Tuesday, September 27, 2016

This Way or Tat Exercise 1

Motif #19 in 2nd 25 Motif Challenge of 2016
Dotted Snowflake by muskaan
6.5 cm in diameter using size 30 DMC Cebelia

The link directly under the picture will take you to the post in which muskaan provides the introduction to this series of exercises to help us understand the whys and whens of why our tatting sometimes progresses in a different direction to that of our diagrams. Muskaan provides the diagram for this snowflake.

In exercise 1, muskaan encourages us to tat as we would normally, but to observe closely the direction in which our work progresses. The goal was to establish a baseline for future comparision. All of the true rings in this design are without picots and the chains, their picots, and thrown rings are, in my opinion, the primary focus of the design, so I tatted with traditional double stitches for both chains and rings using reverse works between the elements with the following exceptions.

I actually chose to use the 2nd shuttle for the split ring that allowed me to climb into the final round because I considered using RODS (reverse order double stitches) for the attaching rings of this round. The attaching ring immediately to right of my start was made with RODS and then I formed the next one with the usual double stitches. It was very difficult to tell the difference since there were no ornamental picots. In fact, if I had any preference at all, it was for the appearance of the rings made with normal double stitches. That means that in this snowflake you are looking at the back side of the rings that form the center of round 1 and those that attached to that round in round 2 except for that split ring and the ring immediately to its right.

It will be interesting to see if anyone else used different stitch combinations and came up with any differences in direction.

7 comments:

Lace-lovin' Librarian ~ Diane said...

Good for you! I had good intentions. I even printed out the information. However, a retiree luncheon and a mermaid tail afghan got in the way.

Suztats said...

I shall have to re-visit this later. Right now I'm experimenting with dyes in prep for an upcoming class. Have fun.

God's Kid said...

Your snowflake looks awesome!!! :)

Eliz Davis aka Tatknot said...

Thank you.

Diane, there is plenty of time. I didn't expect to get to this so quickly, but found myself with some unanticipated tatting time.

Madtatter80 said...

Wonderful to see love the tatting looks delicate too!

muskaan said...

Thank you so very much, Eliz for the working and the feedback :-)

New perspective about the rings! Must keep that in mind. Can't discern that all rings are not from front :-)

You are right, my focus was mainly on the 2nd round where I wanted the option to climb out and I wanted thrown rings on the chain. (There is a reason for that). Yet, I wanted to keep the overall pattern simple enough and quick to tat.

I have since worked on yet another version which is a bit more complicated than this and can be used at the end of the series as an application/revision pattern.
Hugs

Eliz Davis aka Tatknot said...

Thanks, Madtatter80.

muskaan, I suspect you'll have several wonderful surprises for us to tat as we explore, and I'm eager to try them all.