Sherry's Yoke

No, I'm not done yet, but Sherry, the Celtic Dreamweaver, shared this picture of one she made over 20 years ago and wore for a long time.  She must have bought the book when it was brand new.  I had thought about adding some small motifs to fill in some big open spaces, and I see she already did just that. Thanks for the picture Sherry!

Not Much To See Here

A few fill-in motifs on the front (?back) part.  Now just the outer edge to go.

My preciousssss...

Yoke Progress

After fixing the offending motif I showed last time, I have now completed the inner neck edge.  These motifs were all "Yoke Circle 1" and I am now done with that particular pattern.  Only 41 motifs to go :/

Fixing Mistakes

Remember, I told you with Sparks yoke, you have to look at the pictures to see where to make the joins?  The problem is, some of the pictures aren't very good.  If the picture isn't clear,  look around, and you may find a better picture on another page.  Anyway, I didn't do that one time and realized later I had a motif joined in the wrong place.

We've all had mistakes and had to cut away.  It's a little more complicated when the cut away part includes a picot that was joined to by some later tatting that you don't want to cut out.

Here is how I handle that situation.

Disclaimer:  some of the scans were made from the front side to show tatting you would be working from the backside.  Instead of making more scans, I flipped the pictures around, so don't pay too much attention to whether the stitches in the pictures look like front or back.

Fixing mistakes in tatting that was joined to later:

Carefully clip away the offending piece, leaving bits attached.  If you are certain which bits formed joins instead of picots, go ahead and pull only those off.  If in doubt, pull out just the core thread of all the bits.  

If the bit was forming a join, then both threads will come away from the picot it was joined to.

When the bit was forming the picot, it will remain attached to the remaining tatting when the core thread is pulled out.  Don't pull out the picot thread just yet.

Look carefully at the two thread ends sticking out one side of the tatting and find where the connecting thread lies on the other side.  Use a needle to pull it up partway.

Now that you know where to re-create the joined picot, put this part away and make the new replacement tatting until you get to this point.  Unwind the ball thread shuttle or cut off a long length of the ball thread and put it in your smallest sewing needle.  Put on your best pair of reading glasses.  

Arrange the old tatting in your hand in position to join to it.  Pull on the loop so that just the one thread end nearest you  is pulled out.  Immediately...

... put the ball thread needle through the tiny hole while you can still see it.  Try to put it through in the same direction that the thread end just came out.  

Now pull the rest of the bit of thread out and put the ball thread needle through the other hole.  Check carefully to make sure the ball thread is in the right direction to form a picot.  I will admit I got mine backward the first time, which would have formed a twisted picot.  I pulled the ball thread back out and used a couple more fine needles to mark the holes while I put the ball thread back in the needle and tried again.

Once your are sure everything is right, adjust the ball thread to the length of a picot and resume tatting. 

While making all those close ups on the scanner, the background was nice too.

The Yoke's Really Long Piece

Next up is "Yoke Section 9," the really long strip across the front (or back, I hope).  This is a milestone in my progress, as it is the last of the large pieces, and all the secions are now joined together.  And also too big to fit on the scanner.

It's very pretty and dainty.  It would make a good edging or insertion.

The diagram shows only the ends, and I take exception to the way the diagram parts are displayed on the page.  If you ever make this, remember, next to the end trefoils, the longer chains need to be on the outer side of the curve on both ends.

Meanwhile, in the garden, there have been good times and bad times.  Here's a picture from a week or so ago. 

A deer got through the fence and ate a bunch of tomatoes, both fruit and vines.  The squash plants didn't bear much and died an early death.  On the up side, the deer didn't get all the tomatoes, and the vines are starting to put out new branches and blooms.  I'm trying to grow some more squash from seed, and the young plants are looking good so far.  I'm getting more cucumbers than ever before and I already made a batch of bread-and-butter pickles. (No idea why they are named that.) The peppers are starting to bear as well.  

One plant that was supposed to be a jalapeno turned out to be this instead.  I picked one when it was 6 inches long.  I'll have to figure out what I can make with these.

Moving to the Front? Back?

When I first saw the picture of the yoke by Phyllis Sparks, I expected the wide portion to be the back.  However, in the book, she says that is the front.  I hope it can be worn either way.  I'll just have to see how it drapes when it is done.

Above is "Yoke Circle 8," the center of the wide section.  At this point, I had taken off several weeks to work on the Rose Mignonette doily.  By the time I got back to the yoke, I must have forgotten everything I knew about the short bare thread spaces.  I worked this motif at least 3 times.  I can't remember if the picture above is the final or next to last effort.  The center is a little crowded, but it is in Mrs. Sparks' photo as well.  I made the picots in the outer round a little longer to prevent cupping.

Here is the picture of the whole yoke from the book again to help you keep your bearings.

Moving Right Along

Still working on the Phyllis Sparks yoke, I wanted to do the small motifs around the end to make sure they would fit. And they did! You can see here motifs number 1, 2, 3, 4, 14, 15, 16, and 17.  It is exciting for it to start looking like the final product.  

Incidentally, I think motifs 15 and 16 are misnumbered on the diagram.  If you work this, when it comes time for the small 4 ring motifs, count the number of joins and picots you need and then pick the pattern.

The Next Part - Yoke Circle 13

The motifs in this yoke by Phyllis Sparks are somewhat arbitrarily numbered.  The piece in the previous post is "Yoke Section 11" and this one is "Yoke Circle 13."

The first motif for the yoke went smoothly.  This section did  not. I think it took me 5 tries to get it right.  First it was not laying flat at Round 3, and once I got past that, it was again cupping at Round 5.  Keep in mind that the bare thread spaces for this pattern need to be very short.  I seem to have some trouble with that concept.  Once I figured it out, I got the other side done in just one try.  

If you contemplate working this yoke, be advised that the patterns are diagrammed with some text comments.  Most of the joins are not described, so you have to consult the photos very carefully to see where to join.  Also, it up to you to make the second side a mirror image of the first, especially critical in this piece, with the way the rings are thrown off on the last round.  Just commenting, not complaining.  I'm still enjoying the challenge.

Back to the Yoke

 I'll put the mignonette rose doily on hold while I work on writing up the pattern.  Meanwhile, I'll go back to the yoke I was working on when I got distracted by the doily.

The yoke comes from "Practical Tatting" by Phyllis Sparks.  Used copies aren't too hard to find.  It has quite a lot of edgings, some doilies, a few nice collars, and this exquisite yoke.  Patterns are diagrammed in a style different from the norm, but easy enough to follow once you get used to them.  Patterns have more cut and ties than preferred by the modern tatter, but usually not too hard to get around by substituting split rings etc.

Here is the entire yoke as pictured in the book.  There are (I think) 86 individual motifs made from 17 patterns.  This was to be more than just a project for me, but more of a tatting meditation.  Is "centering" the right word?  I wanted something old fashioned and elaborate.  First, I must make each section correctly, which is sometimes as much about matching the designer's tension and picots as well as following the pattern.  Next, all the pieces must fit together. Lastly, I must have the perseverence to complete the project.

Mrs. Sparks writes that you make make the motifs in any order you wish.  She began with the large circle near the top and then the bow shaped strip around it.  I decided to begin with the large oblongs that go over the shoulders. I thought working a large section would tell me if I could follow her patterns and enjoy them.

So far, so good.

I didn't make a scan with a black background way back then, but since then I found out some of you preferred the dark background, so I tried to photoshop it.

Meanwhile, DS3 and I visited the Sarah Duke Gardens in Durham.

There are several sections, with different themes.

We didn't see it all.

Highly recommended, we will be back.