Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Ben's Beauty Begun

Well, umintsuru and I have both begun the lovely Ben Fikkert Corona Doily, Anyone else joining in? The more the merrier!

I am using #80 Lizbeth. Here are the first four rows: 


I wonder about something. I believe I would find thread maneuvering so much easier if I could just wrap it around the pinkie and not the ring finger.

What do you do? It gets so tight so quickly this way, but I cannot seem to break the habit.

32 comments:

  1. This looks bright and cheery and I got the book and will start but a bit late.

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  2. Which book is this in? I do wrap all the way around my hand, around the pinky too. Such pretty, fine thread! Looking fantastic.

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    1. From Floriade - out of print, but can be had by emailing Ben.

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  3. Your doily start is gorgeous!!!! :) Love the colors!! :)

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  4. I have not had time to get the book yet....mostly because, although I've WANTED to make that doily for several years, I thought the book was out of print....and now that I know it's possible to GET the book, I don't have time to tat anything ....got 3 huge projects going on, two of them with deadlines to meet, and it'll take every BIT of time between now and the summer/early fall deadlines to get them finished. ...sigh.... Yours is beautiful, and I love the colors.

    Hmmm....you're holding the RING thread wrapped around your ring finger? You leave the little finger out of the 'loop?' I was taught to pinch the thread, then wrap the thread around all three of the other fingers. Essentially the 'loop' for a ring goes around all 4 fingers - only one outside the ring is my thumb. The 'unusual' thing about my tatting was I was taught to wrap the thread for a CHAIN the same way - except it won't form a ring, because you're using a different thread as the core. Most people don't 'wrap' their hand for a chain. :-) Works for me, though. :-)
    StephanieW

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  5. Oooh, lovely bright pleasing colours !
    I wrap the thread around my index finger, making the pinch with middle finger & thumb ! I feel it makes a smaller circle to work with, but I can't get out of the habit. For SR, I have loop around pinky while index finger is 'out of the loop'.
    For chain, pinch again remains same, and thread is wrapped around pinky (occasionally twice).
    TMI ?! ;-P

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    1. Muskaan, that is indeed a very small circle! I thought MINE was small! : ))

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  6. I might. I shouldn't, I have half-a-dozen other things going currently, but I really want to...

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  7. I wrap all the way around my pinkie… gives you a better, bigger space to work in with your shuttle. But it's what you're comfortable with that matters - if it works for you, then keep going! I look forward to seeing your progress on this one, it's an amazing piece.

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    1. Frivole, i have been trying to do this since I SAW in real life how you hold yours! ; ))

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  8. I have the book and the thread, but not the time. Shame on me for working on two large doilies at once! I will be watching your progress and wishing to be part of the group.

    I do not wind the thread around my pinky. I hold the thread as I would for crochet... over the pinky, under the ring and middle fingers, twice around my pointer finger. I pinch the thread between my thumb and middle finger. If I pinch with my pointer, my fingers go numb. It works for me! ;-)

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  9. I love the colours you're using - but I've looked at Umintsuru's version, to see her colour choices, and the two pieces look different somehow. Yours features Josephine chains, and I can't see that on the other example. Both are going to be stunning, I shall enjoy all the progress pictures.

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    1. Mauteen, I think it's just that I have a few more rows added that it looks so different.

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    2. You're quite right, yours is further along - you'd think I would have noticed that......

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  10. Ooooooooo! This is so pretty and looks like Spring!

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  11. Ooh, pretty start! I know I hold my thread 'incorrectly' but I do wrap it round my pinkie. I hold the work with my middle finger, forefinger raised, wrap around pinkie. I look forward to seeing everyone's progress.

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  12. I feel as if I'm missing something here.... First off book?? Where from please peoples!!

    Second, I'm trying this whilst typing (if you know what I mean) to see what I do.... rings, pinch with forefinger and thumb and thread goes around middle and ring finger.... pinkie stays out of the loop most times...

    Chains - pinch with forefinger and thumb and thread goes outside middle finger, inside ring finger and wraps once around pinkie making it easy to 'loosen' to get more thread!! I was taught to do that over 40 years ago by a sailor would you believe??

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    1. Pagmini, there is a pic of the book, Floriade by Ben Fikkert, here:

      http://tat-ology.blogspot.ca/2015/01/finito.html

      You can get it by mailing him. It's out of print.

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  13. Thanks, Tatters, it took me ages to find a thread combo I could settle on. I am pleased with my selection, with support from Frivole. Thanks, Frivole! I just hope the Lizbeth #80 behaves.

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  14. Lovely start.... I'm not ready yet....but it's in the wings.... :)
    Have small hands with short fingers to of course I wrap around the WHOLE hand... and all the fingers or I wouldn't have a large enough opening to get the shuttle through! :O

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  15. You are off to a beautiful start. Love your color choices!

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    1. Well, hello there, Eliz!

      Great to “see” you! : )) Thanks!

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  16. It's very, very pretty... ands eems an interesting pattern, but I don't have the book!

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  17. This is so pretty! I love the spring colours.

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  18. Lovely start and lovely colours
    Sorry I don't have the book, it's a bit expensive for me at the moment, I will put it on my wish list for now.
    Margaret

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  19. Normally, I'm a "round the whole hand" type tatter. Sometimes I'm even a "hold the pinky out to get more thread at the start" tatter. However ... I have a set of tiny shuttles (they're an inch and a half long, my normal shuttle is closer to three inches) and I'm finding they work surprisingly well for size 80 thread. And for them, I'm using two fingers. They're small enough not to catch on the smaller loop and the size 80 seems to get less tangled too.

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