Miniature Quantiesque Snowflake & a Crocheted Afghan

I made Jon's Quantiesque Snowflake again. Here it is:

I think it looks better than my first attempt, but I'm sure some of you may disagree with me. Obviously, you can't tell how big the snowflake is from this picture. How about from this picture:


The fancy coloured Canadian quarter is the same size as a US quarter. Bit of background info here: the coin is a circulation coin that the Canadian Mint released in 2004 to commemorate Canada's 117,000 war dead. Back to the tatting. For this snowflake, which went to my last Round Robin partner was tatted with size 80 thread. DMC size 80 thread to be exact, in colour numbers 93 (variegated blue) and 520 (white). Sorry Jane, I couldn't allow myself to tat the snowflake in one solid colour. Maybe the next time. Using size 80 thread is quite an accomplishment for me. In case you haven't noticed, I tend to use size 10-50 thread for the most part. I really don't like working with the really fine stuff. I think the biggest reasons why I don't like the really fine threads is that, 1) it can be difficult to see the individual double stitches, 2) it can be hard to hide the threads when done, or when new ones have to added in, & 3) retro-tatting can be very difficult, see #1. In order to hide the ends (and I had 7 to deal with, 4 in the outer round alone; don't ask, please), I either worked over the ends as I went, or used Magic Threads. But in the end, I am happy with how it came out. The second photo shows both Quantiesque snowflakes side-by-side. This is motif # 18 of my Second 25 Motif Challenge. This is not the last snowflake that you will see. January is still a snowflake tatting month. It's also my Birthday month; only 2 weeks to go!

One of the Christmas gifts that I made this past Christmas was a crocheted afghan for my Mom. Here it is:


Ahhhhhh! I don't know why blogger rotated this photo. It doesn't appear this way on my computer. Well, if you tilt your head to one side, it should be OK. Oh, and ignore the adorable black splotch that somehow got on the afghan. I spread the afghan out on my parents couch and left to get my camera. I was only gone for a minute or so. Every picture I took had this mysterious black splotch on the afghan. This one is the only one that would be rated G, the others are more like PG. I think I may be in enough trouble with Tattingchic with the mermaid and turtle fiasco to post the other pics. Those pictures showed the cat, um, grooming, um, himself. Let's leave it at that. Here is a closeup picture to show the texture of the aghan (I cropped out the black splotch):

The afghan is made from a pattern called "Speed Hook Shell Afghan" by Lion Brand yarn. Pattern located here. Please note, you need to be a member to get access to the free pattern. However, I recommend joining if you enjoy crocheting or knitting. The afghan is made with Lion Brand's Size S (19mm) "Speed Hook". This thing is huge. For reference, each 5 double crochet (treble crochet for my British audience) shell is about 4 inches across, and nearly 2 inches high. On my monitor, each shell in the full size photo is roughly life size. I believe it took about 7-8 hours to complete each afghan. I made two of these afghans; the one pictured used the Wool-Ease® Thick & Quick Yarn that was recommended in the pattern. The second afghan used two strands of a much cheaper worsted weight yarn (each strand was a different colour blue, this gave the afghan a denim look). The second afghan went to my grandmother. I, as usual, forgot to photograph it.

That's it for now. I have a few more non-tatting items to show you. Now that the Round Robin is coming to an end, I'll be able to work on other tatting items soon. Au revoir.