Needle Tatting the SSSR

[rsmre]

I make the SSSR the same way that I make one when working off of the ball. When I close the ring, I have a bare thread on the outside of one half of the closed ring. Is this correct, or am I doing something wrong?

[louine]

Not sure that I understand what you are saying.....SSSR is a single shuttle split ring.....
Here is a video for needle tatting a split ring....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nefZtEdZpVk

[rsmre]

Hi Louine,
I am using a length of thread that has been cut from the ball. This is considered to be the same as using a single shuttle, and this method is used for making rings-only patterns. An example is a butterfly made with four rings.
Rosemarie

[louine]

You are making true rings (when thread is cut from the ball and you use the long end of the thread that comes from the needle), if the thread is left on the ball and you needle tat from the ball then the rings are mock rings.....SSSR is neither of the two I just mentioned......check out the video or these instructions on the handy hands site..... http://www.hhtatting.com/splitring.htm You will have to work from the ball to make the split ring.
If you let me know which pattern you are using I might be able to help more.

[rsmre]

Hi Louine,
I must have been in Georgia's class about SSSR's when someone asked how to make a SSSR with the needle. The answer was to "put the needle through the ring." So someone out there knows whether a SSSR made with the needle leaves a bare thread on one side of the closed SSSR. I'm not using a pattern, I just wanted to see if I could make the SSSR with the needle.

[Judy]

Hi Rsmre, I was watching SSSR shuttle video made by...(oh dear, blocked memory cells)...just the other day. I was looking at YouTube and just clicked away without noticing where I was. I too was intrigued and wanted to see if it could be done with a needle. The suggested solution above to "put the needle through the ring" might indeed work. I'm not where I can test it now, but with a shuttle, you need to partially close the ring, leaving just a bit of exposed core to take up the last stitches. Again, the shuttle directions force you to tat those final stitches directly onto the core thread that's still exposed, no flips. So, what if you did that with the needle. Pull the stitches off and nearly close the ring. Now, use the needle to weave the ds's onto the bare core. Any body out there done this?

[louine]

A split ring is so easy with a needle.....the difference in a split ring and a ring is where you "come out of the ring".....in a ring you such as 2-3-3-2 and when you close the ring your threads are between the first 2ds and the last 2ds but when you make a split ring written 2-3/3-2, when you close the ring your threads are between the two middle 3 ds. You can't just "put the needle through the ring"-----you would have to work your needle back through the stitches which would make the core thicker.

[rsmre]

Hi Judy,
You have given me something to think about. I'll watch the SSSR video for the shuttle again. Thanks for the idea.

Hi Louine,
I am trying to make is a "Single Shuttle" Split Ring with the needle. I am using a piece of thread that I have cut from the ball of thread. This method is used to make rings only patterns like a four-ring butterfly. Here is a video showing a motif being made with the thread cut from the ball. Notice the bare thread space between the rings. No chains are made in this motif. Very pretty, too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_zxhaEJD_I.

[rsmre]

OH, JUDY - YES, YES, YES!!!
That is exactly the way to make a SSSR with the needle. The only thing that I might add is to watch the tension of the stitches on the second half of the SSSR. The stitches on the first half of the SSSR are worked over the needle. The stitches on the second half of the SSSR are worked over the core thread. So the stitches on the second half of the SSSR can be noticeably smaller. All I did was to watch my tension and to make the size of the stitches worked over the core thread match the size of the stitches that were made on the needle. The SSSR turned out beautiful. I would never have figured it out by myself. Thank you so very much for your help.
Rosemarie
P.S. I made one SSSR with size #10 thread and a size #5 needle, and I made another SSSR with size #10 thread and a size #7 needle. Both of them turned out beautiful. Also, I flipped the stitches that I worked over the core thread.

[Judy]

Great! Happy to help. I didn't have a chance to test it. Another place where the tatting over the core instead of over the needle makes a difference is in floating rings. I once had a brainwave and thought I could just use a shuttle on the ball side, and when I needed to float a ring I'd just tat it with the shuttle. I was amazed at the difference in size. It gave me a big kick in the ... to start using smaller needles.

[louine]

Glad you figured it out.....I didn't think it could be done that way with a needle.

[rsmre]

Back when I was actually doing this, I didn't have any trouble. I set it aside for awhile to do some other things, and now I can't figure out how I made it work. :( Oh well, I finished the bracelet that I was going to work on tomorrow. I guess I'll be playing around with this on International Tat Day. Still need to get some chocolate, though. :)



Hi Rsmre, I was watching SSSR shuttle video made by...(oh dear, blocked memory cells)...just the other day. I was looking at YouTube and just clicked away without noticing where I was. I too was intrigued and wanted to see if it could be done with a needle. The suggested solution above to "put the needle through the ring" might indeed work. I'm not where I can test it now, but with a shuttle, you need to partially close the ring, leaving just a bit of exposed core to take up the last stitches. Again, the shuttle directions force you to tat those final stitches directly onto the core thread that's still exposed, no flips. So, what if you did that with the needle. Pull the stitches off and nearly close the ring. Now, use the needle to weave the ds's onto the bare core. Any body out there done this?

[rsmre]

Back when I was actually doing this, I didn't have any trouble. I set it aside for awhile to do some other things, and now I can't figure out how I made it work. :( Oh well, I finished the bracelet that I was going to work on tomorrow. I guess I'll be playing around with this on International Tat Day. Still need to get some chocolate, though. :)

Sometimes I forget what I am trying to accomplish. :) I was trying to do this working off of the ball, and that just doesn't work. :) Once I realized my mistake, making the SSSR with thread cut from the ball worked out great - again! :)

[PattyD]

I love SSSRs and am completely infatuated with them as a shuttle tatter. The process is to stop the normal DS at the split point, double the core thread to make a loop and then finger tat the remaining stitches of the ring. Now you have a ring with the shuttle on the core thread sticking out of the split point and a big loop hanging out of the last DS. The closing of the SSSR is in two steps, first pull on one side of the loop to see if it starts to close the ring, if it doesn't, pull on the other side of the loop until the ring is closed. There is still an even larger loop now. Open the loop and pass the completed ring through it and put the loop at the base of the just completed SSSR. Put the base of the ring and the loop in the pinch and pull the shuttle thread until the loop closes around the base of the SSSR.

From the perspective of needle tatting, if you used the loop, you would need to flip the DS, like shuttle tatters do.

[Judy]

Update on this post.... This was a real memory challenge to me today. My shuttle tatting student wanted to make a split ring. Er,.. Ok, l'm not at home and have no vids nor detailed descriptions. I did have that Russian? Ukranian woman who did this outline for Georgia's online class of all the various techniques and a couple of special ones. One of the special ones was a doubled arc.. half moon. Tat the first half of the SSSR ring, then pulling out the loop and make the ds with the loop.... To get the double arch you have to twist the finger tatted stitches on the core so that the caps are next to the tatted first half.
The summary did not include SSSR, but I figured that that's what I was looking at... So, we did it...(almost). I didn't remember how to close the ring. I pulled to close the loop --wrong) instead of pulling the loop to close the ring. and forgot about the step of putting the loop around the ring... Almost got it right. Had Judy Banashek's book handy so looked at that for the split ring. That was easy for Jaci. She's doing one of the CROWNS in the back of the Danish? Blomqvist book. Looking good! She makes amazing progress in the two weeks between sessions. She found 5 tatting books through the Los Angeles County Library system. Got them out of the Malibu branch library! Who would have guessed? Makes me wonder who all those Malibu tatters are!! whoeee..