Twisted Chains

[SHL72]

I was working on Martha Ess' Purple Butterfly http://my.att.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=87&subpageid=260613&ck=
and was getting very frustrated as my chains - all of them were twisting.
So I got looking at my work very closely and trying to figure out how to make my chains sit better when I realized I was going around the wrong way.
So if you happen to have a problem with twisted chains make sure you are going around the right way.
Boy did I feel a little silly for not thinking of this sooner.

[PattyD]

I deal with this all the time with new tatters! And I still make mistakes with direction after all the time I have been tatting.

[Judy]

Martha has lots of humor in her free patterns. Great gag pieces -- brain cells, brain, skulls, etc. Loved the giardia, especially since its a waterborne easily transmittable nasty that causes your digestive system to go blotto..

[SHL72]

I also like the fact that her patterns are easily converted to needle. Her humour is rather off the wall but I enjoy that.

[Abby Normal]

This is exactly the problem I'm having! So the problem is that I'm reversing the work before the chain when I shouldn't?? Do you only rw when it specifically says to in the directions? Sometimes I tie it off and forget which way I was going in the first place.

[janet6567]

Some patterns will say RW or DNR ( reverse work or do not reverse) but some (especially those with diagrams) will not tell you. I agree, it can be confusing and frustrating at times! I just try to remember the chain always curves down when you tat, and I position my work accordingly.

[PattyD]

This pdf may prove helpful to visualize how the arc of a chain indicates whether it is reversed from the preceding ring or not.

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[crazytatter]

The only time a DNRW happens is when there is a floating ring on the chain. So I would look at the diagram and make sure the ring isn't floating on the chain then I would RW when I finish the element to do the chain.

[PattyD]

DNRW Do Not Reverse Work happens whenever the following element is oriented the same as the preceding element. In other words, they both have the DS in the same orientation. The DS at the top of a ring have cap over legs. A chain following after DNRW, would also have a cap over the legs and the chain would curve uphill after the ring. This is not the normal thing that happens between a ring and a chain.

The usual thing one expects is for the chain to be oriented so that the caps are opposite the caps of the ring preceding it. Normal is rings caps up and chains cap down. The chains normally curve away or downhill, from the preceding ring.

DNRW can occur anywhere in a pattern for whatever effect the designer chooses.

[Judy]

I run my finger over the diagram or photo and follow along. Whenever I have to "stop" and change from clockwise to counter clockwise direction, I know there's a reverse.

[GraceT]

If you see DNRW (or deduce from the curvature that it's so), do you do a shoelace trick (SLT), or do you simply not reverse, and trust to the tension to make it lie right? I have a pattern where I've been doing the SLT (for a DNRW from ring to chain or chain to ring, or a RW from chain to chain), but I'm not sure it really improves the way the tatting comes out.

[PattyD]

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