Second Advanced Mystery Tat-a-Long (another Norma Benporath from Trove)

Here it is!! The same, yet different: round, not square, with a fabric center, but the same designer. Becky400 has prepared an updated
pdf of the pattern from Trove and posted it here at Craftree. You will all be our test tatters, so let us know where it needs correcting or clarifications.
http://www.craftree.com/patterns/5557.

The results of the first one were so spectacular (Sweet Dreams ) http://www.craftree.com/projects/1963 that I can't wait to see the doilies or other uses for this pattern.

Although not as challenging visually as the first one, it presents some other challenges. Designed to be attached to a round fabric center, no dimensions are suggested.

Join us as we work -- not so many ends to hide this time. A straightforward start for shuttle tatters especially. Open to all.

I've started. Take note of the first round -- worked in blocks of 6 rings. I'm going to use a purchased round center with edge and holes already finished. I'll need to match my work to the hole spacing and the repeat pattern.

Oh goodie, these tat-a-longs are fun! I'll join you as soon as I can!

@Judy, this is going to be another fun project! So far the pattern interpretation is great! One small typo under the section: The First Row. On line 14, it should probably say "as" instead of "at". Thank you for all your efforts in modernizing this pattern.

Most of the credit should go to my partner in this project. Chunking along... nearly finished with the first round of "shuttle only" rings. I'll be attaching it to the doily. I'm starting to ponder what sort of junction I want.. crochet? or something simpler. During the football game I had a run-in with a teakettle, and blistered the backs of my fingers of my needle-holding hand. Fortunately, I can still tat. I look like I'm wearing a glove that belongs to a medieval knight.

Oh ouch! Good for you, carrying on after getting burned! I'm just getting started on row 1. I needed a distraction from another project that was trying my patience. Maybe that's why this feels like a vacation project. I'll be joining to my center directly. It's a different idea for a doily center, and I'm making the holes as I go. I always like the look of a crochet round. If I could crochet, that's how I would have done all my hankies.

@Mandatory, thanks for the typo. I've fixed it.

@Judy, owww, sorry to hear that. Hope it's healing fast.

I've decided to try the medallion first, @becky400. I've noticed that the second chain of the border round on the medallion is listed with an unknown number of picots. The side bar description on the trove website lists this chain as being 4 picots separated by 3 double stitches. I hope this is helpful.

@amysperch, that number is from the computer generated character recognition. I drew it out, and those chains look like they need to be longer. When I magnified the image, that number looked rounded, more like 6 or 8. See what you think when you try it.

I'm with you. I'm thinking of trying the medallion first.

I've posted a photo of the finished medallion with shorter chains on my project page. What do you think, @becky400, does this seem at al like the image. I know it's really hard to see.

@amysperch, I think it looks great. Comparing to the photo, I think adding another couple picots in the outer chain would give a more rounded effect where the shorter chains give a bit more of a hexagonal effect. The structure matches the photo as far as I can tell. Nice.

Thanks, Judy, for finding this pattern. I had found another one without a picture on a loose page from one of Norma's scrapbooks. However, it is not online and very difficult to reproduce because of its age.

@JudithConnors There are a couple of other published patterns without a picture... well, I've found one recently, and I recall another. Is it the Cake Doyley you're talking about -- or another? Becky had this one on her list of patterns with problems.

in reply to Judy's post:

Another one, Judy. 'A Tatted Edging and Medallion' from The Sun News-Pictorial, Wednesday, January 13, 1932.

I'll have to wait to look it up. Trove is currently off-line while they do a major upgrade,... and then a few days for bumps and kinks following that... My fingers are itching to see what will have changed.... like picking at a scab...Lacking in enough self control.

@Judy, I doubt that you will find it on Trove. It was an article pasted in one of Norma's scrapbooks, which she gave to me.

I've finished row 1, starting on row 2 now! There's an errata in this section on line 10. Here is what it says: Ring 5ds, join top of ring which is joined to ring of 1st row, 3ds, 1p, 3ds, 1p, 3ds.

Here is a correction: Ring 5ds, join to last picot of first ring, 5ds, join to p of next ring in row 1, 3ds, 1p, 3ds, 1p, 3ds.

Also, I've decided that the space isn't quite big enough on the chain with 4 p. I'm making my version as 7ds, 4 p sep by 4ds, 7 ds. Those additional 6 ds seem enough to cover the distance and not pull the row out of shape. I tat really tight chains, so others probably won't have this same difficulty.

I'm just now joining the fun. I started with the medallion, opting for 7 picots on the 2nd chain of the 2nd round. I think 5 picots with my tension would have resulted in something more like the image, but I'm happy with this first effort. I'm going to go reload my shuttle so I can start the edging tomorrow if time permits.

Happy tatting!

The only benefit to catching a cold is having time to tat while you rest. I've started round three, and caught a cold. It's a race to see which gets finished first! So far the only changes to row 3 that I've made are to lengthen the chains between scallops to 8ds instead of 3ds. (This is because of the adjustment I made to row 2 and that row still came out cupped.) The pattern in row 3 section is free of errors.

@Mandatory, sorry to hear about your cold! I'm starting row 1 again because the thing looked like a step ladder, not a curve at all. Now that I'm making the larger rings with longer joining picots it looks like it should. I have cut down the size of the inner circle as well, so it's almost 1/4 complete. I won't join to the center until I reach the last rings.

My fabric circle arrived so I'm ready to get back to work on this project. Starting row 1 of the edging.

in reply to Mandatory's post:

@Becky400 I'm starting on the Second Round, and Mandatory is right. There's a missing "5ds, join to next ring of round 1" in the description of the third ring of the round. The first join is there, but not the second one to the previous round. Norma does love making non-symmetric rings, and they're baaacckk! The chain following this is decorative, leaping over the ring with all the picots on it that is next.

I've made that correction and uploaded the revised file to the pattern entry: http://www.craftree.com/patterns/5557. Could you see if I have mad the change correctly? Or suggest different language if I haven't? Thanks.