Playing Catchup

I didn't mean to disappear again; it just kinda happened. I finished tatting a magic square for my mom. I also worked on some crochet for my mom as well. For the last few months, I have been working on a knitted cardigan for me. I'm working on the second sleeve, so it shouldn't take me too much longer to finish. Then I can get back to tatting for a while- I haven't tatted for a few months! Oh, and I updated my last post to include the author's name of the Korean tatting book. I received a comment on that post from someone who knew the author's name. Thanks Mary!

I made another Magic Square Triangles Variation by Robin Perfetti. This one was made for my mom.

This was tatted using Flora thread in colour #s 64 and 213, size 20. Man, do I miss Flora thread! It is such a nice thread to use. I don't know why Handy Hands replaced it with Lizbeth. One of the threads is variegated, the one I used for the chains. I'm not sure I totally like how it worked out, but I think my mom liked it which is what counts.

I also made a crocheted jewelry bowl for mom. I think it turned out quite well.

It is crocheted over a 1/4 inch thick rope using four strands of sock weight yarn. I used three strands of sport weight yarn, Omega Sinfonia, and it still worked out. The pattern is by goolgool and you can find her Etsy shop here. I really enjoyed making it and will have to get the proper yarn to make another one, or two. The pattern is written a little weird but it was still pretty easy to follow.

As I said, I am currently working on a knitted cardigan for my self. I have to finish the second sleeve, which I hope to do either today or tomorrow. Then I have to sew the sleeves on, and knit the collar and front bands. A zipper sewed under the front bands should complete it. I'll post a photo when it's done. That's about it for now. Till next time.

Chinese Dragon and Some New Thread

So, in my last post, I hinted at tatting a Martha Ess design. Well, here it is:

This is her Chinese Dragon from her newish book Flights of Fancy. It was very easy to tat-only two split rings for those of you who don't like tatting them, and as I mentioned earlier, I started it on a Saturday afternoon and finished it Sunday afternoon. Of the same weekend! I surprised myself on how quickly I tatted it. It might have been a fluke, but it doesn't matter. I'll have to make another one soon. As you can see, I didn't hide the threads when I finished as I don't know what I will do with it. It (or maybe they?) could end up sewn onto a t-shirt or perhaps mounted and framed. We'll see. Thread stats: Lizbeth size 20 in #404 Twirlz Mermaid Lagoon. I don't know about you, but I think this thread works for this pattern.

Finally, I want to show you guys some new threads that I bought fairly recently. Most of them are new to me.

If you can't tell from the picture, the four large balls are Manuela, the small blue ball is Flora, the copper coloured one is DMC Diamant, and the metallic blue is Razzle Dazzle. All were bought, again recently, from DS9Designs. For those of you who don't shop at this online store, the owner, Debbie purchased the remaining inventory of Catchpin Lacemaking Supplies after it shut down. She is slowly listing thread, books, and shuttles that she has. I actually have another order coming with more Manuela and Flora, as well as a book. I can't quite remember but I think the Manuela is supposed to be a good thread to tat with. I haven't tried it yet but will soon. I know the Flora is awesome and I'm sure many of you who have tried it will agree. It's the thread that Lizbeth replaced. As for the two metallic threads, well, I like shiny threads, and shiny things in general. I'll share how well they tat when I try them.

That's it for now. I haven't tatted much since my last post. I did some crocheting-but that was just another pair of slippers which you've seen already. I did get an order through my Etsy shop last night (first one of the year!) which will be easy to make; I plan on finishing the custom bracelet before bed. I also sold a sterling silver bracelet in the same order which is awesome as I've discounted them pretty severely in order to get rid of them as that product line wasn't doing great. Just two more to go and a pair of earrings. Till next time.

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.

Double Fuschia, Almost

I'm back. Nothing really new, again. I did some tatting, and I've also been working on some chainmaille. The chainmaille was another custom piece which you may see on another blog soon, so I won't get into that today. Of course, my printer has decided that it needs new cartridges. That will have to be dealt with on Thursday (Payday!!!!!), so I hope (???) that this will be a slow sales weekend. I hate having to hand write everything. Weatherwise, it's colder, but it hasn't snowed significantly since my last post. It tried on Thursday, but it didn't really amount to much. It's supposed to snow this weekend, then again early next week so we will see.

Before I get to anything else, does anyone know what happened to Miranda's (Tatting Fool) blog? I'm getting a "that blog has been removed" error message. I hope everything is OK.

Alright, I'm going to get to my little bit of tatting that I have managed to tat this week (so far). Linda Davies was kind to post another 3D flower for all of us to enjoy. I enjoy her patterns and the realistic flowers that always result from them. I've got the basic parts of one flower tatted:

It'll look much better once it's assembled. Whenever that is. I'd love to get it assembled, but I can't find most of the supplies needed. I'm hoping to find them this weekend-I have the whole weekend off. If I can't find them, I'll have to buy more. The tatting was quick and easy, no really advanced techniques needed. Four SCMRs were needed for the calyx (the red thing), and I'm sure they could be replaced with rings thrown off chains if a second shuttle (or shoe lace trick) is used. I'll post a photo as soon as the fuchsia is completed. The red thread is Flora 20 #221 and the Purple is Lizbeth 20, #633. I'm hoping to start Jane's TIAS tonight. If I'm going to do it, I'm going to have to start soon. I know I can start whenever I want, but I find that once it becomes obvious what the thing you are tatting is, the thrill is lost. Maybe it's just me, but since I am very selective (usually) at what I tat, I may not actually want to tat the item. Makes sense? Hmm. For example, I don't usually tat hearts, so if it becomes apparent that the TIAS is turning into a heart, I may choose not to tat it. Since it's still early in the game, and I don't have any idea what Jane's up to, I still have a desire to tat the TIAS.

That's it for now. I don't really have any plans for this weekend. I may do some chainmaille. If it happens to be sunny I may try to rephotograph the pieces I mentioned last time. I do hope to get some tatting done, TIAS or not. Or both. Laundry perhaps. Housecleaning???? Till next time.

I'm Seeing Stars (But in a Good Way)

I spent another week not tatting as much as I wanted. While two of the custom requests through Etsy still haven't gone anywhere, I did get another one that I spent working on most of the week. I also finished the other custom request that I was waiting for colour choices. So the week wasn't a total loss. And I made a little cash that will go towards some tatting supplies. I have been wanting to order some of the new Lizbeth colours as well as some size 10 Lizbeth (still unsure of the colour-probably black, will have to spend a few minutes deciding). A book or two may be in my future as well. I have been wanting a few of Martha Ess' block tatting books; especially the new on that just came out.

I did manage a little bit of tatting this week. I was working on one of three little motifs that kinda happened while designing my Sine Wave Bookmark (if you haven't downloaded it yet, there is a link to the pattern in the top right sidebar). May I present the Star motif:


So, what do you think? Both stars were tatted with size 20 thread, Lizbeth in colour #113 Jewels on the left and Flora in colour #743 Yellow on the right. Each measures about 1 3/4 inches (about 4 cm, give or take a few mm) wide. I need to retat the star so I can write out the pattern. I will hopefully have the pattern available to download by my next post. I hope to have one of the other two motifs at least tatted, if not written up. I have both motifs diagrammed. I just need to tat them and figure out the stitch count. And to see if they actually can be tatted the way I envision.

That's all for now. I am hoping to make this a tatting week. I would also like to try another motif or two from Marilee's new book. Till next time.

New Bookmark Design, Continued

I've pretty much worked on nothing else but my new bookmark design since the last post. It does seem like it may be a new design, since no one has said otherwise. I have the pattern written out, but it will have to wait a little longer before I post it. I want to include a nice diagram as well; it can be confusing to work at times. And again, please let me know if you have seen something like this before.

Since my last post I worked on refining the pattern, taking some of the awesome suggestions that were made in the comments. Here are the results of three different refinements:
I personally like the one on the left, so I may make that one into a variation of the pattern. I don't like the other two, but it may be just me. Made using Lizbeth size 20 thread in #684.

I did try the option to "continue the wave" as suggested in the comments. Here is my first attempt:

As you can probably tell, I modified the right side a little after tatting the left. I like the right side better. The bookmark still pinches a bit at the ends, so I still need to correct that. Maybe. As you can see, I opted to make a "stubby" version of the bookmark with this attempt. I didn't want to waste more thread than necessary, and it was faster to tat. I also added a tassel (another excellent suggestion) to this one. I like the way it looks. Made using Lizbeth size 20 thread in #611.

Finally, I did a couple more refinements of the stitch counts of the ends. Here is the result of these modifications:
I'm not sure you can tell but the two chains on the right end are a couple stitches longer than those on the left side. I was experimenting. So what do you think? I like it this way but I want other opinions. Made using Flora 20 in #221. Oh, I know she hasn't mentioned it on her blog, but Martha took a stab at redesigning the ends of the bookmark as well. Her result was very similar to my own. I was impressed how we each came up with nearly the same modifications. I hope she doesn't mind that I mentioned this. Oh, before I forget, doesn't this stubby bookmark look like it could make a fantastic rectangular motif to make a doily or tablecloth? I may need to pursue that idea too.

That's it for now. With any luck, I will have the pattern available very soon. I'm still not sure exactly how I will share the pattern. I know many tatters have shared patterns on their blogs, but I don't know if that is how I will. I like the option of an easy to print PDF file, but I would need a place to host it. Any suggestions? Till next time.

Test Tatting for Linda, & The Return of The Naked Mermaid!!

Again, I haven't done much this past week. Besides the tatting I will show you soon, I did work on my crochet project. Until I ran out of yarn. I couldn't find the same yarn I used, but I did find a similar one from the same manufacturer. Both yarns don't have dye lots, so they match pretty well. I hope to have it done in the next few days. I hope to post again on Wednesday, since I will be going away Thursday after work, and will probably not be back until late Sunday. Onward to the tatting!

I will start with the test tatting. I'm sure many of you have seen Linda Davies' Iris that she has been working on. Well, I got to test tat it. Here are a few photos:


I forgot to take a picture of one of the petals. As you can see, I also began to put the flower together in the last photo. However, I only made one of each petal size (there are three), so I need to make the remaining petals and finish the flower. I'll try to get them done soon, maybe while I'm away. The pattern was pretty easy to tat, and that's one of the reasons I love Linda's designs. They get the job done without being over complicated. The pattern will be available in Linda's new book. I can't wait for the book to come out.

Finally, I made another naked mermaid (see pattern here, and more mermaids here). I won't keep you waiting. Here she is, in all her naked glory:

Well, maybe not. I guess I tatted a rather shy mermaid. She simply refused to have a nude photo of herself posted on the internet. I had hoped to cover her up with a couple of tatted shells. I'm sure I've seen a pattern or two somewhere, but I couldn't find them. So, I quickly drew up a pattern. I haven't tried tatting it yet. Instead of shells, I had to use a black bar on the photo. I am hoping to place here inside a coaster (that's why there are still ends present), at least as soon as I get another one. She has agreed to this. However, we still haven't come to an agreement on whether or not she will be nude inside the coaster. Thread stats: Fox should recognize the thread I used for the tail. It's some Cebelia size 20 thread I got from her in the Thread Exchange. The thread was nice to work with. Though I have used the size 30 size, which I like. I also used some Lizbeth size 20 in colour number 630 Peach. For the mermaids hair I used some Flora size 20 #205 (yellow). I did want to make the hair red, but I thought there might be a strong resemblance to a copyrighted Disney character, so I went with blond.

That's all for now. As I said I hope to post again on Wednesday, since I probably won't post until next Monday at the earliest. Till next time.

Snowflakes and Tatted Trees

I was kinda hoping to post a little earlier, but I guess I got a little busy. I have managed some tatting, which I will now show you. At least most of it. I have one piece that needs stiffening, and haven't done it yet. I will (hopefully) get pictures once it is finished.

The first tatted motif is a Jane Eborall original. It is, of course, Jane's Snowsettia,

This is a really cool pattern by our very own Jane Eborall. It isn't difficult, though there are a lot of split rings. And juggling four shuttles took some practice (and an extra arm or two would have been nice as well). I ended up placing the two unused shuttles in a small ziploc bag while tatting with the other two. I thought the colours I chose would look good, but the two "conjoined" snowflakes kinda blend together. I will be making this design again. I saw a really cool colour combo on another blog. This will be my 7th motif of my Third 25 Motif Challenge. Thread stats: I used Lizbeth size 20 in colour #116 (Christmas Delight) and DMC Cordonnet size 20 in white.

The next motif is one you should have seen on Pamela's blog. It is The Sixth Day of December from Lene Bjørn's book 24 Snowflakes in Tatting. I have had this book for a few years, but I have only made one snowflake from it. Like many others, Pamela has inspired me to try some of the patterns in the book. For this snowflake, I used Lizbeth size 20 in colour #656 Dark Wedgewood, one of the new colours of Lizbeth I recently bought. I love this colour! I bought it in both size 20 & 40. And its all mine! I'm not kidding. This is motif #8.

The last motif is another one that I'm quite certain you all have seen. It is Nancy Tracy's Tatted Tree:

I have made this pattern before, but I didn't get a decent photo of it. This is a really nice pattern to tat. It's not difficult, and easily deserves the beginner level Nancy has given it. I'm not sure you can tell, but I purposely made the picots somewhat uneven in length. Not dramatically, but enough that it should be noticeable. I thought the tree looks better with the picots uneven; its more realistic IMHO. For this motif, I used Flora size 20 thread in colour #230. This is motif #9 of my Third 25 Motif Challenge.

That's about all for now. I will be away from Dec. 23-26 for Christmas. I don't know if I will close my shop though. I think I will just put up an announcement on the front page. I will try to post again before I go. My parent don't have high speed yet. I hope to get a lot of tatting done, and I'll post about it when I get back. Till next time.

Test-Tatting For Linda, Part 2

Howdy. I finally got around to posting about the second flower that I test-tatted for Linda Davies. This time, the flower is a freesia. If you're not sure what a freesia is, here is a photo from Wikipedia:


As with the previous post, here are a few photos of the flowers in various stages of construction:


As always, Linda's sense of realism is impressive. She didn't make just one size of flower, but three plus an unopened bud. Many of Linda's patterns contain flowers of different sizes. When put together, the finished flowers look quite realistic. The finished freesia is no exception:

Here is the finished freesia flowers (posing with my young date palm seedlings). The individual flowers are quick to tat, and is simple enough for beginner tatters. While each flower is pretty on it's own, the beauty of the flower comes from the sum of its parts. Once put together, the freesia looks much more beautiful than the individual flowers and it looks far more complicated than it really is. The flowers were made with Flora size 20 thread in colour numbers 204 (yellow) and 221 (red). I am going to call this motif #2 of my Third(!) 25 Motif Challenge. The daffodils were number 1.

I'll leave you now with a pretty plant photo. It is a small variegated vine, and I have no idea what it is. If anyone knows, please let me know in the comments. Thanks. I should be able to post again early next week, since I have a new tatting book in my possession. Till next time.

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.

Here Be Dragons, er, Dragon (Overrun again...)

You would think that since Canada has such a cold climate during this time of year, dragons would shy away from us. I was wrong. Again I am being overrun by dragons (er, dragon). Here is my latest dragon visitor:

This is Karey Solomon's Dragonet from her book Here Be Dragons. Karey's dragons are really cool. The large quantity of beads can make them a pain in the butt to tat, but they are definitely worth it. Laura posted her attempt at the pattern, which inspired me to give the pattern a go. I purchased the book several months earlier. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I didn't have any problems with the pattern. OK, the head and the wings don't look quite right (to me anyway) because I think I made a join between the wrong beads. As you can tell, I made a slight variation to the head. I had a thread break and it was necessary to reattach the thread. It just so happened that the break was in the right spot. Partly because I didn't want to hide the ends, I left those two at the lower jaw to give a dragon a beard, thing. I found the pattern relatively quick to make. This is probably due to all the beads in the centre of the body. I did most of the dragonet in a single evening; finishing it the next day or so. Unfortunately, this is the only bit of tatting I have accomplished since my last post. Karey's Dragonet is motif #20 of my Second 25 Motif Challenge. I used Flora size 20 thread in colour #219.

Since I have reached #20 on my Second 25 Motif Challenge, I have decided to work on some UFOs for my final motifs. I am starting to get several piling up, and I want to get them finished.

This past Wednesday (January 28) was my Birthday. I decided I was going to take a trip to a local knitting and needlework store after work (yes, I had to work on my Birthday). The store is called Prairie Lily Knitting and Needlework Shop. For such a small store, there is a lot of stuff packed into it. While I didn't have a lot of time to spend their, I did find a few threads that are suitable for tatting. And here they are:


These are, of course, pearl cotton. The top two are Valdani Pearl Cotton, size 12. I love the colours that the Valdani threads are available in. The bottom three are DMC Pearl Cotton. The first two are different shades of blue, and the third is a minty green colour. The two balls of DMC blue cotton were a given; the other three just spoke to me. I'm not sure what I will make with them, but I will find the perfect project.

These are DMC Pearlescent Effects embroidery floss. I really like using floss for small projects since they are available in a wide range of colours, textures, and fibers. The picture makes it hard to tell but the one on the right is a minty green while the one on the left is white.

My final purchase is a thread that I haven't used before. And here it is:

As you can see in the photo, this is Wildflowers thread by Caron. I haven't used this thread before, though I know some tatters just love this thread. This thread was not calling out to me; it was shouting. Very loudly, I might add. In case you're wondering, the thread colour is called "Nefertiti" (#008).

That's about it for now. I'm hoping to get some tatting done over the next week or so, but I somehow doubt that will happen. I recently bought a new crochet pattern book, and have been drooling over many of the designs. But I will post about it separately. Until next time.

Motifs # 23 & 24, Just a Couple Bracelets

As the title says, my next two motifs, #23 and #24 are two bracelets for my mom. Here is the first one:

This bracelet was inspired by the bookmark I made earlier this year. The pattern is Interlocking Clovers from Mary Konior's book "Tatting Patterns". This has been my main tatting piece for the last four or five days. I made two pieces of lace, one in Flora 20, colour # 204 (yellow) for the inside of the bracelet, and three strands of DFN metallic silver embroidery floss for the outside of the bracelet. I added some gold silver-lined beads for some added sparkle. Of course, I thought the gold beads looked good when I was threading them on (using the method Yarnplayer demonstrated on her blog). After working on it, I realized that red would have looked better (kinda like rubies), though blue would have looked good too. I joined the silver layer to the yellow layer as it was being worked. Before joining the last short end, I inserted a 1 inch brass cuff bracelet (available from BeadFX, I'm sure it can be found elsewhere) then finished the last silver chain, and joining to the yellow layer. I kinda like it; I hope my mom will too. Oh, and please ignore the hairy wrist being used to model both bracelets. I'm going to be giving my mom both bracelets next weekend and if I don't photograph them now, I may forget.

The second bracelet is one I started a few months ago. I was unsure of how to finish the ends, so it was set aside.


This bracelet is called "Pearl Tatting Bracelet" and was designed by Birgit Phelps. For this bracelet, I used C-Lon beading cord in two shades of purple and three Swarovski crystal beads. The pattern was fairly simple to make, though the pearl tatting part was time consuming compared to regular tatting. The thread I used probably added some complications. For those of you unfamiliar with C-Lon thread, it is a heavy nylon thread used for beading mainly, but it does tat quite well. Finishing took a bit of time to get right. I know that nylon thread is often melted when finishing, but I wasn't happy with the results. So, this project has been an almost done UFO. I ordered a larger clasp from... do I need to say where? I tied the clasp onto the thread and secured the knot with Super Glue. This was the most common finishing method for nylon thread that I found. If anyone has any other suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Finally, I have decided not to participate in the latest tagging game. I just can't think of six unimportant things about me. I'm sure there will be more tagging later. Until next time.

Test Tatting, TIAS 3, and an Update on "It"

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been doing some test tatting for Linda Davies. Linda asked me nicely to show some of the completed pieces. Here are a few parts of her Gladiolus flower that will appear in her next book.


These are the large and medium petals that will produce, well, large and medium flowers once two sets of petals are made for each flower. You can't tell in the pictures, but I used the same shade of Flora 20 thread (# 225) for both sets of petals and the bud.

These next picture are the Gladiolus bud, large and small calyxes. Isn't Linda great? She thinks of everything when designing a new flower. I should note that I have reduced the image size to protect Linda's design. I'm sure everyone understands.

I am also following Jane's TIAS 3 that is currently running right now. This is my progress up to the end of Day 4.

I didn't scan my progress for Days 1-3. I probably won't scan after every day's progress, though it will depend on the number of parts the pattern is broken down in. At this point I haven't the faintest idea what TIAS 3 will become. And I'm not sure I want to know yet; it's so much fun not knowing what you're tatting.

I'm sure everyone remembers "It", from previous posts. If not here is a reminder:


Well, I spent this afternoon working on "It" and I'm proud to say he's not "It" anymore. I'd like to introduce everyone to "Red" (coming up with names isn't one of my strong skills):

I'm not completely happy with some of his fins, but at least he looks like what he is supposed to. Red is a male Betta (or Siamese Fighting Fish). I'm going to try blocking him to see if I can shape his fins better. I should also note that I forgot to add a bead for Red's eye when I was tatting him, so I added it in with Photoshop. Here's a picture of Red's big brother, Big Red (I told you naming isn't a strong skill of mine):

Big Red is the fish that I based Red on. Please ignore the plastic plants in the background. This picture was taken before I put live plants in the aquarium. Now, I know what you are thinking, when will the pattern be available? To be honest, I don't know. I'm not sure I can reproduce Red's fins. I have been thinking that maybe I will write up the pattern (and modify the diagram) for the body and have everybody free tat the fins like I did. What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments and suggestions. I going to count Red as my motif # 21 in the 25 Motif Challenge. That's all for now.