Jan Stawasz Doily, Almost Finished

The tatting of the doily is finished. I just haven't blocked it or dealt with the ends yet. I actually finished tatting the doily a few weeks ago; it was actually pretty quick to tat once I got the stitch counts memorized. I haven't gotten around to posting it till now because I have been busy with work. You gotta love working retail at Christmas. Today was my last day before I go on four days off for Christmas. Let me tell you, I couldn't wait to leave work today! Granted it was freaking cold when I left the building; temperature didn't move much between -28 and -31 C today. It's supposed to get to -35 C tonight then warm up for several days. Which is nice as long as it doesn't snow. Anyway, I really need to make this post short, I still need to pack and do a million other things tonight so I can go to my parents house tomorrow.

Like I said above, the Jan Stawasz doily I tatted, Doily V, was fairly quick to tat. Lots of split rings for much of it. The outer scallops add interest to the pattern, though that's where I found some errors in the stitch counts. Anyway, here's the unblocked doily:

I'll post another picture once it's blocked. I had a few things to talk about as I was tatting the doily but I don't remember them right now. As a reminder, I used Lizbeth 20, #601 White thread. As I said, if anyone else wants to tat this doily, just be aware that there are a few errors in the stitch counts. It's not difficult to figure out the correct stitch counts. I am looking forward to tatting another one of Jan's designs.

That's about it for now. I do hope to get a fair bit of tatting done while I'm away. I'll share what I tat when I get back. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. Till next time.

Tatting a Jan Stawasz Design: Doily V

Wow! It's over a month since I last posted. I really hadn't planned on that. I guess between work and life, I never got around to posting till now. I still haven't made a PDF file of the football pattern I posted in my last post yet. You did see it right? You can find the pattern here. You may have noticed that my pattern links are gone from the top left sidebar. Keep & Share closed my account for some reason, and didn't tell me. I'm assuming the account was closed because I hadn't logged in for quite a while. I made a new account, but, um, forgot the password and just haven't dealt with it yet. Don't worry, I'll get them back up soon. Onward to the tatting! I have been tatting, honest!

I'm sure many of you may have heard that Jan Stawasz recently passed away. I only have his second book, though I have wanted his first book for a while. I do hope his publisher continues with the re-release of the first book. I started one of his designs a few weeks ago when I went out of town for the weekend. I chose Doily V, on page 35, as it didn't seem to use "Jan's Method" much.

I had to start the centre square over as I neglected to make the joining picots really small as Jan suggests. It cupped because of the larger picots. It still cups a bit, due to the joining picots on the corners, but I didn't really want to start over. I am hoping blocking it when it's finished will help it. I am currently working on the final round, or Part III as it is written in the book. Unfortunately, this round has some inconsistencies with the stitch counts. I'll talk about them when I'm done the round. I did try Jan's Method on a few rings, and it is pretty easy to do once you start doing it. It's basically a form of frontside/backside tatting. I had to cut off the round shortly after I started as I got mixed up with the stitch count inconsistencies. I didn't use Jan's Method, but I do see the difference now and am looking forward to tatting some of his other designs. I'm using Lizbeth 20, #601 White.

That's about it for now. I bought a couple more Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles from the latest batch that Jane posted last Saturday. I had to; I haven't bought one for a while. I also placed a small order from Bestitched as I wanted one of the new Aerlit shuttle colours, and matching bobbins. There was also a few new Lizbeth colours I wanted. Of course, I ordered a week early, and will miss the Black Friday sale they are having all weekend. Which reminds me, I'm having a sale too!

Starting at midnight (my time) everything is 25% off. This includes the already deeply discounted Sterling Silver. And that's not all! The coupon code located on the right sidebar can be used too. The sale will last all weekend, including Monday.

I had to buy a new battery for my truck a week ago so I would love to get some sales this weekend. Sales have been slow, though I know it's not just me. I'm not trying to guilt anyone by the way. Feel free to pass this on to other people who may be interested. I hope all my US tatting friends are having/had a great Thanksgiving. Till next time.

Are You Ready For Some Football!

Football related tatting that is. I am kinda nervous and excited to be part of The Football Blog Hop, organized by Catherine of Ancora Crafts. This is the first time I've been involved with a blog hop. For anyone not familiar with a blog hop, each participant creates a tutorial that they share on their blog. At the bottom of this post (and the posts of each participant) are links to the other participants. Make sure you check out their tutorials as well.

OK. My project is a tatted motif. Obviously, you'll need to know how to tat in order to make the motif. YouTube has a growing selection of tatting tutorials if you wish to learn. Alright, we got that out of the way, so now we can begin.

You will need:

• 1 or 2 tatting shuttles or tatting needles
• 1 ball of size 20 thread in the colour you want your football, I used Lizbeth #692 (Brown) and Flora #230 (Green)
• 1 ball of size 20 thread in white, I used DMC Cordonnet
• fine crochet hook (optional if your shuttle has a hook or pick)
• a safety pin (coil less preferred), or a paperclip
• scissors

 
At this point I should mention that I haven't tested the pattern using needles. It should work though.

Abbreviations

R       Ring
SR     Split Ring
CH    Chain
vsp    Very Small Picot
LJ      Lock Join (AKA Shuttle Join)
-        Picot
---     Large Picot
J, +    Join (a normal join)
SLT    Shoe Lace Trick

Let's begin!

Wind a couple yards/metres of brown (or colour you want) thread continuously onto each shuttle. You can use just one shuttle and the ball if you are not comfortable with making split rings and split chains. I have noted the changes needed when necessary. Don't wind more than one yard/metre if you take this route.

Tatted Football ©2013 Jeff Hamilton

Round 1

R1: 3-3---(10mm)3-3 RW
Ch: 4-4-4 RW
R2: 3+3+3-3 RW
Ch: 4-4-4 RW
R3: 3+3+3-3 RW
Ch: 6-6 RW
R4: 3+3+3-3 RW
Ch: 4-4-4 RW
R5: 3+3+3-3 RW
Ch: 4-4-4 RW 
R6: 3+3+3+3 RW
Sch: 6/6 Flip work. Do not cut thread

If you don't know how/don't like to make Split Chains, you can make the last chain 6-6, join to base of first ring. Cut, tie, hide ends.

Round 2

Now, if you made the split chain in round 1, leave a short length of thread before starting SR1. You are making a mock picot. If you didn't make a split chain, then make SR1 a regular ring like so: 8+8 RW. Make sure you join to one of the chains with only one picot.

SR1: 8/8 RW
Ch: 8-8 RW
R2: 4+4 RW (The join goes above the next ring on the previous round)
Ch: 2-2 LJ 3-3 LJ 3-3 LJ 3-3 LJ 2-2 LJ RW
R3: 4+4 RW (The join goes above the next ring on the previous round)
CH: 8-8 RW
R4: 8+8 RW
Ch: 8-8 RW
R5: 4+4 RW (The join goes above the next ring on the previous round)
Ch: 2-2 LJ 3-3 LJ 3-3 LJ 3-3 LJ 2-2 LJ RW
R6: 4+4 RW (The join goes above the next ring on the previous round)
Ch: 8-8 LJ to base of SR1. Flip work. Do not cut thread.

Hmmm. Kinda looks like a dog biscuit, doesn't it? Don't worry, it won't stay that way for long.

Round 3

Alright, I have to say pretty much the same thing here as above. If you will make a split ring, leave a short length of thread before starting SR1. You are making a mock picot. If you don't know how/don't like to make split rings, then make SR1 a regular ring like so: 8+8 RW. Make sure you join to the space above the first ring you made in the previous round.

SR1: 8/8 RW
Ch:13 LJ 8 LJ 5 LJ 6 LJ 6 LJ 5 LJ 8 LJ 13 RW
R2: 8+8 RW
Ch:13 LJ 8 LJ 5 LJ 6 LJ 6 LJ 5 LJ 8 LJ 13 Join to base of SR1. Tie, cut, hide.

Still with me? Good. We're almost done.

Stripes (Make 2)

Wind a couple feet of white thread onto a shuttle and leave attached to the ball. Slip a paper clip or safety pin on the thread to begin. It will give you a place to hold onto and a picot. A twofer! You may find it easier later to make the first stitch a lock stitch.

Ch: 8vsp8 SLT, RW
Ch: vsp8LJ8 LJ to p made using paperclip, SLT, RW
Ch: LJ to previous Ch, J(to 1st picot on the football marked with a green dot, don’t make the join too tight )9LJ to space above previous LJ,9 LJ to last vsp on previous Ch, J(to the picot on the football marked with a red dot, don’t make the join too tight). If you have trouble with the joins don't worry. I don't think there is a right way or wrong way here. join as best you can.

Tie the shuttle and ball threads together then cut the threads. Take the threads to the back of the football and tie the threads together again. Hide them as you wish, or cut them close to the knot and leave them. Repeat for second stripe joining the stripe to the football using the second green and red dots.

Awesome! We now have a tatted football to use as you wish. I'm sure someone might mention it, but I didn't add stitches to the football. They would be easy to add if someone wants to. I think a pair of footballs would look pretty cool as earrings for the football loving lady. Strategic picots on the outer round could allow them to join to become something larger. Football doily, anyone?

I hope everyone had fun tatting the football. And of course, if anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I've tested the pattern pretty extensively (I have quite a few tatted footballs now), but if anyone finds an error or doesn't understand something please let me know. I will be releasing the pattern in PDF format soon. I hope to do so over the weekend. And to incorporate my favourite football team, The Saskatchewan Roughriders:

You can buy green footballs for the Roughriders apparently. Hopefully, that's not cheating.

Thanks for playing along. And be sure to check out the other crafters in the blog hop!

CraftyPod

InLinkz.com

I'm Still Tatting!

Honest! Just not Windmills right now. I'm working on something else right now, and I'm pretty excited about it. I just can't share yet. Bummer, I know. Not much else new otherwise. I have to wait until next week to see if my workplace goes on strike or not. There's a strike going on in Alberta that's related to my workplace. I've never faced a strike before so I'm a little concerned. I'm sure it will turn out fine. Anyway, onwards to the tatting. Kinda.

Yeah, I still can't share. I can share the small pile of rejects from the design process however; the finished item changed dramatically from these, so I don't think anyone can guess what it might be. Oh, and I won't confirm or deny any guesses either.

I'm happy to say, that it only took about a week for me to get a working pattern created. Yup, I designed and properly tatted a new design in about a week! I'm very excited about it. Granted, I think having a deadline really helped, I am such a procrastinator. I only have three weeks or so to work on the special project. I did the final tweaks and tatted the in-colour, proper item Sunday while watching a Doctor Who marathon on TV. I still have a ton of photos to take and edit, and I do need to tat a green version of the item too. I gotta incorporate the item into the theme of the project you know. You guys only have to wait a couple weeks.

That's about it for now. Next Monday is Thanksgiving here so hopefully I can get some other tatting done too. Till next time.

Windmills & New Book

Well, I haven't gotten as much tatting done as I'd like since my last post. I did do a little crochet; it's not much kind of a granny square type motif in thread. I have to say Lizbeth is awesome to crochet with! I can't show it yet. I just literally blocked it while I'm writing this. I'll show it next time. Besides the crochet and tatting, I haven't done much else. Sales in the shop have come to a complete standstill, but whatever I guess. I have decided to discontinue the Sterling silver jewelery line as it doesn't sell. I currently have them on sale for 40% off. I'll keep them marked down until they sell. Anyway, onward to the tatting!

Since I still haven't been able to decide what new pattern I'd like to try, I decided to go back to a favourite standby-Mary Konior's Windmills!

I am, of course, working on the large doily I started a while ago. You can see the doily as it is right now here. I've decided I'm gonna continue the doily as I planned, ie: make it oval shaped. I mean, if Wendy of Umintsuru can create a version with multiple colours, I can make an oval one. Wendy's version is here and is pretty awesome, by the way. I will be honest, I don't know if the doily will end up oval in the end. It's less daunting to me to tell myself that I only need to make 7 motifs to make the doily oval. Once I'm there, I'm sure I'll decide to expand the other four sides. I'll keep you guys updated.

Finally, I got a new tatting book. I'm sure many of you also recently got the book too. I am talking about Martha Ess' new book:

I received the book last week, and I must say I have several patterns picked out to tat. I particularly love the large dragon; it's the first pattern in the book. I have always wanted to tat Pam Palmer's dragon pattern but it went out of print before I could buy it and I haven't come across the pattern whenever I go looking for it. I think Martha's version very good replacement. I've never framed any tatting before, but I would love to have a framed tatted dragon hanging on my wall. Anyway, once I'm sick of tatting Windmill motifs, I'll be tatting something from this book.

That's about it for now. I'm still drinking tea and have discovered more local options than I initially thought. I found a couple of brands that offer tea in pyramid shaped tea bags that are either whole leaf tea or contain larger leaf pieces. I'm glad I have new options, and it gives me a chance to try different types of tea. So far, I enjoy black and white teas but I'm not a fan of most green teas, though I do enjoy jasmine green tea. Hopefully I'll update a bit more often now that I'm back on my regular work schedule again. Till next time.

Progress, or Rather The Lack Thereof

Yeah. It's been a while since I last posted. Unfortunately, I haven't done much over the last month or so. Most of July was fairly cool, so I can't blame the heat. Towards the end of July, I was experiencing GI cramps a few hours after eating. After concluding that I wasn't coming down with the flu or something, I figured something I was eating was bothering me. I tried cutting out dairy and gluten from my diet with no luck. I came across a gluten free blog where the author mentioned having a really bad reaction to aspartame. Since I do drink a fair amount of diet pop and use many other sugar free foods, I figured I had nothing to lose if I stopped using aspartame. I began to feel better a few days later, and once I got past the caffeine withdrawal (I didn't realize how much caffeine I consumed), I felt great. Without diet pop to drink, I had to find an alternative. I'm not a big fan of plain water so I turned to tea. I read that loose leaf tea was waaaaaaaay better than the stuff in the tea bags, so I ordered a fair amount from Adagio Teas. Anybody buy from here?? In case you're wondering, I had a heck of a time trying to find loose leaf tea locally; Safeway had three varieties, and it wasn't cheap. I ordered a variety of different kinds and flavours. They offer sample size packages for most of their teas so it's easy to buy a bunch to try. I bought a selection of samples and several larger packages to make the shipping more worthwhile. Once I try all the samples I'll have to order a larger amount of my favourites. If it's not obvious, I actually enjoy tea now.

Anyway, to keep this post somewhat tatting related, I'll share some of my recent purchases. I bought a new book. And it's not written in a foreign language!

It's of course, Jan Stawasz's new book Tatted Treasures. This is the first Jan Stawasz book that I own. I love many of the designs, I hope to make many of them too. You'd think that would encourage me to get out my shuttles and get tatting, but there's a problem. I really don't understand his method. That's not true, I understand the concept, it just seems like more work. I may just have to bite the bullet and try a motif his way, and see how it goes. Even if I don't get anything tatted from it, it is an awesome addition to my ever growing tatting library.

After I couldn't find my size 20 red thread when I went to make my Canadian flag, I felt it was absolutely necessary to order more thread. I ordered from Handy Hands first, and then Bestitched a few weeks later to pick up the thread I forgot.

You should be able to see, most of the solid colours are size 10 (one of the reds being the exception). Most of the size 10 was bought to crochet with. The two variegated colours are size 20; they're both newer colours.  Not pictured is the ball of  size 20, colour #135 Lollipop that I received in the red thread holder I also bought and a ball of size 3 black I bought for my tatted tattoo project. I also bought a package of those new flat Celtic shuttles. I'll take a photo when I get around using them.

I also purchased some Omega brand yarn and thread. I needed the yarn for a crochet project I'm working on, and bought some thread just because. I noticed after I ordered the thread and yarn that the cotton Omega thread was the same that Handy Hands carries/use to carry.

For anyone interested I bought the thread from a company called Creative Yarn Source. I notice that Handy Hands only has size 30 and 50 in two colours. Creative Yarn Source has six sizes of this thread, size 10, 20, and 30 are available in 61 colours, and sizes 40,50 and 60 are available in 4 colours. It's also significantly cheaper than HH. Anyway, I have a couple balls of size 30 from Handy Hands, but I don't remember if I used it. And for anyone interested, unless I'm the last tatter to buy them, Creative Yarn Source carries the coiless safety pins that everyone (except me!) uses.

Well, that's about it for now. Hopefully I'll get something tatted soon. I would like to get back to my tatted tattoo idea. I have a few new ideas that I need to try. The last couple of weeks have been pretty hot, we hit 34 C yesterday. Next Monday is Labour Day here, so that means it will be a short work week! Hopefully I may get a chance next week to get some tatting done. Perhaps I'll make progress on and be able to share more of my tatted tattoo. Anyway, till next time.

Interview On Ancora Crafts

Just a quick post today. I haven't had much to show since my last post. I took about a week break from tatting. But I am working on a project or two right now. I'll try to have a proper post soon. In the meantime, you might want to check out the interview I did for Ancora Crafts. You can find it here. It was really fun, and I'm sure I mentioned some things there that I haven't posted here before. Till next time.

Oh, Canada...

OK, the title may be a couple weeks late, but it seems appropriate for what I made, finally. I'll made this post short as I really can't wait to share.

As I think I mentioned in my last post, I've been wanting to make this for a while, but I never got around to it. Till now. And here it is:

Yup. It's the Canadian Flag. It measures 3 inches by about 6 1/4 inches. Not quite the proper 2:1 proportions, but close enough. Except for the 6 regular rings, the flag part is made solely using split rings. Lots of split rings. The maple leaf was designed by Frivole. It's in her free pattern section. Though, I found in on intatters. I hope she doesn't mind I used it for my flag. I did make a few small changes. She used Josephine knots on the points of the leaf, and since I'm not particularly fond of JKs, I made small regular rings instead. Thread stats: the white thread is DMC Cordonnet size 20, the leaf was made using DMC Perle cotton size 5 and the red part of the flag is DMC Perle cotton size 8-both colour #321. Despite being the same colour, the leaf is a bit brighter in colour.

In order to get the leaf sizing right, I had to make a few leaves.

The top leaf is the first one I tatted. The small red leaf is the second one I made. I experimented a bit with the points and made small rings with a picot instead of the JKs. The large red leaf is the final version. I might remove the maple leaf from the flag and resew it back on. I'm not entirely happy with how I sewed it on. I had thought of joining the leaf to the flag as I tatted it, and I could make another one and try it. Other than that, I've very happy with my Tatted Canadian Flag.

That's it for now. Well, I did have one idea that I thought would be cool:

Hope you like it! Till next time.

Still Tatting

Yeah, I'm still here. I just haven't been inspired to tat anything lately. At least until last week. I am waiting for some yarn and wire for a crochet project I've been wanting to do. This is going to be a fairly short post. I just want to do a quick teaser post. I'm actually almost done, then I have another idea I want to try. Before I forget, my German Triangle Motif Doily was featured in a blog post at Ancora Crafts. The post in question is here.

As I said above, I haven't felt like tatting until early last week. An idea came last Monday evening and I just had to start working on it. I managed to tat the following by the end of last Tuesday:

The thread looks kinda creamy in the photo, but I used white. The next part needed red thread. I now I have some, but I couldn't find it. I still can't. I went out, figuring I could easily buy another ball. Boy, was I wrong. Apparently, I forgot how hard it is to find size 20 thread in any colour besides white and ecru, after being able to buy Lizbeth (and Flora) easily online. I ended up buying some size 8 perle cotton that worked out pretty well, as well as some size 5 perle cotton from my Temari thread stash when I found that I needed a thicker thread in a matching red. Sorry, I'm not sharing a photo of the result yet. Feel free to make a guess though. If you dare.

I was going to share the third part of my mystery idea, but I'm pretty sure it will give it away. So that'll have to wait until my next post. If it helps, it involves one of Frivole's patterns. So instead, I'll share a quick photo of my Industrial Piercing. So if you don't want to see it, you may leave now without fear of missing any more tatting.

The photo is from a few weeks ago. As of this Thursday, I'll have had it for almost seven weeks. It hardly hurts now, compared to when I first got it. As to why I got it, well, simply, because. I think it's a phase I'm going through. I don't think I'm finished either.

That's about it. I hope to post again either Friday or Saturday, maybe sooner.

Procrastinating...

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I haven't been tatting much since I got back. I do have one motif to share, which was tatted a few weeks ago so I figured I should share it. Not much else tatting related, anyway. I got another piercing (well, actually two piercings) a few weeks ago, in one ear*. But anyway, I should get to the tatting.

It's another motif from Suzanne Schwenke's Spitzen-Kreationen.

This time, the motif is a square or diamond. I don't love this motif as much as the triangle I shared previously. It could be my tension, but it needed a lot of blocking to get it into shape. Because of that I haven't felt like making anymore. I should try it again with different thread. The thread is Flora size 20, #202 Natural, I think. I should point out that the patterns in this book are both diagrammed and written out. Several pages of translations are at the back of the book, so the written patterns are quite understandable. I mainly followed the diagrams, however.

I haven't decided what to tat right now. I have a few things I should finish; the Betta's come to mind. I wanted to do some crocheting a few days ago, but I couldn't find the hook in the required size. I KNOW I have one. Somewhere. I think. I probably should do some organizing one of these days.

If I get anything tatted, or crocheted, or something, I'll post as soon as I can. Till next time.




* I wasn't going to mention it as I know some of you aren't too keen about piercings. The piercing I got is called an Industrial (or a Scaffold if you're in Europe) piercing. It's basically two separate piercings joined together by a single bar 1-2 inches long. You can Google it if you want. I'll probably post a photo to Facebook once the redness and swelling go down a bit. And for anyone wondering, I got it because I liked the way it looked.

Etsy Shop Announcement

Just a quick shop related post. I'll post about tatting later this week. I decided to have a sale in my Etsy Shop (located here). Everything will be 25% off started tonight at midnight (CST). I'd like to get rid of some of the items that aren't moving, um, Sterling Silver. But as I said everything will be on sale. If you're not interested, feel free to pass it on to others who might me. No coupon codes are necessary to receive the discount. The sale should run for a week. Assuming I configured the sale manager properly.

That is all.

German Triangle Motif Doily

As promised, I have a scan of the finished doily. I had intended on posting it yesterday, but ended up getting called in to work to replace someone who didn't show up. I got today off instead. I did spend a fair bit of today doing housecleaning (the horrors!!) and some organizing. Since I am going away this coming weekend, I need to get some of this stuff done. Anyway, here's the finished doily:

For anyone joining in late, the thread used is Lizbeth size 20 colour number 129 Purple Splendor. The pattern is available in Suzanne Schwenke's book Spitzen-Kreationen. I didn't mention it before as I forgot, but the motif is about 2 3/4 inches long across the longest dimension. The doily is about 7 1/4 inches across point to point. This has been a fun doily to tat. It was surprisingly quick too. I do plan on trying another one of Suzanne's motifs soon. I don't know how much tatting I'll get done while I'm gone, but I'll try. I probably won't get a chance to post again till I get back. Till next time.

And Then There Were Five

I'm really enjoying tatting this motif! It's small enough that I can finish one within a day; probably a couple hours total tatting time-I tend to tat a few rings and chains then put it down to do something else for a bit. Then pick it up again; you get the idea. Here's five motifs joined together:

Almost there! I guess I should point out that I finished the sixth and final motif last night. I had a "normal" workday yesterday so I was able to relax and tat all evening. I have it on my blocking board right now, though it didn't really need blocking. I'll be sharing it Monday. That's Victoria Day for us here in Canada, so I get the day off! Till next time.

Four Motifs and Going Strong

I'm making good progress on the German Triangle Motif Doily. I have almost finished the fifth triangle motif. I could probably have the doily finished by Saturday or Sunday. I'm really having fun with this motif. I know many of you commented on how it looks and fits together. Suzanne has several other motifs that create some pretty interesting negative space patterns. I might have to give a few of them a try. Here are four triangles joined together:

Not much to say right now. I hope to finish the fifth motif before I have to work later today. The sixth and final motif will probably take longer as I have to join to two other motifs and need to make sure I don't screw up badly. Then I have to deal with ends and block it if needed. For anyone who missed my last post, the thread used is Lizbeth size 20 colour number 129 Purple Splendor. The pattern is available in Suzanne Schwenke's book Spitzen-Kreationen (Lace Creations, according to Google Translate). I'll be sure to share the finished doily when I'm done. Till next time.

German Triangle Motif

Not sure what's happening this week; I've been tatting a fair bit lately. Not a bad thing, but I'm not sure why. Perhaps I finally got into the groove with my new work schedule. Either that, or the fact that I decided to try a different pattern is making a difference. As I mentioned in my last post, I was planning on tatting another Spinning Wheels Glass Mat in purple for my Mom. I decided against it at the last minute, and I'm glad I did.

I really like Mary Konior's design, and it's not difficult, but it isn't exactly a small motif either. OK, I know it would be a small tat for some people, but not for me. Each "arm" takes at least an hour for me to tat, probably longer. And apart from the hole in the middle, it is fairly solid; not a lot of negative space. This is where the new motif comes into play. I present to you one German Triangle Motif:

The pattern doesn't have a name. At least one that I can read. It's from Susanne Schwenke's book  Spitzen-Kreationen. The pattern is on pages 42-43 of the book. It was pretty quick for me to tat. And is quite pretty. The thread is Lizbeth size 20 colour #129 Purple Splendor. I figured I'd make six of them, all joined together, to make a medium sized doily. Now, I figured I could post every time I tatted another motif and show you how it is progressing. It would also give me a chance to post a bit more often lately. However, I've been tatting them fairly quickly. So, here are two motifs joined together:

They look kinda cool here. I finished a third motif this morning. Here's three motifs joined together:

I'm currently working on the fourth motif. It should be at least partially joined to the other three before I go to bed tonight. I'm going to going to keep working on this. I do need it finished is less than two weeks as I plan to visit my parents at the end of the month, and want it finished to give to my mom. It is part of her Mother's Day gift. Don't worry; she knows it's going to be late.

That's it for now. I'll post again soon. And I still plan on doing an orchid post too. Till next time.

Spinning Wheels Glass Mat, Part 2

I'm finally getting this posted. While I'm slowly getting used to my new work schedule, it's still throwing off my life. The main change is that I can't find the time for tatting and other creative stuff. I used to do that in the evening, relaxing after supper. Since I'm off during the mornings and early afternoons, there's other stuff that should be done. I can't really justify sitting around for several hours in the morning tatting, when I should be doing other stuff. At least until I get into the groove of things. Tatting while sitting outside before it gets hot out sound really nice though. Spring has also finally arrived here. Temperatures soared last week to the mid to high teens (Celsius, of course) and we're supposed to get into the low twenties next week. Nearly all the snow around here is gone. So, I've got gardening on the brain now too. I have house plants that need to be repotted; it's easier (and less messy) to do it outside. And too much other stuff to mention. I will get back into tatting regularly, I just don't know when. I finished the second Spinning Wheels mat earlier in the week, I just didn't have the time to post.

Instead of using a variegated thread, I used a solid colour. I think it tats up a bit faster in a solid colour since you can switch shuttles instead of shoe lace tricking when you are supposed to switch shuttles. I'm not sure about the colour choice, I think it was reflecting my mood a bit.

This was tatted using Lizbeth size 20 thread in colour #606 Charcoal. As always, the pattern can be found in Mary Konior's book Tatting With Visual Patterns. For those interested in getting the pattern, you will need to get a hold of a copy of the book. I think I might tat another one, in purple. Then I have something I can give my mom for Mother's Day.

I'll try and post again soon. I may do an orchid post as I have acquired several new ones since February, and a couple new ones from last year are flowering for the first time (for me, anyway). So even if I don't have any tatting to share, I should be able to post again. Till next time.

Spinning Wheels Glass Mat, Part 1

This took longer than I expected, but better late than never. I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was getting some weird shifts at work. I think I'm on week three of these shifts, and they are screwing me up. And then, I had today off which I planned to spend tatting, International Tatting Day and all, but instead spent the morning troubleshooting my computer. I traced the problem to the video card. Fortunately I still had my old one, but it didn't like Windows 7's fancy desktop environment, Aero, I believe. Disabled that, and so far so good. However, now it looks ugly and is sluggish. So I'll have to pick up a new video card. Anyway, I should get to the tatting.

As I said before I was going to tat one or more of Mary Konior's Spinning Wheels Glass Mats. I finished one a few days ago and started another one. Here is the completed one:

This was tatted using Lizbeth size 20 thread in colour #167 Jungle Greens. I can see why Diane likes tatting this. The stitch count is easy to remember, and once you make one repeat it was easy to remember where all the joins are. I did mess up once, er, twice at the beginning. One error is still visible, but it still works. I'm working on another one. This time in a solid colour. I'll share it as soon as I finish it. I hope to get a fair bit of tatting done tonight.

I'm still working on the Betta patterns. I just haven't felt like working on it. One of these days I'll get them finished. Anyway till next time. And

Happy International Tatting Day!!

Tatting Break

Wow! Has it really been nearly a month since I last posted? Sorry. I haven't really felt like tatting lately. I think I overdid it a bit trying to get my Male Betta pattern finished I burned myself. I did get the Female Betta tested, and apart from a few minor errors, the testers had no problems with it. I did manage to tat a couple of Betta bodies, but I just haven't felt like tatting the fins. I don't want to post the pattern without a final testing by me-especially if I plan to sell the pattern. I will get it done, don't worry. It just may take another couple weeks. I doubt I'll get much done on it this coming week, my work schedule is terrible. I hope it doesn't stay that way either. I did manage to get a little bit of tatting done since my last post. I did a couple of Mary Konior's motifs which I'll share today. I have done a bit of chainmaille lately too.

I mentioned it on Facebook that I got a septum piercing about three weeks ago. I posted a photo on Facebook, so I won't post it here. You can go there if you want to see. Before anyone asks, I got it because I have always wanted to get one. My parents saw it a few days ago and took it surprisingly well.

The first motif I tatted was Mary Konior's Chain Reaction edging. I have to admit, I like the way it looks, but I didn't really like tatting it.

As you can see, it is all chains. I don't know if I was supposed to or not, but I found I had to constantly SLT after most of the chains. I found I couldn't memorize the pattern as I often do either. I'm not sure why, it could just be part of my burnout. Like I said, I do like the pattern, just not tatting it. The pattern is from Mary's Tatting With Visual Patterns book. I should point out, I think the books is out of print now. The online tatting stores are now selling the book for $60. If you haven't bought it yet, you might want to before it's too late. Oh, I used Lizbeth 20 thread in colour #149, Peacock Blues.

The second motif that I tatted is also Mary Konior's, also from Tatting with Visual Patterns.

This is Dress Trim. I really enjoyed tatting this motif. It was fairly quick to tat too. I also used Lizbeth 20 colour #149, Peacock Blues to tat this motif. Nothing really to say about the motif. I might tat it again. I could make a doily or something using a solid coloured thread. Since I wrote this post this afternoon, I'm hoping I'll get to some tatting this evening. Perhaps I'll try to work some Windmills motifs for the large doily I'm working on. I've been wanting to tat a Spinning Wheels mat too. I haven't done one for a while. We'll see.

I think that's about it for now. I'll try to get back into posting a bit more often, though we'll see how that goes. I'm sure many of you are aware that Jane had more Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles in her shop on Thursday. Sadly, there will be no new shuttles for me this time. I, uh, forgot about it until later that evening. I did buy a couple of Hooks with Hats as well as a Bobbin Holder. Maybe I'll get a new shuttle from the next batch. Till next time.