Normally, I dislike patterns I need to fuss with to make it work for my tatting style. That’s probably why I don’t tat more vintage patterns. I figure if a designer puts down a ring of 8 DS, I shouldn’t need to tat only 7 DS to make the final piece lay flat or look right. I understand that I tat tighter than many tatters. So, when I come across a pattern that doesn’t work with the published stitch count, I assume (yes, I know a dangerous stance) that something isn’t right.
I came across a pattern in a book of crosses that I’ve
wanted to explore for some time. The end points of each arm/leg/top are split
rings. Easy enough, right? Well, the pattern as published has those split rings
with 8 DS on each side. One side has 3 picots, so if you do picots the Jan
Stawasz way, that changes how many times the thread wraps around the core. I
tried the pattern both ways. It was no go. I used a different tension. No go. I
even tried using a different brand of thread that is just ever so less a
diameter. No go. I finally just changed the stitch count.
Why should this matter so much?
Because my design style depends on stitch count. There are
some pieces I design with stitch count driven by the music structure. Well, I
learned something very valuable with this pattern:
If I need stitch count to matter, I should steer clear of
certain elements.
