Planning Color in Tatting

Another project in progress and its colors:

I chose to add to my projects in progress yesterday by starting a Concentric Rectangle Doily. I've been tempted since I started following Diane's progress with a couple of these. I have a couple of variegated threads that I have had the hardest time deciding how to use. They've been featured in a few small bookmarks, but nothing else. It had occurred to me that it might be interesting to use a variegated thread in one of those concentric rectangles. This variegated is the thread I used in the mock ring experiment a couple of posts back, Lizbeth size 20 color 105. Diane's use of color provided the color repeats: Row 1 and 5; row 2 and 4, row 3. I just chose a couple of threads from my stash that match colors featured within the variegated thread and began. I haven't a clue what I'll do with it when finished! (NOTE: I took it to a fellowship event this event so I had something to do while others ate. One of the young women told me she loves the colors. They are the colors of her bedroom. I told her it will be hers if she wants it. She seemed pleased, and I'm glad it has a future home.)

Colors in Round Robins and Tat-Alongs - Such a difference!

I've participated in several round robins over the years which were made in color. Each of us selected a few colors we would like to see in our finished doily and we tatted the center. Then the project, its threads, and the instructions for that center moved to the next person in our group. Each of us added a round and the instructions to the project as it moved through the entire group. 

muskaan shared some wonderful tips in her blog about selecting colors for the different rounds in a doily. She told me about this in the comments of yesterday's post. She has some great insights there. With the help of those who shared comments with her, she puts terms to some of the concepts I just instinctively applied in planning. 

When a project arrived at my house, I spent time thinking about what the project needed next in order to move forward. It was important to keep in mind the number of people to come along behind you as you planned your round. (You can't be the one to add that spectacular attention-getting round to every project.) In reality, sometimes it took a couple of rounds to do what you felt needed to be done at your point in the project. Selecting the color from the package to be used in your own round(s) was a matter of determining what is needed next from this group to keep the project flowing. You know that each tatter behind you will carefully consider the way color has been used in the design thus far, as well as the design itself, in the planning his or her own additions. The last person to get the doily before returning it to the originator had the task of pulling it all together with that final addition to give it a finished appearance. 

Believe me when I tell you that this was much easier than selecting colors for a Tat-Along that is being designed in one color! Let me say that I LOVE tat-alongs! The latest Renulek WIOSNA is the first time I've tried to do a tat-along in colors. I started by choosing colors I'd like to see used together, just as I did for planning my own round-robin doily. I found the first tatting to be the easiest as the first three rounds were revealed all at once. At least one other round I waited until the reveal of the following round before tatting the next round. That has seemed to make color selection easier.

Perhaps I'm making it all more difficult than it need be. Maybe I should look at the round to be tatted and just ask which color will help this doily continue to flow (my term that encompasses a lot of what muskaan describes in her post linked above), knowing that there is at least one more round to go. I shall have to think about that some more.

Round Robin Doilies in Color (that I participated in)

Just in case you would like to see a few of the round robins I've worked on, I'm sharing a collage below. It was the job of the final tatter, or the originator, to share the pictures and pattern with all of the tatters at the end, and that often didn't happen. I'm sorry to say I have images of only three of them (and they are not the best image quality). I know three is not a very large sampling. Some of the others contained a wider range of colors.

I added the last round in white to the one done in pink, blue, and white in 1997. The purple one and the brown one were made in the same round robin in 2000. I added the final two rounds to  Sue Hanson's purple one. She added the final rounds to my brown and ecru one (I wasn't very adventurous, I know). Notice that Sue used crochet to add the final finish to the last round of mine. 

Happy Tatting!

Another Round Robin Doily From the Past

I've received a few questions about round robins so I thought I'd answer them from my own experience as I post an image of the doily that was mine at the end of the round robin that also produced the purple and black one for Sue Hanson (see previous post).

The specific guidelines for a round robin group can vary greatly, but the basic guidelines are usually pretty similar. You usually try to match people of similar skill levels. There is room for lots of flexibility.

The doily is usually begun by the member who will own it at the end of its travels. You send your center, the instructions for what you've done so far, and the thread, beads, etc., to be used in the project. As the piece moves from member to member, each adds another round or two (determined entirely by the tatter to get the look they envision) and encloses the instructions for the parts they have added. When it returns to the person who created the center, they have a completed doily and the instructions to reproduce it, as well as any leftover supplies.

Round robins don't have to be made with original designs. In some of my earliest efforts, we were encouraged to tat a motif we liked for our center. Edging patterns or other doily patterns were sometimes used for succeeding rounds. You do need to add picots that others might use in successive rounds. The first few people might choose to add something different every time, but the last few are going to have to think about how to bring it all together to look finished, especially the last tatter. That is one reason a tatter may add more than one round. Their part may not look finished without them. Sending the instructions around with the piece provides members with the information they need to repeat elements from an earlier round in their own round helping to pull the design together.

It is also a long commitment.  There is usually a limit on the amount of time you have for each doily, but it must be long enough to give you time to think out your part as well as produce it. I think we usually had a month, so you can see that, depending upon the size of the group, you could have project commitments for many months. There is also the expense of postage as you send each piece on its way.

In terms of designing, it is very similar to me to the agonies I go through in deciding what edging to put on a hanky. It is a matter of deciding what will look right with what is already done.

My one regret about my own round robin experience is that I didn't get the patterns for all of the doilies I helped to create. I think the difficulty of putting the final pattern together is one of the reasons for that. If I did one today, I would want every group member to scan or photograph the pieces as they progress and mail or email the instructions and image to the other members each step of the way. Then all members would have all of the patterns without any extra work at the end.

Is it challenging? Yes! Is it fun? I think so. Would I do it again? Definitely!