Tatted Mock Hairpin Lace - My Final Solution

Kindly remember a few posts ago, where I showed several versions of mock hairpin lace.  There is no "right" way, but rather one should choose the best version for the project at hand.

This is the way I came up with that works best for my angels.  You can see the traditional crocheted hairpin lace on the left and the tatted mock lace on the right.  

The basic idea is split rings like this: 2 -- 1 -- 1 -- 2 / 2 -- 1 -- 1 -- 2 clr.  Of course, the first and last in a strip of lace may be regular rings instead of split rings.  Depending on the pattern, there may be 3 or 4 long picots on each side.  I haven't tried it yet with smaller or larger numbers of picots.   Instead of the 2 ds at the beginning and end of each ring, I tried 1 vsp 1 and 1 + 1, joining to the previous ring, but this proved to be too fiddly to be worth it.

With the blue angel, I carefully gave each picot a half twist just like real HPL when I made the joins.  The result originally was sort of lanky and stringy, but I was able to block it to look nice.

With the white angel, I joined to the long picots keeping them straight with no twisting, and got this pretty effect without the need to block.  This is a little like my broomstick picots.

In both cases, when joining to the long picots, I was careful not to pull the join too tight, which would bend the curve on the loops.


If you want to know more about broomstick picots, named for their resemblance to broomstick lace, see my post HERE, and there are more patterns using that technique in my book "Playing with Picots"

Hairpin Lace - Real and Mock - Kinda long, sorry

Do you remember this  Hairpin Lace and Tatted Angel?  It was the first pattern I shared with Georgia's Online Class.  (The directions are a little primitive compared to how I write now.)

Later update:  Silly me, I forgot there's an updated, improved version right here on this blog.  Just click on "Free Patterns" at the top of the page.  Pardon me while I go sit in the corner and feel dumb for a while  :)

This hairpin and tatted angel is one I taught at Palmetto Tatdays this past year.


I have several more elaborate hairpin and tatted angels in the works.  Would you like to see a book of those?

The patterns are all based on "real" hairpin lace, made with a hairpin loom and a crochet hook. I really like hairpin lace.  After the first fiddly bit getting started, it's quick to make and very neat and pretty.  But maybe not everyone has a loom or wants to learn how.   In planning for the possible book, I wondered about the option for substituting tatted mock hairpin lace for the real thing, so I did a comparison of different types.  (If I had been paying attention, I would have noticed this had been covering in Georgia's class a few years ago.  Go to the 2011 index HERE and scroll down. )

Anyway, these are my results, all pieces 1 inch wide, and 15 loops per side, just as they came off the loom or shuttles without blocking.

1. This is regular crocheted basic braid hairpin lace, made with one single crochet stitch per loop, with a size 6 hook, I think. (Single crochet in American crochet terminology.  I think it is a double crochet in British terminology.)

2.  This is tatting: [2 first half stitches, picot, 2 second half stitches, picot] repeat.  It's about the right size. It's a little messy, but might look neater once the rest of the angel is tatted onto it.

3.  Tatting half stitches like number 2, but with 3 half stitches between picots.  Not as messy, but maybe too wide.

4.  This one is a pearl tatted chain, alternating 1 ds on each side, with long picots in between.  It's a little longer than the real HPL, but might do.

5.  This is a method shared by Ruth Perry with the Online Class HERE.  It is basically {[half stitch, picot, ds all flipped][half stitch, picot, ds all unflipped]} repeat.  It makes the neatest of the tatted mock HPL braids, but much too long for the patterns I am working on. 

6.  I have seen this one in several places.  It is made up of {[picot, ds flipped] [picot, ds unflipped]} repeat.  Not as long as Ruth's, but still too long for my purpose.

7.  This is another "true" crocheted HPL, but with a difference.  In the book, Hairpin Crochet, Technique and Design, by Pamela Thompson, she makes a different sort of basic braid.  Unlike the basic braids in other books I've consulted, she works 1 sc plus a chain stitch per loop.  So this makes a HPL braid with similar dimensions to some of the tatted mock HPL.  Maybe useful for substituting a crocheted braid into a tatted braid pattern.

8.  Not pictured.  There are several patterns where a strip of small split rings with a long picot on each side is used for a HPL like effect.  Some very pretty patterns, but again, very long for the number of loops.

CONCLUSION: There are many sorts of Hairpin lace braids, both traditional and tatted mock versions.  If you are working a pattern using HPL, be sure you are aware which version the pattern is using.  Be very careful with substituting one style for another.

Designing - from Doodle to Angel

People sometimes ask me about my designing process.  If I'm making something realistic, like a horse or a flamingo, I go to Google Images for pictures to help visualize shapes and proportions.  Sometimes searching for drawings instead of photos helps.

If I'm doing something more abstract, then I start by drawing the image in my mind.  Just two problems there -- my mental images are often a bit vague .... and I can't draw. My drawings are usually more of a rough doodle.

So here is my sketch for an angel, one little bit on a page of doodles:

Pretty sad, huh?

                                                        


For the skirt, I was envisionning something similar to this quilt square I did a few years ago, but with one of the tall flowers in the middle. Once I picked up my shuttles, it took maybe ten minutes to realize those flowers were much too big.  So then came lots of experimentation with smaller motifs.  Lots and lots of little motifs, until they looked right and fit together.

 

Once I had the center bits done, then came the outline to make the angel shape. This was actually easier than the center.  Before starting, I gave a bit of thought to where to begin, and what direction to go in, to make the whole outline in one pass without cuts and ties.

So there you have her, Grace, one of the angels in my book "A Flight of Angels."

The Sliding Picot Gauge -or- Conquering the Graduated Picot

I'm just home from Palmetto TatDays.  I had such a good time, but I'm really tired now. So more about Palmetto itself later.

Anyway, I tried out a new idea there, and it seemed to go over well, so I'll share it here too.  I love graduated picots, but they can be hard to get them the right size.  Sometimes I can eyeball them and they look OK, and sometimes they don't.  Sometimes I use a stairstep picot gauge, but sometimes, there aren't the right steps for the picots I need.  

So, I made up this little thing I call a "sliding gauge" and the idea is that you can make one yourself to fit your project.  If you know how many picots are in your set, and how tall the biggest one needs to be, you can draw one on heavy paper and cut it out.  You can read how to to do it.  Click on "Free Patterns" up at the top of the page, and then scroll down for the link to the instructions in a pdf file.

I used the gauge to make the little angel up at the beginning of this post.  It was one of the classes I taught at Palmetto.  You can get the pattern in my new book, A Flight of Angels, or you can get this year's Palmetto pattern CD which will probably be on sale to the public beginning sometime this fall.

Upcoming Angels

Here are the largest and smallest designs from my upcoming pattern book.  I try to have a nice assortment.

**Oops, forgot to say it should be ready around the beginning of September.

Test Tatters Save Me from Myself

My test tatters are always such a help when I am working on a pattern.  It isn't just a case of pointing out the typos.  They will point out that there is a problem with this, or it would be better if you did that...

I don't mind rewriting the patterns to incorporate their suggestions, because it makes for a much better pattern.  Sometimes working in their suggestions inspires me to change the pattern even more, and then they gently, tactfully, kindly, firmly tell me, no, it was better before you did that. 

This little angel is one that will stop with its next to last version.  It went through around five versions to get here, with deciding how many picots on the wings, how many rings in the skirt, where to make the joins, and etc.  My friend shared with me that she had difficulty making the second wing from the back side, so we revised the pattern so both wings worked from the front side.  Then I had the bright idea to change the skirt.  Well, that night it seemed like a good idea.  Fortunately, she was honest enough to tell me she didn't like it.  A few days later, looking at it fresh, I didn't like it either.

This is one of the smaller patterns.  The large one  Jane tested was another one of these.  I said look at thia great idea I had to change the wings, and she had to tell me I didn't really want to do that.  Overthinking and trying too hard are some of my special skills.

Book progress continues on slow but sure.  What is it with MicroSoft Word 2010 and footers anyway?  I never had this sort of problem with page numbers before.  When I would be on one page, the page number on another page would jump to another position or disappear altogether.  I never did get them all exactly alike, though I reached the good enough stage, and then next time I opened the file, the type size on them had changed by themselves.  Must be gremlins.

Book Progress

Yesterday's project was to spread out all the patterns to decide on the sequence for the book pages.  Before the day was over, I changed my mind again. Twice.

I see lots of tweaking that needs to be done, but it's getting closer bit by bit.

Angel Book and Palmetto Angel classes

Some of you have asked, yes the new book is all angels.  "A Flight of Angels" is the tentative title.  Here's another sample.  This one needs to go back on the blocking board before I re-scan it and make the diagram.  That wing raised up as if to wave is cute, but I want the diagram to be more symmetrical.

Interestingly, Iris recently posted about all the difficult steps in writing a tatting book.  You can read what she has to say here.  I don't have quite so many steps perhaps, but it is still very time consuming.  For example, I had 7 patterns I thought were done, but then I had to go back and fix the diagrams on every one. That means go to Serif Draw and change the diagram and export as PDF. Then open in Photoshop to crop. Then go to the pattern in Word and insert the new picture, update its text wrapping setting and resize till it fits on the page like the old one.  There may be easier ways, but I'm self taught, so these are the methods I've stumbled onto.

New flash!! Registration is now open for classes at Palmetto Tat Days.  This link will take you to their homepage, and you can look at the classes and get to the Registration page rom there. Palmetto Link

Come Spring

Last weekend I was so tired of the snow and the cold, I took my favorite floral edging and made it into a spring time angel.

The variegated thread is HDT from Tat-ilicious, and the green is Lizbeth, though the ball seems to have wandered off.

I think it will go into the upcoming book, no title or release date yet.

Angel with Star

Here's another one for the Challenge.  This is "Angel with Star" from A Host of Angels by Christel Weidmann.  Each pattern is written in shorthand notation and has a diagram.  Also, there are comments tell what to do for both shuttle and needle tatting.  There is a large Madonna angel that I would like to work someday.

First Christmas in our New House

No tree for us this year, but I am fortunate to have a hearth for Christmas decorations. Decorating was both sweet and sad as I remembered loved ones who have gone on before.

The Christmas Village houses had come from John's mother.

And these are angels which I had crocheted for my own mother...

...and her tatted Nativity set.

Best wishes to you all, whichever holiday you celebrate. May your new year bring joy.

This Year's Christmas Ornament

I traditionally give my coworkers a Christmas ornament. I was looking for something a bit quicker than usual, and decided my Big Sister Angel from Playing with Picots would just about fit the bangles if worked in size 30. I added a few beads and some picots to use for attaching. I felt just a little guilty that I did not make one of Jane's beautiful bead intensive ornaments like usual, but they seemed grateful anyway.

Strangely enough, I'm the only one who has remembered to bring in Christmas CDs, so they have to listen to what I like :)
I recommend Connie Dover's The Holly and the Ivy (Lovely folk singer/music historian, one of my favorite musicians) and
Mary Chapin Carpenter's Come Darkness, Come Light and
Cherish the Ladies' On Christmas Night --Christmas carols interspersed with Irish jigs and reels.