Day 338: There I was, going blithely along after having tatted several split-ring snowflakes, and suddenly the eye of my needle was on the wrong side of the work, preventing me from drawing the next ring closed in a manner which left the working thread in the proper position. My first thought was that I had read the pattern incorrectly, but no, I'd followed the arrows, worked the sections in the proper order, but my needle was definitely backwards. Then I realized something: although I've needle-tatted "throw-out rings" (TORs) on chain sections, I had never orphaned a ring off another ring. My pattern was written for shuttle tatters, but theoretically, everything you can achieve with a shuttle should also be able to be done with a needle even though it may require different steps. Thinking that was the issue, I pulled the work apart and started over. After several hours of frustration, I was almost resigned to having to form one ring as a series of chains which would have left it more angular than the rest, but I was still sure there had to be a way. After dragging out several other tatting books, I found the answer: use a second needle for the TORs. Live and learn, they say, and I consider a day wasted when I don't learn at least one new thing, although I usually like to know that I'm entering the classroom before I get partway into a project.
365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Learning A New Technique
Labels:
needle tatting,
needlework,
snowflakes,
tatting,
throw-out rings,
TORs
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment