Thursday, June 28, 2018

What are you doing?

"What are you doing?" I get asked that a lot when I am out tatting in public.

Lace making is quite rare in Romania these days and tatting is even more rare.

Very few people still work thread and yarn by hand, compared to a couple of generations back. My grandmother from my father's side used to knit (her wool booties were the warmest) and weave (she made kitchen towels and I think some wall carpets too). My other grandmother died before I was born but my mom told me she used to crochet. She or my great-grandmother (I forgot who exactly) made a gorgeous bed spread that was used on my bed. I will definitely take a picture when I find it again. In fact, I will take the whole thing with me, why leave it in some old wardrobe? The house is also strewn with doilies of all sizes, which to my amateur eye look like Romanian point lace. I will need to rescue those too, even if just for storing and not displaying.

At some point during the last few decades, doilies were extremely popular in homes in my country. They eventually became a kitsch symbol, along with the porcelain statuettes that were usually placed on them. None of the modern households display doilies anymore, even if mothers and grandmothers worked on them with care and talent.

Apart from this phenomenon, the most popular arts were knitting, crochet and cross stitch (framed cross stitch works are also considered kitsch here now). A lot of people didn't really know much about other forms of lace making. They knew about embroidery, because of our beautiful traditional blouse (called "ie" in Romanian) that was embroidered by hand with geometric motifs. Of course, if you take your time to look up the various techniques for making lace and clothing (and more!) using thread and yarn, you will realise there are a lot more than these three.

There are of course artisans in Romania who work using these less known techniques and some of them (yes, still only a few) also tat. I'm sure a lot of these people get asked "what are you doing?" a lot. Sometimes, they also hear the generic "ah, you are crocheting again", even if they are not in fact crocheting, but doing something else entirely. I have a friend who crochets who was asked by someone "what are you knitting there?"

It is normal for the majority of the people to not know off hand what you are doing and to just assume you are crocheting or knitting and you can of course try to educate them. I do that as well, every time I get asked what I am doing. There is unfortunately a big problem for me, because I haven't been able to find a Romanian term for tatting, no matter how hard I looked. So I just use the English or French term and I explain that I am "making lace" or "knotting" or simply "making a flying piggie". Some leave it at that and shrug, others insist that I am crocheting.

A friend (who insists he studied linguistics in school) tried to tell me that it is normal for people not in the know to just use the general term in the language. We eventually agreed that this would be "making lace" (he was also convinced I crochet)  but he is right in one thing. Unfortunately, this is the natural mentality of the person who simply doesn't really care to understand what you do... but asks nonetheless.

Monday, June 11, 2018

Introducing the flying pig!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it is the tatted flying pig!

I have had Jane Eborall's flying pig on my wish list ever since I found out it existed. Which was shortly after learning how to needle tat, a few years ago. It was such a whimsical thing to make!

I kept putting it off though, wanting to learn and get more experience first. Some of the techniques were almost daunting. Split ring? Lock join? Reverse work? Oh wait, that one I knew. There is also a version with onion rings. I didn't even open that one, the title alone stopped me.

After getting a bit more comfortable with shuttle tatting and some of the intermediate techniques, I decided to give it a go. I didn't like onion rings much, so I chose the alternative pattern.

Let me make a little aside here. I am truly amazed by Jane's patterns and I'm sure I will make more in the future. So far I have made the turtle (as a pair of earrings).

I also tweaked the piggie a little to my own taste. I only used Catherine wheel joins (because I seem to have a lock join phobia), made the ear as a thrown ring (with a turned side, like the turtle flippers), used self-closing mock rings for the legs instead of split rings and added or removed a double stitch here and there. And I tried to make a dead-end chain for the tail without proper instructions (my phone was running out of battery, no time for research). I also completely remade the wings...

The leg as self-closing mock ring with a thrown ring off it. The loop is formed by the core shuttle.
Looks a bit naked... Let's give it some wings

I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. I even had the perfect shade of baby pink. I asked my friends what they thought it was and they guessed it was a pig, so pig accomplished!

I then designed the wings. They are very simple. I will put the instructions at the end of the post if anyone cares to try them.

After it was all done, of course we had to take photos. And since it was supposed to be a flying piggie, we tried to make it look like it was flying. We ended up filming it... while it was flying downwards. Here it is in slow motion, with extra sound effects (sadly, the pig is not in focus):


We really had a blast taking photos of the piggie and tossing it around. It was a flying pig, after all!

The piggie in the grass photographed by my husband.
In the end, I gave the piggie away to one of my friends. They said they would make another video starring the little flying oinker. I will make another one for myself. I definitely need one somewhere on my desk at work.

PS. Here are the notes for one wing. This is for the right wing. For making the left wing, work everything backwards.

Two shuttles wound continuously.
Start SCMR
SCMR 3
R1 3-2-1
SCMR 2
R2 1+(join to p2 of R1)3-3-3
SCMR 2
R3 1+(join to p3 of R2)5-6
SCMR 6
End SCMR

I connected the wings together by passing the two threads through picots in the pig's body instead of cutting and hiding the ends. I had enough thread left to make the second wing.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Tools of the trade

I was going to show you a little pictorial of how I make the adjustable closure for the wheat bracelet, but then I realised that most of my photos were fuzzy and not even worth trying to sharpen. Hmm, another reason for my husband and friends to try and convince me to change my phone. A 360 view of the bracelet, now that's an idea!

I will instead talk a bit about the various tools that are basic for me and also some that I really can't work with.


Shuttles

I love my bobbin shuttles. I have four of them (I don't feel I need any more) and each came with two bobbins. I cut off the crochet hook because it was too big for my usual thread and decorated them with tissue paper.

The one on the left has a traditional Romanian motif on it.
I have recently bought a pair of post shuttles but I simply can't work with them. The tips needed to be coerced to stay together (that is actually a design flaw) and the point is too thick to poke through my VSPs (very small picots heh). I am also not used to not being able to adjust the thread position and length quickly. Even if I do find better quality post shuttles, I'm pretty sure I won't get any... they're not for me. Maybe a flat shuttle at most.

Trying to join that picot... Where is the crochet hook?

Crochet hooks

Since I neutered my shuttles, the only way to join would be using a crochet hook. My first one is actually a lot older than me and was used by my grandmother. It looks like the wooden handle was once broken, then attached to an empty pen case with a heat shrink tube. Pretty ingenious, and it also has a cap that way! I feel honoured to use a tool that has produced a lot of lovely items.

The old crochet hook is being put to good use again.
I have since bought myself another crochet hook in a larger size, to work with thicker yarn.


Good even needles

Back when I was needle tatting, I accumulated a real collection of even needles with narrow eyes. I don't use them all anymore, but I keep two sets of short darners in my working "basket" (it is actually a bag) for hiding ends. Having good needles really helps not distort the tatting too much. Here in Romania, Milward is the best brand I could find.


Pliers

You might wonder what I need pliers for while tatting. I got into the habit of using them ever since my needle tatting days. Sometimes, my knots would be so tight on the needle, that they wouldn't slide past the eye anymore, so I would hold onto the needle with the pliers to get a good grip on it while sliding the knots. Before that, I was the bride with the most worn fingers, but that is a story for another time.

Now I use the pliers when hiding ends (I use the whip stitch method). My tatting is quite tight, so I grab the needle with the pliers to pull it through the little knot caps when it gets stuck.

A real finger saver.

The big eye needle

I use a lot of seed beads for making tatted jewellery and the big eye needle is invaluable for stringing beads. You open it, secure the thread end to one tip and rummage in the bead bag with the other end, letting beads catch on the pointy end. The principle is the same as for a needle threader.

It is 10cm long. Lots of beads can fit on that.

I won't even mention the pair of scissors (actually nail scissors, with very narrow and sharp tips), measuring tape and other doodads that are really quite common. If I haven't bored you already, next time I hope to share my limited experience with a few types of thread.

PS. I do a lot of my tatting at home on top of my laptop keyboard, so that is why you see so much of it. It is useful for keeping the tatting dog hair free but it's no fun when seed beads fall between the keys!

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Broken butterfly wing

A few days ago, Muskaan (who is an awesome tatter whom I have learned a lot from) created a little butterfly pattern and asked us to decorate it however we wanted to.

I tried a couple of ideas, including Victorian sets and adjusting the stitch counts, but I had a lot of bad starts and eventually gave up.

I promised her I would try again and on my latest outing to the forest, I decided to use up a shuttle full of silk thread. I added some blue seed beads and only a couple of extra stitches in the chains to balance out the beads in the rings.

It was going very well and I was at the last ring when I realised the wings were not symmetric. I checked the pattern again and, sure enough, I had taken a wrong turn after the first ring, so instead of the top rings facing away from each other, they both faced the same way. I didn't take any pictures but I think you can imagine it.

I blame it all on my lack of skill with applied spacial perception (I also get lost easily in places I have been before, but coming from a different road). I was following the diagram but the upside down image played tricks on my eyes.

I was ready to cut it up, recover my beads and make another try. I laughed about my lapse in concentration with my husband and a friend and showed them the crooked butterfly. When I told them I was going to perform major surgery and recover the pieces of my Frankenstein monster, our friend said he would like to try to fix it. He would just need needle, thread and a pair of scissors. I told him it would come apart if he tried to cut the join, but he insisted that I would have nothing to lose so I gave him the tools.

He cut the join, then split the thread in 6 and connected the two rings in the correct place with a 6th of the thread. I guess my tatting was tight enough to withstand the cut and maybe the beads helped too, but it stayed together.


You can see the broken thread in the top left ring.

I will keep it and try to hold it together with glue and will probably use it as a decoration. I will most definitely make another butterfly, but will learn from my mistakes and do it properly this time. I also encourage you to try the pattern out and bring your own artistic touch to the butterfly.

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Tatting picnic. The wheat circle earrings

My husband and his friends play airsoft and we all go to the forest games every Sunday. I don't play (it's really not my thing), but I am the driver.

If it is cold, I stay in the car, but as soon as the weather warms up enough, I throw a blanket on the ground or over a fallen tree trunk and have a tatting picnic. It is really lovely, with fresh air and birds chirping and the occasional car or shooting noise. I made almost all my snowflakes for the winter coat like this, last year.

The atmosphere is very inspiring and I often try out new ideas or techniques, sometimes by accident. I don't even mind if I have to retat anything, merely tatting outside in the forest is enjoyable enough.

Today I accidentally made a new pair of earrings. I was going to make another wheat bracelet to see if pearl cotton would be strong enough, but I forgot to start the first opposing ring and continued in a row.

Half a bracelet? Nah, earrings!

Since it curved inwards, I went around in a circle and there it is, the wheat circle earring:

I also took the opportunity to take some pretty pictures with a natural background.

 

I will however have to buy crochet cotton for the bracelet (and choker and earrings set, if the lady who wanted it still wants to wait for me), because the pearl cotton is too soft and pliant and I want the bracelet to withstand the adjustable closure and the earrings to keep their shape without much wood glue.

If you would like to make a pair and are ready to try a barely-tested pattern, here it is:

1 shuttle
Use 72 beads for 12 petals (rings)
A * is a bead

r1 2-7***2-7
***
r2 2+(j to p2 of r1)7***2-7
***
Repeat r2 and *** until 12 rings; join the 12th ring to the p1 of r1, then add *** and connect to the base of r1.

I used size 8 pearl cotton thread called Puppets from Coats and 2mm seed beads. I don't own any specialised tatting thread, so I can't estimate the size equivalent, but I assume it will work with size 15 (or 20) crochet cotton. Feel free to adjust the number of "petals" if needed.

Saturday, April 21, 2018

The wheat bracelet

I haven't blogged so much, but I have been tatting quite a bit. Most of it is still waiting to be blocked though, so pictures will come later.

I have been making a lot (three, so a lot for me!) of "wheat" bracelets. The pattern is pretty simple, all rings with bare thread between them. I just made all rings the same size, so the bracelet would be straight, instead of curving in on itself.

I had long since avoided making anything with bare thread, afraid that it would look strange or uneven. But small seed beads can help with the measurement, so I didn't have to worry about the length of the bare threads, since they weren't exactly bare anymore.

I used yellow glassy seed beads and bright yellow thread (Coats Aida size 15, now rebranded as Anchor Aida), which made me think of wheat in summer. Thus, the name.

I first made a pair of earrings for a friend, with two rings on each side and one on top to hold them together, but I didn't manage to snap a picture of them.

Then came a bracelet, which I gave to my mom.

I did my best to colour balance it. It is a very bright and happy yellow.

I am very happy with the adjustable closure. Until then, I had tried lobster clasps with chain end (too fiddly to put on by yourself) or S closures (could come undone easily and not adjustable). But this works very nicely to put on and adjust to the wrist thickness. I followed a very nice tutorial on square knots on Youtube.

Mom loved it and so far, I have made two more, one in grey silk, the other in yellow again. I still need to block them and add the closures and I'm sure I am keeping one for myself. Maybe make the matching earrings again too.

Friday, March 30, 2018

Database solutions

I promised I would explain a bit how I made my database with patterns and tutorials. Here is a bird's eye view of the whole enterprise.

What are the options?


There are a few alternatives you can use, some of which dont require a lot of technical knowledge, such as browser bookmarks or bookmarking site.

There is of course Excel (or its counterparts from other Office suites) which a lot of people are familiar with.

Then come the database solutions. I am sure that there are solutions out there you can pay for, but I don't think a lot of us will want to spend the money.

A simple idea which everyone with an Office suite usually already has is Access (or its siblings by other companies). This is actually a database structure and logic without needing a server. I would like to try something like that and see how it goes. It might give me the portability I want.

Then we have the server solutions. I use MySQL, which is a database system that is relatively simple and easy to use. There are other database solutions out there too, but this is the one I learned. However, from what I have read, apart from Access, these other database solutions usually require a server.

The Server

I use a free server bundle that offers a database and web server among others: VertrigoServ. I install this on my laptop, start the servers and I can access my database from the laptop. I can also offer access to other computers in my home network, but getting out into the internet is a bit tricky, not to mention unsafe.

GUI for database administration

The nice people who created the server bundle also included PhpMyAdmin, which is basically a web page that will act as a visual interface for accessing and administering the database. This saves a lot of time and also creates the SQL code for you when you fill out a form. Otherwise, you would have to enter the code manually in the console. Viewing the database would also be done in the console, so text only.

The menu in the GUI is pretty intuitive and there are plenty of tutorials on the internet if you want to give it a go.

Much easier than in the console

I will continue this little overview next time, if anyone is interested.

Monday, March 19, 2018

The tech behind the lace

How do you keep track of patterns and tutorials that you like and find yourself coming back to again and again for reference?

When I started out, I used a notepad file of links. Lots and lots of links and I usually didn't label them properly, so I often forgot what to look for when searching for something in particular. My own notes and patterns were in separate notepad files. Back when I started, I had to rewrite every pattern in my own "style" so I could follow it easily.

Coming back to tatting after a somewhat longer break, I decided it was time to clean and organise my library or it would become unusable.

So, being the semi-nerd that I am, I decided to make myself a database. I have done this several times in the past for school projects or for fun, so I knew quite well how to do it. I installed some servers on my laptop to act as the host and used a web-based GUI to create, edit and view my database.

The concept is quite simple, with a few tables for patterns and techniques, and the GUI really makes it easier. I can insert a link to the site and also upload a small image to let me know what the link leads to.

The tutorials section

I know it is not perfect by far, since I can only view the database from the laptop itself (or another computer in the same network) but I like it, it is my silly little ambition to swim against the stream. Plus, I don't quite like Pinterest and it doesn't do all the gimmicks I want it to.

Now, the only problem remains the access from my phone when I am away tatting. I have thought of an Access file stored in the cloud, but I am too lazy to port all my database there. Maybe later. No time for that now, there is tatting to be done!

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Snowdrops

I have had a few "design" attempts in the past, usually modest and not too spectacular, more often than not, minor adaptations of patterns to make them sit better. I only have a few patterns that I can say are somewhat my idea, but not really noteworthy.

I have thus far made a ring (using an edging), a free form "rasta" bracelet (really, just coiled chains and beads), a necklace (my proudest achievement, but I am still working on improving it) and now a snowdrop.

One of our friends asked me to make him a snowdrop for his mother and I started thinking of the shape.

My first idea was enclosing the flower inside a heart formed by the stem and a leaf:

I had so far hidden most ends too.

I also cut off the flower and tried a few other arrangements and sent our friend the pictures. He liked the first one, so I remade it (because I had already cut the flower off). He just wanted a somewhat different flower.

The design is not really perfect, as the flower tries to shift away from the center of the heart, but a little wood glue helped it stay put.

The final version. The dark ugly gray thread is in fact emerald green, but my lighting is not good for photos.

If anyone cares to try this idea, here are my notes (I am a terrible pattern maker but they work for me). Any improvement or criticism is welcome.

Curved stem (Josephine chain)
Long narrow leaf from bottom connected to flower top
Two shuttles

leaf  + top and bottom rings: green
ch1 40
r1 1-3-1-3
ch2 30
r2 5

stem: green
jch1 84 half stitches
connect to last p of r1

3 full petal flower: white
r3 9-4-5
r4 5+4-4-5
r5 5+4-9

or


2 petal flower and small petal peeking between: white
r3 9-3-3-3
r4 3+3-3-9
ch 3-3 (I cut before this chain and made it separately; there must be a better way, but I don't know it yet...)

alternative with split ring for flower version 2 (thank you Muskaan):
r3 9-3-3-3
sr1 3+3/9-3
ch 3-3+(join to p1 of r3)

Friday, January 12, 2018

The emperor's new coat

Ever since the periods of low income for me and my husband, I have been in the habit of fixing our clothes myself by hand rather than buying new ones or going to a tailor. Yes, I was also stitching up holes in socks too (I only later learned what darning is). Our doggie Aschiuta also contributed to those sock holes getting larger and more numerous...

We are now doing better with money and can afford to throw away socks with holes, but I still like to repair clothes on my own and sometimes even embellish them. After learning how to tat, that also meant appliques. In fact, this is one of the reasons I learned tatting.

Thus, my knit vest got a tatted rose in the front, my beret (after getting elastic on to fit better) earned its little red maple leaf and poochie's little coat got a snowflake. I also made myself a belt, but that is a story for another post...

My mom bought me a winter coat last year, long, warm and navy blue. I wanted to customise it, of course and I was originally going to change the plain black buttons, but I couldn't decide on a button design. So, instead, I made up my mind to add tatting instead. And what works best with a winter coat? I'd say snowflakes.

I had been making some snowflakes following the First Snowfall design by Robin Perfetti (she kindly offers free designs on her blog here) in a blue and white variegated pearl cotton thread. I really like this design, it looks very elegant. I thought I would sewa few of these on the hem of my coat.

So since spring and until December I worked on and off on the snowflakes until I had 11 of them. I then measured and calculated and measured some more to make them sit evenly, pinned them in place with safety pins and got to work on sewing them on. I added a few at a time and only finished during the Christmas week, while we were on holiday at my mother-in-law's place.

Since the thread is variegated and I did not care at what point in the colourway I would start, the snowflakes all look a bit different, but I really like that. I also got a few compliments from family, so I guess it doesn't look too bad.

The coat posing on the back of a chair.

Not sure if it shows very well, but they are in zig-zag positions. Also, my phone camera captured the light in weird ways.

Ah well, I like my new coat.