Merry Christmas!!!

Well, I obviously didn't get around to another post before Christmas. So, I guess I'll have to do an extra post when I get back. So I want to wish everyone a very

Merry Christmas!!!!

Hopefully this post works; I forgot to schedule it before I left so I'm writing it using my iPod Touch. Till next time.

Jeff

Yarnplayer's Marian Snowflake

Just a quick post; I was more productive tatting wise than I expected. I'll still probably do one more post before I leave.

I saw on Yarnplayer's blog that she had designed a new snowflake and had the pattern available in her shop. I just had to buy it. And it's actually a fairly quick tat. I made two Friday evening/Saturday morning.

Both snowflake used size 20 Lizbeth thread. The first one is in # 601 White and #116 Christmas Delight. The second snowflake used #163 Blue Ice. This is a quick and fun to tat pattern. My only problem is that my picots are a bit uneven. More obvious in the left one. I don't usually use gauges, but it probably would be a good idea for this pattern. I might give them away, I'm not sure yet.

That's it for now. I need to get ready for bed. Work tomorrow. Till next time.

Frivole's Snow Crystal Snowflakes

I think I mentioned in my previous post that I did some test tatting for Frivole. I've finally gotten around to posting about them. Not really much else going on here. It's been cold. It snowed once or twice since my last post. I've been working like a dog at work, and I absolutely hate working in a retail store at Christmas time. Which sucks, 'cause I like Christmas, but it gets to a point when I can't stand hearing the music anymore. But it'll be all over soon. Well, you know, unless the world ends, again. Then it'll be over sooner.

Anyway, here are the snowflakes that I test tatted for Frivole:

The snowflakes in the top row are Crystal 1 and the ones in the bottom row are Crystal 2. Unless Frivole changed the names since I test tatted them. These are all done in size 10 thread. I found the size 10 the easiest to practice her 1 stitch SCMR. Now that I can get the chains nice and pointy, I'm sure I could easily make the snowflake in size 20 or finer. The Crystal 2 snowflakes are a bit easier, but they do require the use of a picot gauge in order to make it look nice. That makes them a little slower to make, for me, anyway. They're both really nice patterns and are available in Frivole's shop. You get both patterns in one PDF file. The white snowflakes used Cebelia size 10 (which I hated using!) and the other two are Lizbeth 10, #149 Peacock Blues and #611 Gold. They are about 2 3/8 inches (6 cm) across.

That's it for now. I'll probably only manage one more post before Christmas. I'll leaving to go to my parents either next Friday or Saturday. If I can get a shift at work Friday, then I'll definitely leave Saturday. I don't have much tatting to share, but I got my two newest Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles in the mail this week which I have to share. I've also gotten some more HDT from Jesse during her Thanksgiving sale. That's it for now.

Jelly Bean Earrings

Nothing new to report since my last post. It snowed again. But that's not really new here. So, I guess we'll get on to the tatting.

After I got my Aerlit shuttles, I tatted three pairs of earrings for my mom. Some of you may have seen these, but I haven't heard anyone mention them before.

These are Jill Hanna's Jelly Bean Earrings. Anyone who has purchased an Aerlit shuttle will have the pattern. It's printed on the back of the package. The bobbins have a different pattern on the back of their packages. I don't think anyone has mentioned the fact that there is a patten on the back of the packages. I don't know why, I just find it surprising. Anyway, the pair on the left was tatted according to the pattern, with lots of picots. I used Lizbeth 20 colour #122 Caribbean for this pair. For the blue pair, I got a bit adventurous and added some beads to the outer picots, which added some weight to the earrings. For these, I used Lizbeth 20 colour #658 Lt Ocean Turquoise. For the black pair, I went a bit bead crazy, and added beads between the rings as well as to the chains. I used Lizbeth 20 #604 thread. I will probably stiffen them then add the findings. I will probably make another pair of a different design.

That's it for now. As I mentioned last time, I test tatted a couple of snowflakes for Frivole. Once I got one of her techniques down pat, I find the snowflakes kinda addictive. It probably doesn't help that I can manage to tat a snowflake in a single evening. That usually doesn't happen. I'm currently on a crochet kick right now making a couple quick scarves to use as Christmas gifts. Till next time.

The Next Japanese Motif and New Shuttles

No, I haven't disappeared, again. I don't know how some of you can post daily. Nothing really interesting happening. I have been tatting. I've done a little bit of chainmaille. It snowed, again. Yeah, we'll move on to the tatting.

I actually finished the following motif at least a week ago, but hadn't got around to posting it till now.

This is from the same Japanese book as the last motif. That book would be of course, Tatting Lace by Sumi Fujishige. Again since I don't know if it has a name, it's on page 55. I like the way this motif looks. However, despite my best attempts I realized that I missed a join about halfway through, and didn't notice it until the final repeat. I only noticed it 'cause something didn't seem right. To finish the motif (I wasn't cutting out over half the round) I had to repeat the mistake and skip a join. So I am missing one repeat, and I think it makes the motif a bit oval shaped instead of round. I'm definitely redoing this pattern soon. Also, the centre two rounds are used in other patterns, so I may have to try them too. The above motif is about 4.75 inches in diameter and tatted using Lizbeth size 20 thread, colour #163 Blue Ice.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I ordered several of those new Aerlit tatting shuttles. But not from Handy Hands. As much as I'd like to spend $100+ on tatting stuff to make their shipping charges worthwhile and trust me, I'd like to (maybe after Christmas), I opted to purchase from one of the other tatting suppliers. I believe all the major online suppliers have the new shuttles for anyone interested. Anyway, I bought 4 of them, in three colours:

I'm sure you guys knew I would have to get a couple of blue ones. These were the colours that appealed to me the most. And among the least, um, feminine. I also bought some additional bobbins to go with these:

You had to know that was coming, right?? So far, I'm quite impressed with them, the shuttles, of course. I've been using one since they arrived. It started off somewhat stiff, but it loosened a bit and work great now. Though time will tell about how long the ratcheting action will last and we have a loose bobbin. I have to admit, I'm not used to how thin they are. I use mostly my Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles which are rather thick. I should (perhaps again) mention that I almost never use post style shuttles. I almost always use bobbin shuttles. I know this came up a couple posts ago about the Japanese motif with the overlapping (Celtic style?) chain. The bobbins wouldn't fit through the space. I had to unwind the bobbins.

I think that's all for now. I have other stuff to share, but I'm going try to split my posts up and post less, more often. I commented on Jane's blog this morning on her post about the Blogger/Picasa image storage issue that some people are having. I'm using a whopping 4% of my storage limits. Instead of resizing my images, I probably should post more often. So, I'll try. I've been working on some tatted earrings for my mom and I've been test tatting for Frivole, so I'm going to make them each a separate post, probably scheduling them to post every few days. Anyway, till next time.