A Bit of This and That

Marilee Rockley's "Dreams" again -- this time in purple DMC Cébélia size 30 with a button closure for my 12-year-old niece. As I had so much trouble counting to 5 to make a zig-zag chain, this one is made with spiral chains of 25 second half ds separated by small split rings. I put the beads on picots off the split rings. That seemed to work pretty well for keeping them on the outside of the chain. The drop beads are just clear teardrops, but they are what she liked best.
Using that same purple and some mint green Cébélia with some shades of purple and green seed beads I'm making another bald doily. I like the center of this pattern really well. It's when I get to those three rows of chians that I choke on it. They just don't work for me. This one is now in the "thinking stage" -- I figure if I think about it long enough, I can come up with something that will suit me, and let me use the outer row -- which I find very attractive.
Finally, I've got Jane's TIAS3 up to Day 9. Poor, sad thing -- I think it's waving me off with a little misshapen hand. I do believe the beads were too big and inconsistently sized. I'm not too certain about the colors either. That pretty pink button is starting to look orange to me.
Now, I have to leave town for almost the entire month of June -- and my little old laptop doesn't have any capacity for wireless or high speed internet connection. I'll have to see if I can catch up on the weekends -- either that or start over. That would work, because now I know where to put in at least one set of magic threads! I'm wondering if three strands of quilting thread might equal size 20 thread (since I don't have any size 20 this one's all done with size 30). Maybe better thread and bead sizing would get it to shape up a bit.

Hairy and Bald

A bunch of us at ETatters have been doing a tat-along -- working on this same pattern. My first one follows the pattern (except I had to add more ds in the chain rounds because I work too tightly -- relax, relax). This is worked in shades of green in size 70 thread. It was a very old ball of "Star" tatting thread I got somewhere or other -- and I had only the one ball. I used my one and only picot gauge (a tiny little dowel that was gifted to me). It was not best suited to this particular piece. I needed an even tinier little dowel. The beast turned out all hairy. I looked at and despaired of ever getting it blocked. I did block it, but certainly not properly. It's got bent picots everywhere.
I started over using the same thread, leaving out all the picots but the essential joining ones. I like this one much better myself. That chain row is still not to my liking, I think I put in too many ds this time. The last round has about eight joins. I ran out of thread and was having to scrounge from the bits I pulled off the shuttles and piled to discard. Sometimes being a pig is a Good Thing...the pile hadn't been removed from the arm of my chair when I found I needed it. If I do this again, it won't be in "Star" size 70!

Fantasia 2 again and Day 6

Finally! I made these two versions of Anemone Sylvestris from Iris Niebach's book Fantasia 2 during the past month or so. Both are from more of that stash of pink and green size 30 DMC Cébélia. Somehow I couldn't seem to stir myself to block them. They weren't horribly deformed, just rumpled looking. I'm so used to dampening things and using a zillion pins (stainless steel dressmaker pins!) I didn't think. When the light dawned, I dampened them and took 'em to the ironing board with a bit of clean, white cloth. Wow. Ironing works! The first one I made was the one with the five centers. I hadn't intended to do five -- just four. Uh-huh. The pattern required and odd number of centers, and it says so quite plainly. Five worked very well though. Reversing the colors, I worked the square one around one center. This one was actually harder to figure out and I had to watch the diagram much more closely. I started the same place -- with a chain off a paper clip. However, that didn't result in a simple ending the way the five center one did. I was doing a quite a bit of shuttle maneuvering, and had to (ahem) retrotat one of the elements about three times before getting all the picots properly joined. The final join is, as in the first one, rough. I need to work on that kind of chain join. There's gotta be a smoother way to work it.

DAY 6 -- and, yes, I did day five...just didn't scan it. Well, it's no longer Kokopelli on a unicycle but what it actually is, I can't imagine. Luckily, I don't have to because Jane knows! It's certainly fun to do this way.

The other thing I'm working on should be finished today. It's a Pretty Doily Tat-Along from Etatters. I worked it once, but found it too...er...hairy because I made all the picots too large. This time its totally bald -- no extraneous picots at all, just the joining bits. I'm not even certain I can ever block the first one -- way too many picots to manage quickly and I don't like it well enough to spend a lot of time! Ah well, it might look a lot better than I suspect if I do block it. I'll put that one in think-about-it mode. You know -- if you think-about-it long enough you never have to DO anything!

TIAS and more

Here's my version of days three and four of the TIAS. I did day two (else I couldn't have done three and four, you see), but didn't scan it. As to what I'm tatting, haven't a clue (unless it's Kokopelli on a unicycle). It's so fun that way!
The pink ring is my trial Josephine Ring using Jane Eborall's alternate technique shown on Day 4 of her TIAS. I wanted to make certain I had it figured out before actually doing it on the real thing. I do believe the first pink "trial" came out better than the green one on my TIAS-in-progress. Rats. In between things, I did this green "Yorkie Dimple" with a bit of left over thread. Wow. Great technique Sue Hanson! Thank you Sherry Pence for the video (May 14th blog post) and Jane Eborall for the written instructions. This one is closed tighter on one side than the other, but--hey-- it works!
The other things I've been working on need blocking before I drop 'em on the scanner. That means I've got to hunt up my round tuit again.

TIAS3 - Day One

I've done the tatting -- you do the seeing. What is it? Yes, yes -- I know it's a button, some thread, beads and a safety pin. All I can make of it so far is that it's going to be interesting! This is another "Tat it and see" from the inventive mind of Jane Eborall. Personally, I'm hoping for something I can wear. A beaded bikini? NO -- I can't wear that!

You want to play, too? Start here:
TIAS Day 1 and keep up with everything here: Tat It and See

Spring, Please!

Pink and green! Shouldn't that inspire a bit of Spring weather instead of snow -- in May?? Perhaps, because the last couple of days have been very pleasant, even with the rain. This is "Betula" from Iris Neibach's Tatting Fantasia. I couldn't face the dreaded yellow DMC size 30 Cébélia, so I scrabbled around in my bin for something more cheerful. (Yes, I know other people think yellow is cheerful. I think it looks jaundiced, and makes me look that way. Go ahead, tat with yellow claw-like hands...) This little motif is so elegantly simple, that it made me figure it must be snowing outside again when the "magic thread" broke instead of sliding the ends inside. Fiddle, had to stitch the ends in. Still, I liked the motif and so did my 6-year-old niece. I borrowed the main motif to make this necklace for her...hence the button closure. She can do it herself! I still had some of that springy green and pink on the shuttles, so I opened up Sharon Briggs' Transitions in Tatting and scanned over the first few beginner pieces. Lovely, just what I needed, a new bookmark. This one is the Daisy, but I added a couple of little rings as pretend leaves and a little clover end instead of a tassel. Everything needs to be pressed or blocked, but I haven't bothered with that little detail yet.
I've still got pink and green on the shuttles and am working on another piece from Fantasia 2. Meanwhile I'm contemplating beads and whether or not I can get away with using size 30 thread for Jane's new TIAS. I don't own any 20, and won't be able to get to the store to get any -- certainly not three different colors. Hmpf. Maybe I'll just cheat and use the 30 and pretend I couldn't read the numbers on the label. I'll have an MTIAS (misshapen tat it and see). :)

Dreaming of Christmas?

The other day my sister discovered her Christmas jingle-bell necklace had ...um... mysteriously disintegrated. She had all the bells, but nothing else. Ooooo, golden opportunity! I had been wanting to make Yarnplayer's "Dream" necklace and earring set, but didn't have any drop beads, and couldn't decide on colors, or threads or anything else. For Christmas, it was easy -- my sister's favorite color is green and the bells were red and gold. I had to use size 30 DMC Cébélia thread instead of size 20 (because I don't own anything larger than 30). The bells look somewhat oversized for the thread, but it's lots prettier than the string on which they used to hang! The cord gave me some fits because I have a great deal of trouble counting clear to five -- or remembering if I'm on first half of ds or second half of ds. Still, it works, and she likes it. :) I just wish the photograph did it justice. I have to be braggy and say my tatting is better than my picture taking.

Oh -- for anyone that wanted to see my sister's dragon on Anemone Blanda, this is the picture that turned out best. I made her put a bunch of different dragons on it then choose the one she liked. This one represents her two daughters.

More Fantasia 2

The yellow stuff stood me in good stead as a test working. This is "Anemone Blanda," the little oval doily from Iris Niebach's Tatting Fantasia 2. It is made by joining two of the triangles from the beginning of the book and surrounding them with two additional rows of tatting.
Although this piece measures just 6 by 3.25 inches (15 x 8.5 cm), based on its intended use as a resting place for one of my sisters collection of dragons, this is, indeed, a doily. I suppose to some folks it would be a coaster, but I'm not letting my sister put a clammy glass on it -- just a dragon.
This is my first piece done with hand dyed thread ("HDT"). After hoarding my HDT stash for so long I started to wonder what I was hoarding it for? What use is beautiful thread if it never gets used? This one is Yarnplayer's size 80 "Forest" with so many subtle shades of restful green. There wasn't enough to do any more on the little doily, but not wanting to waste any of it, I also made this "Primula" motif from Iris's book. It's an interesting little triangle made in one continuous round, with the aid of a split ring. It measures 2.25 inches (6 cm) on a side. It would make an interesting doily if joined together. I didn't have enough thread to do that. Still, there was more thread and I couldn't imagine just leaving it sit or (heaven forbid) throwing it out. I used the last of it to make this little next piece. (Of course, because Blogger is more technologically advanced than I am -- it looks larger than the triangle). This is actually the "Hiding Thread ends" exercise at the end of Tatting Fantasia 2. (Only Iris could make an exercise in "magic threads" this beautiful!) I just did it twice and joined them together. My sister thought it would make an interesting brooch, if I could figure out how to hide the fittings. I think it would need some beads, too. Maybe lots of beads would hide the fittings. It's something to think about.

Creating UFOs

UFOs -- alien invasion! No, just bits and pieces, bits and pieces -- me not quite getting there on a bunch of things. I'm determined to use up that horrid yellow DMC Cébélia size 30 thread, so I use it to test things. These are two tests of Iris Niebach's "Anemone Apennina" from her book Fantasia 2. The first time I didn't have the book with me when I got around to the second side of the triangle, and totally went the wrong direction. In attempting to undo it, I discovered that I'd gotten myself tangled up so far back I'd be unpicking until doomsday. I started over, but this isn't quite right either -- too many repeats of one set of 11 ds. At least I matched the error on the other side. Weasels. Now I know how it works and have a better feel for it. I'm very nearly ready to pick something other than yellow to get started on this again. Maybe.

Well, maybe not. I did Diane Saunders' TIAS next, so I still had a lot of peach thread wound on my shuttle, but not enough to complete something so large. From the same Fantasia 2 I picked a small motif named "Lunaria" (pretty name, right?). I'd just gotten it started when my sister and I got the wild idea to spend Easter in Las Vegas (also known as Lost Wages). Not wanting to haul my precious, personally signed, book with me. I left this behind, and started on something else -- something I wouldn't care if I lost. I made a paper copy of my own Bonnie's Butterfly and folded it into a plastic baggie to travel in my purse on the plane. Of course, I had to take my niece's little round-nosed scissors and leave my own stork scissors and size 16 crochet hook in their leather case in my suitcase. I didn't want the airlines thinking I might take over the plane with a crochet hook and a pair of embroidery scissors -- oh, and my shoes. I am a rather dangerous looking character, you know.















So much for that -- I didn't finish those either. It turned into "those" because I couldn't follow my own directions! I missed a join on the blue butterfly and, in disgust pulled it off the shuttles (Aero-style with that nice indignant sounding zzzzing!). "Crap," I thought (not being in a particularly elegant frame of mind). I wound on some nice pinkish thread and started over. Well, double crap. I didn't bring my paperclip. I managed to make a thick thread place-holder with some of the blue, but when I removed it to do the first join, I couldn't find the opening -- not thick enough. I had to put it away until the plane landed and we were checked into our hotel. I really needed that size 16 hook! Everything was working along fine, and I got asked what in the world I was making a few times in Las Vegas (because I took it around in my hip-pack for waiting times). However, I didn't make a lot of progress until we got back on the plane. Weezilbix -- I forgot the wretched paperclip again! I made the thread holder thicker. It worked the first time, but at the point you see it now, it somehow became entangled in the working threads. More putting things away in disgust. Between these false starts and way to much work at work my tatting has fizzled to a halt. Sigh.

Diane M. Saunders TIAS

There, see? I did do it. It just took me forever and a week to get it scanned.
At the beginning, I couldn't imagine what it was going to be, after all, round could be the start of so many things. After the first point, I was thinking, "Maybe a cat?" That second point didn't discourage me too much, but no cat I know has three ears! Maybe a Queen. Oh, wait -- we're done. So much for my clairvoyance -- or possibly even brain. But -- how perfect for spring, a nice tulip! I need a whole garden of these to counter-act the effects of the snow we've had in the last week. That's not very Spring-like of Mother Nature!
I worked the pattern in DMC size 80 tatting cotton in a subtle peach, then used up a bit of green ombre I happened to have to make the split-ring stem. It turned out larger than I expected, at it's widest points it's about 1.5 x 1.25 inches (3.8 x 3.2 cm) not counting the stem, of course.
I was thinking maybe I needed to figure out how to add a couple of leaves, but -- ratsmiceandchickenfeet -- I can't find my round tuit!