Nothing New, Just Some Updates

I haven't done much, so I don't have anything new. I did get another order last week, so I worked on remaking the sold item. But other than that I haven't done much else. I did finish crocheting the hood on my hoodie. I still need to do the ribbing, and, uh, I have to sew on the pocket. I forgot about it until I posted the photo. I also forgot that the the hood has ribbing on it as well, so I definitely don't have enough yarn to finish it using the same yarn. I stopped at Michaels last week to buy some dark grey cotton/acrylic blend yarn. Big surprise I didn't find much. Actually, I didn't find any. Instead I found some 100 % cotton yarn in black (called Ebony) in the Loops and Threads brand (I believe its a Michaels brand/exclusive) and some grey yarn in a bamboo/wool blend from Stitch Nation. Here's some photos:

I really don't know which one looks better. I was hoping for a darker grey (or lighter black!). I really think the black may be too dark, but the grey may be too light. I do prefer the grey, but that may be because I want to use a bamboo yarn for something, though now that Michaels has this line of yarn I may be able to find another project to satisfy that need. Let me know what you know what you think. I may have to go on another quest for the prefect grey cotton/acrylic blend yarn.

I mentioned in the last post that I had purchased an LED light system for my aquarium. Well, it looks great and produces a fair amount of light. As I said, time will tell if the plants appreciate it. One cool feature of the unit is that it has "Moon Lights". These are blue LEDs that mimic the light of the moon. Makes the tank look pretty cool:

You can't see the fish (I can't anyway) but it still looks kinda cool. Moon lights aren't really for freshwater aquariums, they're more for reef setups, so I won't be using them much. But I had to try them out at least once.

I had a request for an update on my five new Nepenthes (tropical pitcher plants) plants. Here is a (fairly) recent photo of them:

Four out of five are doing pretty well. The fifth, the one on the front right, isn't doing so hot. Fortunately, it was also the least expensive of the five (well, if you don't count the one provided as a free gift; it's right behind the dying one). I'm not really that disappointed. It's a fairly common plant so I should be able to replace it easily. I have been opening the cover regularly to let some fresh air in. I'll try and remember to provide another update in a month or two.

Finally, here's an update for another plant that I haven't mentioned for a while. It it, my Tillandsia, or Air Plant:

It (they?) has/have grown since you've seen it last. And, if you look in the second photo, there's going to be another plant in the near photo. I'm surprised on how well it's doing. Since my first one died after flowering, I assumed this one will too. Though the first one did spend a summer, a Canadian summer, in near full sun all day and not watered nearly enough. That is probably why it died. My understanding is that some, if not all, Tillandsias will form clumps or clusters. I think it will be quite spectacular once it gets really large as there may be numerous plants in flower at any given time, or perhaps the whole plant at once. I will try to provide updates on this plant too, but since it grows rather slowly, it won't be very often.

I think that will be all tonight. I do have more plant photos ( I really want to show you what one of my Phalaenopsis orchids is doing) but they will have to wait for another day. I bought a bunch of new findings recently as my main supplier got over a hundred new items. Two of the findings I bought include some hair clips and some solid stainless steel toggle clasps. I will have to get some photos with the toggle clasps and play around with the hair clips so look for that. I have been working on some tatting, so hopefully I will have some tatting to show soon. Till next time. Goodnight!

Trendy Teardrops and a Plant Update

Well, here it is, over a week since my last post and don't have much to show for it. Craft-wise anyway. I have done some tatting; will get to it soon. I did a little chainmaille, but not much. I am offering free shipping in my shop, but from the looks of it, that may be useless right now. Apparently, Canada Post may go on strike Thursday, just before midnight. I may put my shop in vacation mode if there is a strike (just in case), but we'll have to see. I am, however concerned about a shipment of plants I have en route as we speak. The guy shipping them to me has been watching the Canada Post situation closely (as have I) and they should arrive before the deadline, but I'm still concerned.

As I mentioned, I did do some tatting this past week. I think I mentioned working on them in my last post. And here they are:

These are Yarnplayer's Trendy Teardrop earrings. I only made the earrings since I didn't have any matching size 10 thread to make a pendant. It's an interesting pattern (available in Yarnplayer's Etsy shop) that uses a new technique. Well, new to me anyway. That technique would be the Catherine Wheel Join. I tried the CWJ in a "practice" piece-so named a "practice" piece because I broke the thread during the outer round and didn't feel like reattaching the thread (didn't like the colour I used anyway). I decided, however, to not use the CWJ in the above earrings, I found it too, um, time consuming. It took me several minutes per join to do. I opted instead to do a Slope and Roll join. Much faster, albeit not as nice looking. I'll try the Catherine Wheel join again. Thread stats: for these earrings I used Krystledawne's Vineyard at Dusk HDT in size 20 with Amethyst beads. I really love this colourway! As I've mentioned before, I'm not fond of pinks and purples, but this thread is different. The purple is there, but it's not really noticeable (to me, anyway). I do regret only buying one skein. Although, she does have more in her shop........but, I think I'll wait until I know what Canada Post is doing.

Finally, I thought I do a plant update. I posted a photo of my (at the time) one and only Tropical Pitcher plant (Nepenthes x Ventrata). Here is a fairly recent photo of the plant:

Well, one of it's pitchers anyway. I wanted to show how much bigger the pitchers are now. If you look at the photo I posted earlier (located here), you'll see that the one pictured was only about 1 cm long (probably about 1.5 cm when opened). Well, the pitcher above is about 3.5 inches long. And I'm hoping they'll get even bigger. I've started feeding it ants that I found around the house (hey, they're entering the house at their own risk!). I've added a few more pitcher plants to my collection:

I'm really glad I finally found the high plastic dome for growing trays. I've had a heck of a time finding them. I could mail order one, but it just seemed like the wrong type of thing to mail order. These ones (I bought a couple of them) are better than the ones I've seen in the seed catalogs, as they have two air vents on top that can be opened to let in fresh air, and reduce the humidity (although most Nepenthes like high humidity). I'm hoping they don't outgrow the dome too fast, but I'll adapt as they grow.

That's about it for now. I started another Windmills motif, in the size 10 Cebelia. Since I do like making the motifs (I just get sick of making them after awhile), I thought it might get me in the mood to do some serious tatting. We'll see. Till next time.

Handy Hands Purchases, Tatted Chainmaille, and a Pretty Picture

It must be the warming weather, but I haven't felt like posting lately. In case you are wondering, my thumb has healed up nicely, and I'm able to tat again! I haven't done much tatting though, but I did manage a little.

First, I mentioned that I decided to order some Lizbeth thread from Handy Hands Tatting. I received it about a week ago. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I haven't tried it yet, but I will soon.

Here is a group shot of my purchases. As you can see I bought numerous balls of Lizbeth thread, as well as a ball of Omega thread (I love that colour!). There's also a "no point" Sew Mate shuttle, some replacement bobbins for Aero type shuttles (can't have enough of them!), a new (to me anyway) tatting book, and a round cotton doily. I bought the doily because I would like to attempt the full Spinning Wheel doily from Tatting with Visual Patterns; it requires a circle of fabric in the centre, and I am not skilled enough in the sewing department to make one myself.

The book that I bought can't be seen very well in the above picture. Here is a photo of the cover:

As you can see, the title of the book is "To Boldly Go Where No Shuttle Has Gone Before or Tatting Definitely Not For Beginners" by Anne Dyer. Despite the fact that the book was published in 1993, I hadn't heard of this book before. A quick Google searched provided only one relevant tatting link, located here. The rest are mainly Star Trek related. The book is full of very interesting tatting techniques including Square Rings (I have to try these!), and a variety of unusual chains. I'll show some samples of tatting that I make from this book once I find the time.

As you may remember, my last post was about my new interest, chainmaille. Well, Connie of I Tat Too mentioned that one of the classes held at the Palmetto Tat Days 2008 was about tatted chainmaille. I have the CD from Tat Days 2008 and I completely forgot about this. I had to give it a try:

This is a tatted Byzantine chain (actually, it's a Byzantine unit). Its a pretty cool technique, however I found it rather slow to make. Actually, the tatting was fast, but the threads have to be knotted and glued after each ring is tatted. I managed to tat six rings, then knot and glue all six to save some time. I'm not sure I would want to make a full size bracelet using this technique, but I think in smaller thread, a pair of earrings would be quite nice. The pattern calls for size 8 pearl cotton. I used Flora size 20 thread for my sample. You'll probably see this form of chainmaille again, as well some standard chainmaille designs.

Finally, I promised a pretty picture.

I think it is pretty anyway. This is a immature pitcher on my Tropical Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes x ventrata). I bought the plant about a year ago, and it finally decided to produce pitchers for me (well, for itself actually). The pitcher in the above photo is about a centimeter in length (perhaps a bit bigger, since this photo is a few weeks old). Perhaps once the pitchers are full size, I be able to create a tatted version. We'll see; I don't know how many tatters out there would want a tatted pitcher plant. I'll provide an update if anything comes to fruition with this idea. Till next time.



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