Green Ice Cluny Doily

Day 123: A little over a week has passed since I submitted my first entry into a tatting/crochet contest and in the interim, I've been hard at work developing a second pattern which includes cluny leaves. Cluny tatting is not well-known even among experienced tatters, and purists sometimes argue that it doesn't really qualify as "tatting" because the leaves are woven rather than being formed with a series of half-hitches over a core thread. They argue, yes, but there is sufficient evidence of the art historically that their protests can be dismissed with the same wave of the hand which would dispel any dispute that a piece was not "crocheted" if it included a length of ribbon laced into the work, or that a sweater was not "knit" if it was finished with a crocheted edging. Cluny leaves are worked with the same threads used to make the rings and chains; they are not made separately or sewn in. They are most often found in pairs as they are in this design, but single leaves may be included where travel of the thread allows. This doily was made with a #7 needle and size 20 thread. It measures 7" in diameter.

The Process Of Design

Day 117: As my readers will recall, I recently entered an original design in a contest for tatting and crochet. Participants are not limited to a single entry, so after talking with the sponsors at some length about the shortage of cluny tatting patterns, I decided to create one for a second entry. The design process for me consists of a lot of trial and error; I have a tendency to imagine the results in reverse, a sort of dyslexic interpretation of my intent. Consequently, I choose to use up "short balls" of thread or yarn while in the developmental stages, and then translating them into a display-worthy piece once I've sorted out the issues. I am far enough into the cluny piece that I felt confident enough in its direction that I reproduced it in the final fiber (a pale variegated green cotton) before moving on to the next row in the "test" piece. The finished doily will probably be one of my entries in the Puyallup Fair this year as well, although they don't give extra points for original design. However, another cunning plan is in play here. Even if the piece is not one of the winners in the contest, I have opened discussion with the sponsors with regard to producing a book of cluny designs. They were quite enthusiastic about the suggestion.

Cluny Tatting

Day 105: A very long time ago, I was quite active in a mediaeval reenactment group, and naturally was part of the needleworkers' guild. Our Guild Mistress was...well, there's really no polite way to say this...she was rather too convinced that her scope of knowledge included all there was with respect to the needlearts. I had lost my instructions for cluny tatting and couldn't remember the complicated lacing of the thread between the fingers, and approached her, hoping for assistance in finding a source for written instructions. My inquiry was met not simply with rejection, but with outright dismissal: "There is no such thing as cluny tatting. You mean cluny crochet." I suppose I must admit to a little of the same pride in the extent of my needlework knowledge, but at least I try to remain open to the idea that there might be something I've never heard of. She was not, even when I tried to explain the method as best I could recall it. However, somewhere down the line someone else confronted her with photocopied pages from a vintage booklet showing how to do "petal tatting," and thus it was that copies of the copies came to me some three or four years later without a word of apology.

Now in those days, I was still tatting with a shuttle, and the process of creating cluny "leaves" like the ones shown inside the row of typical tatted "clovers" in the photo on the right was a tedious and tangled process. I did very little cluny as a consequence, although I kept the instructions where they could never again go astray. Recently I was searching for fine-weight crochet thread and discovered a source for tatting supplies of all sorts. Their catalog offered a leaflet on cluny tatting, and something called a "cluny loom." I thought it looked like a gadget, i.e., something which would only serve to complicate the process, but I bought one, and I have to admit that last night, I kept shouting, "This is just the greatest thing since sliced bread! Look at these cute little clunies!" until Tippy moved off my lap. The instructions for the loom are almost idiot-proof, not only printed on the loom itself, but also in a photographic step-by-step guide. The loom can be used with shuttle or needle, and the cluny leaves come together very quickly and easily. The Guild Mistress is no longer with us, or I would be tempted to send her one, just for snark.