Ripley The Ghost Pattern

I finally got the pattern done for Ripley the Ghost. The test tatters were very helpful, and they did find a few mistakes in the pattern. However, Marty not only tested the pattern, but found a better way of tatting him without cutting and tying between rounds. Her way also eliminates a rather tricky join and two alligator joins. Other than the six split rings, the pattern isn't as difficult as I initially thought. The link to download the pattern is on the left top sidebar of my blog in the "My Patterns" section. Hopefully there are no errors. I tatted it several times this evening after reworking it according to Marty's improvements. Let me know if you find any errors, and if you need some help feel free to email me. My email address is jwh4000ATgmailDOTcom. Remove the AT and the DOT and replace with the appropriate symbols. Enjoy!

That's all for now. If all goes well, I should be going away for a few days starting tomorrow after work. I hope to get lots of tatting done. I'll try to post when I get back. And before I forget, thanks to all of you who commented on my last post about the contacts. I really appreciate it. I am getting faster at putting them in, and they don't feel that bad now. Though I am pretty sure that I put them in inside out the first few days. My lenses are a soft type of lens, so it's pretty easy to do-especially if you can't see what you are doing without glasses on. I did buy a new pair of glasses though (as an employee, I get 50% off everything in Optical, well almost everything) since I can only wear the contacts for 12 hour maximum. Though 8-10 hours has been my limit right now.They have to come out when I get home from work.

Till next time.

Another Week Gone, Plus a Pretty Flower Photo

I think the title pretty much sums it up. I haven't really accomplished much over the past week. I did get my ghost pattern written up and diagrammed. It is in the hands of my test tatters (hopefully, there seems to be a few people who don't get my emails). I should have the pattern posted in a few days if there are no major errors, and the pattern is understandable. I mean, I don't consider the pattern a "beginner" pattern by no means, but if I am the only one who can tat it successfully, something may be wrong with my pattern writing/diagramming skills. I also finished the vest I started several months ago. Well, technically it is finished. I'm not 100% happy with the final result. It seems a bit "boxy". I might have made it a size too big, but I'll have to see if I can round off the arm holes, or sleeves, or something. I'll show a photo once complete.

Besides that, I haven't done much else. I kinda got into a bad mood Tuesday. It was like I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and then stayed that way for several days. Friday seemed a bit better. After work I went to our new Optical Centre (we got it when we did the major renovations earlier in the year- and no I don't work a Wal*Mart if anyone is wondering) to pick up and learn how to put in my new contact lenses. I've never had contacts before and have wanted to try them for a while. I finally got around to it recently, and got a trial pair to give them a go. I did have some trouble getting them in Friday, but did manage it Saturday after work, and (so far) every day since. It takes me a while to get them in, but I do like them so far. Obviously I am still getting used to them. Any other tatters out there with contacts? How do you like them?

Finally, I'm going to show you a photo of a recent plant acquisition. It is a Gardenia:

From what I've read, I may regret buying this plant, but it was only $10 (it's in a four inch pot). It came with one bud on it, and surprisingly it didn't drop the bud after I brought it home. Hopefully I can keep it alive, at least until spring so I can put it outside. If it doesn't die, I'll perhaps provide an update on it.

That's it for now. I wasn't able to go away as I had planned. So I plan on going away this coming weekend. I will be posting the pattern for Ripley sometime this week, so watch for that. I think I'm going to try to get some tatting done, and try not to look out the windows-it's snowing. Till next time.

New Design in The Works

Let me say one thing before I begin. I better not get sick again till, well, for awhile anyway. I was feeling better last Sunday. However I work up early (and I mean early) Monday morning with one heck of a sore back. I guess I must have done something to it while at work the previous week. So I haven't done much until a few days ago. My back is feeling better, its a little stiff right now. Anyway, I started work on a new tatted design.

But first, I wanted to provide a little information about the conductive thread I used last week. The thread is in fact thread. Specifically, it is silver plated nylon thread (apparently; I don't know how you plate nylon). It is about the same weight as sewing thread, maybe about a size 100. I used two threads together to tat the sample in the video. I also used four strands as a test, but I haven't compared it to see what size it is yet. Being a thread, it tatted quite well, not stiff like wire. More info can be found here. This project will probably be put on the back burner for a while;  I've got Hallowe'en and then Christmas tatting to start thinking about. This brings me to my newest design.

With Hallowe'en just around the corner, I figured I'd better get my next design finished. Without any further ado, here is (tentatively) Ripley the Ghost:

I say tentatively since I may change his name in the final draft. He began as a variant of my Sine Wave bookmark. However, I didn't like how the Sine Wave pattern worked with Ripley-so I really can't call him Sine Wave Ghost. I'm almost happy with how the design has turned out. I'm not happy with his ectoplasmic trail (not sure what else to call it; its the bottom thingy). I'll be refining the pattern over the next day or two. Then I have to write out the pattern. A few people volunteered to test tat my pattern on inTatters, so I should take them up on the offer, if they still want to. With any luck I'll have the pattern available for download early next week.

That's it for now. I plan on going to my parents house this weekend. So I probably won't post until I get back. Till next time.

Windmills Doily Progress and Special Thread

I had hoped to post earlier, but obviously that didn't happen. I ended up with a cold this week, and didn't feel like doing anything. I hardly touched my tatting this week. And I spent part of today working on a couple of bracelets that sold this weekend. Which is nice; sales have slowed right down lately. Anyway, I'll make this a short post. I'm still feeling kinda sick, and want to take it easy tonight.

This is the doily as of today. I am working on the seventh motif right now. Or rather, I've been working on the seventh motif for most of the past week. As you can see, the doily has become oval in shape (if you ignore the topmost motif). This is the same way I'll make the doily oval after this round in complete. Since I haven't received my order of thread yet, I'll have to move on to something else once I've finished the ball of thread. I probably won't show the doily again until the round in complete, but we'll see.
Speaking of moving on to something else, I want to mention my special thread. Actually, I'm not going to say much about it at all. Instead here is a video (assuming it works) showing what is special about the thread. By the way, this is actually tatted, no foolin':


Pretty cool, right? This is going to be a work in progress. I was playing with the thread. Due to the nature of the thread, I'll have to carefully plan out a motif to use the thread properly, and will have to use some cotton (or some other thread) to isolate different sections. And I'll need more LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes - a special kind of diode that emits light when electricity flows through it).

Before I go, I want to mention something. I was playing around with Blogger's settings, and discovered that I have the new editor after all. My blog was set to use the old one. So anyone who is using the new editor and wants to go back, check the Settings tab of your blog (it's visible in the new post and list of posts screens, and probably elsewhere) and see if you have an option to switch between the two editors. I've got my blog set to use the new editor so I can see what it's like.

That's it for now. Hopefully I'll get something accomplished this week. Before I go, I want to wish all my fellow Canadians a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. Due to my cold, I have opted to stay in the city until next weekend or the weekend after to go see family. Till next time.

Something Different

Sorry for the delay in posting. I haven't been feeling well all week. Then I haven't felt like tatting for the last few days. I am still tatting Windmills motifs, and should finish the ball of thread over the next few days, if I get back to tatting. According to my estimates, I should get at least seven, and possibly eight, motifs per ball of thread, so I ordered enough DMC Cordonnet thread to complete the doily. I'll post an update on the doily once I have finished the ball of thread. On to the non-tatting portion of the blog post.

Since I have nothing new tatting-wise to show, I thought I'd show you some of the paintings I have done. All of these are from 9-11 years ago when I was in Grades 10, 11, and 12.

The first three are from the "Art History" portion of my high school art classes. For Art History, we had to reproduce a famous artist's painting from a photo in a book, then write a paper about the artist and the painting. All paintings pictured were painted with acrylic paint on a heavy weight paper.

This painting was done when I was in Grade 10. The original was done by Paul Cezanne. I don't remember what the name of the painting is. Couldn't find it through Google Images either.

This painting was also originally done by Paul Cezanne. I don't remember the name of this one either. Found a similar painting through Google, but there was more pictured than what I painted. Not sure if it is the same painting. Painted during my Grade 11 art class.

This painting was originally done by Vincent van Gogh. The painting is called The Trinquetaille Bridge. I painted this one when I was in Grade 12. Personally, I think this painting is the best one out of the three.

Here is a painting I did in Grade 11, I believe:

I painted this from a photo I found in a magazine. Unfortunately, I didn't write down where the photo was taken. I didn't do too bad of a job on this one, though my teacher felt the water could have been done differently. I love this painting.

Finally, another painting from a photo:

The photo I used was from a family vacation to Banff, Alberta or somewhere near it (I was pretty young at the time). In some weird coincidence, my sister used the same photo for a painting in her art class well; I didn't realize it until after I brought my painting home. And, understandably, her painting has several noticeable differences to mine. I don't have a photo, so you'll have to take my word on it.

I hope you have enjoyed this brief view of a different artistic talent of mine. My next post should be tatting related. I ordered some "special" thread to maybe outdo Jane. Think tatting with invisible thread is crazy? I have something more "electric" in mind. Till next time.