Tatting SIMPLE labyrinths

[GraceT]

Wow, the circular graph paper is a great idea to work it out on.

If you're interested, you can generate and download graph paper from here: http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/
(Jon Yusoff pointed me to it — she uses it for blocking her tatting.)

[PattyD]

7190321627_3bb8835c7c_b_d.jpg

Here is as far as I have gotten. I have been using lark's head joins between the gold and the purple. Very intereting when I get to the backside. I decided that the circuits didn't need but one wall or edge, so that is how I procededl

[soyloquesoy]

Love it! and just out of curiosity, what size thread are you using...?

[PattyD]

It's some more of my large stash of Oliver Twist, usually sold as a machine embroidery and emebllishment thread, but lovely to make bobbin lace and tatting, too. Slightly smaller than size 80 cordonnet.

[soyloquesoy]

ah, see... You say it just like that "slightly smaller than size 80". You have my admiration ;-)

[GraceT]

7190321627_3bb8835c7c_b_d.jpg

Here is as far as I have gotten. I have been using lark's head joins between the gold and the purple. Very intereting when I get to the backside. I decided that the circuits didn't need but one wall or edge, so that is how I procededl

Dear Patty,
i am SOOO tickled that you are actually trying this! It's so great to have two people doing labyrinths instead of only one. I greatly look forward to more pictures of your work in progress.
I suppose you continued with lark's head joins on the back side after the U-turn? I wouldn't know how to do that. For my current labyrinth I decided to take AnneB's advice from some time back, and do down joins on the back side after the U-turn. I just hope I can remember to switch from up joins to down joins and back again after every U-turn.

[GraceT]

I've been going rather slowly on my current labyrinth because I'm constantly checking it against graph paper, so I'm not tatting it on the bus. But I am a little further along with it since I last updated you all.

Here is the inner circle complete (I didn't manage to make it perfectly round):

Mini-Chartres 1, inner circle complete.jpg

And here is the labyrinth after the first U-turn:

Mini-Chartres 1, after 1st U-turn.jpg

I am still counting stitches, but I think after you get out of the rosette it's more useful to do a tat-it-block-it-and-see approach. As I go round the curve, I have to eyeball and adjust the number of chain stitches between each ring so that the rings would be more or less "upright" on the curve. As I got closer to the horizontal I stopped after every ring and lined up the circle with the start of the trail pointing downwards so I could see how close to the horizontal line I was getting. I had to redo the SSSR at the beginning of the U-turn because it was too close to the horizontal. And then I had to make the rings going round the U-turn something like 4-3-3-4 (instead of the 5-3-3-5 I had used before) so that the outline would just graze the graph line and not overshoot it.

And, for the next bit of curve, I must remember to do down joins instead of up joins.

(Sorry the pictures are a bit dim. I'll try to improve that.)

[PattyD]

I am pretty much doing the same thing about finding the next join point, but in a different way. I tat the chain to the next ring and then take the ring thread and stretch it out to the center of the starting ring. Wherever it crosses the chain I have to join to, that's where I join the ring I am about to start. I like things I can do on the fly.

[GraceT]

I am pretty much doing the same thing about finding the next join point, but in a different way. I tat the chain to the next ring and then take the ring thread and stretch it out to the center of the starting ring. Wherever it crosses the chain I have to join to, that's where I join the ring I am about to start. I like things I can do on the fly.

That sounds good — more precise than what I'm doing right now. I'll try it, and maybe my rings will stand up straighter! Right now they have a tendency to lean either forwards or backwards.

[PattyD]

Well, my secret for working the backside when making a Lark's Head Join is to turn the work over and work front side from right to left, instead of left to right. The shuttle and the core thread are to the right of the join instead of to the left of the join. For the backside, I tighten the right hand thread first, then the left hand thread by pulling on the ring working thread, test that the core thread still slides and the the stitch looks good.