A simple (and original) Heart pattern

The instructions below are for a little heart that I tatted "on the fly" back in 2008. The original posting can be found at Original Ombre Heart posting along with the corrections that needed to be done per Katie Verna.

 I was waiting at the dealership for a service to be completed on my Prius (oil change & tire rotation). Then I got enough requests that the challenge of documenting the process with stitch counts began. Since I changed my profile picture on FB, several commented so I thought I would share the pattern. Sorry I haven't diagrammed it as yet.

Ombre Block Tatted Heart

Teresa Woods©, 2008

This one is simple enough, but I’ve got some hints. Use paperclips or safety pins as helpers where the green arrows are indicated. The blue arrows would use the helpers on the picots while the green arrow in on the core thread. The red arrow is where the center of the heart begins, use a helper here to have something to hold.

Abbreviations:

—         Picot (decorative along outer chains)

+          Join

Ch        Chain

lj           Lock Join

lp          Long Picot

R          Ring

sp         Small picot

SR       Split Ring

Using whatever style of block tatting you prefer (I used Jane E's braid method and the instructions are written that way) with two shuttles wound continuously.

Center of Heart (Block tatting)

Row 1 Ch 4 sp 4 (odd rows have flipped stitches while even rows are unflipped).

Row 2 Ch 1 sp 4 + (core thread to picot on Row 1) 4 +

Row 3 Ch 1 sp 4 + (lj with core thread) 4 +

repeat 2nd and 3rd rows once more

Row 6 Ch 1 sp 4 +

Row 7 Ch 1 sp 4 +

repeat row 6

SR 4/4

Ch 3 — 2 — 2 — 3

R 6 + (last picot on Row 8) 6

Ch 3 — 2 — 2 — 3

R 6 + (same picot as prev ring) 6

Ch 3 — 2 — 2 — 3

R 6 + (picot between 5th & 6th row) 6

Ch 3 — 2 — 2 — 2 — 2 — 2 vsp 1

R 6 + (picot from row 1) 6 SS

R 1 + (adjacent chain) 4 — 1 lp 1 — 4 vsp 1 SS

Ch 1 +(adjacent ring) 2 — 2 — 2 — 2 — 2 — 3

R 6 + (core thread at halfway point on first row) 6

Ch 3 — 2 — 2 — 3

R 6 + (start point of block tatting) 6

Ch 3 — 2 — 2 — 3

R 6 + (same picot as prev ring) 6

Ch 3 — 2 — 2 — 3

R 4 + (turning picot on row 5) 4

Securely tie, cut and hide ends. Of course if you thought ahead, magic thread loops can be put into the last chain and within the last ring.

Promised Picture

Here is the promised picture of Gary's shirt. Randy was taking this back to him. There are a lot of items here that we did at CWT. There are angels on both shoulders (which don't show up very well).
There are a number of hearts where we were playing with Mark Myers Dizzy Double Stitches. There are snails and mystery motifs. The button also holds some of Patti Duff's beaded bookmarks. Any number of SCMR style butterflies had flown in and attached themselves to the shirt. Jack Coen had even carved a Lady Hoare style shuttle and there's thread wound on it and a motif started for Gary to finish.
The green "mass" on the right shoulder (upper left on the picture) was our representation of Gary's bag ... and even sometimes what he does to some of our bags -if we leave them in sight and unprotected. LOL
You can also see a number of Randy's Bumble Bees. The cute little critters using two shuttles tatted in the alternate thread method and the wings are double stitches on picots.
While we did miss Gary, we did get to talk to him briefly on Saturday, the 21st of June. Randy did let us know that Gary is at home now and has been going through all the cards that had been sent. He has a very long road to recovery and would probably appreciate cards through the long months ahead.

A long plane ride back had me playing with techniques. The picture of the butterflies, while not the best quality, was an interesting experiment in double stitches. All have the same stitch count; larger wings are 6 - 6 - 6 - 6 and the smaller wings are 6 - 6 - 6. The one on the left uses standard double stitches (DS).
The one on the right uses the Dizzy Double Stitches (DDS) and the center uses Ruth Perry's Balanced Double stitches (BDS, also described as a sliding square knot). For DS and BDS, there is a very definite crown to each stitch upon completion.
When tatting in either of these two methods and tatting frontside / backside, it is quite easy to glance at the tatting to determine which have of the stitch should be done next. The DDS on the other hand is another story altogether; I also found the tension more difficult to control with the DDS. I want to try to get a paper together, along with better scans of the butterflies as well as some test rings I did. The test rings, like the butterfiles, all have the same stitch count but I hope to show more detail of the stitches on both the front and back sides.

A New Heart Design

Please note the changes/corrections to the end of Rows 2 and 3. THANKS, Katie Verna for catching my goofs in writing the pattern. That's what I get for throwing it together during lunch and not taking the time to re-tat from the instructions after I'd slept a night or two.

I haven't been inspired to do a new heart design since 2001. While waiting on my car to be serviced last Saturday, I sat down and sketched out a heart. Not sure why the center inspiration was block tatting but here is a scan of the 3rd heart I tatted. The one I actually tatted during our Guild meeting in Lexington met its demise with our new pup and his need to chew ... just as well as it really, really needed some help. Maybe I'll try that one later.

This one is simple enough. Using whatever style of block tatting you prefer (I used Jane E's braid method) and two shuttles CTM:

Row 1 Ch 4 sp 4 (odd rows have flipped stitches while even rows are unflipped).
Row 2 Ch 1 sp 4 + (core thread to picot on Row 1) 4 +
Row 3 Ch 1 sp 4 + (lj with core thread) 4 +
repeat 2nd and 3rd rows once more
Row 6 Ch 1 sp 4 +
Row 7 Ch 1 sp 4 +
repeat row 6

SR 4/4
Ch 3 - 2 - 2 - 3
R 6 + (last picot on Row 8) 6
Ch 3 - 2 - 2 - 3
R 6 + (same picot as prev ring) 6
Ch 3 - 2 - 2 - 3
R 6 + (picot between 5th & 6th row) 6
Ch 3 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 vsp 1
R 6 + (picot from row 1) 6 SS
R 1 + (adjacent chain) 4 - 1 lp 1 - 4 vsp 1 SS
Ch 1 +(adjacent ring) 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 3
R 6 + (core thread at halfway point on first row) 6
Ch 3 - 2 - 2 - 3
R 6 + (start point of block tatting) 6
Ch 3 - 2 - 2 - 3
R 6 + (same picot as prev ring) 6
Ch 3 - 2 - 2 - 3
R 4 + (turning picot on row 5) 4

Securely tie, cut and hide ends. Of course if you thought ahead, magic thread loops can be put into the last chain and within the last ring.