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)

Sticky Fingers

At it again.  Sad, isn't it? 
All of these use glitter ModPodge® for one or two layers.  Shiny -- gimmie shiny, shiny with sparkles is even better!

This is what I've been doing when my fingers need a rest.  Tat one night, glue, color, cut the next.  :)   After the marathon they've been doing with the blue and brown doily, getting sticky was good for them.

I don't know about all you other tatters, but the threads cut into my fingers, sometimes.  I have an almost permanent line across the middle finger on my left hand and the crease on the side of the top knuckle of my right little finger is deeper than it used to be.  Most of the time I remember to tape up. (Oooo, sounds so athletic!)  I use fabric bandages and just cut off the sticky part.  That nifty little gauze pad just gets chucked out.  I can cover the three most worn places with one bandage.  I've got a favorite brand and they are hard to find.  When I do find them I buy all available and hoard them (No, no, no!  I'm not telling what they are then somebody else would go buy them and how could I hoard then?).  Oh, okay -- they're Curad brand.  They're thinner than most and the adhesive doesn't come through the tape to get on the tatting.  I've made do with others, but it really is just making do.

Oh, yes, I got carried away there for a bit.  These shuttles are all covered in bits of fractals I found in various places on the net.  There are some really artistic mathematicians out there! I colored some of the pieces of the Aero shuttles that don't get covered in paper with Sharpie® markers in matching colors.  I decided to try some without folding the paper around the sides.  I never fold the paper under on the Clover shuttles, so figured it should work for the Aeros as well.  The gray is only visible on the inside of the shuttle.  Believe it or not, I've still got more shuttles to play with.  Ahhhh, anticipation and mud pies...makes you feel like a kid again.

Oh, and thanks, Diane -- these shuttle flowers are much prettier than rows and rows.  :)

Finished...finally!

This is what has made my tatting blog a non-tatting blog for so long.  It has taken up most of my tatting time since last November.   I made it for someone special in colors she likes.  I love the blue, but the brown rounds were really difficult for me to get through (that's why they're smaller!).  I can't tell you why I don't care for brown, but I don't -- maybe I just got a surfeit of it in college.  I wore a lot of brown then.  I finally decided colors, the brighter the better, gave me a better outlook on life.  Maybe.  Of course, it could be I had more trouble with the brown rows because the thread is darker and it's harder to see.  The colors are medium blue and chocolate brown, both from Lizbeth, in size 40. [Actually they are Blue-Med. #651 and Mocha Brown Dk. #692]  It got packed up right after I took these pictures -- and I forgot to measure it.  I did go measure the chair I used, though.  It's probably something like 15 inches in diameter, more or less (the doily, not the chair).

The pattern is one by Jan Stawasz.  It's a very pretty pattern, but as written, makes me tear out my hair.  Most of the rounds (the central brown and the two outer blue areas) are done with dozens and dozens of individual motifs.  I just don't have that much thread-winding or thread-hiding patience!  I used split rings everywhere so I could work the whole thing in rounds instead of motifs.  The central brown area is two rows and that large inner blue area is done in three rows.  However, I did do all the wheels individually.  The pictures are clickable so they can be seen larger.

It's not perfect, but I liked it anyway.  As a matter of fact, I liked it so much, I've been recreating it without all the frilly picots. Those really are little monsters when it comes to blocking.  I gave most of these a pat and a promise.  I promised I wouldn't take the scissors to 'em if they'd shape up!  They cooperated for the most part.  I packed it up in a mailing tube and shipped it off -- insured, because I figured, if there was a chance they might have to pay out, the USPS would take better care of it.  Ta-da!  It got where it was supposed to go -- and she liked it!

Tatting Day!

     Hmmmm...April 1st is International Tatting Day.  I think I missed posting, because it's after midnight now, so I guess it was April Fool's Day, too.  I did tat, though.  I've got this doily thing now out the the fifth row.  It needs another bit of blocking, but I've decided to wait until I'm done.  That's why you get to see this rumpled work.  I just tossed it on the scanner.  It's the same Jan Stawasz pattern I've been split-ringing into single rounds instead of individual motifs.  All those threads have been woven in, but I'm leaving them at least an inch long until I'm finished.  I'll snip those off after it's blocked.  The thread is size 40 Lizbeth in white and "Cotton Candy".
     I didn't actually do so well with ITD because I didn't tat in public.  The only place I went that could be considered public was lunch.  I couldn't tat at lunch -- especially not in white!   Oh, wait, I went to the toy store, too.  We weren't there long enough to tat.  I was shopping with a munchkin who knew exactly --very exactly -- what her friend wanted for her birthday.
     Oh, I didn't eat any chocolate either.  I don't much like chocolate.  {waiting for the gasps to stop and some of the more delicate personages to wake from their faints}  Okay, long enough.  Move along -- nothing more to see here!

Not Just Bling

You think I said that just so you'd read this, don't you? Not so. I have been getting all sticky and covering shuttles (and I found a whole jar of glitter ModPodge), but I've been tatting, too. Actually, what I've been doing is test tatting for other people, so I don't have pictures to show of all those pieces (ha-ha -- gotcha). But here's the latest batch of fractal covered Aeros:
I did a bunch of Clover shuttles like these, but didn't get a picture taken before I packed 'em up for Shuttlebirds in April. Now...I won't be there, but the shuttles will. A very generous soul from Bonneville Tatters is taking them to see if anyone might want to buy one. Personally, I'm hoping she gets rid of the whole lot. Then I can buy a bunch more shuttles to cover. Like I said before -- it's soothing and such a great reason to stay up until 2:00 in the morning.

Just so nobody gets disgusted with my no-tatting tatting blog -- here's a bit of something I started. I'm going to start over and change the stitch counts on the second set of split rings because to get it to stay flat I had to really stress the clover joins. Doesn't look good enough to bother completing the rest of the piece onto this center, but it's still a nice little coaster. This is a doily by Jan Stawasz, but with alterations. Having absolutely NO patience with dozens of little separate motifs to make up the doily, I fussed and figured and counted (and need to recount) so I could make this thing in rounds instead of pieces. Oh, all the decorative picots have disappeared, too. I like the frilly look of picots, but have the worst time blocking the fussy little things, so I'm trying this without.

Heart and Shuttles

One last heart. I forgot about this one, it turned up when I turned out my tatting bag (I do clean and organize now and then, just don't want to go overboard about it). It's really little, about the size of a U.S. dime, even though it's made with size 30 Cebeliá thread. It's one of the things we learned at tatting guild -- last year. Since I learned last year, and never did it again, I don't think I can do it again!

Now -- on to the shuttles. Diane (Lace-lovin' Librarian) had the prettiest shuttle that I really needed. It's blue with a pattern of lines making what almost looks like tatted shamrocks. I offered to trade her for one I did with a blue and green paisley pattern. She got right on the job; and I got the loveliest surprise package today. I've got the pretty blue papered shuttle, two balls of size 70 thread, and a beautiful glittery bag. See?

Once I get to the post office I'll get my part of the exchange sent off. Only now I really need to find something pretty to package it in, don't I? :)

I've been covering shuttles like a mad fool. I don't know why, but it's a soothing thing to do. I think it's a bit like making mudpies or playing with papier mâche. You get to get grubby, ignore everyone (works ever better if you put in earphones connected to an MP3 player with a really good book), and stay up way too late. I do this stuff a bit differently than Diane. I use a regular paint brush, not as many coats of decoupage and I don't use fingernail top coat (but I've got to look into that and the sponge brushes!). Instead of a craft knife, I use a curved nail scissors. Knives and I don't play well together. (It's not me -- they bite.) Anyway, here's a photo of the last lot. None of these have had the final coat of acrylic spray applied (I've been too lazy to lace them into the spray box). The ones outlined by the squiggly red line are all the same pattern, but different colors -- like a six shuttle set (so alliterative!) -- I don't even mind the tan one! The bunch outlined in turquoise are all Clover shuttles (yeah, like you couldn't tell, huh?). The ladybug shuttles are all made with stickers on tissue paper, as is the firecracker (the blue next to the blue with a ladybug). There's a lavender one in the bottom row and the one black shuttle that are made with nail stickers on tissue paper. I've decided to not buy any more of the nail stickers once I've used those I have. I'm not creative enough with them and they end up just ...well... stuck there.

Heart Wannabes

They wanted to be hearts. I wanted them to be hearts, but they've got goofies in 'em. Look quick! That's not so bad -- but don't study them in detail. They fall down in the details.

Vicki Clark's Ruffled Heart is such a pretty heart when looking at the original on her blog. It didn't work so well for me in this size 80 thread. I tried it again in a size 20, but -- hmpf -- that didn't work very well either. I think I need more practice. I'm just not certain I want to haul out the rope (size 10) and see if I can figure out where I'm going astray. I've set it aside for a while.

The Rainbow heart is my own snowy heart pattern, but I make some kind of alteration every time I tat it. This time I didn't make the same alteration on both sides. I would have done that, but didn't see it until I was finished. Now, I've unpicked ... er ... retrotatted a long way back in a pattern, but that was just a bit too much. It's all done and the ends are tucked in and it's sitting in my drawer. I'm waiting for someone to have an "oops" exchange...'cause I'm ready!

Well, I'm gratified the mistake in this heart isn't obvious. I know it's there because I made the oops. There are a pair of mirror joins that aren't mirror! Just for people who really want to know but don't want to study each ring, chain and join, I circled the spot in red and put arrows. Here ya go (click to enlarge):