Thursday, February 19, 2015

Tales of An Intrepid Tatter

恭喜发财
Wishing you a 
Happy  Chinese New Year 
Of The Goat!



Now for my adventure in Korea-Town:

There I was, standing in line with my store-made Kimchee at the Korean Supermarket, when I saw an unusual item beside of the check-out line.

The little plastic thing was too intriguing not to pick up. There were a multitude of them hanging, in a strip. I managed to free one and was baffled to see it was an earpick... hmmmm.


Well, for $2.00 I knew I couldn’t go far wrong; I was remembering the photo I stored in my tatting brain that promised possibilities. 

This photo from Jan Stawasz’s 
book and has always attracted me:

 

Did Jan use it as a pick or a hook? Anyway, I immediately remembered it when I saw the earpick.

When it was my turn to pay, the woman at the cash seemed puzzled and asked if I wanted the earpick. I suppose not many of my peeps customarily purchase these little lovelies.

With as much nonchalance as I could muster I assured her that I most certainly did. I smiled. She did not. Off I went, clutching my kimchee and a new potentially tatting toy.

Upon arriving home, I pulled out my trusty metal-cutting pliers, chopped off the “ear” part, then filed the end smooth.

It was the size I had envisioned. Crochet hooks are all to wide for using to standardize picots. I have imagined that might have been Jan’s use for his instrument.

I tried it out...

It worked reasonably well on this #40 to make all the picots pretty much the same size. It stretched them a tad too large for my liking. 

However, on a motif with a lot of picots it could work. Eyeballing many, many picots on a piece for me doesn’t produce the best uniformity. This could be a possible remedy. Not sure about #80 though. Might make the picots way to large.

11 comments:

  1. Looks like it did a pretty good job!! :)
    I use a coffee stirring stick as my picot gauge. :)

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    1. That’s a terrific idea, Sue! I am going to grab a few at Starbucks next time I’m there.
      : ))

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  2. Genius! Too difficult to explain to the shop lady, and she probably wouldn't be impressed that you took it apart. We appreciate it though!

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  3. It does look like the hook or pick that Jan used, well done on your find.
    Margaret

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  4. Haha! Leave it to you to spy a potential tatting tool in the check-out line!

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  5. Well done :) Is it thin like a toothpick? I think a toothpick is too "big" for size 80, but this is only my opinion...

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  6. I use allen wrenches, Fox. The smallest is perfect for picots in size 80. Here's a preview: http://preview.tinyurl.com/pew3fch

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    1. Marty, I have known about Allen keys, but they always look so dirty and oily in the hardware store! I'll have another look and use a bar of soap! Thanks. : )

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  7. Eww, do they really stick those in their ears? Hope it works as a picot gauge for ya.

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