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.