Split Chain - The "Fast and Easy" Way

     Slowly working on the Jan Stawacz Doily VI. Round 3 finished. I am moving to round 4 with a split chain, thanks to Marie Smith's "Fast and Easy" method. Then a split ring and do round 4. It will keep me busy for a while. I think I can do several more transitions to the next rounds using the split chain. I really prefer it to cut and tie. If you have not tried Marie's method, get it from Jane Eborall's techniques pages and try it. Oh, and once I found this method and saw how easy it is, I thanked Marie in person!

Doily VI

    Now that I have completed the Renulek doily and I have given it to my friend for a wedding present, I need something to work on. I do a lot of doilies. I give away doilies. I have plenty, but I just enjoy making them. People seem to like them. They are practical and they are amazed at how intricate tatting can be.

    I started something else, but I found the pattern was not working for me so I stopped. I started going through books and once again find myself returning to Jan Stawacz's patterns. This is from Tatting Theory and Patterns. Doily VI, page 83. Let's see if this one works for me.

    I plan to make two of these. One for the lady at the hardware store, maybe both. The one in the photo, well, I think it is obvious what I am using. I love King Tut thread. The one I make for her, if all goes well, will be size 20 Lizbeth. The shuttles are rosewood (darker) and cherry (lighter). Love my pop-a-bobbins!

Renulek's 2020 Spring Napkin - Done!

 

    It took a while. I finally got this one complete yesterday. The last round has 32 repeats. I was able to get to a couple per day, so it went pretty quick. At least for me. This measures 24" (61 cm.) across. There are 18 rounds. Two shuttles required.

    The friend I am making this for came by a couple weeks ago but never mentioned it, even though it was in plain sight. I wonder if he even remembers it. He is getting married end of August, though, so that may be his wedding gift. He originally wanted it for his mother but as it got larger he started saying he may keep it. I did make his fiancee a pair of wave earrings (Corina Meyfeldt's pattern) and she loved them so she will probably like this. Perhaps this would look good on their dining table. 

    Because it took so long, the center had started to get dingy. I took care of that by soaking in Orvus and a half teaspoon of bleach in a half gallon of water for an hour, then I laid it out and sprayed it with Oxyclean. No more dingy. Then I laid it out in the sun for a couple of hours. Finally, I lightly steam ironed it. No starch and it lays pretty well. Now the question is how do I "package" it to be given to someone?

One To Go

 

    One round to go. It has been a long round but I got round 17 done finally. This is the 2020 spring napkin by Renulek I have been making for a friend. I think he may have left town. (Got married and moved to Savannah.) I will hang onto it and if he comes looking, I will let him have it, but first I have one more round to go. If he doesn't come get it, it does look great on my kitchen table, doesnt it?

Question About Craftree

    

No tatting to show for a picture today. Just a question. Has Craftree been closed down or something? I try to login and get an error, then go to the dashboard and see nothing since 4/22/24. I tried to do as it asks and file an error report but that just gave me another error. I tried to post and got the error. I have been trying for over a month to get in normally. Does anyone have any information about this? Am I doing something wrong?

Courtship

 

    Sometimes there are patterns that are just fun to do. I have done these several times.

    Here we have Errol (white, snow dragon) courting his girlfriend. What? You didn't know the girl dragons are bigger? You haven't read "Guards! Guards!", have you? It's by my favorite author, Sir Terry Pratchett. There are 41 books in the Discworld series and this is from one of them. They are hilarious.

    The female dragon (forest dragon) is in size 20. The white is some sewing thread I had laying around, probably a size 100 or so. I have seen online that some do not know you can use regular split rings in place of the SSSR's. Your choice. I do the regular split rings.

    The pattern, if you don't know, is Flying Minor Norwegian Dragons, by Anne Bruvold. You can get it here: https://nuperelle.net/drager/monstre/MinidragerEng.pdf. There are also several other places it is available, such as Craftree. The pattern is free. Thank you Anne!

Only 2 Rounds To Go

 

    Only 2 more rounds to go. This is a pretty good sized doily, but then, I think all of Renulek's Spring Napkins are. That is one of the things I really like about them. I just finished round 16 of 18. The next 2 rounds are way more involved. Round 17 is similar to round 12. Round 18 is the last one and is decorative so as to be a closer. Right now, the doily is at 20.5 inches across. I did iron it so it would lay flat for it's portrait so I measured it. I expect it to be about 23 inches when I get done.

    I think my friend's mom will be pleased.