onion rings – not fried yet

This post is part of a series.

• the onion dilemma – Part I
• variations on the onion recipe – Part II
• peeling the onion without crying – Part III
• onion rings - not fried yet – Part IV   (this post) 
• mock and split but still genuine – Part V
• the onion takes dimension - Part VI
• whichever way you choose - Part VII 

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After 3 post about onion rings, I’m pretty sure we – me included – have sufficient options to tat onion rings like a professional! But I am not totally fried 😁 after all the hours I’ve been spending online to study onion rings! And I’m still finding infos new to me!

I've found a German site, author is the tatter and researcher Christel Wutzmer: http://doppelknoten.gmxhome.de/
In her site you can read a short bio of Tina Frauberger, where I learned that in 1892 Tina married Heinrich Frauberger, who was also the founder and director of the Düsseldorf Museum of Decorative Arts. Now I understood why the references to the museum in her book Shiffchenspitze (1919)... unfortunately I can’t read German. What it’s very sad, it is that from Christel Wutzmer’s site I’ve learned that Tina’s “...lace and embroidery collection was auctioned off after her death. Part of her estate was probably burned in the turmoil of war...” (the World War II, she died in 1937).

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UPDATE: here it is a short bio written by J.Connors in Craftree:
 https://craftree.com/forum/threadfs/39087
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Another interesting thing that I found online, it is this drawing:

It is incredible how many times you can open a book/pdf and don't really "see" things! Till that particular moment when you realise that what you were looking for was already there! That picture is from page 27 of a Finnish book, available online, a reprint of a 1923 German book (I found the info in M.Leigh Martin site, thanks very much! - here: http://www.somethingunderthebed.com/CURTAIN/REVIEWStat/LANG1.html).
It is very interesting that the join to connect inner and outer ring is very similar to the join I was trying to describe in last post and that I will try to show later here with another drawing.

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This post is the continuation from previous post, the method of tatting onion rings with inner true ring and outermost mock ring(s). Recap, we have at least 3 choices:

1. Inner true ring with first shuttle (core thread), mock ring with second shuttle (or ball thread) (described here: peeling the onion without crying – Part III)
2. Inner true ring with second shuttle, mock ring with first shuttle
3. Both Inner true ring and mock ring with second shuttle, that is both with the same thread (colour).

In this post I am showing you how I tat the second and third way in the list.
For these methods, I usually tat the inner ring from the backside, and the chain (the mock ring) from the front side.

In the next:
First shuttle = core shuttle (warning: when I switch shuttles, core thread will be a different color!)
Second shuttle = "ball" shuttle.
With these two methods, one shuttle and the ball are not sufficient, you will need two shuttles. It will be soon clear the reason why.

2.2 Inner true ring with second shuttle, mock ring with first shuttle

At this point of my tutorial, the core shuttle is that one with the yellow thread. So the second “ball” shuttle is that one with the red thread.

Reference: Muskaan described this method in her pictures 10, 11 and 12 in this blog post: https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2017/03/revisiting-options.html 

I reproduced it in my pictures from 25 to 30.

=> In this method, the roles of core and ball thread are exchanged, that is the ball thread (red shuttle) will be used to tat the inner ring in the same way we usually tat floating (thrown off) rings (that is written also in Muskaan’s post). That is the main reason why you need two working shuttles.

I tatted the inner ring (pic 25) with my second shuttle (currently the red is the “ball” shuttle). I tatted reversed stitches because that is the backside for me (but this is optional).

In pic 26, I reversed work to tat the outer mock ring (that is a chain) from the frontside. The yellow thread is already in the right position to start the chain, using the red as core thread.

When I start the chain, I notice two things:

1. I pull the red thread, and the inner ring tips over.
2. I don’t leave any loop or space at the start of the mock ring (unlike a “standard” mock ring).

In pic 27 I’m joining rings. There are many possible alternatives for the join, here I chose to use the JSS (“Join to smooth side”). Read previous post (part III) for other options.

⇒⇒⇒ Closing the outer ring:⇐⇐⇐

Here I wanted to switch shuttles (colours) to have next chain in red. I have many options, read about color choices in previous post (part III).
(look at pic. 28, 29 and 30) I pull a loop of yellow thread as if making a normal join, and pass the red shuttle through it, then I tension the yellow thread, to make the red loop pop on the back. This makes shuttles (colours) switch automatically (you can see the chain in red in pic 30).

Muskaan used a similar join in a two-colours block tatting, in order to make the join and to switch shuttles at the same time. For explanation purpose, she called it “block/ball join”. This is the link to her post: https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2017/02/heart-to-heart-to-heart-to.html

 

Please, refer also to the lower part of my drawing in Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/bvs5GV.

***** Remember the drawing from the old Finnish book? In that old one the loop of core thread was pulled from back to front (and it was used to join inner and outer mock ring), in this one it is pulled from front to back (and I've used it to close the outer ring). They are very similar, if not the same join, up and down. *****

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UPDATE: there is a thread in Craftree started by Muskaan, where she described a join that looks exactly the same when done, like that one in the old book. Another way to obtain the same join.
http://www.craftree.com/forum/threadfs/9110
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2.3 Both Inner true ring and mock ring with second shuttle, that is both with the same thread (colour)

Please look at next pictures from 31 to 35.
The roles of core and ball thread are exchanged in this method, too, that is the ball thread (red shuttle) will be used to tat the inner ring in the same way we usually tat floating (thrown off) rings.

I already tatted the inner ring with my second shuttle before taking picture 31 (currently the red is the “ball” shuttle, in reversed stitches but this is optional).

Then I reversed work to tat the outer mock ring (that actually is a chain) from the frontside.
In pic 31, after passing the yellow (core) thread in front, I tatted one first half stitch, then moved it very close to last stitch in previous chain, then continued with the chain (pic. 32). In order to have a better fold of the chain in the starting point, the very first double stitch should have been replaced by 2 first half stitches followed by one second half stitch (like the way we change direction in the folded rings/chains - Martha Ess's way).

⇒⇒⇒ Closing the outer ring:⇐⇐⇐

In picture 33 and 34, I didn’t want to switch shuttles (colours), in order to have next chain in red (read about color choices in previous post, part III).
Then, like I did in pic 20 & 21 of previous post, I used the “onion ring join” (that is like the “S&RJ – slope & roll join”), a normal join taking a loop from the ball thread and passing the core shuttle into it, without tensioning the ball thread: in this way the core thread still slides and both thread are already in the right position to start the next chain (in red in pic 35).

🍟🍟🍟 🍟🍟🍟 🍟🍟🍟 🍟🍟🍟 🍟🍟🍟

😊😅
There’s more to say about onion rings, for example I still have to tell you how both rings can be tatted like mock rings. Then, I also would like adding some layered and 3D effects... but all that is for the next post!

If you liked my onion rings till now, please leave me any comment, I will love it.💖

... To be continued!

Ciao,
Ninetta