Bookmarks

InTatters is having a bookmark exchange in which I am participating. This is NOT what I'm sending -- don't want to spoil the surprise! However, this is my square bookmark pattern without the buttons. After all, who really wants buttons stuck in their books? It's made in size 30 DMC Cebelia thread dyed into "Day and Night Rainbow". It looked like a really good idea to me -- much harder to lose a bookmark that colorful than a little piece of white paper (which is what I usually use).
I thought buttonless was such a much better idea for bookmarks that I redid my butterfly bookmark buttonless as well. It needs more repeats of the butterfly top, I think. Of course, this is NOT what I'm sending either, so that doesn't matter.

Really, I DO have something to send, though, really!

Memory -- That Would be Nice

Would you look at that!
Valerie of Val's Simple Passions gave me this nice award way back on the 17th of April, but I can't remember my own name some days. That was so kind of her--makes me blush. I'm just no good at these things. It's not excess modesty or anything (I think I'm pretty wonderful -- 'cause if I don't, who will?), mostly it's just that I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings and there are lots more than 10 blogs I look at all the time. So, even though the rules are:
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 10 blogs.
4. Put a link to their blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.
I only did the first two. Do go take a look at Valerie's blog -- she's got some really pretty tatting there -- as well as some really cute bears!

Even More Color!

More thread! Bonnie had her dyes out again this weekend. I unwound thread like mad so she could make it more interesting than ecru and white. This is the result. I know it looks tangled, but it winds up very nicely. These skeins were wound off the ball on the the arms of my office chair. That worked much better than anything else I've tried. Unfortunately, once they'd been through the dye process, got washed, and dried, they shrunk so I couldn't get the skeins back on the arms of the chair. Bonnie is also my thread swift. Nice of her, eh? From bottom to top, these are Singing the Blues, Oh-Baby, Midnight Escape, and Purple Potion. Bonnie named them while we were winding them back into balls.

Singing the Blues is rather obvious -- it's all my favorite shades of blue (well, all the ones she had in little bottles, at least). It used to be size 30 DMC Cebelia ecru.

Purple Potion which is also a size 30 Cebelia, was named because all the dye color names sound like this:

Double, double, toil and trouble
Raspberry, plum,
wisteria, bubble gum,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Sometimes I do wonder what she's cooking up in all those little bottles.
Oh-Baby is all soft pastel baby-shades, baby blue, bubblegum, seafoam, and wisteria. It looks like baby lace to me, especially as it is a size 80 DMC tatting cotton.

Midnight Escape is the darker side of the baby pastels, caribbean, raspberry, caman island, and imperial purple, also on a size 80 DMC tatting cotton. It reminded Bonnie of the baby-escape in the movie "Baby Geniuses".

Colorful Weekend

Look how lucky I am! My sister had her dyes out this weekend and did three balls of thread for me. These first two are 20 gram weight DMC size 80 that used to be white. Now they are shades of pink, purple, red and blue in one ball and a whole bunch of different greens in the other ball. I told her she had to name them. Uh-huh. Her names were redishpurplelbluepink and Irish Spring (because it looked like the bath soap of the same name). Those just aren't romantic enough, so the first is Sunset (yes, we have those with pink and purple and flaming red). The second is Desert Green, because it's not a bright spring green -- there's even something that looks a bit like fresh sagebrush to me. According to my sister, the green has kilt, new-emerald, bright green, Kelly green, and better-blue-green (thank you Dharma Trading for the dye names). They are all on the blue end of green, not the yellow, so I like them very much.
This second ball of thread is a DMC size 20 that used to be cream colored. It's now "Day and Night Rainbow". Okay, that will work. There are dark and light colors in it: from the dark end are lemon yellow, tangerine, fire red, imperial purple, Caribbean blue, and Kelly green, on the lighter end are paler versions of the orange and green, hot pink, wisteria and robin egg. It's very cheerful.

She dyes the thread just like she dyes everything else, so it goes from a cold rinse in the sink into a wash bag and into the washer for both a cold rinse and a hot dye-setting wash in Synthropol. After the wash it goes into the dryer. This is how it come out. Scary, huh? But it winds up really well for all the curls and squiggles. Isn't she clever and aren't I lucky?

Tat-it-and-See and Choose-your-own-pattern by Danni. There were three versions, but I did only two of them. This first one is version A. Completed, it turns out to be "A" for "Aigg" -- well, okay, egg. Too bad the "Desert Bloom" isn't very good Easter Egg color.

I was working on version A and C at the same time. I thought the pink and purple might be a better choice, but when I got version C done I just sat and looked at it in bewildered confusion. "What is this?." I asked my sister, holding it up. "I can't figure out what this little point is. I thought it might be two eggs, a big one and a little one, but not with that bump." She gave me the most disgusted look, reached out, and rotated it 90 degrees. "It's a chick, Marty...duh." Oh, yes, so it is. Darn -- I should have used the yellow!

Motif Diagram

There's no written pattern, but for anyone that can work from a diagram -- here ya go. Join to the next motif at the picots on the 8ds, p 4ds chains, at the small joining picots on the 2ds, p, 2ds, p, 4ds rings, and at the center picot (which is a larger picot than the other small joining picots) of the 4ds, p, 4ds, p 4ds, p, 4ds rings at the corners. I hope that is more clear than mud. Oh -- if you click on the image it should get you a larger size image. If it's not large enough to see, will someone flag me, please?

Better Thread

There. Yes, it does look better in a solid color. It might be okay in a multi-colored thread, but the thread would have to be very carefully selected. This is back to the rest of my DMC Cébélia size 30 stash for a nice plain purple. I like the spot where the motif's join, even though it is very dense (sometimes I am too, so that's okay). Next step is writing out the pattern for this one. I didn't do that. I like working off a made piece -- must be something I got from my Gramma. She crocheted beautiful things, but couldn't read a pattern. She just used made pieces and duplicated them. Still, if I'm going to share, I'll have to write it down. I just don't have time to make everyone a pattern piece to work from (as if "everyone" wants to make the same thing!). I thought about making this bigger, so I've left the joining picots on all the edges, and this is just lightly pressed, not really blocked or starched.
At any rate -- this was really a good lesson in being careful of the colors I pick!
I've been asked to share the pattern. I'm happy to do that, as soon as I get some time to actually make a pattern. Right now it's just the original motif that I keep following.

Thread Selection

This is my second homework motif worked into a little mat. It is 4 inches (about 10 cm) square. The thread is size 20 Lizbeth "Desert Bloom". I think the motif turned out really well and makes a very nice decorative mat. However...

The thread was a severe mistake -- especially for this piece. The colors are wrong and change in odd places worked in this pattern. Purple, orange, and gray-white might make something really pretty, but I can't think what. I do believe this thread was a mistake, for me, and I won't be buying any more of it. Of course, if I had picked a different pattern to make with it, I might be feeling better about the thread.

I need to try this motif in a nice solid color and see how the mat looks.

Francesca, Finally

"Francesca" from Tatted Doilies by Iris Niebach has been a real challenge for me. I've been trying to work this pattern for very nearly five years. Ummmm...not constantly, mind. Every time I've started it I've gotten hopelessly lost somewhere before completing the second repeat. I've unpicked and re-tatted and decided that was wrong, too. I've unpicked and broken the threads. Finally, I've cut the bit off and chucked it out in disgust at my absolute inability to follow instructions. This time, I decided to outsmart myself. I scanned the pattern diagram then, using my PaintShop program layered the bit of the diagram over and over until I had a larger diagram showing the progression through three repeats. That seemed to work (not that this doily didn't undergo an ample share of retro-tatting) I managed to get clear around and actually finish! I used some of my new Lizbeth size 20 to work this pattern. The color is "Caribbean" and is actually much more defined purple, navy, and turquoise than I can get my scanner (or my limited ability with color brightening) to show. I probably should have dampened this one and stretched it out on the starch board before showing it -- but I just trundled it off to the ironing board for a quick press. It can go on the starch board later.

International Tatting Day

Here I am, sneaking in to say "HI!" for International Tatting Day.
Am I tatting? No. (I'm working -- yes, really, I am!)

However, I do have a picture of my original homework motif with some little computer assisted SCMR modifications suggested by Sharon Briggs. This would allow the motif to be connected to others of its kind to make a rather interesting looking mat.

Okay, I didn't tat today (YET!) but I have thought about it!

P.S. I DID tat at my niece's indoor soccer game. I made little blue butterflies and gave them away. There -- tatting in public, and giving it away -- that works for celebrating! :)