Quick Update

Howdy! Remember me? I haven't done much tatting since my last post, but I thought that I should post anyway. Despite no tatting, I have been busy. I have been working on making bracelets to sell on Etsy. I currently have six bracelets made and ready to be listed. While browsing Etsy's Guides, I found that it is a good idea to have a number of items available at lower prices to accommodate customers at different budget levels. So, I made several pendants, and I'm currently working on some earrings.

I'm not going to show pictures since I haven't taken any yet. I have the shop created, and will hopeful get photos taken over the next few days. I'm hoping that early next week my shop will be open. I'll make a post (with the shop URL) once I'm ready.

I'll end this post on a tatting related note. My brother found me some thread at a garage sale recently. Most of it is your plain run-of-the-mill size 10 crochet cotton, in mainly white. This will be used for crochet. There is some ecru DMC pearl cotton in sizes 5 & 8 that will be used for tatting. The is also some size 30 thread that I haven't seen before. Here's a photo:

As you can see in the photo, this is Daisy Mercerized Crochet Cotton in size 30, made by Belding Lily Co.. The skein contains 500 yards (457 meters) of thread. There are several skeins of this thread. The thread seems quite strong, so I'll try tatting with it, maybe tonight. If it works, I'll use it for tatting. If not, I'll try to crochet with it.

That's it for now. If all goes well, you should hear from me within a week, if not earlier. Till next time.

Another Maple Leaf and More Maille

Howdy. Looks likes I did it again. I said I would post soon, and I don't. Oh well. As I promised here is the second maple leaf that I made around Canada Day.


This leaf was made using Yarnplayer's Summer Trail HDT in size 30. As you can see I turned the motif into a bookmark by making a length of lock stitch chain where the stem is. I really like the way it turned out. I'm going to count this as Motif # 23 of my second 25 Motif Challenge.

I haven't done much tatting since I made the two maple leafs. I have done some crocheting however, and I plan on tackling some knitting-I would like to mention I really hate knitting. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to have all your stitches on one long needle, where you can drop them. Since you may ask, I knit due to necessity. I found a really cool looking sock/slipper pattern from Lion Brand, which is available in both knit and crochet version. I tried the crochet version, and found the result to be, well, ugly. I figured I could manage the knit version. Now that I have that off my chest, onward we go.

Well, I've been playing around with chainmaille some since my last post. While I was working on my belt (see here if you missed it), I ended up with a length of European 4-1 that I couldn't use for my belt. I wanted to make a belt using stainless steel rings. However the rings I chose were too weak to use in a belt. As it turns out, a number of other weaves can be made using narrow strips of Euro 4-1, by rolling them up and "stitching" the long ends together. So, that is what I did and created this:



This particular weave is called Box Chain. This is an easy chain to make. It is (apparently) the chain that Byzantine is based off of, and because of this it can be made almost like Byzantine instead of stitching Euro 4-1. I used Stainless Steel rings to make this, and, since you're probably wondering it weighs approximately 2 ounces (56 grams), and is about 1/4 inch in diameter (~6-7 mm). I think this will be mine.

Well, that's all for now. I am working on another weave right now. I had a Eureka moment last night while trying to learn a new weave. I am still toying with the idea with selling some Chainmaille items through Etsy. What I might do is, over the next few weeks, make a half a dozen or so bracelets and what not, and create a store. I'll let you all know what I decide to do when I've done it. OK? Till next time ....... which I hope won't be two weeks from now!

Canada Day Tatting

Happy Canada Day!!!!!!

Well, the title says it all. I hope all my fellow Canadians had (or are still having) a great time celebrating the birthday of this great country of ours. I didn't have to work today, so I did some tatting. Now what would be more Canadian than this:

This is Tammy Rodgers modern adaptation of a maple leaf pattern she found in a Workbasket Magazine. You can find the pattern here. I used Flora size 20 thread in red, er, colour number 221. The leaf measures about 3 inches across. This is a fairly quick pattern to make. It took me about two hours to complete. And I made only one mistake, though it occurred early in the pattern, and was easy to fix. After joining the last chain to the first ring, I threaded a length of thread through the join and doubled it. I then encapsulated the doubled thread and the ball thread with the shuttle thread to make the stem somewhat thicker. I really like this pattern, so I started another leaf. I'm only about half done, but I should have it done later today. I'll show it next time. This is going to be Motif #22 of my Second 25 Motif Challenge.

That's all for now. I'll post again soon. Really. Till next time.