Whale Doodle

 If I was still putting Tatties on my baby I would call this a Whale Tattie. But that child is now almost 14 and when tatters make small items to use up extra thread left on shuttles it's also called a doodle. In 2017 I was clearing blue off a shuttle to make some roses. I scribbled the pattern notation on my scrap papers and posted the day's work to Instagram and then it was forgotten about until I got an email asking about the whale and I decided it was time to correctly notate the pattern. I have included it here for you. The original doodle I accidentally cut the large water spout picot when I was cutting off the ends. When revisiting it I cut it again because I thought I did it on purpose, and then remembered the error with my notes. I have just completed the TIAS for the year with Jane Eborall and she used twisted picots and while tatting the doodle from notes to check pattern I thought it would be nice with a slightly twisted picot. But it was late and I needed to get to bed so I posted the doodles and went to bed. Great minds think alike because this morning I awoke to a comment on the picture that suggested a twisted picot. So I added the option to the instructions because it is a great variation. If you tat a whale please give me a shout out. I would love to see yours. 

Click below for a printable PDF, as always, please credit designer. 

Endrucks

With multiple encouragements I joined the efforts in the Endrucks 1920 project being run by Muskaan and Ninetta Caruso. A lot of different tatters joined the effort early on and it has grown significantly. There is a facebook group for participants. 

I dipped my toes in with a motif pulled from pattern #17. Which I really liked in Lizbeth metallic. I printed Muskaan's Lace Day earrings/Pendant and left the internet behind. :)  After completing the motif I thought it would make a nice snowflake. But I was late to the party on this idea as others before me had already tatted  it up and had variations of work as well. And that pattern is offered as a gift to those who participate in the project. In my distracted skimming and then separation from the facebook group I missed this. 

I sketched out my imaginings and went to work. It ends up being different from the one already dreamed up. My scheme works in one single pass (round) and connects complete motifs around. I'm delighted by this because if I can avoid cut and tie in multiple rounds I am all for it. It cups a bit so it can easily be used for other 3D projects but when blocked the center chains wiggle a little looking like a flower. 

Then I wondered what it would be like to flip the motif and do it inverse. I pictured it out on the computer first and omitted redundant rings and then walked through the pattern working order in my head and then with thread. This one didn't work quite as well the first pass. I need to adjust the side rings connecting the motifs. The cupping on this one was not as useful. It reminds me of a turtle. 

It does make my mind wander on the possibilities of upending other snowflake patterns. 

I ended up cutting open a few split rings,   settling the motifs more naturally and then laid individually tatted split rings into the design to see which filled the gap best. This produced the count I have now. The PDF can be accessed through this link. Many thanks to Muskaan for proofing the Pdf and giving me helpful feedback. 

If you give it a try please don’t hesitate to give feedback. 

 

 

A sponge that lives in the sea who goes by Bob

My daughter graduated elementary school this year. She wanted to give her teacher a Spongebob tatted bookmark. Apparently her teacher is a fan. I am not. But that's okay. Of course this was decided with little time to spare and I did ask and look on the tatting groups and forums that I know of. I did see a neat split ring version by Carol Lawecki on Craftree which was very accurate. However I was looking for a more indicative pattern so I decided instead of tracking Carol down and begging her to notate her work I would work out my own. Time was also an issue.

I started tatting yellow squares and then realized he wasn't really square, and modified it to be wider at the top.

It, thankfully, came together pretty fast and I only cut off once, the white shirt row was ring and chains when I decided it would work better as a joined two color effort with floating or thrown rings. 

I would not label this as a beginner pattern, there are things like Catherine Wheel joins, lots of color changes, hiding ends and general positioning of threads that can be tricky to get things going the right direction. This was a picture before hiding all ends. But when family members saw its stringy form in passing they recognized it as SpongeBob so I was pleased with my efforts.  

Obviously this is a free pattern. I have chosen at this point to do long hand directions only. If you have questions please contact me. 

At one point during the school year when I was at the school previous teachers who were recipients of tatted bookmarks were talking about them and my daughter's teacher who is a male commented on wanting a lacy bookmark. He's a jokester and my daughter really enjoyed being in his class this year so I couldn't miss the chance to give a male teacher a bit of lace. 

This was tatted in size 20 Lizbeth thread
colors: 616 Daffodil Medium
692 Mocha Brown Dark
604 Black
601 Snow White
It measures a little over 3 inches tall and 2" wide with arms. I am guessing though as I have given him away and don't feel the need to tat another one at the moment. :)

Also, this pattern has not been test tatted so if you tat it please let me know! Especially let me know if I messed up some where.

Click below for a printable PDF, as always please credit designer. As neither you or I own the rights to the character we cannot profit from this design or the use of it. You are welcome to make this item as gifts only.

Bookworm Paperclip bookmark

A few years ago I was using a tiny notebook 3x3.5 for tatting notes and wanted a bookmark for it.
This little bookworm was born. It is a free pattern, but be kind and please credit designer and share from this source. Please no online sales of complete work bookworm.

R: 6——6 rw

Ch: 5 attach to paper clip and turn by doing half ds unflipped 5 turn again by doing other half of ds unflipped 6 attach to paper clip turn 5 and second half of DS unflipped and cut

I have tied knots at the tip of each antenna as well. 

Pattern by Coretta Loughmiller in September 2015

@corettadeesign

Poppy Spray

I've wanted to try this Pattern via Muskaan found here  and here for a few years. It takes Mónica Manceñido's Peace and Tolerance Tiny Heart  and modifies it into a flower.

I thought, it's a nice small thing I should be able to put together pretty fast. However, I tried to do it the first time soon after coming out of surgery for my hip. My brain was not yet my own so I couldn’t see the point or keep straight how to do the “R A : 4 - 2½* - 2½ - 4 . RW ” in Muskaan’s notation. So I just did R:4-2-2-4 and it all worked fine so I continued with that, then I joined wrong in the bottom half of the split ring, twice, undid it and thought I got it straightened out only to find I couldn't tighten the ring (because I'd done it wrong again) and snapped my thread. No biggie, as Muskaan says you can do it in three separate motifs so that's kinda what ended up happening on the first flower base. The second one was a few days later off of pain meds and not quite as exhausted. 

I'd never done roll tatting so that was something new to learn. The flower part would be easier with vsp where the roll tatting joins happen instead of picking through tight caps. (Because my caps are very tight.)

So here is my slight variation. 

Petal 1 –

R A : 4 - 2- 2 - 4 . RW 

Ch : 3 RW

R B : 4 + (to A) 5 vsp 7 . DNRW  SS

Ch :  2 fhs-shs 2 DNRW  SS

R C : 7 vsp 5– 4 . RW

Ch : 3 RW

R D : 4 + (to C) 2 - 2- 4 . DNRW

SR E : 4 + (to D) 2/ join to base of Ring A with Sh2 (to form clover), 4 + (to A) 2 – 3 – 3 . DNRW

1st petal (tiny heart) made.

Petal 2 –

SR F : 2 – 4 / 3 – 3 – 2 – 4 . DNRW

R G : 4 + (to F) 2+ (to D) 2 - 4 . RW

Ch : 3 RW

R H : 4 + (to G) 5 vsp 7 . DNRW  SS

Ch :  2 fhs-shs 2 DNRW  SS

R I : 7 vsp 5 – 4 . RW

Ch : 3 RW

SR J : 4 + (to I) 2/ join to base of Ring F, 4 + (to F) 2 . DNRW

2nd petal (tiny heart) made.

Petal 3 –

SR K : 2- 4 / 2- 4 . RW

Ch : 3 RW

R L : 4 + (to K) 5 vsp 7. DNRW  SS

Ch :  2 fhs-shs 2 DNRW  SS

R M : 7 vsp 5 – 4 . RW

Ch : 3 RW

R N : 4 + (to M) 2+ (to A of 1st petal) 2- 4 . DNRW

SR O : 4 + (to N) 2 + (to E of 1st petal) 3 – 3 + (to F of 2nd petal) / join to base of Ring K, 4 + (to K) 2 .

3rd petal complete.

One poppy flower with 3 petals made. But do not cut thread yet. 

But I did because I got excited... it all worked out, I sewed in my ends and just did a lock join to start the roll tatted edge. See Muskann's instructions for that. 

I followed her instructions for the yellow and black parts too. I lock joined the yellow threads to the base of the red flower in the picots used to join to the black to keep the yellow pistil in place. 

I suggest you make all greenery before combining. I had to stop and cut thread from ball and make more, encapsulate, decide I needed more etc. Encapsulating takes a long enough time as it is. But I also added twisted picots to the encapsulating stem. 

I had done two long bud stems but decided instead to do one long one and other sprays with buds in them. 

I ended up making 

1 bud on long Josephine chain

4 buds with twisted picots on Josephine chains of varying length. 

On my next one I plan to do less greenery but we'll see how it looks before I start combining it. Laying it out before hand I think will be advantageous. 

Then I combine them all through tight encapsulation as I went down in a Josephine chain as Muskaan suggested. I started trimming tails towards the end so it tapered slowly. I ended with a ring with some encapsulated thread and then sewed in the ends. 

I am overly delighted with the look of the large twisted picots. This was a new thing for me. It’s always fun to learn something new to add to one’s arsenal, especially when the learning of it goes easy.They look like Christmas tree pine needles or juniper bushes.

Muskaan's instructions are awesome as usual and super helpful, after getting my brain back I laughed at how confused I was. But the exercise made me make two flowers which will result in two sprays instead of just one. And two is better than one. 

I am just so pleased with how pretty this is. I'm excited to finish the second one. 

And it's the perfect size.

 

Rose methods

As I mentioned last post, there are a few different ways you can go about tatting this rose.
First off, by looking at them you can’t tell a difference visually in the methods so it is really about how you are comfortable tatting it. I can see the benefit of each and depending on what is on my shuttle or how I feel that day would choose any if them over the other.

Method 1

The original way I designed it. Shuttle and Ball.  I just arranged the threads in the right position at the arc changes. A shoelace trick could have maybe should have been used here but it worked so well without it, I didn’t bother. It was smooth and easy and lies flat. No added bulk. A benefit is you only need a small amount of thread wound on a shuttle. 

Method 2 

Per Judith Connor’s suggestion to use the reverse join. It is an easy join. Shuttle and ball. I think it does add a wee bit of extra bulk compared to method 1 but is considered the more proper way of doing it. It does get threads in the right position and lies flat and you only need a small amount of thread wound on a shuttle. 

Method 3

Per Muskaan’s suggestion as she and I worked on getting the pattern ready to share: CTM with 2 shuttles. Of course it also lies flat and you can use the appropriate shuttle at each arc change without issue. I liked this for clarity on diagraming and reading the pattern as you learn to tat it the first go around. It helped keep arc direction more obvious. My only issue is I mismeasured thread getting shuttle in hand and thread source mixed up when I was doing math. I have notated that so I don’t make the same mistake as easily again. 

Have Fun! 

I have stems to tat. 

Valentine variations

When I first adapted Vicki’s “Roses are Red” pattern I used the method she had used (shuttle and ball) to make the adaptation. My early notes looked like this.

ADAPTATION for Rose 

by Coretta Loughmiller 

Oct 2016
rw= reverse work 
tw=turn work 
lj=lock join
vsp=very small picot 

R: 5-5 rw 
1Ch:1 vsp 9 lj turn work
2Ch: 4 vsp 12 vsp 3 lj 12 to vsp on ring turn work
3Ch: 6 vsp 21 lj (2nd vsp on ch 2) tw 
4Ch: 8 vsp 19 lj (vsp on ch 3)
5Ch: 3 vsp 9 vsp 4 lj to (1st vsp on ch2) tw
6Ch: 5 (2nd half 2d) turn 3 lj to picot tw 
7Ch: 9 vsp 6 lj 6 vsp 15 vsp 5 lj tw
8Ch: 7 2nd half ds turn 7 lj turn 14 vsp 7 vsp1 lj 2 vsp 13 Tie and cut.

I was just moving the thread where I wanted it at the arc changes. When Muskaan started helping me go through the pattern she suggested 2 shuttles. This always gave you the option of having enough thread in the right direction. It made good sense. We went ahead and diagrammed and layed out the pattern that way. 

Upon posting it on Craftree Judith Connors suggested the reverse join. Therefore being able to use shuttle and ball and not having to wind and unwind shuttles at each arc change. I am pretty sure I have heard of this join and used it, but never put the two together. Sometimes you just do something because it works and you don’t know the name for it. 

I had hopes to try out the pattern using the reverse join before today and share what is great about each method, but I am a mom with 4 kids and a husband that travels, to say the least. So it’s up to you to choose which method suits your knowledge and tatting style. 

In the mean time here are some I tatted using the two shuttle method. All the ones on the previous post used my original adaptation notes and method. 

The great thing is if you have a preference you can tat it according to your preference. As many have said before me, though perhaps different context: 

The knot cares not how it is made. 

Happy Tatting! 

I am trying to pick back up blogging, but in the mean time if you are on Instagram you can find my tatting and other art @corettadeesign

A Valentine for you

A while back I was looking for a rose pattern to tat. A friend had requested rose bookmarks for her two emergent readers. I went hunting for a pattern assuming there would already be one,  I found Vicki Clarke's rose and liked the premise but needed a bit different angle for what I had in mind. You can find Vicki's rose here. Since her original pattern was free I figured my adaptations would be too. It has been a long time in the making getting it ready to share though. I had my pattern notes and good intentions to diagram it and lay it out in PDF and had reminders as people kept asking for it. however, I rarely sit down to the computer these days and some things I just have to do at the computer. Add in a myriad of other things in life, sickness, and technology and here we are over a year later. That's embarrassing.

 

So it came up again and I decided it was time to get moving on it. I started to lay it out but found days going by without more work on it. Enter Muskaan who has delighted me with her "how else can it be accomplished" and "look what else you can do with this" etc. Seriously take a look at her blog. She contacted me and offered to help me on it. At first I was like, "naw, I'm a graphic designer, I can do this." Then I remembered that can and doing and done are different things. Besides it's always good to have a test tatter and another set of eyes looking at and proofing. And I couldn't have had a better set of eyes on it. Muskaan asked the right questions and we reorganized the method of tatting the pattern. It can be done with shuttle and ball as I originally did it based off of Vicki's pattern or it can be done quite simply with two shuttles CTM. I decided to use the latter for the pattern instructions. 

Over the course of all this I have tatted the rose part a number of times and then added options like a stem with a bud and a version for earrings. These are also on the pdf. There are so many more options, a bigger leaf, thicker stem etc. etc. So put your own touch on it, and then come back and share it with me. I'd love to see it! So get to the good part right? See the PDF below. If you tat this item please make sure you give credit where it is due, and for the love if you pin it, make sure it links back to the source! Happy Valentine's Day! Share the love.