Among Other Things...

My dad has a really little Christmas tree with built in fiber-optic lights which he puts up on a drum table in front of the window. I made this little ornament for it out of a bit of left over thread. This is some of the thread my sister dyed for me.
I happened to have this ring in my tote bag, too. I wanted to try Jon Yusoff's idea of putting a small flower inside the ring, as well as decorating the outside. Hey! It worked...but I ran out of thread before I got to the fifth picot of the inner flower. I'd left a nice long tail (which was part of the problem) when I started, so I had to finger-tat it back to the picot and finger-tat the other end up to the picot. All the thread that was left was enough to tie a thread loop. Dad liked it, though, and we hung it on his little tree. It might still be there -- he made a wooden box to store the tree in and just puts it away decorated. Clever, huh?

Whhooooose There?

Owls are night creatures, so they show up best against a black sky. Of course, the evergreen branch he's perched on doesn't show up so well. Once again, this is from Dianna Stevens' Animal Bookmarks: A Tatted Zoo.

This is my second attempt at making this pattern. It really isn't difficult, it just requires that you pay attention. I did something weird on the first one: it's horned tufts were turned upside down and one eye was bigger than the other. My sister said it looked crazy. I think she insulted it, because it's flown the coop (I can't find it anywhere or I'd show you how weird it looks).

This second one turned out rather nice. It's made of Lizbeth size 20 Ecru and medium Harvest Orange (you'd think I was trying to use up the entire ball of that stuff) with Christmas Green for the branch. Isn't it interesting how many animals look good in brown?

AH-HA! I found the crazy owl! Those weird threads at his shoulders are where the pattern finished and didn't hide the ends. I don't know that I will ever hide the ends. I think this will go in my drawer full of what-can-I-possibly-do-with-this-? stuff.

Happy New Year!!

Wishing everyone a year that sparkles, shines, flips and doesn't tangle!

Swan

Swan on the water. Pretty, eh? This one is also from Dianna Stevens' Animal Bookmarks: A Tatted Zoo. I like the idea that the bookmark tail is water. I made this one from size 30 Cebelia, white and "Singing the Blues." I had some problem with the scanning, because the blue doesn't show up really well on black, but the swan didn't show up at all on white. All the other colors just looked weird, so black it is.

Tabby Cat

You know why this cat looks so grumpy? I cut the whiskers off one side of the scan. Oops. They really are all still there on the bookmark. This one is for a friend who owns a tabby cat, so I thought she might like it. Like the snail, it is made from Lizbeth size 20 medium Harvest Orange, and a size 20 Omega orange variegate. It has a really long tassel tail. It can tease the cat while it hangs out the bottom of a book, right?

This is another from Dianna Stevens' Animal Bookmarks: A Tatted Zoo. There's a lion in there too, but I don't think I'm going to make it. Too many picots! I think it would prob'ly shed.

Snail Trail

Look at that speedy little beast go! He's going to get away -- in about a month. This is the Snail bookmark from Dianna Stevens' Animal Bookmarks: A Tatted Zoo. This is the only kind of snail I like. The snail is made from Lizbeth size 20 medium Harvest Orange, and a size 20 Omega (which seemed larger) orange variegate I got from Aileen (Wickedtats) as a runner-up in her Halloween give away. It was perfect for this little snail. The tail is done in pearl tatting with encapsulated threads to simulate a snail trail on grass (with Lizbeth size 30 Christmas Green grass). The pattern didn't call for that weird ring cluster at the end. I was just getting...uh...fancy, yeah, fancy.

Happy Holidays!

Tatty Turtle

Isn't that just the sweetest little thing? This is my niece's favorite of all the bookmarks I've been making lately. Bet you thought it was from Dianna Stevens again. Nope, this one is Tatty Turtle from Mark Myers. This is such a clever pattern and it made a really nice little bookmark. I used a different color for the bookmark tail because I didn't want any one thinking I thought turtles had really long tails. The butterfly at the end is so there were no ends to hide when I finished (well, not in the tail, there were ends to hide in the turtle). The turtle is made of Lizbeth size 20 Christmas green. The tail is size 30 Cebelia "Day and Night Rainbow". I like that nice flat pearl tatted tail for bookmarks.

See Ya Later, Alligator!

You're ready to run out and get a copy of Dianna Stevens' Animal Bookmarks: A Tatted Zoo, aren't you? This little beastie is another from that book. The pattern is fairly easy, and the results are so much fun. I think I might have done a better job on the lower jaw, though. I just decided this is a mama alligator, and she's carrying baby ones in that puffy mouth. :) Yeah, that works -- I wonder if they'll grow up to be bookmarks too? I was going to make something creative like a pink and purple alligator, but decided on these more earthy colors. These are medium Harvest Orange and Christmas Green from Lizbeth in size 20. I was going to get all creative and put a bead in the eye, but decided not to chance that bead-bump-in-the-book problem.

I've got this and some other posts set up to pop in here automatically while I'm away for the Holidays. If you decide to share a really interesting, fascinating, well-written, insightful comment, be assured, I'm not ignoring you. I'm just going where I don't have an internet connection. :)

Ssssssnake!

Hey, you wanna practice all those thread spaces? This is the bookmark for you! Another from Dianna Stevens' Animal Bookmarks: A Tatted Zoo. I don't like thread spaces. I'm not very good at judging the distance, marking my finger didn't work, and I couldn't figure out how to use a picot gauge to make them. So...they're just eyeballed, then blocked to a fair-thee-well. It helps that the snake is supposed to squiggle like that!

This one is a ...hmmm... rainbow banded coral snake. I will say this is the most charming little snake ever, even though I think they are really, really poisonous -- extra poisonous. Squashed in a book might be the best place to keep one. It is made of size 30 Cebelia thread that my sister dyed "Day and Night Rainbow". Maybe that's too pretty for a snake. Nah.