for the others in this series then.

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  3. I did my first split chain on this motif a few years ago. Looks great.

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  4. A very pretty motif, and I have admired it on a few blogs now, though I never knew where it came from. Thanks for the book information, I'll have to keep my eye out to see if I can get a copy.

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  5. Very pretty! I never think to use split rings and chains. I seem to just blindly follow the directions. I think I have that leaflet somewhere, so maybe I'll give it a try!

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    1. I really LOVE split rings and chains, you must give them a try Diane. They are so useful to avoid cutting and tying and enabling making designs all in one go. Invaluable. To me anyway!

      Split rings are really easy, split chains a little less so but have you tried Marie Smith's method for split chains? Since discovering her method, split chains now hold no fear. :-)

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  6. It was also given on a handy Hands booklet and I did change it, and give direction and did same thing it is an public domain and it is very beautiful. I think she didn't know about split rings when she wrote it :)

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  7. Lovely snowflake, I agree why cut and tie when you can do a split ring and save thread too.
    Margaret

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    1. After reading your piece, I looked on Amazon and brought the last copy of the booklet yesterday, which was delivered this morning, thanks for the information, great booklet their is a couple of patterns I like which will join my to do list.
      Margaret

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  8. It's so well done I can't find the split chain... I'm not familiar at all with adapting patterns to use them, so now I'm curious. What was the path you took, and where are the "magic" bits? If I could learn how to approach it I might be tempted to make a few more of the designs I have in some of my really old tatting books too! :-D

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  9. Lovely star!

    And yes Liana was a great thread! Luckily it's not discontinued!!!
    It only has a new name now - "Anchor Artiste Mercer Crochet"

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    1. Aha! I didn't know that! I have a ball of Anchor Artiste Mercer Crochet in grey I think. I will go on the search...

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  10. By the way - the red elements in my Avatar are tatted in Liana Metallic red/gold :-)

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    1. Unfortunately, it's a bit hard to see (your avatar). But the Liana Metallic is not available anymore, is it??

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