Happy Hallowe'en!

I hope everyone has had a Happy Hallowe'en. I had to work today, but I did get dressed up.

Arrrrrr mateys! Technically I was a generic pirate, but most people assumed I was Captain Jack Sparrows from the Pirates of the Caribbean, so I went with it. I've been meaning to post, but life (and work!) keeps getting in the way. I do plan to post on Saturday, as I know I won't be working. So I'll share what little tatting I've gotten done, and my new books, and even the HDT I bought from Jess. It's been snowing a bit here, not much and I'm hoping it melts away for a while. With it being cooler out, I actually feel inspired to start tatting snowflakes. I think this year I'm going to go through all my HDT and use up the "snowflake coloured" ones.

Till next time. Happy Hallowe'en all ye land lubbers!



PS: For anyone interested, I will be offering free shipping in my Etsy shop starting over the next few days. The coupon code on the right side bar still applies. I've also made some, um, price changes.

Quick Post

Sorry, again for the delay in posting. I got hit with the flu again this week, so I haven't gotten to posting (or tatting for that matter) lately. I have a tatted snowflake and a motif that I want to show you but, I can't find them at the moment, so they will have to wait for a few more days. I have more orchid photos to share-I couldn't help myself and bought three more last week. I do hope to have a full post by the end of the weekend.

Before I forget, I finally joined Facebook. I really didn't want to, but had to as I was informed that a user there was using some of my (and other people's) photos from Etsy, and other sites and claiming them as her own. So I had to get mine removed. So I am on Facebook. Feel free to friend me if you want; I will eventually start finding some of you and Friending you. I don't know how active I'll be, but I'll try. I just have to figure out how it all works. Till next time.

TIAS 2012 Continues

Sorry for the delay. I've been meaning to post more regularly lately, but that hasn't happened, obviously. While I'm not complaining, I've have quite a few sales lately. A couple have been custom orders from the same repeat customer, many have been from new customers. While I have been hoping some of the newer items would sell, it is nice to see the sales. Anyway, besides the TIAS (and some tatting I can't tell you about), I haven't done much tatting lately. Hopefully I will get some tatting done this weekend. Apart from a little shopping tomorrow, I don't plan on doing much tomorrow. Tomorrow is my 29th birthday. It occurred to me today that this will be my last year in my 20's, which kinda scares me for reasons I'm not going to go into here. Anyway, I'll move on to my progress on the TIAS 2012.

Here are days, 4, 5, and 6 in (hopefully) the order they were made:

I've got nothing really to say about this. I still haven't the faintest idea what this will be. I don't know if anyone has correctly guessed what we are making yet, but Jane is certainly keeping us guessing. This is great!

That's it for now. I should mention that this is my 200th post. I know many of you have probably post more than that in a year, it's pretty good for me. I had hoped to have a more substantial post, but I'll make up for it soon. I put Linda's Double Fuschia together several days ago and told her I'll post about it. I've also got some orchid photos to share. Seven of my Phalaenopsis orchids are producing flower spikes. Two of which have open flowers on them, the Mutant being one of them. Till next time.

Posting for the Sake of It

I have nothing really to post about. I feel that I should, but that's it. As I said in my last post, I went away last weekend for a few days. It was nice to get away and not to think about work and stuff.  However, I really haven't done much since I left (and subsequently returned). I do plan on tatting, but all I've accomplished was to pick out a pattern or two that I want to start. I still have many UFO's and WIPs/WISPs that need to be finished. I did manage to make a couple new pairs of chainmaille earrings, and planned on photographing them this afternoon after work. However, I was asked to stay longer, and I agreed, so I missed the optimum time for photographing. I do all my photos outside. I should probably look into other options. My hoodie is still on hold, however, I'm going to have to get it finished as it is getting a bit cool in the mornings and I'll want to wear it. We may even get frost within the next day or two. Hopefully not, as I don't want to deal with the potted outdoor plants yet. I did bring in two "houseplants" that I had outside- a King Sago and my Ginkgo tree.

Thanks for the comments on the last posts. I'm glad you guys like the bookmark in black. Actually, I really like the way tatting looks in black, but I find it a pain to tat with black thread. Miranda, my split chains are far from great, but thanks for the compliment. And thanks to Marla for the comment about my orchid. Apparently this offsetting behaviour comes from the Doritis parent, so it may be considered normal. I may leave the baby on the parent plant for now. It's kind of incredible that we're almost two weeks into September already. Hopefully I'll get a lot done over the next few weeks. I would like to get some tatting done to show you. I kinda feel bad when I don't have any new motifs to show you. I don't like simply not posting either. We'll see what happens and I'll try and post again soon. Till next time.

International Tatting Day

Happy International Tatting Day!!!!!!

I hope everyone out there managed to get some tatting done today. And had some chocolate while doing their tatting. I've done some tatting today, but not very much. Same with the chocolate.

I am not quite done with my current tatting project to show you yet. However, due to a scheduling error at work (my fault, I didn't get my time off request in early enough) I will be spending the weekend in the city. I plan on tatting all weekend, after work. I do have three days off next week, towards the end, and plan on going away during that time. I hope to have a number of things to show you all either Sunday or Monday.

I will be going back to get a bit more tatting done before bed. Till next time.

Crocheted Socks Complete ..... Hiatus Over! Plus Some Tatting

I finally finished the socks this weekend. I'm actually quite pleased with how they turned out.

Well, almost. I really don't like the crocheted ribbing that is used in the pattern. What I'm thinking I might do the next time (there WILL be a next time; I still have three more balls of this sock yarn, not all in blue, however) is to knit the ribbing and then crochet the rest. That's not a lot of knitting, so I think I can manage it. I'll provide an update if/when I decide to try this. You can also see what is left of the ball of yarn I was using. The pattern said I'd need a second ball to complete a pair of socks in the size I was making. I am also announcing that my hiatus from tatting is now over. I have a number of things that I want to tat, and I can't wait any longer.

I wanted to make something for Easter this year. I picked out a few motifs to make and have begun tatting them. Here is the first one, tatted in two different colourways:

These are Motif 2 from Festive Snowflakes & Ornaments For Needle and Shuttle Tatters edited by Barbara Foster. I'm not sure why, but I expected more from this book. Don't get me wrong, there are several pretty motifs in the book, as seen on the cover:

I don't know for sure, but it seems to me that many of the patterns were written for needle tatter with modifications in brackets for shuttle tatters. And no, I'm not picking on needle tatters. Some really amazing work is coming from the needles of needle tatters. And in all honesty, if I had heard of needle tatting when I was learning to shuttle tat, I may have gone the needle tatting route first. I'm just saying that the book is a bit biased. But since Ms. Foster and Handy Hands promote needle tatting, I'm not surprised. What does this have to do with the above motifs? Each pattern in the book has a specified technique to use, ie: needle and thread, shuttle and ball, etc. A shuttle and ball was recommended for this pattern (the needle tatting technique is irrelevant here). There are twelve (12!) SLTs (shoe lace tricks) used in the motif. Two shuttles would have worked better, and the results would look better too. I want to make at least one more motif from this book, so my opinion might change about the book. I also need at least three more of the above motifs as well. Thread stats: Lizbeth size 20 thread in colour #105 (on the left) and #122 (on the left).

You may be wondering what I need these motifs for. It's a secret. I'll show you on Thursday. As a side note, I have ordered a few ounces of sterling silver rings and will offer a few pieces of jewelry in this metal. I have also ordered some rings suitable for making a chainmaille bag. I think it would make a cool tatting bag, if only for myself. I'm pretty sure they would need to be lined, and I don't know how long it would take to make one. So, I may not be able to offer them for sale, but we'll see.

That's all for now. I'll see you Thursday. Till next time.

All Systems Go! Plus a Little Tatting

Well, the new motherboard, processor, and memory arrived safely yesterday. After letting them warm up for a while (man, I really hate winter!), I tested, then installed them into my case. After a bit of tweaking, and a few setting changes, my system is up and running. As I expected, the upgrade caused Windows to lose Activation. Since the motherboard contains a large portion of a computers devices, Windows thought it was in a new computer. A quick call fixed the problem. As for an increase in performance, it does seem a little faster (which is expected), however I don't know if having a multi-core processor will make a difference. Though time will tell; I will have to check into some of my installed programs to see if they can take advantage of the dual cores.

Now, I feel kinda bad about not posting anything tatting related last week. I know it was beyond my control, but still. Since I am a fan of Doctor Who, I had to give Anne's TARDIS bookmark a go.

I found it very enjoyable to tat; probably since it is almost entirely rings and split rings. As you may know, I'm working on a doily using a Mary Konior motif that is almost entirely chains. I really like this pattern, though I have a small issue with it. It's size. Done is size 20 thread, my bookmark came out to be a little under 3 inches long and 1 1/4 inches wide. It would be easy to lengthen it by repeating a couple of the rows, but that will ruin the proportions. A tassel or fringe could work, but it may not look right. I had also thought of joining two at the base, kinda like a mirror image. But again it might not look right. Anyway, it's a lovely pattern, and I plan on tatting it again. Thread stats: Lizbeth size 20 in colour #656 Dark Wedgewood. This will be motif #17 of my Third 25 Motif Challenge.

That's all for now. I plan on posting again towards the end of the week, but I figured I'd give y'all a quick update. Till next time.

New Chainmaille Project, and it Has Tatting

If you've been to my shop recently you may have seen what I am talking about. I am talking about my Byzantine Scissor Fobs:


I did a fairly exhaustive search of Etsy, and couldn't find anything like this, so I am confident that I am the first person (on Etsy, anyway) to have come up with this idea. The scissor fobs are actually a scaled back version of another idea of mine. My initial idea was a chainmaille Chatelaine, but I scraped that idea since I was unsure of how practical it would be. And plus, I have no need for one. Anyway, the above scissor fobs are made of aluminum and anodized (coloured) aluminum. The byzantine section is about 3.5 inches long with about 2 inches of plain chain to facilitate attachment to the scissors.

Now, many of you may be wondering where the tatting comes in, well, you see the large split ring on the end of the fob? You can use that to attach beads, trinkets, etc. to it. That includes tatting:

See? This is one of Marilee's Carnival Earrings added to my prototype scissor fob. Isn't it pretty? Assuming they sell well, I hope to add other chainmaille weaves to my scissor fob line.

That's all for now. My next post should be completely tatting related. Later

No Tatting Post This Week

Well, at least not for the next several days. Due to a death in the family, I will be away until Wednesday sometime. My paternal Grandmother lost her battle to cancer on Friday. I may try to do some tatting while I am away. Grandma would have wanted me too; she was very supportive of my tatting, and proudly shared this fact to her friends.

Later.