Mariya's Tatting

Wavy braid

2012-02-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

Last several days I mostly experiment with tatting rather than tat somebody's patterns. Here it is one of the successful experiments, Wavy Braid (motif #16):

Its pattern is here.
Currently I work on my first doily and several more braids. Hope to show them soon.

Tat Along

2012-02-21T04:21:00.000-08:00

Several days ago I decided to participate in Umi & Tsuru Tat Along. I hoped to finish one fragment in a couple of days and post it but some other ideas came to my mind and I stopped tatting this pattern for a while. Anyway, I have done something.
I started with one flower (motif #14):

I just wanted to tat 4 flowers and 4 leaves and make a square from them. So, I tatted one more pink flower, but it looked very different (and much more accurate, I think)! Well, I liked the second one more and tatted a third flower (red) which somehow appeared to be different from the two previous! Anyway, it was time to tat a leaf (motif #15) and connect it to the ready flowers:

It is quite funny, this pattern. I can easily crochet something that will look just the same as these fragments. Well, anyway, I will finish this pattern a bit later.
My lovely husband likes the ready part:

Patterns are now available!

2012-02-14T07:34:00.001-08:00

I finally found time to write down my patterns and find hosting for them. They live on FileDen.com now. I do not know how to draw diagrams so they are presented as photos and instructions. The list is just under my photo on blog page. Hope you will like them!
Please do not hesitate to ask me if something is not clear, and to tell me if something is wrong!

Dragonfly

2012-02-13T13:18:00.000-08:00

This little dragonfly (motif #13) is Riet's pattern for SSSR practicing:

One more tatting technique I now know! Very pretty and very simple pattern, that needs one shuttle. SSSR appeared to be less difficult than I thought. Well, I have practiced split chains while tatting clover, and this is just the same. I know exactly what pattern with SSSRs I want to tat next!

Clover story...

2012-02-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you just select some pattern, tat/knit/crochet it, get pleasure and result, and that's it. But sometimes needlework becomes a truly research... This is one of such cases.
Everything started several days ago when I was looking for some easy pattern with big rings and picots (yeah, again!) to test new threads. In fact big rings are rarely used in patterns, and I found nothing interesting. So, I tatted something square looking (motif #10):

The pattern is pretty easy:
Central ring is: R 6 - 6 - 6 - 6
All small rings are: R 3 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 3 Cl
All chains are: Ch 3 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 3
At this moment my story could be finished if my husband didn't say that this motif looks like four-leaf clover, the symbol of Luck. Shame on me, I knew nothing about it. He showed me a picture and asked whether I can tat it for him. It was a challenge!
These are my several attempts to tat it, using different threads:

The left top clover (motif #11) is the first one.
Every ring in it is: R 4 - 10 (8 first parts of knot) (8 second parts of knot) 10 - 4
My Alex didn't like it much as it is very "empty". All the other thing on photo above are my attempts to make the "full" one. Finally I tatted this one (motif #12):

It is the best one - we both liked it! It's pattern is a bit similar to the Hibiscus pattern. I will write it a bit later.
So, thank you, Alex, you give me inspiration!

TIAS is over...

2012-02-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

I was very, very busy all this week... That's why I could tat days 11 and 12 of TIAS only yesterday evening. Well, I finished my first goat - Winter (motif #9):

But it was so sad that TIAS is over... And so lonely... I couldn't resist and tatted a friend for it - Spring:

My husband liked them both but the second one much more! Maybe because it's quite cold in St.Petersburg last month... Well, Winter and Spring are now happy to be together and discuss weather and everything else that the goats usually discuss!

Thank you, Jane, for TIAS and this wonderful pattern!

Simple Tiling

2012-02-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

I did it at last! The first version of tiling from Simple Polygons that is fine (motif #8):

Well, these Simple Polygons are not the same as in my previous post. Here you can see red triangles, green squares and blue hexagons. If you want to tat polygon with N sides, you should tat N connected rings:
R X (picot or join to previous R) 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 (picot or join to next R) X
The question is, what does X equal to? In common case X is about 6 * ctg (pi / N).
So:

for N = 3 X is about 4;
for N = 4 X is equal to 6;
for N = 6 X is about 10.

Well, I'm not absolutely sure about these numbers, I must say. I should try to tat such an example with some other thread, not Iris. Iris becomes not fine when you work with big rings. Rose is much better is this sense.
Anyway, the whole idea works! My first polygons were simple and pretty, but not functional, these are simple and functional, but not very pretty. I still believe that I can create some simple, pretty and functional pattern at the same time. Well, we'll see.

TIAS day 10

2012-02-05T12:40:00.000-08:00

This pretty goat needs only legs now:

I today I was first again! I'm happy!

TIAS days 7 to 9

2012-02-03T15:17:00.000-08:00

I've realized that I completely forgot to show my TIAS progress for last 3 days! Here they are: day 7 with somebody's tail:

Day 8 with somebody's horn (the photo is dark because it was made at work on mobile phone camera):

Day 8 was the first (and maybe last) day of TIAS when I tatted motif the first among all the participants! I'm proud of this!
And day 9, looks more like a goat:

It was a challenge for me, because I bought beads after TIAS started, so I had to cut thread, add beads and tie it again. And I never tatted with beads before! Looks like the eye and the nose would better be less. But I like this goat anyway!

Experiments...

2012-02-03T15:07:00.000-08:00

Last several days I was not very productive in tatting. Well, I tatted a lot but there is just nothing to show.
First of all, I tried another thread for my Hibiscus pattern, named Rose (I don't know why but a set of threads popular in Russia have floral names). On the photo it is left:

These "floral" threads do not have numbers. But if we calculate the thread number as length in meters per 1 gram, Iris is about #9 and Rose is about #7.
Hibiscus gave me a funny idea, that I have been trying to implement for last several days. There is a pretty thing in Math - tiling with regular polygons. I'm sure, that pictures here and here will explain this idea much better than any of my explanations. So, I decided to make very simple one-shuttle pattern that will present different regular polygons with slight modifications. Here is the first attempt (motif #7):

The pattern consists of all rings. If N is number of sides of polygon, you should tat N rings:
N (picot or join to the previous ring) 2 - 4 - 4 - 2 (picot or join to the next ring) N
The pattern is finished with lock join to the base of first ring.
Well, it seems to me, that these little motifs look fine. However, when I tried to connect such motifs into one of these tilings I couldn't! It took two unsuccessful attempts to understand that the length of one ring (e.g. 4 + 2 + 4 + 4 + 2 + 4 = 20 for square motif) doesn't equal to that one it should be (4 * 6 = 24), so the actual lengths of polygon's sides are different.
Now, when I know this, I work on another version of Simple Polygons, as I call them. Hopefully the third attempt will be better.

My first own tatting pattern!

2012-01-27T05:52:00.000-08:00

I did it! I've created my first tatting pattern! Here it is (motif #6):

Oh yes, it was really funny to make it! Firstly I didn't have any idea of making a pattern. I bought some new thread recently and tried to find some pattern with big rings - although I like Iris threads, it is quite difficult to tat a big ring with them, and picots sometimes don't look neatly. However I didn't find anything that I would like. So I tried to make a little pattern with big ring, something like a petal. Below there are all my attempts: violet and green was the first one, then green and pink petal. I liked the lat one and tried to tat a 6-petal flower. On the third petal I understood that I chose the wrong way of connection. So, the next attempt (the first photo) was successful, although the flower appeared to have 5 petals instead of 6!

Well, now I'm going to tat some flowers with different threads and make a normal pattern description. And name it, of course! I will be very grateful if somebody advises me what program to use for drawing the diagram!

TIAS day 6

2012-01-27T05:27:00.000-08:00

This is my TIAS day 6:

It seems to me that we'll have something with wings and maybe legs. Or not. Anyway, we have 6 more days!

The cat under the tree

2012-01-27T05:21:00.000-08:00

These are two more Nancy Tracy's motifs - Pretty Tatted Kitty (motif #4) and Tatted Christmas tree (motif #5):

Don't know why this Kitty is green - maybe because green thread was on a shuttle at that moment... Kitty was easy to tat, but the tree wasn't. It didn't want to be tatted! I made a mistake at the left lower branch, but it's not critical. But then I started to tat the right middle branch as the upper one. It was my husband who asked me to finish this motif as he liked it, although I wanted to stop. Now it looks quite well, but I would like to know: maybe, Christmas trees do not like to be tatted when Christmas is over, don't they?

I want to fly...

2012-01-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

This is the next small pattern I wanted to tat (motif #3). It's Nancy Tracy's Eagle:

This eagle gave me an idea: tatting is hardly used as a separate kind of needlework. I mean, except bookmarks and jewellery. But if you use it as a decoration, combining with knitting, crochet, embroidery etc, it is wonderful! I do not want my motifs to lie in a box - so I will try to find something to decorate them with. Do you have any ideas?
And this is another programming-needlework analogy: Tatting is similar to functional programming: both are beautiful, rare and hardly used without other kind of needlework/programming language.
Today is day 5 of TIAS, and this is my result:

The pattern becomes "curiouser and curiouser"! Alex, my husband, made a suggestion that is a fly, and I think that it looks like an octopus. Well, we'll wait and see!

Snake story

2012-01-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

It was an early autumn when I suddenly realized that I want to knit a snake. I've already crocheted the little one when I was a child. But this time I wanted to make a big one - a Snake. Unfortunately there wasn't place for it in my room. And I asked my friends if somebody wants to get such a present - but nobody wanted.
I was trying to find a place when the relatives of my husband visited us - together with his little cousin Denis. I asked the boy too, without any hope - boys prefer cars and pistols... But what a great surprise it was for me, when he agreed with pleasure!
I knitted with light heart, and my hands didn't let me down: Denis and Snake liked each other!

They play together...

And have a rest together...

Denis loves his Snake, and for this it keeps away from troubles the boy, who was born in the year of Snake...

Split rings...

2012-01-21T04:52:00.000-08:00

After TIAS day 4 I understood that I have some troubles with SRs. Honestly, these two in Jane's pattern where the first ones I've ever tatted. So I decided to practice them a bit and choose this pretty pattern (motif #2):

It's a double shamrock in a row variation by Georgia Seitz (http://www.georgiaseitz.com/classes2001/rings/rings2.html). I liked it. I would tat such a bookmark if I knew what to do with it if you use e-book!

TIAS day 4

2012-01-19T11:40:00.000-08:00

This is not my best, actually. I have my exams now, and I read SR 3/5 as SR 3/3. Well, I never did split rings before but it's not a problem. The problem is that I realized that missed 2 knots just after I closed last SR. So, the only thing I could do - to get a bit of space for these 2 knots and use single shuttle split ring technique (that I never did before also!). I think I will better start a new TIAS pattern soon.

TIAS - days 1 to 3

2012-01-18T16:11:00.000-08:00

Just the same time when I found 25 motif challenge I also found a tatting game TIAS - Tat It And See. For my great luck it had just started, so I could participate. It's blog is Tatting patterns with the added 'fun' factor . The game organizer is Jane Eborall - an excellent tatter who has also a tatting blog Tatting and Not a Lot Else and website - Tatting Patterns by Jane Eborall. I have never met so many beautiful patterns and useful techniques in one place, and all of them are presented with such clear and understandable diagrams! Jane has done and continues to do the great work for other tatters all over the world!
Well, TIAS is a part of this work. Every several days Jane posts a little part of one big pattern, and nobody knows what it is. Three days are done, the day 4 is coming soon. My result is:

Not very accurate, yeah? Anyway, I've got so much fun! The day 1 was quite easy, and Jane showed how to hide threads ends at the very beginning of tatting. The day 2 was also easy, I did it at work without any problems. But the day 3...

There were two new elements - SCMR (Self Closing Mock Ring) and false picot. Well, I've found there descriptions, understood the idea... But - in Jane's instructions there were several SS - Switch Shuttles. And somehow I decided that it's the same as Shoelace Trick. No way! In Shoelace Trick you make a knot to change a position of the working shuttle. In SS you just leave working shuttle and use another one as working! No knots! With Jane's help I finally understood what to do. Thank you for your patience, Jane! Now I'm waiting for the day 4!

Paw Print

2012-01-18T15:41:00.000-08:00

Several days ago I was searching the net for tatting patterns and found this wonderful blog: 25 motif challenge. The idea is pretty funny - everyone can participate in this challenge. The person should tat 25 different motifs during 1 year. Every several days the progress of all participants is posted.
After reading several posts there I understood how cool the idea is! I found so many beautiful motifs! Some of them I'm ready to tat as soon as possible. And - I want to participate in this challenge too!
Here is motif #1:

It is Nancy Tracy's Tatted Paw Print (you can find the pattern on www.be-stitched.com). For this pattern and all the previous ones I used Iris thread - it's thick enough for the very beginner - like me.
So, this is the start of my challenge. The beginning date for me is January, 10 - the day when I decided to start. So, let's see if I will pass this challenge!

The very start

2012-01-15T04:37:00.000-08:00

As I've already said, I started tatting just several month ago. It was September 2011. I do not remember the exact date but I remember how I came to handmade shop to buy something for crochet and suddenly saw a book about tatting. I had already read about it before, but never tried - couldn't find shuttles. But this time they were here, in this shop, waiting for me. That evening I started to learn.
It was very funny! And here is me first programming-needlework analogy:
Learning a new kind of needlework is similar to learning a new programming language. When you know some other kinds of needlework - or programming languages - learning a new one is much easier that the first one. Mostly because of similarities of these kinds or languages. For me, tatting reminds me both macramé and weaving bobbin - both I tried when was a child. So, it was not very difficult to start.
Well, enough for philosophy! These were my first patterns:

The last flower was expected to be a butterfly. The second attempt was more successful:

Then I thought that I want to tat something unusual - not classic patterns for beginners. I found some Celtic tatting diagrams, uploaded them to my e-book and went to airport, as I was going home. I must say that tatting is a great company for long flights! This was a first try to make something Celtic (not very successful, honestly):

But the next one I did like:

After this flower I had a delay knitting a dog for my mother-in-law (I will tell about it later). And then I tatted little pattern (just to remind fingers what to do):

And the last one here is rose. I tatted it several days: in the plane when flying Riga and back, in the university during lectures, at work, at home... The result is:

I'm not sure that it is exactly that the author meant, but I like it! So, the history is over, the next post will be about present.

Hello, dear reader!

2012-01-15T03:33:00.000-08:00

Well, yet another tatting blog, you can say. Actually, you are quite right. Here I want to show you my tatting and maybe some other handmade.
I have one handmade blog already - http://handmade-notes.blogspot.com/. Why not just to write all in it? Well, first of all, it is in Russian, and I do not want to translate all that posts into English. Secondly, it is mostly archive of my previous works rather than story about current ones. And finally, I want to share some my needlework ideas with people all over the world, not only with Russian-speakers.
Some facts about me:

My name is Mariya (what a surprise, yeah?..)
I live in Russia (in St Petersburg now)
I'm a programmer (what leads to strange ideas about needlework and programming and their interconnection)
I started to knit when I was 6 (that is, I have been knitting for 16 years)
I started to tat much later (several months ago, actually)

Well, I think it's enough for starting post.