I'm Here, Honest!

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I haven't done much tatting since my last post. I've been pretty busy at work, and I seem to have "Designer's Block" with regards to the two other fish patterns I am trying to work on. I figured I should work on the Dwarf Gourami first since it needed modifications to the body in order to work. I'm not happy with the result, and then haven't felt like working on it. I think I'll work on the Female Betta on my next day off, which should be Wednesday. I should try to tat another Betta body so I'm ready then. My Male Betta has been tested by a few other tatters now; I'm waiting for Jane to go over it again. I think what I may do is offer the Male and Female Bettas together in one pattern since they share the same body style. We'll see what happens with the Gourami. I don't have any photos to share right now. I got my iPad last Monday; it's awesome! I took a few photos and copied them onto my computer, but that's as far as I got.  Hopefully I'll have something to share next time.

Oh! I do have a photo to share. It's my two Dwarf Gouramis; Bob on the left, and Joe on the right.

Well, till next time.

I'm Still Here!

Sorry. I guess I didn't get around to posting yet. I had a great Christmas, and New Year. The world didn't end, big surprise there. Nothing really new has happened since my last major post. As I think I mention every year, I didn't make any resolutions for this year. I do have a few things I'd like to accomplish, but if I don't, it's no big deal. The main one (and I'm sure I said it last year!) is that I really want to get a few of my tatting designs written up and diagrammed and released. Two of which I'd like to offer for sale, but we'll see; I'll probably do a separate post about them later on. I have a little tatting to share, so I'll get to that.

I, unfortunately, didn't get much tatting done while away for Christmas. I almost finished the third gecko for my shirt. I say almost 'cause I broke one thread while tying off, so I will have to redo the final chain. Shouldn't take long, I just need to do it. The one other thing I did tat was another one of Yarnplayer's Marian snowflakes.

This one came about due to a request from a commenter. Yes! I do requests if I have time/it's not too difficult. This snowflake was tatted using Lizbeth size 20 thread in colour #116 Christmas Delight. I don't think it looks too bad. I think it works.

As I said at the beginning, I haven't done much tatting, or any other art/craft thing. I did crochet a new pair of slippers while away, but that was easy and only took an hour or so. I am, however working with my aquarium a lot lately. I decided to upgrade my tank recently, and bought a larger one. I was able to get it set up for the most part yesterday. I will have to buy more plants as I don't have enough. And while I can reuse much of my equipment, I did order a new filter, which got back ordered. I have to make due with the one I currently have plus the one that came with the tank till the new one gets here. I will probably have to upgrade the carbon dioxide fertilization system as well as I don't think the one I have now is sufficient. I'll try to post a photo once I am happy with it. That's it for now. I will try to resume what I was doing before Christmas and post less, more often. We'll see if I succeed. Till next time.

More Black Magic and an Unexpected Flower

Not one of my most creative titles, but it gets the job done. Nothing spectacular to report since my last post. If you haven't heard (and if you don't live in Canada, you probably haven't), Canada Post is currently on full strike/lockout since last Tuesday. No mail is moving within the country. And nothing is leaving or entering the country either. It really sucks, to put it bluntly. I'm getting mail envy watching some of you show off  what you've received in the mail. Not only do I have a couple packages sitting in some warehouse or something, the order I mentioned last time is also sitting in some warehouse too. I also have an order I can't ship right now, though I might stop at UPS or FedEx tommorow to see what they can do for me (though I'm not hopeful that they will be affordable-I tried their websites and wasn't impressed). I have still been tatting, so we'll move on to that.

As the title suggests, I am continuing with Mary Konior's Black Magic pattern. Again in the form of a bookmark:

I figured I'd try this with different thread types. Since I used solids the last time, I thought I'd try a variegated thread this time. I didn't really like it at first, but it has grown on me by the time it was finished. I do hope one of you like it. That brings me to why I am making them. I am planning on a giveaway, though I'm going to wait until the whole Canada Post thing is resolved before I announce anything. So stay tuned. Thread stats: Lizbeth size 40, Colour #100 Falling Leaves. The next bookmark is going to be tatted using two solids, or maybe a solid and a variegated thread. Well see.

Finally, I thought I show you an unexpected flower that has made an appearance. In my aquarium:

This flower is from one of my Anubias plants; I'm not sure which one. I have had an Anubias flower before (see here), but it is pretty rare though, for me anyway. I am quite pleased though, as it might mean that conditions in the aquarium are better than I think they are (I really need to do some work in the tank, cleaning, etc.). Of course it could mean that the plant is planning on dying and the flower is a last ditch attempt at survival. But we'll pretend that that can't happen, OK?

That's about it for now. I plan on working on the last Black Magic bookmark, hopefully work won't get in the way this week. We had one guy quit in my department last week, and I've been working extra to help pick up the slack. I'm not complaining; it is extra cash in my pocket which will be helpful once Canada Post is running again. Till next time.

Gifts From The Tatting Goddess

I have finally photographed / scanned the things I received from Gina AKA The Tatting Goddess. I know what you're thinking (again). I finally found the time to do it. Anyway, here is a group shot of most of what I received.

As you can see, I got a nice selection of really cool things. Not pictured are some patterns Gina sent along. The patterns were of the fish she tatted for me, the bookmark, and the rickrack and tatting motifs she featured on her blog and on The Online Tatting Class website.

As you can see, Gina tatted me some fish. The patterns were created by Christel Weidmann and are really realistic. I tried to scan them, but every time I ended up with something red in the scan:

As it turns out, it was Big Red checking out his new fishy friends. I guess he really likes them. I think they are great. Gina sent the fish in a small photo album to keep them safe. Big Red moved in with them.

Gina sent some thread samples for me to try. A few of them I have tried, most are new to me.

I think it should be possible to see the names and sizes of the thread from the photo. I'm going to enjoy trying these. Gina also sent a package of rickrack for me to try the rickrack and tatting motifs.

You may have noticed the Harry Potter tin in the first photo. That is full of treasures. I'll show you:


In the tin was some really good mints (the container is good for storing a shuttle or two), some buttons, a little marker, some more bangles (again, something I have wanted), a little retractable crochet hook that can clip onto a shirt or what have you, some lip balm in a really neat little container, and a little leather and suede treasure pouch kit. I put together the pouch kit the day I got the package.

As you can see in the first photo, the little black box contains a blue painted shuttle.

Gina painted some of the blue on the shuttle, but Snoopy is a decal. It doesn't matter, it is still very pretty. Not sure if I will use it; it's too nice to.

Finally, I get to the bookmark Gina made me.

The bookmark is similar to one Gina got in an exchange. It is based off of an edging pattern. It is really cool. I'm going to have to try this one as well. Gina sent me a Workbasket magazine as well, but I won't scan it. It is my first one. Now I know why everyone who has them likes them so much.

Hopefully I got everything scanned or photographed. Thank you again Gina! I never expected to be a winner in your drawing.

That's it for tonight. Tomorrow, I have one more post to do. This is probably going to be a record for me - posting three days in a row. Later.
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Now playing: Corb Lund - I Wanna Be In the Cavalry
via FoxyTunes

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.

Motif #14

Here is my motif #14:

OK, just kidding. Actually it was supposed to be Linda S Davies' Bird of Paradise flower, but I forgot to take a picture. It was a gift for my Grandmother, and I almost forgot to give it to her. Not sure how that happened, or almost happened. So, I will make it again (it actually was pretty simple after I reworked one of the petal types to be tatted continuous) and show a picture of it (and count it as one of my motifs).

Here is my real motif #14:

This is Linda S Davies' Arum Lily. I am pretty sure that an Arum lily is also called a Calla Lily. Either way, it is a really nice pattern. And it can be done continuously with a couple simple changes to the pattern. I used DMC Cordonnet in size 20 for the white and DMC Pearl 5 in colour number 988 for the leaf.

I also thought I would share the following flower picture:

The plant in question is called Anubias barteri var. nana. It is commonly grown in aquariums, hence the Neon Tetra in the foreground. This is the first time this type of plant has flowered for me. And this is the second time I have had an aquatic plant flower for me. The other one has flowered about five times now, but I can't let it 'cause the plant will die back if pollination is successful. The flower is less than one inch in length (the neon is a little over an inch in length).

And lastly, I finally received my copy of Mary Konior's book "Tatting with Visual Patterns". I say finally as I ordered the book at the end of January. I don't have my mail lost very often, but this book just had to be the one package that managed to get lost. Fortunately, Snowgoose, was kind enough to replace the book. This is one book that I have been wanting for years. And I am not disappointed. This book seems to have a little bit of everything in it; it even has a couple 3D flowers! I have several patterns already picked out, but I have a couple almost done pieces to complete. I also want to continue working on my Tatting and Teneriffe Lace Hexagon design I posted a preview of in an earlier post. I also cannot forget Laura's snowflake that she posted last week.