Doily in progress

 

3rd round in progress

It's been 11 years since my "Jubiloso" doily pattern was listed on Etsy. I had only tatted it in white at the time, and the goal then was to design an easy "cut and tie after each round" doily that had only a few simple Celtic elements that did not require any special shuttle.

The urge to see how it looked in colors came upon me, so I've started tatting it. Here are pictures of what I've got done at the time of this writing.

5th round in progress

6th round in progress

On nice warm days I tatted outside. Today is cold and windy, so tatting will continue inside today. Later I hope to have some skeins prepared for another dye batch which will be "Brilliant Sunset". Not to be used in this doily, because I already have enough of a hand dyed I plan to use which is "Tulip Jimmy". Side note, all my "Jimmy" tulips must have been eaten by critters because none of them came up this year. Not complaining though, because the new tulips planted last fall did come up and bloomed beautifully!

Towering Perennial Tulips 

Interlocking rings with any shuttle

 

Here are some screenshots from the video demo I made for TikTok. I'll do another in horizontal format for YouTube, eventually! Size 10 thread is easier to try this technique with.

To do the last ring so that it interlocks with the first ring, remove enough thread from the shuttle to tat the ring, and cut the thread.  Put the thread down through the previous ring, and wrap around your hand to form the working circle for tatting the ring. Then put the thread down through the first ring made, and down again through the previous ring. I find it easier to finger tat the first double stitch, then I tie the thread back onto the shuttle to finish tatting the ring. Close the ring.

Observations about Interlocking Rings

The tail of the first ring can be hidden by tatting over it with the first few double stitches.

 

Leaving a loop of thread sticking out gives me something to hold onto while putting the narrow Celtic shuttle down through the ring and down through the ring again.

Then I turn the ring over (back side) to get the first half of the first double stitch snugged up tightly against the previous ring, making the sticking out loop disappear.

Tat the ring and close, turning the tatting to front side. Continue the same steps for subsequent rings until the final ring.

To tat the final ring, go down through the previous ring, down through the first ring, and down through the previous ring again.  Tat the ring and close. 

I find that moving and turning the other rings out of the way helps with closing the final ring tightly.

I did not invent the technique of tatting Interlocking Rings with a Celtic shuttle, these are just some things that help me remember how to do it, so sharing in case it helps you too.

The Winners!

 

The winners of my Spring Giveaway, chosen by a random number generator as shown above, are Occhitat (Katie V.) and Lace-lovin' Librarian ~ Diane. Congratulations to the lucky winners! And, thank you to everyone who commented! I enjoyed reading all the comments ♥ and only removed duplicates prior to using the number generator so that everything would be fair. 

Spring Giveaway!

 

Giveaway prize 1

Giveaway prize 2

For a chance to win one of these tatting books including a sample assortment of my hand dyed thread, leave one comment on this post.

I'll choose 2 winners on Friday, May 7. Be sure there's a way for me to contact you if you win, either a blog I.D., or an email address, otherwise I'll just draw another name.

*Readers of this blog from outside of the U.S.A. are welcome to enter this giveaway - but - be aware that even though I'll mark the package as gift, sometimes customs fees may still be charged.*

Each book has Japanese text. The excellent diagrams and photographs enable any tatter to be able to make the projects even if they don't read Japanese.

The hand dyed thread is sample skeins of varying yardages and thread sizes as shown.