What edging should I do? I dithered for months - I'd wake up one day and decide on one, tat a sample, then decide it just wasn't what I wanted. I'd put the edging on hold and work on other projects, then I'd come back to it...still undecided. David had put away several of my tatting books - in a safe place - and it was extremely safe, as I had no idea where he'd put them. Neither did he! He began a search for them, and after several days, he found them and put them on the bed where he knew I'd notice them when I got home from work! The missing books included all four of my Mary Konior books!
I'm now deeply into the edging - from this book, one of my favorites, by one of my favorite designers - the one, the only - Mary Konior! If you look at the edging closely, you can see that she lifted one of the elements and used it in her "Queen of Hearts" motif (in Tatting With Visual Patterns).
I LOVE "Queen of Hearts" - I have it memorized and can tat it without the pattern in front of me (and frequently do!). I decided to do this edging - but almost immediately noticed a roadblock: it didn't have a corner!Hankies have corners; sure, you can tat a couple extra elements and work them around the corner, but with an edging like this, you really need to find a way to tat a real corner. I used the mirror technique: I held a pocket mirror at a 45 degree angle and slid it over the picture of the edging until I saw exactly what I wanted to see - a corner!
Someone, somewhere might want to tat this edging - with a corner - so here is how I did mine:
following the pattern, start the Ring B at the spot where you want to turn the corner. Tat the chains and Rings C and D, then repeat the last chain and Ring D again. Continue with the pattern. You'll have two free picots in the corner element, as opposed to four free picots in each of the side elements.
Dave would be in big trouble if he touched any of my tatting books! He rearranged my CDs after I broke my wrist... some are still MIA.
ReplyDeleteI want to tat an MK edging for my niece's wedding hanky. I've started and stopped two, Chain Reaction and Baby Lace... neither one strikes the right note with me right now. Maybe I'll give this one a go. Thanks for the corner instructions!
I'm amazed at how fast this edging goes! I started it Sunday afternoon while watching Star Trek online with David (is anybody else taking advantage of the freebie Hulu is offering through the end of March - all episodes of all of the Star Trek series are free) and before bedtime, I had turned the first corner and was halfway to the second!
DeleteYour corner is perfect! Nicely done!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm enjoying tatting this edging - I just hope I can do a decent job of marrying it to the hanky!
Deletethat is very pretty. congrats on figuring out the corner.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I tried "making" a corner a couple of years ago (before I had this book) and boy, was it a mess! I was just tatting the element from Queen of Hearts over and over (didn't know about the ring between them) and it was getting really frustrating when I decided to just stop and move on to something else.
DeleteI'm amazed you've memorized the Queen of Hearts pattern! I've done it only once, but struggled with it, especially not knowing exactly where to connect the picots! Of course, I love her patterns and hope I can memorize it, too! This is an excellent corner for the pattern. Thanks for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteGlad the books were found! I hunted for six months for a VHS tape we took in 1991 of one of our first tatting events. Looked high and low and all over the place. I recently found it in the exact place it should have been, in the cabinet with my books! It simply got pushed to the back of the shelf and I didn't see it! Of course, I 'lose' other things, too!
Believe me, I didn't make an effort to memorize it - it just happened! Q of H was the first pattern I made from Tatting With Visual Patterns, and I've made a lot of them over the years.
DeleteI have this book on loan from the public library - thru April 8th. It is marvelous!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it, though!!
ReplyDelete