A familiar technique just a bit different

 I love how you can translate techniques and transcribe pieces. I love taking the familiar and presenting it just a bit different.

We add beads to tatting that can remind one of adding beads to kitting or crochet or cross stitch. Each way gives you just a bit different result.

We can play a piano piece on the organ, or transcribe an orchestral work for the organ. The music can sound very different, but there’s still a bit of recognition.

When I learned how to create a “cluny leaf” in tatting, I understood the technique, had fun creating the lace, and love using the technique in my patterns. I also understood that those who create a similar element in bobbin lace or surface embroidery stutter when trying our cluny leafs in tatting. Why? I wondered.

Well, this post on Mary Corbet’s excellent blog with videos gave me more insight:

Stitch Fun: Making Long Woven Picots without a Pin

I recommend watching this video also: https://www.needlenthread.com/2008/01/woven-picot-another-embroidery-video.html

Now I understand how to teach tatting a cluny so much better! Thank you to all who share and teach and put fiber arts out there for all of us!

Tablet weaving

Well, the weather has been nicer. The seal pups are growing. The garden is growing. The tatting is growing. 

I’m also preparing for another workshop. This one I’m learning more about card weaving. Here’s a good link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_weaving 

and some great examples:

 

Incidentally, scholars “argued spiritedly” about how an ancient Egyptian linen belt was woven. That’s what pricked my interest years ago. No, not the argument. Geesh. The use of linen in an example that has survived so many years. Linen as a fiber intrigues me. I tat mostly with cotton as that’s what is readily available. I do plan to explore tatting with linen.

How is that Possible???

I seem to be drawn to activities that seem impossible. Like keeping a tidy, organized house.

No seriously, I’ve learned a few tricks in my time:

Playing the piano and organ.

Juggling,

Weaving, tatting, loom knitting, etc.

My nickname for a madrigal group was Legerdemain. They gave me that because I always seemed to be producing something that was needed just as someone realized we needed it. It wasn’t hard. I had sung with many small groups and knew the ropes. I wasn’t particularly thrilled. Part of the definition is deceit and trickery. Not my style!

Remember the pin loom I found in a box at a silent auction? I’ve been working through the directions posted by eLoomaNation . Thank you!!!! You can see where I forgot to weave in the final row and things unraveled a bit.

The weave structures are not hard to grasp except for one point: Much of the directions for warping the pin loom have you wind ½ the warp, ½ the weft, and then the rest of the warp. Yes, I wrote that correctly.  So, how DOES that work?????

Knitting uses loops of fiber to create cloth. Tatting uses knots. Weaving used intersections (the over/under you see). How can you get over/under if you only manipulate ½ of the weft?????

Well, I still haven’t wrapped my brain completely around it, but I have learned to predict where to weave in every other row for some of the weaves. Twill is easy. Rep weave made sense also. Color weaves were fussy, but worked. I’ve decided to leave it aside for a few days and see where my imagination takes me.

In the meantime, I could use some legerdemain with the clutter in the house. Maybe if I wiggle my nose?