Recently I became aware of a new (at least to me) brand of thread: VALDANI. It is my understanding that they have been producing Pearl Cottons for awhile, but that they had recently introduced Crochet Cotton 20.

I was originally intrigued by Debbie Arnold’s comment that Valdani Pearl Cotton threads were known to not be the same size as other brands pearl cotton threads (ie. DMC, Anchor, Finca). I have been experimenting with threads in the size 10-20 range for ‘another’ project and was intrigued that I might be able to find a thread in the middle of that range–a Size 15 thread. (I have done a lot of leg-work to create a graph of ‘Thread Size Comparison’ based upon calculating yards per 50 grams of many threads—look for this info in upcoming posts.)

Observation 1: As someone who has tatted with size 20 thread A LOT (I have extensive experience with DMC, Anchor, Manuela, Lizbeth 20 for all the ‘Fun with Split Ring Tatting’ pieces I’ve tatted for my books), my first observation when tatting with Valdani Crochet 20 thread was that it definitely was NOT a size 20 crochet thread. It felt like a size 30 thread.

When I compared the finished piece with the same pattern tatted in Lizbeth 20 and Manuela 20, It was distinctly smaller in size. (The Lizbeth and the Manuela thread are almost identical in size/finished piece.)

When I compared the ‘Yards per 50 grams’ of these three threads, the quantification of these threads confirmed my physical tatting observations.

Yardage per 50 Grams

• Lizbeth 20: 410 yards per 50 grams
• Manuela 20: 438
• Valdani 20: 550

Thus, with a larger amount of yards in the Valdani thread (versus the Lizbeth and Manuella) the thread is smaller is size.

Anchor Liana 30 is 536 yards/50 grams; DMC Cordonnet 30 is 540; Manuela 30 is 547 yards per 50 grams. Thus you can see that the number show that Valdani 20 is actually a solid size 30 thread.

Observation 2: This thread is VERY twisty. I struggled to tat with this thread and had to force myself to finish even this small piece (I really wanted to prove that this thread was smaller physically by comparing a finished piece with my favorite threads). I can’t remember being this unhappy tatting with a thread since working with Flora thread.

Observation 3: The colors in the variegation do not change very fast, from one color to another. I love variegated threads that will change colors 2, even 3 times in one average (16-20 DS) ring. The Valdani Crochet 20 thread variegation changed after 1-1.5 rings…not very fast. So the variegation effect was not as wonderful as the Manuela 20 thread. This however is very personal preference–I get that.

In late 2020 (I’m not sure of the exact dates) IOLI (International Organizaiton of Lacemakers, Inc.) issued a challenge to show projects inspired by one ‘stash’. At first we were to state what our proposed lacemaking project would be and how it was inspired by our own stash of materials or other inspiration. I became inspired to contribute to this challenge after I had just learned that the 2021 IOLI Convention that I was supposed to teach at was cancelled. Up to that point I had been working on my latest (non-tatting) book on Teneriffe/Sol Lace, one of the two classes I was supposed to teach. When I learned that my 2021 deadline had been postponed to 2023, I was deeply ‘bummed-out’ for at least a day, wondering what I was going to do with my time with that deadline gone. Then I saw the call for the IOLI Stash Challenge and thought of a bigger tatting project that I had put on the back burner for my latest tatting book I was writing (Greek Key Designs in Split Ring Tatting). My ‘stash-inspiration’ was the Manuela thread collection that I had stashed away in my studio. Manuela thread hasn’t been available for at least 10 years. I had several balls of both solid colors and some exquisite variegated combinations. I did a test sampler and found that the black thread I had would work well (size-wise) with my favorite variegated color of the same manufacturer. (Note: not all thread colors will tat up well with my split ring designs, even within the same manufacturer. It seems that the dark colors are notoriously thicker–probably due to the process by which the thread was dyed)

So for several weeks, I was ‘as happy as a pig in slop’, happily tatting away on my project. The final product/piece is what I call Ultimate Meander 1 . Ultimate Meander 1 is one of two of the biggest designs I have created while studying, designing and tatting models for the Greek Key Designs in Split Ring Tatting book that I am currently working on.  (I have Ultimate Meander 2 designed, but not yet tatted).  This book will be number 10 in my ‘Fun with Split Ring Tatting’ series of books. 

Ultimate Meander 1 is comprised of 11 different motifs of 10 rings wide.  Each motif is completely different, no two alike (I worked long and hard to achieve this effect). 

The primary color of the ‘meander’ is black and is a continuous, unbroken line of split rings. The ‘shore’ components are the multicolored rings. 

The finished size (worked in Size 20 Manuela cordonnet thread) is 2.2 inches high by 27.4 inches long.

Ultimate Meander 1 was tatted in one ‘round’ using Padded Split Ring Tatting Technique, a technique that the author will introduce and teach in the book when it is published.  This piece, like all the others in the book, was worked using 3 tatting shuttles–two shuttles for the primary color (black) and one shuttle for the secondary (multi-colored) thread. 

Another name for Greek Key design style is ‘Meander’.  This takes its name from the Meandre River in southwest Turkey.  I have a personal connection with the Meandre River and Valley when I travelled through it on a trip in November 2019 (yes! While Turkey was at war with it’s neighbor, Syria).  It is in the Meandre River Valley that fine Turkish cotton is grown that makes up several of the thread brands that we know and use.  I passed the Altin Basak thread factory and got quite excited, much to the perplexion of my travelling companions. 

If you look at aerial views of any river, you will see that they seem to be meandering—winding, twisting, zigzagging, snaking or convoluting–through the terrain they are associated with.  It is this meandering mechanism that is seen in Ultimate Meander 1 and other Greek Key Designs in Split Ring Tatting technique (as seen below).  If you discern which is the primary, meandering color of adjoining split rings you will see that they are continuous.  In both of the two illustrations above, the primary colors are both blue, analogous to the blue waters of a river winding/meandering through an area on its way to the ocean.

I found this display sofa table at my local At Home store. I SHOULD have purchased it immediately but instead I took this picture, thinking I would talk to my husband about it. When I went back to buy it, it was gone. Wouldn’t it have been a great space to display a tatting shuttle collection as well as actual lace? Regrets……

I was planning to post something tatting related here this weekend but spent the weekend ‘down and out’. I got my second Covid shot (Moderna) on Friday at 11am. Due to bad weather, I decided not to go out to eat with friends after work and headed home. About 7pm I started getting chills and feverish and went to bed early. I tried to get out of bed on Saturday about noon-thirty and just wasn’t feeling good. I was sporting a 101.6 fever and even a bit nauseous. Spent all day and night, Saturday, in bed. Got up Sunday and my fever had gone but I felt ‘run over by a truck’ achy and just lazed around all day. Today, Monday, I’m back to work and feeing OK. Sure glad I got the shot on Friday and had the weekend to convalesce. The good news from what I read on the internet (you know how the internet is always right!) is that a reaction shows that the vaccine is working in your body.

In February 2019 my husband and I took a fantastic trip to 3 Italian cities: Venice, Florence, & Rome.

It was in Venice, our first stop on our adventure, that I found & purchased these lace pieces.

The true needlelace pieces were purchased in a shop called Il Merletto, just off the grand San Marcos Plaza. The lace shop was itself a marvel as it was in a very old ‘chapel’ and as such you could see the remnants of it’s previous use. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed, so I have no pictures to share with you.

Greek Key/Meander Designs in Padded Split Ring Tatting.

Use of 3 shuttles: 2 for main design element (dark blue) and one for the ancillary/fill-in element (light blue).

The main design path of the dark blue rings are continuous. The light blue (fill-in) rings are carried along (Padded) inside the main element rings and created using Take-Off Ring Technique.

The piece is tatted continuously (from start to end) in one round using Padded Split Ring Tatting (PSRT) Technique–will be taught in the book. The real trick is in how to tat PSRT Technique and not have blebs/blips of color show between elements!!!

I bought these 3 threads several years ago at one of the IOLI Conventions and have just recently pulled them out to use them on a project. I looked it up on the web and found that this thread is a 3-ply cotton, still being sold in the EU and comes in sizes of ‘6, 8, 12, 16, 20 & 25’.

At first I thought that they were a form of perle/pearl cotton (perle thread uses a numbering system of 3, 5, 8, 12), but upon closer examination I wasn’t completely sure what kind of thread they were. As you can see, my thread is labeled ’12’ which is why I thought it was a perle cotton. However, I was positive that this Freccia thread size 12 (thicker) did NOT match perle cotton-12 (thinner) in size.

So I tried to figure out what thread size my Freccia 12 most closely matched.

What I really need, but have been unable to find, is the book Threads in Lace by Brenda Paternoster. In this book, Brenda (scientifically) quantifies thread ‘size’.

I noticed that the Freccia labels specified that there was 285 meters of thread in the 50 gram ball. That started me on a road-of-discovery…. I was able to find yardage/meters on many different threads in different sizes including DMC Perle, Lizbeth, Anchor Cordonnet, DMC Cebelia, DMC Cordonnet and calculated out yardage per 50 grams of thread.

I was able to determine that the Anchor Freccia 12 thread is closest to a size 10 crochet cotton which is the left one in the next photo. The Anchor Liana 10 was 300 yards per 50 grams. The Anchor Freccia 12 was 312 yards per 50 grams.

To prove this sizing, I tatted a few rings in the two threads.

Since proving/learning about this thread type, I have embarked upon a large undertaking to quantify thread sizes. This is partly due to the fact that in my 4+ decades of tatting, I have used many different types of threads from many different manufactures and know that each thread has its own characteristics/personality. Even in the Size 20 cordonnet threads, that I have been using almost exclusively for my design work for my ‘Fun with Split Ring Tatting’ book series, I have noticed differences in ‘size’ between the same size of thread from various manufacturers. (Don’t get me started about the differences in size between different colors of the same size of thread from the same manufacturer!–that is for a future topic.)

To date, I have quantified almost 80 different threads based upon how many yards of thread in 50 grams of thread. Watch for this data in upcoming posts as I figure out how to use/publish my excel charts.