Motif Thirteen-Winter's Day Snowflake

This snowflake is from "Big Book of Tatting" by Darlene Polachic. I like it because it reminds me of vintage patterns that are mostly single shuttle ring only, with just a few chains. My thread spaces and picots are a little bigger than the photo in the book, and therefore, I had to add a few extra stitches in the outer round. This was size 50 Cordonette, a joy to work with.

HBT Christmas in July Exchange

My Christmas in July package was sent by Amie Cleghorn. She sent an assortment of 7 snowflakes, a little angel, 4 wreaths, a bookmark, and a handkerchief with a tattedflower spray stitched on. The ornaments are all nice-hang-on-the-tree size. And that's not all. There is a box of crochet patterns on heavy cards. There's a ball of some Coat's size 30 varigated thread in a color combination I love, and a ball of brown perle cotton that will be great for critters. There is a packet of dainty beads, some earring hooks, and a bag of heart charms. A big thank you to Amie!

BoB's Bike, or Sequins Aren't Just For Snowflakes Anymore

My "send to" partner in the recent Here-Be-Tatter's exchange was BoB the Bike, so I made.....a bike!

The wheels are none other than Jane Eborall's covered sequins.

This was a fun challenge to do.

PS. Motif 12

Motif Eleven--TIAS Mary had a Little Lamb

I've been working on some top secret projects lately. Meanwhile, here is my version of Jane's Tat-It-and-See lady. For the pattern and lots more versions, see:
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~nickeb/TIASfront.htm
and
http://tatitandsee.blogspot.com

Motif Ten--Smiley Snowflake

Jane's Emotitats and Sequin Share a Tat have both been in my in-basket for quite awhile, so I finally took care of that.

The pattern for the snowflake part can be found here. Combining the emotitat and Jane's first round for the sequin is left as an exercise for the reader. That means I forgot to write it down, but it seemed pretty simple at the time. If you try it, be sure to allow an extra big smile, since the rim around the sequin gets stretched when you add the second round.

Tatty Bird Instructions

I haven’t measured the amount of thread needed, but it’s not much. Of course, you can use any colors, but I will use green and yellow in the instructions to go along with my picture.

Ch: Chain
CLR: Close Ring
DDS: Daisy Double Stitch
JK: Josephine Know
LSCh: Lock Stitch Chain
R: Ring
RW: Reverse Work
SR: Split Ring
SS: Switch Shuttles



2 shuttles CTM with yellow thread, 1 shuttle with green thread. Tie the green thread to the yellow between the shuttles.

Body: with the green shuttle in your hand as the core thread and one of the yellow shuttles positioned to make a chain, place a paper clip on the core thread to hold a very small picot at the beginning.

Ch: vsp 4 vsp 3 ---- 1 --- 1 -- 1 (That’s three long picots, decreasing in size. Hide the end of the green thread while making this chain. )

Now pull the core thread so the tension will curve the chain a bit. Wind the yellow thread around your thread to make the cluny loom and weave a cluny with the green thread, about 16 passes.

After closing the cluny, use the yellow shuttle to lock join to the paper clip vsp at the beginning.

Neck: Now make a pearl tatted chain, with the green as the upper thread, one yellow shuttle as the core thread , and the other yellow shuttle as the lower thread.

Pearl Ch: [ 1U:2D ] 3 times, [ 1U:1D ] twice, [ 2U:1D ] 3 times. (U=”Up”=number of ds with the upper thread, D=”Down”: number of ds with the lower thread) Pull on the core thread to encourage an S curve in the neck.

Head: Make a split ring with the two yellow shuttles, and use the green shuttle for daisy picots. Put a bead in the center of the split ring. Seed beads are good for size 30, 3mm for size 20.

SR: 2 { SS 3 dds - 3 dds SS} 2 { SS 2 dds - 2 dds SS} 2 { SS 1 dds - 1 dds SS} 2 / 6 clr. Cut, leaving short thread ends to make the beak. (dds = daisy double stitch= unflipped stitches made with another shuttle)

Legs: Tie together 1 yellow shuttle and 1 green shuttle

R: 1 -- 1 -- 3 clr RW
LSCh (lock stitch chain): 5 SS
JK(Josephine knot): 8 half stitches, SS
LSCh: 6 +(join to vsp of body) 6 RW
JK: 8 half stitches, RW
LSCh: 5 SS
R: 1 -- 1 -- 3 clr. Cut and tie.



Here are a few sources for technique tutorials:
Cluny tatting by Mimi
Pearl tatting by Mark
Bead in center of split ring by Tonya/Jane
Daisy picot by Riet
Lock Stitch Chain by Mark

Motif Nine--Second time around

I've been studying techniques lately...