multicolored

I'm playing with some new threads, probably you've already seen my photos in Facebook.

That is a multicoloured Sanbest thread, it looks completely different on the spool, so I'm very happy with the result.

My pattern up there mixes double stitches and treble tatting stitches and the section with trebles is a chain, with the under-over effect that makes it look like rings. I used the same effect in the snowflake with the ice-drop in the centre (here: https://ninettacaruso.blogspot.com/2020/01/shine-light-on-tds.html)

I'm enjoying playing with this metallic Sanbest thread, these are other things I tatted with it:

That is a module, pattern is by Eva Antonucci.

Those bracelets are just lines of split rings, beads are preloaded in both shuttles. Pattern is a repetition of split rings tatted in this way: move 5 beads in the loop around  your hand, then tat 6tds with beads in between (move from the hand), then the other side is 8ds, very small picot, 3ds. Close it, letting the two last ds and tds stitches very close to each other, then, when it's closed, the core thread is near to the very small picot. To continue, lock join the core thread to the small picot, reverse work, switch shuttles and go on with the next split ring.

If you share any of my patterns, please put a link to this blog, don't copy and past pictures. I hope you understand, thank you in advance.

Ciao,
Ninetta

variations on the theme

In Priscilla#3, figure 29, there's an edging that is very nice to tat.
Way back in 1924, they wrote that edgings would be perfect for pillow cases and sheets, but... in case you have a sparkling thread to use up, some edgings and trimmings are perfect for bracelets, too.

It is pretty easy: all chains. Each chain is the same number of stitches and the join is at about a third of the chain. In the "all ds" pattern, you can vary the number of ds, or you can add picots or beads, then you can change the position of the join, to obtain a wide range of similar patterns.

I tatted some variations, but I substituted double stitches with treble tatting stitches and now I wish I could try all possible combinations!

Thread is metallic Sanbest thread, they sold 3,4 and 6 strands, the thickness of the silver in the picture is 4 strands and - my opinion- it is like a Liz cotton size 20. The other two are 6 strands, that are like a cotton Cebelia size 10. In the Facebook group, friends wrote that the 6 strands thread is like a Liz metallic size 20, but I don't have any of that, to compare myself.

Ciao,
Ninetta

shine the light on the tds

That is a new-to-me thread, Sanbest polyester, 6 strands. It comes from China, very smooth and perfect for tatting, even for tatting the treble stitches! I found it thanks to a Facebook group, led by Eva Antonucci.

It inspired me a new design:

It shines like the gold thread, I did my best to take a good pic but it's not easy.

It started as a snowflake but ended like an ice-drop, in fact the rivoli was added at the end.

The problem with any metallic threads is that it twists a lot while tatting the trebles - a lot more than with cotton thread! -, so you need to drop the shuttle very often to let it untangled. In this pattern I did it every 3 tds.

All my patterns need to be reviewed and my files need some "spring cleaning", maybe I should commit myself seriously... This sounds like a new year resolution, but, well, keep an eye on me and in case please help this lazy girl to behave...

And now please let me shine the light on this one: the last doily designed by Sue Bradham. A pic is here:
http://hiskid66.blogspot.com/2020/01/finished-my-first-online-tatting-design.html
That is a great joy for me, a technique is not useful without designers that include it in their tatting!

Ciao,
Ninetta

the music of tatting

Is the shuttle a musical instrument?

Lately, I've bought two spools of silk, that is produced not far from where I live.
I had tatted with silk before, but it was raw silk, that I washed myself, I was not completely satisfied because it was sort of fluffy and picots' effect was that the thread wanted to open like a fan.

Not this one!
It is beautiful, twisted and shining... and I discovered that twisted silk can be magical!

For once I was tatting alone at home, without TV, sons, in complete silence, I heard a sound that resembled a violin! At first I  couldn't understand the source.
It was the music produced by the silk, while I was pulling the tiny thread in and out of the ring!

I made up the pattern for the little doily. It was a sort of "tat it and see" but without Mrs. Jane who's got your back! I had to retro tat a couple of times, I also could reopen two rings, I'm really surprised how easy it was!

It's a very very tiny thread. Measuring it with my own "gauge", I could tat 20 ds to reach one centimetre,  it is a lot thinner than a size 100 cotton, that only need 15 or 16 ds for one centimetre of tatting!

I talked about my personal tatting gauge here: https://ninettacaruso.blogspot.com/2015/03/repetita-iuvant-at-least-to-myself.html

Well, I think that for now on, if someone asks me, I can affirm without any doubt that tatting is like playing music!

That silk is produced by "Tecnoseta srl", in Zagarolo (it is a city near Rome, they have an email: tecnoseta@gmail.com)
It is a twisted silk, technically they call that "twisted 2/3 T6", but don't ask me what does it mean!

Ciao,
Ninetta

dollhouse miniature doily

I love this project! 😍 It started because I'm collecting dollhouse's furnitures piece by piece, there is a weekly magazine with them attached ... and what an home-sweet-home is without lace? Of course, the first to be tatted is the "big" doily for the dining room (even though I still don't have the table!).

Scale is 1:12, so if a real table diameter is 120cm, in the dollhouse the little table would be 10cm large. With that dimension, a realistic looking doily could be obtained with thin thread, like size 100, I think. When working with finer thread than my favourite size 80, I usually look for a simple pattern or a pattern that I already tatted, just because retro-tatting is not fun and I've problems to focus the tiny stitches. I went over my collection of  "Il lavoro Chiacchierino" by Mani di Fata and found the perfect doily in issue 13, that is the doily on the cover.
I haven't tatted that doily before, but it looks simple and stitches' count easy to remember. I've "translated" the pattern in my short textual notation 😉 (their patterns have always very long text and with so many asterisks that I absolutely assure you I can go mad!) and that is the 6° round finished.

(The little pottery is from Castelli, a town in Abruzzo, central Italy)

I already have the bed! I need the lace for the sheet and a blanket, too. Pillows, of course. I'll take my time...

I tatted two samples, the one in the bottom of the following picture has been tatted with dmc size 100 white B5200, the other one in the upper side of the picture it's been tatted with the same thread of the doily, that is Anchor Artiste Mercer Crochet 100. The size is the same but the dmc is brighter, in my opinion, while Anchor thread is softer.

Ciao,
Ninetta

frilly fan

Pattern is n.39 in "A Tatter's Workbook", author unknown. I've added another round, just rings and chains.

Thank you for your nice comments, of course Martha ( Martha's Tatting Blog ) guessed right! 😍

And - as promised - this is the backside of the tag for the hand dyed thread: by Tatskool. This is a gift from Fox, I had saved it for something special. Thank you dear Fox!

I've started another edging, this time pattern is from Priscilla #2, fig.13. I've changed it a little and will show you next week.
I've tatted during the way to and back Genova, where I went last weekend with my family for a short holiday. I met my dear friend Maria who lives there, she spoiled me with gifts: many spools of metallic thread and some 5gr. little and old white DMC n.70 balls (no more in production, now white n.70 is only sold as 20gr balls) and then she also gave me an absolutely lovely silver 925 pendant, handicraft from Campoligure. I've already got another old one, and you can see both in next picture, the old one is in the foreground:

Genova is a beautiful city, it is well worth a visit for more than one weekend, even it is a bit far from the usual trip proposed to tourists (you know, Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples...). We've had three nice days with Maria and her husband and enjoyed every minute. In the next short video (3 seconds!) there's the fountain in Piazza de Ferrari:(video deleted, it doesn't work)

Piazza de Ferrari

via XX Settembre

Christopher Columbus House

tatting? LOL

In Palazzo Bianco there's a room with old lace (but no tatting), there were also needle lace pieces (Alencon) that called to my mind the tatting examples on the tulle that are in the booklet "Tatting" by Th. de Dillmont:

I'd have liked buying a catalogue of an exhibition held in 2006, "Gioielli di filo", but unfortunately it seems very hard to find. (http://www.museidigenova.it/it/cataloghi/586?page=1 )

Genova is about 5 hours by train from Rome. But we were unlucky in the way back home, there was a big fire just an hour north Rome and the train stopped for hours (we started from Genova at midday), then at 6pm they moved hundreds of passengers in another train and left everybody in a small seaside town, then finally everything solved at 11pm and we could go to Rome, arriving at 1am and a couple of hours later we managed to be at home. Crazy night. Talking about fires, this is the worst summer I can remember. I'm really disheartened for they suspect arson as the probable cause, for almost all of them. Sigh.

Ciao,
Ninetta

Related post

teasing

teasing

That edging's pattern is from an old book, I've got it for a short time and I've already tatted something else from it. They write that patterns are from 1920s.

I've the perfect thread for this one, I love it, smooth and delicate. Hand dyed, it's a gift from the Colours' Fairy Fox, there's a tag but I'm going to explain the reason for the title in this post...

Just to have fun, can you guess the book, the pattern and the thread?

A clue: nobody can say who the not named author of the book is!

I hope next week I can show the finished edging and I'll show you what it is written on the back of the tag...

Ciao,
Ninetta
P.S. I put a picture of the dress I sewed, in this post: international drop addiction

naughty sewing thread!

Again about cabochons and a new video of mine.

Earrings with buttons (backside tatting is equal to front, Russian method - as far as I know). There are Usha's dot picots in chains, hardly visible in that picture, it's a pity, they are pretty and delicate. She made a video to show how to tat dot picots: Dot Picot in Tatting by Usha Shah
Thread is HWT, one thread is Finca light gold (Hilo Metalizado, 1000mts, Presencia Hilaturas), double strand, 35% polyester and 65% Viscose, the second one is an anonymous metallic sewing thread.

About HWT, please read this post by Jane Eborall:
Tatting and not a lot else!: HWT

I made a video to show how I'm winding the shuttle HWT, one of which is a very hard to manage metallic sewing thread. I've some spools of various brands, all of them unroll very easy and I soon look like a cat tangled in its yarn ball. You won't see me tangled in the video, in fact I'm sharing my way to fill the shuttle without having a headache.



In next picture there are cabochons made with my method that is tatting two rounds of rings and chains around the stone, but is seems that it doesn't work! I made 19 rings and it was very loose, so well I didn't worry and I changed it for another stone, then I made 18 rings and it was still loose, the last is 17 rings and it is loose again! Ah! this naughty HWT has got elastic properties! I bet it will work with 16 rings... no, I'd better don't bet.

In the two on the notebook, rings are 4-4-4, chains are 4-4. I think I must change the stitches' count. The stones are 3cm wide and 4cm high and they are thick.

Ciao,
Ninetta

Related post

unexpected lifeless vitality

 international drop addiction

where's the yellow gone?

Puff! Disappeared! An entire ball of DMC Special Dentelles size 80 yellow (colour 744)!

Ok, I know they are very high quality but low quantity: they are only 5gr. balls. DMC says they are 90 m. of thread, I trust them, never measured! I can wind my tiny shuttles 3 times (full capacity) with one ball.  Also, I almost finished the white B5200. The 13th row is all green then! (colour 471)!

(UPDATE: there's a typo in the picture: design by Renata Niemczyk)
It may be useful to know, that dmc has 3 hues for the white, my favourite is B5200, the bright white.

I love this pattern, fast and easy, thank you so much Renata!

Hasta luego (see you soon)
( http://www.360travelguide.com/Mexico/languages.asp )
Ninetta

Related post

still spring

a little gift

That's a little gift for a friend.
Earrings' pattern is in flickr and the split ring bracelet with curled rings was shared here in the blog some days ago.
Thread is a 100% polyester, very good for jewellery, very stiff, as thick as a size 10. I bought it in a fair in Rome, I should find where I put the seller's card, there wasn't a label on the sample I got.

" До свидания " [da svee-DA-nee-ya] good-bye
(http://rbth.com/blogs/2013/03/07/russian_greetings_and_goodbyes_23599.html)
Ninetta

Update: thread bought from www.legemmecreation.com (they also have a fb page where pictures of the thread can be found)

Related posts:

earrings-pattern

bracelet with split rings and curled rings - pattern

doable

I'm trying to use up the silk I've got (hope I don't waste it), I'd love tatting something similar to a beautiful shawl I saw here:  http://www.georgiaseitz.com/younkin/younkin.html. Maybe, a cotton thread would have been more collaborative, but it's working, it's "doable". I can't keep that silk for ages, after all, waiting for the right project. What else all that silk would be for?

That silk was bought at the beginning of 2014 (http://ninettacaruso.blogspot.com/2014/03/got-into-mess.html) and I tried it single thread and also doubled. Actually the first time I didn't liked it single thread, too thin, but after having tatted a size 100, I think it's comparable (well, I can hardly see ds, I confess!).

In that pic it is near the Priscilla's border in size 100 DMC cotton, tatted last summer.

I haven't followed the pattern given for the shawl, because rings were way too little with my thread. I'm tatting rings 9-9 and chains are 6-6-6 (and short chains are 6ds), I'm trying to follow the flow of rings and chains, not so easy and I help myself folding in half what I already tatted and guessing what I should tat next, that works for me!

The big difference between the cotton and the silk, sigh, it's the smoothness: like me and me speaking in English! In this blog post I needed some of the lively and colourful words that Fox used about the Lizbeth size 80 (a teasing thread for me too, sometimes); English words that I can't recall in this moment, but that's due to my silly brain that doesn't collaborate, it insists thinking in Italian!

The silk easily frays and retrotatting is a mess (reopening a ring already closed is a mission impossible). I forgot to join at a certain point but I chose to tie a knot instead of cutting an hour of tatting.

I'm confident that it will have an end, or as a shawl for a Barbie doll or for only one shoulder of mine, but it will be done!

Ciao,
Ninetta

a thread about

One of my latest purchases it is a gold metallic thread that friends suggested as a good quality and feasible for tatting.

It is Finca light gold (Hilo Metalizado, 1000mts, Presencia Hilaturas), double strand, 35% Polyester and 65% Viscose, about the same composition of a dmc gold metallic 282 that it is a 3 strands twisted together - on my spool it's reported 65% Rayon, 35% Polyester. As far as I understood, rayon and viscose are both synthetic fibres, quite the same fibre then, the difference it is in the processing technique.

Of course the size is different: while dmc 282 is like a size 70, this Finca is like a size 80 or even less. Moreover, it looks "less gold" than the dmc and it breaks easily.

So I screened out the possibility of tatting with one strand only.

I started some tests:
(1) one strand and the cotton Special Dentelles yellow colour n.744 size 80 (that together are like a single size 50),
(2) one strand and a 100% Polyester white sewing thread,
(3) two strands,
(4) two strands and a 100% Rayon gold thread Miyuki used for beading

#####################

Pattern for the bracelet:
··: = three beads 'up' (on the picot) one bead 'down' (on the shuttle thread)
Start with a ring of 8 ds, I use this ring to attach the lobster clasp hook.
SR (string 4 beads in the loop): 6 ··: 6 / 6 ··: 6 close
Make as many split rings as required for your wrist.
Finish with a normal ring, 12 ds, in which I usually hide both ends, as I learned this method by Miranda: http://tattingfool.blogspot.it/2011/07/finishing-with-sssr.html

#####################

Only my opinion, but I like how the (1) turned out, the cotton adds strength and the metallic broke only once in the bracelet length. In a second bracelet, it never broke that means that also the tatter needed exercise!

Conclusion: pretty good for tatting to add a sparkle, far cheaper than dmc, not as gold though... but I've bought 1000 meters, I better use it!

Ciao,
Ninetta

words

I've been designing another bookmark, if you scroll down you will find it, finished. The coloured spool in the picture is the second gift I had from Maria, it's 100% cotton, too much soft for tatting, Venne Colcoton Multicolour. I web-surfing and found an amazing site, where it's shown miniature knitting made using that type of yarn: Miniature Knitting by Helena Bleeker

In the background, there are some dmc balls that I picked together to make up my mind to start Tomoko Morimoto's doily. I'm still dithering. I should wait for available Lizbeth size 80 (colour 131) in Italy (it seems only size 20 and 40 are arrived up to my country) to finish Anne Orr's large centerpiece, so I need another distraction to fiddle with!

I love learning new English words, it helps me to be as close as possible to what really I am like. Mother-tongue language is the flow of your thoughts, a second language is the attempt to be honestly you.

I discovered that yesterday (February 21) was also "the 15th anniversary of the UNESCO declaration of International Mother Language Day". So I've been "googling" around about machine translators and I found an interesting video in this site (that reinforce my firm belief that it's a sort of blender) :

http://googlesystem.blogspot.it/2010/08/how-google-translate-works.html

But I love google translator! I had a comment in Vietnamese last week, I met a thai sweet lady and I chatted with a so kind polish friend, both in FB. A Korean follower has her own blog (http://2sunb.blog.me/) and I've become her follower. How could I've ever done any of this, without my dear trans-mixer?

Ciao,
Ninetta

contagious

It's better to keep away from crazy tatters - madness could be contagious - but you simply can't, if they're sweet and so kind with you. So it happens with Maria.

She came for a couple of days to my town and gave me a wonderful thread - she said - that she was very confident that I could have liked tatting with.

Mad woman! (I know you're there reading!) It is Maidera Polyneon, 100% polyester, very thin embroidery thread. Tatting with it it's a true madness!! And what if I need to retrotat? Shivers down the back...

It is very strong, I've read that it's also resistant to chlorine bleach. Anyway, it is beautiful coloured and shining and I can't disappoint her, she is always very nice, she never forget to give me even a little gift. Thank you, dear friend!

Pattern is from a publication that I've had for many years, it was the first and only one tatting book that I had got for ages. I already tatted the doily some years ago using dmc size 80 thread, ecru and light blue.

Ciao,
Ninetta

what a Friday!

Yesterday in the morning I received a package with Carollyn's handmade bunny shuttle, the cutest shuttle in the world! She's really sweet and so kind to send a lot more than the shuttle, as you can see in the photo! It's all wonderful! I've never tatted with Lizbeth thread before, and it's soft and sliding, easy to tat with. Look at the photo: isn't the mouse lovely? And those little safety pins are very useful with my tiny thread. Her blog is full of wonderful tatting, and there you can find more about her handmade wooden shuttles: Carollyn's Tatting Blog.

I've always tatted with my little plastic shuttles, and tatting with the little bunny is a pleasure!
Thank you!

Thank you, Carollyn!

But guess what? In the very same day, in the evening, I received another gift from Maria, a dear friend and a tatter, too, who's seldom here. What is it? A ball of Lizbeth thread, of course!

Wonderful friends!

Ciao,
Ninetta

Ping, my little pink pig

Ping is my little pink pig, I hope you like him!
I've used two metallic rings to keep his rounded shape and, after some trials, I changed thread,because I've realized that I needed something less soft than cotton. So, I've used two strands of 100% polyester by DMC, wound with one strand of silk Faro. I hope that Marta (who suggested the pig some days ago) can forgive me if I still have not drawn the pattern, but I hope I can do it soon.

Metallic thread is Mouliné Metalisé (5288), silk is by Cucirini Cantoni Coats, n.3, color 258 (I think it's discontinued now). The size of those threads wound together is very close to a size 10, that's what I measure with my personal "gauge".

Ciao,
Ninetta
UPDATE: 
Pattern: (png format https://flic.kr/p/nAno3s) (jpg format https://flic.kr/p/2hN9Yxh)
(OTC pdf link https://www.georgiaseitz.com/2015/ninettecarusopinkpig2.pdf)