Drum Roll, Please!

I've wondered from time to time if drum rolls are anything like cinnamon rolls -- maybe, but not so fattening, eh?  Anyway, I found all thirty-two comments and asked the Random Number Generator at random.org to pick me a number.  Wheeeee, the first and winning number was 9

Oh, dear -- she didn't want it!  Not hook-ish enough.  Yeah, that's why I'm giving it away.  :)

Okay, back to the random number generator (I was tempted to just draw a number out of a hat -- that's pretty random, isn't it?).  But -- I randomed a new winning number -- it's number 10, {Huh?  That doesn't seem very random to me -- it's right after 9.  I was tempted to keep pushing the button to see if it would give me 11 then 12 then 13 then 14...but I didn't think I could handle the stress.}

 Congratulation, 10 -- who is:

 






Padded package with gift of no value coming up (they don't charge you import duty for something with no value do they??).

Happy Holidays!

I hope you're all having a holiday.  I'm going to enjoy mine because I don't have to work for six days.  To celebrate and I'm giving away this shuttle.  It's a white Clover shuttle covered with a bit of a fractal with glitter decoupage.  If you like this shuttle, leave me a comment.  Since I'm not working for six days, I'll get a random number picker to pick a random number long about the 28th of December.  Happy Holidays!

Commenting for a chance to get this shuttle is closed -- commenting for any other reason is welcome!

And then there was October

I totally forgot about October.  I didn't do ANY tatting.  Nope, none --- well, maybe some standing in lines.  I crocheted most of October.  The building engineer where I work came out to my dad's house and put up his new carport.  It came in a box with a zillion parts.  We helped, but he brought the know-how and the tools.  Dad's old carport got blown upside down into the neighbor's backyard in a really bad windstorm (it was held down with a rail road rail -- not a wooden tie -- a steel rail!).  That won't happen to the new one, unless it takes the driveway with it -- there are bolts about ten inches long and as big around as my thumb holding the thing down.

As a thank you, I crocheted an afghan for our engineer (who says he's always cold).  This is my favorite full-size afghan pattern, it's easy to do and doesn't need fringe (which drives me nuts).  It's made of worsted-weight polyester yarn so it can be tossed into the washer and the dryer.

For those who asked:  This is "Lacy Chevron" from Leisure Arts Afghan Parade which is Leaflet 335.  It's copyrighted 1984, so I don't know if it's still available.

Really Elegant Tatting Gems

These are the snowflakes I've been making from Jon Yusoff's book Elegant Tatting Gems.  I'm making them all in red and green DMC size 80 tatting thread.  I'm also doing them in order.  I've got seven and a half done.  This is just the first seven, not the half.

Oh, one of them is NOT in DMC size 80 red and green threads.  One of them is a Lizbeth size 20 pink and blue variegate.  I suppose which one is rather obvious.

These are really great little snowflakes.  They're all pretty and they are all done with basic techniques -- but when they're done they look so complex.  Amazing, right?

Challenge 17

Yeah, yeah, I know -- it was supposed to be DONE in one year not two or even ...ahem... three.  Finally made it to Seventeen though.

Last May (yes, May), I made these green snowflakes from the Ariel pattern in The Tatter's Treasure Chest.  They've been waiting until this week for the center bit and for getting stuck onto the Styrofoam ornament.  My dad's been visiting us so it was a golden opportunity to tat and chat -- I tatted and chatted; dad just chatted.  I made up the middle, and it didn't work quite like I envisioned, but I like it well enough not to take it off and start over!

Marking Time

I belong to the Bar.  Yeah, I know, scandalous.  It's not an interesting bar, though -- it's the Paralegal Division of the Utah State Bar.  To keep belonging to the bar I get to do 10 hours of Continuing Legal Education every year.  Usually I go to the free "brown bag" seminars.  That way the boss can't complain that I cost anything -- they're free and during lunch hour.  I take my lunch and am gifted with a cookie, a drink and some esoteric knowledge.

Once a year they really splash out and give me $100 to go to the Fall Forum.  I can get 80% of the hours I need in an evening and one day.  This year I went to the evening performance of "A Midsummer Night's Mediation Tragedy."  It was, too -- tragic that is.  There's a reason lawyers become lawyers instead of actors.  Don't get me wrong, they did a very nice job.  However, every one of those litigators does a MUCH better acting job when they're standing in a courtroom, NOT in a dining room! 

I take my tatting with me to these events.  Everything I need to know is on the handouts which I can download from the bar website.  I listen very closely, and I have a pen and paper in case I want to write something down, which I do now and then.  Now, there are occasionally people who don't think I should be tatting when someone else is speaking.  Not meaning to sound sexist or anything, but it's usually men.  I don't believe they can multitask after all.  I thought it was a rumor.  I've told them before, "I listen with my ears, not my hands!"  Every year I have to tell a new person.  I'm wondering now if some of them do listen with their hands!  Besides, tatting keeps me from getting up and wandering around the room, or talking on my cell phone, or playing sudoku on my smart phone, or doing my office work on my iPad -- which would be much more rude, and which I saw quite a lot of those same people doing.  This year I made four bookmarks.  I've only got three, though, because I gave one to another of the attendees who was interested (more interested in my tatting than in A Midsummer Night's Mediation Tragedy -- really.  Hard to imagine, eh?).  

I like Jane Eborall's butterfly bookmark because it's so adaptable.  I know the basic shape and stitch counts and it can be done without beads.  Now dropping a container of beads, THAT would be distracting!  These are made in Lizbeth size 20 Golden Yellow, Medium.  Yeah, I know.  It surprised me too.  Funniest yellow I ever did see -- that's what the label said though.  So, I don't really know what color-name is assigned to this red, white, blue and purple, but it makes good bookmarks!

Elegant Tatting Gems . . .

is a wonderful book full of ... well ... elegant tatting gems.  Lovely snowflakes made using basic techniques.  I've been working my way through the book, but have NOT been weaving in ends.  Those will have to wait until later.  For now, these are the ones I test-tatted for Jon.  At least three of them are.  I'm just certain the other one is one of Jon's as well, because I had it stored with the other three, but I can't find it in any book.  Anybody that recognizes it, please speak up!  All of these test-tats were made with size 80 DMC tatting thread.  My sister dyed all that white thread really pretty colors, didn't she?

There!  Jon got me all straightened out -- thanks so much.  It was one of the test tat patterns she sent, so it does belong with the others, after all.  She modified the design after the test-tat and it became Ratnawilis in her new book.  The change is really pretty -- but I haven't gotten that far in the book yet.

What? August!

It's hart to believe it's the end of November already -- I've been AWOL for 3 months!  I don't even have a really stellar reason.  It would be nice to say I won the lottery and have been on a world cruise and just too busy playing to blog.  Nope.  I didn't win anything; I've been right here at home; and I've been too busy working to blog.  Borrrrrrring!  On the good side of that my assignment at work has changed so that I just get to do the part I like -- all the rest of the stuff I used to do someone else is now doing.  Lovely.  Now I have to step into the Wayback Machine and show you what I've been doing for three months -- because I have done some tatting.  :)

How about the Fair, for starters?  I got some blue ribbons (1st), some red ribbons (2nd) and some pink ribbons (4th).  In ascending order then, I got a 4th place ribbon on my ankle bracelet and my hat (which for some reason shows as a pillowcase on my "premium statement" from the fair).  The ankle bracelet is the same one I entered in the county fair.  The hat is all new.  I made the initial just for the hat, but the top is decorated with one of Jon Yusoff's snowflakes.  Both are made in size 80 thread hand-dyed "Oh, Baby" by my sister.  The judges comments -- that I was hoping would be helpful -- just said "nice" and "precise tatting" for these.  *sigh*

The Heart's Desire bookmark is also the same one entered in the County Fair.  It got a second place ribbon at the State Fair.  I also entered my little crocheted Cthulhu toy which got a red ribbon.  The funny little guy has wings, arms and legs, but he's buried here in someone's quilt, so it looks like he's only a head.  He's being shipped off to the far reaches of the world, as soon as I find a spare minute to stand in line at the post office.







I got nice first place blue ribbons on the button doily, and the Easter and Christmas ornaments I also entered in the state fair.  The coaster I entered got a blue ribbon as well.  It's the square I designed in Sharon Briggs' Design Tat Class.  She teaches well!  I made it again in purple size 30 DMC Cebelia.  I've made four now so I have a small set of coasters, but I only entered one.

 

I was very pleased to have gotten a first place ribbon on the large centerpiece I adapted from a Jan Stawasz pattern.  I left out all the picots except the joining ones.  What made me so happy is that entry morning when I took it's picture, I noticed that I had missed a couple of joins -- there were the picots just hanging out there.  It's such a large piece that either the judges didn't see them or figured they'd cut me a little slack!  It's the same doily on which I reported not much progress last June. 

The first two pictures are those I took the morning we were taking things to the fair.  It did turn out really pretty, I think.  I was just upset that I had missed the joins.  I still haven't decided whether or not to try to fix it, or just figure, nobody's perfect and a man on a galloping horse won't notice anyway.  The second pictures are the ones I took at the fair,  after  I convinced the fair people to move it .  It was originally displayed draped over a white knitted something, and it completely disappeared -- not to mention I spent hours getting it blocked just right and they rumpled it all up.  I have no idea how the owner of the afghan they finally placed it on felt about having her work covered up.  *sigh*  I wish they had a bigger building!

The last thing I entered in the fair was over in the Creative Arts area.  It's a bit of Calligraphy in the Celtic style.  It got a blue ribbon, too. 

All together, it cost me $11.00 to enter this stuff in the fair, but I came home with $22.00.  Not too bad -- it bought me a nice lunch one day!

State Fair

Sharon mentioned that the entry categories for their local fair are pretty limited for tatting, and that the entrance fee is rather stiff.  Our state fair has seventeen categories for tatting.  It only costs $1 to enter something and the prizes range from $6 to ribbons.  Of course, to get into the $6 area you've got to tat a tablecloth or a framed picture.  Interesting that there's no size on the picture.  Hmmmm...that may be achievable one of these days! 
Last year I thought it would be a good thing to make something to enter in every category.  Keep all those tatting categories open so we don't disappear from the public eye.  After looking over the list, I decided it's not going to happen this year, probably not for years to come either.

I don't have an idea for a picture to make and frame.  I'm going to think about that one, though.

I did buy a table to make a table cloth for, but didn't get it finished.  It doesn't say how big the table has to be -- I got one for a dollhouse.  That probably would be unacceptable. *sigh*

Everything else is achievable, but certainly not all at once, and not this year.  I've given away a lot of the stuff I made this year. 
I am managing to enter in categories:
58 (well, if I get the last round done and get it starched by the 31st!),
59 (the blue diamond button doily),
60 (maybe, I have to measure the piece I have in mind),
61 (the Hearts Honor by Wanda),
(I wonder what happened to category 62 and what it was?),
64 (the same ornament I entered in the County Fair), and
65 (again, the same ornament I entered in the County Fair). 

If I get the large centerpiece done early, I might have time to make something for category 68 -- I've got a hat to put it on! 
Let's see.  If I concentrate on the list and start in September, maybe I can enter something in every category NEXT year -- well, no, not the tablecloth.  Not doin' that!

Challenge No. 16

Wondering what happened to the little butterflies from a few posts before?  They got made into this Easter Egg Ornament.  I used those three and a bunch of smaller butterflies (some of which are adapted from Jane Eborall's great butterfly pattern).  I pinned them to the satin egg with little gold applique pins stuck through powder blue seed beads.  I'm counting this one as number 16 for the 25 Motif Challenge.  It's destined for a long trip half-way around the world as a gift for a good friend.

It's making a stop at the County Fair before being shipped away, though.  It's got a first place blue ribbon, a high blue (considered for Sweepstakes) and a Judge's Choice ribbon.  A big ribbon...greedy me, I like big ribbons.

Challenge No. 15

Number 15 for my 25 Motif Challenge (which I've missed by, oh...a good 9 or 10 months, and which I miscounted, but I still don't think I'm going to get 25 before the end of this year either *sigh*).

This one is a top and bottom copied from one of my old ornaments, so I have no idea of its origin.  I made the top and bottom to try lacing them together after a discussion with to MSquared.  This was not what I had in mind so I just dropped in my finished tatting drawer and moved on.  When it came time to enter the fair I scrabbled around in the drawer looking for something I've made within the last year (fair years run from August to August) and re-discovered this one.  I decided that the fastening thread made an interesting zig-zag after all then dropped it in with the stuff to go to the Fair.  Apparently, the judges liked the zig-zag lacing it together, as well, because it's got a blue first place ribbon, too.

I do wish I'd taken a picture of it before hauling it out to the fair -- because what ever that is on the shelf below the ornament looks ...um... somewhat inappropriate for a G rated blog.

Blue Diamond

Look closely -- squint if you need to.  Yup, this is the same pattern as the Pink Diamond Bookmark -- it just has a couple of small modifications so it will lay flat when fastened together.   It's also entered in the doily category.  It's made with two colors of blue Lizbeth size 20 thread and a bunch of little blue and white shirt buttons.  I made this one -- again -- thinking it would fit in the Fair theme.  But they didn't care because -- again -- it's NOT a quilt block.  It still got a first place blue ribbon, though, so I don't suppose they cared that it wasn't a quilt.  This was as big as I had time to make it before the fair entry day.  I'm thinking about adding to it for entering in the State Fair -- but that depends on how lazy I am.  I did manage to get a scan of this one before I entered it, but didn't take down its vital statistics.  The best I can say is it's about the size of my hand.  Of course, if you've not seen my hands, that's not going to help much, is it?

I just measured it.  It's 6 inches across (about 15.5 cm) at it's widest point.  I'm going to leave it as it is for entering in the State Fair.  Then the one I'm working on and this one won't have to be in the same category!

Something Blue

Jessica Spaulding taught classes at Shuttlebirds this year one of which included this bracelet.  She was kind enough to let me test tat from her pattern and this is what I came up with.  The bracelet is made from Lizbeth Caribbean colorway -- but I've forgotten if the size is 40 or 20, how's that for strange?  We stretched the categories at the county fair so this one made an appearance as a "wedding accessory" -- it's the something blue.  The ribbon it got was something blue as well.

Fairly Coasting

A couple of years ago I made a tiny doily from Iris Niebach's "Stella Alpina" pattern in her book Fantasia.  It sat around in my drawer until I got a wedding invitation this year.  It looked like at least a start on a set of coasters.  I still had some of the Sulky machine embroidery thread and white quilting cotton I used for that one, so I made a set of four.  I entered this one in the doily category at the fair (fortunately the wedding's not for a couple of weeks).

It has a nice second place red ribbon (I forgot to take a picture before I entered it).

The competition in the doily category was pretty stiff this year.  One large doily made in cream and brown of a bazillion little motifs won the sweepstakes ribbon.  The variegated brown looks very striking with the cream used for most of the doily.

We picked up all out fair entries today and I read through all the judge's comments attached.  Both judges disliked the thread color.  They said it detracted from the pattern and my "nice, even stitches," which it why it got a red ribbon.  One also said that the addition of the white thread caused it to look fuzzy and out of focus. Rats.  I liked the effect -- it looked tweedy to me.  Now I wonder if I should get something else for a wedding present!

More from the Fair

Back in April I made a bookmark from my own button decoration pattern with a long perle-tatted tail.  I called it a Pink Diamond bookmark because this year's fair theme was "Diamond Days, Country Ways".  It didn't matter, though.  The only "theme" brownie points being given were for quilt blocks.  *sigh*  Fairs seem to have a love affair with quilts.

I did get a nice first place ribbon on it, and a "high blue" which means it was considered for sweepstakes -- even without the brownie points.

It's also made of size 20 Lizbeth pink thread -- but it's a pink variegate.

County Fair

Last Sunday we took the long trek out to the county fair grounds and entered our ...er... stuff (can't think of a more elegant word).  We had a dozen things which meant we could purchase a parking pass for all four nights of the fair for the price of parking for one night of the fair.  That was good. We used it tonight -- just to see how we did.  Though we looked through the whole fair building we did not venture outside except to go home.  We'll save the animals, food vendors and carnival for the weekend.  There were some pretty interesting things at the fair, and some really strange ones.  I liked the little beings and bugs made out of vegetables. 

All the tatting is in the glass display cases, so my pictures aren't very good.  That's why I made scans or took pictures before entering the stuff in the fair.  In the category "other" (so descriptive!) I entered this pink Heart's Desire bookmark designed by Wanda.  She did such a good job, I got a blue ribbon.  Now, that's a mark of a great design!  Anyway, here it is as displayed in the case (under somebody's ID card) and the scan before it was entered.  I made it with pink Lizbeth size 20.  It needed minimal blocking -- another mark of a good pattern for me.  Thanks, Wanda!

Little Butterflies

Making butterflies out of Sulky thread was sometimes an exercise in frustration.  Trying to get six stitch rings to close nearly made me nuts -- my fingernails kept getting in the way!  I've got three butterflies done that I'm going to use on an ornament.  The rest of the space on the ornament will be filed in with smaller butterflies of one sort or another.

This one is "Celine" from Tatted Butterflies by Adelheid Dangela.  It needs to be blocked to get the body to be straight and the lower wings the right shape.  It wouldn't hurt to get the antennae straightened out either.  They're clipped at the end because I wrapped the thread around the picot two more times on one than the other, that meant to make them even I had to trim the ends.  It measures 1.25 inches (about 4.5 cm) wide wingtip to wingtip, and one inch (about 2.5 cm) tall without measuring the antennae.

"Jade" is from Sherry Pence's The Exquisite collection of Tatted Butterflies II.  It would have been prettier if I'd followed the pattern.  There would have been a more defined point at the bottom of the wings and a nice picot there, too.  I was talking while tatting and didn't count twice -- close once.  As a matter of fact, I didn't count or look at the pattern until after I'd closed.  After looking at it for a dismayed minute or two, I decided there was no way I was even going to attempt to open that little tiny split ring!  I just made the other wing to match.  This one measures 1.25 inches (4.5 cm) wide and 1.5 inches (just under 4 cm) at its tallest point.

Finally, I made "Curly Q" -- another little treasure from Sherry Pence's book.  All those tiny rings in this fine thread gave me a lot of "aaaarrrrrgghhhhh" moments.  It's such a pretty little butterfly, though, so I kept at it.  It measures about 1-3/8 inch (3.6 cm) at it's widest point and about 7/8 inch (2.3 cm) tall  It also needs some blocking.  I'll take care of all that before I stick them on the ornament.
 
Depending on how it looks once I get them placed,  I might even make one more larger butterfly -- probably "Lily" from Sherry's book.  If I do that, I'm going to consider placement of magic threads very carefully.  This Sulky is too fine for me to weave the threads in with a needle.  I don't own a needle thin enough

Nervous Butterflies

I get those at hospitals.  Good thing I had Adelheid Dangela's Tatted Butterflies with me.  Now I have a bunch of Flame butterflies.  All of these were made with the thread my sister dyed for me on a size 30 Cebalia thread.  They ALL need to be blocked.  Six of these are from Tatted Butterflies.  The one in the upper left corner is supposed to have two wings, but I got it all messed up -- even the first wing isn't right -- so it turned into a butterfly in profile.  Now that I know how to do the first six, I think I'll make them in more butterfly-ish colors in finer thread.  I've got a friend who loves butterflies.  They'd look good on a Christmas ornament -- wouldn't they?

The one in the lower left corner is an adaptation of Jane Eborall's wonderful beaded butterfly (but I didn't have any beads, and used thread ends, so there aren't any split rings on the wings either).  The tiny profile butterfly above that is Jon Yusoff's profile butterfly -- except I couldn't remember the stitch counts, so I guessed, based on how much thread I had left to finger tat with.

I didn't do a nervous scribble or just tangle the thread, because my niece was having her tonsils out.  Not a horrifying thing (except for her -- this was her first IV).  It was easier to concentrate after we finally got something to eat (I mean my sister and I got something to eat -- my niece had to go into surgery without).  They kept us waiting what seemed forever.  We got there at 12:30 in the afternoon and they finally took her into the operating room just after 3:00.  They released her much later and we got home at 7:00 in the evening.  She's recovering and we're spoiling her while she does it.  :)

Progress Report

I have to report not much progress.  I've nearly replaced the round I cut off -- only another 7 repeats to do.  The green snowflakes (from the last post) interrupted progress, but so did the book I've had my nose stuck in lately, and work.  I even worked on Saturday. Bleah.

You can see what a mood I'm in -- Laziness Prevails!  I dropped this on the scanner.  The first scan was a really blurry mess.  Did that inspire me to take a nice photo?  Nope, it inspired me to put a piece of cardboard on top of the blue paper then a stack of disks on top of that so the lid would press down on the doily without trying to flatten the shuttles.  Yes, I could have just pulled the shuttles out of the lid, but I was too lazy. *snicker*

Click on the photo if you want to see it bigger -- lots bigger.

Seasonal Flakes

Ariel from The Tatter's Treasure Chest - 6 repeats only

Green makes them appropriate for Spring -- the flakes are also appropriate to the kind of Spring we've been having. *sigh*  Snow in May is weird (not today, but a week ago).

These are made with DMC size 80 tatting thread hand-dyed by my sister in "Desert Green."  The beads are just little red glass seed beads.

The green snowflakes are going onto a white ornament.  I'll have to show that off when it's done.

Knot Wrong

As in not right.  "Whew," I was thinking, "finally, ready for the next row!"  That was so not true.  It turns out in trying to split these individual motifs so I could work the doily in rounds (the one I was working on for Tatting Day) I got the stitch counts backwards on the split rings.  Fiddle.  Out came the scissors, forty-eight little snip-and-rips later this is what I've got -- a pile of knot wrong.

I'm about half way around putting this row back on -- but it's not wrong this time it's Knot Right!

Speaking of Bookmarks...

Exchanges are so much fun.  I like getting things from other tatters -- they're always inspiring.  These are the bookmarks I received this year:
The top one (with the card and pretty tatted strawberry and bee) is from Tattabugg.  It's Mary Konior's Black Magic made in size 80 black and a lovely bluish turquoise (yummy!).  It's very delicate looking, and beautifully blocked.

The flower lattice bookmark in variegated pink, green and brown is from Anika.  I got a little note with it that has single-ring picot flowers on it in matching colors (and one little blue flower).  It reminds me of the climbing rose trellis in our backyard when I was little.

The last one is from Catriona (it even came with a huge "Royal Mail" stamp -- Queen Elizabeth II is looking quite young on it).  The bookmark is  a stretched out "Stumpy" from a pattern by Kersti.  She made it in size 10 Lizbeth Caribbean -- that's one of my favorite variegates from Lizbeth!  For someone who says she hasn't been tatting very long, the stitches are certainly even and well tensioned.

My books will be happy to have such lovely bits marking 'em.

Since this was an exchange, I made bookmarks for other people and sent them on their way.  I did that about 10 days ago, so I hope they've all arrived.  The turquoise butterfly string is made from Lizbeth 20 "dark sea green" and "wildflower" from my own pattern.  I made it without buttons -- which don't do well inside books.  But I like it a lot, so I made another with the little tiny buttons in size 80.  I made a really, really long tail so none of the buttons have to actually be inside the book.  The last one is also size 80 made of "Midnight Escape" variegated thread my sister dyed for me.  It's from Edging Pattern No. 8902 in "The Tatter's Treasure Chest" edited by Mary Carolyn Waldrep.  The tassel and it's hanger were added on with separate threads at the end.

I was very tempted to add a second bookmark to each package to divest myself of all those "Made in Hawaii" but they were a ONE bookmark exchange, so I practiced restraint.  Perhaps they'll find their way into a Holiday Exchange package this year.

Made in Hawaii

 It surprised me to find that I had very little time to tat in Hawaii.  We were busy, busy, busy.  Even on the ship there were things to do.  My tatting went with me wherever we went (well, okay, I didn't take it snorkeling!), but I did small things.  In fact I did all the same small things.  I even did the same small things in the same colors.  *sigh* 

All these bookmarks (but the obvious one) are made from a modification of Jane Eborall's Butterfly Bookmark.  Her butterfly has long beaded picots and beads on picot joins which make it nice and shiny (I like shiny!).  Working with beads while standing in line or riding in the car or on a boat or walking up a trail is just not within my ability.  I left out the beads and the long picots.  I couldn't carry a picot gauge doing any of those things either. 

The odd-one-out is a modification of xstchntat's Flower Bookmark.  It's a modification because I didn't take the pattern with me and lost track of where I was.  It's got that really big flower on the end because I miscounted.  Ah, well, I like that one too. 

The tails are mostly perle (pearl, purl??) tatted.  There's just one that's a long Josephine spiral.  I used xstchntat's tassel technique for those with tassels.  The rainbow thread is size 30 Cebelià that my sister dyed for me.  Everything else is Lizbeth 20.  The length of the tail just depended on how much thread I had left on the shuttles.

There -- these are my haphazard vacation tattings!

Marking Time

Bookmarks are good things to have.  Many, many are required -- unless you only have one book.  They don't work very well for a Nook, but not everything is electronic.  They work really well for marking places in tatting books.

The pair of bookmarks to the left are "Flower" by xstchntat.  The first one was made with size 30 Cebelia thread that my sister dyed for me, and size 40 white Lizbeth.  That was weird.  I thought I had picked up a bobbin of size 20 white.  I had to make more stitches in the chains than the pattern called for because of the difference in thread size.  When I made the second one, in size 20 that too-many-chain-stitches carried over.  These aren't quite according to pattern, but it is a really fun and simple pattern.  I played with the tails and managed my first real tassels using the technique xstchntat showed in this video.  Works great!

The bookmark on the right is made in size 20 Lizbeth.  It is my own pattern and is supposed to represent a string of butterflies.  The one at the bottom is also size 20 and is made from my pattern for a button shirt decoration.  I figured as the button part would stick out of the book, it would be okay and not make a lump in the book.  (click on images to enlarge)