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.

Finally! Female Betta Completed

Well, I finally finished the Female Betta. It's not like it was that difficult, I just haven't had much time. I've been busy at work, and I haven't been feeling like tatting much when I get home or am off. I have been playing games on my iPad and reading books and magazines on it too, which has taken up a fair amount of my time. But anyway, I have finished tatting the Female Betta.

As I said above, it wasn't that difficult to create, as I used the same body as the male. The fins were much easier to make too. Especially the tail fin. Here's a photo of the Female:

See? The fins are smaller and less ornate than the male. The colours can vary like the males, though perhaps not as much. Here's a photo of both Male and Female Bettas together:

Don't they make a lovely couple? Now that the easy part is done. The easy part being the tatting, I am now working on writing up the pattern. I'm almost done, I just have the top fin to write out. I hope to have it finished by the weekend, maybe earlier. I should have enough test tatters from my call last time, if they're still interested. If needed, I'll ask for extra test tatters when I finish the pattern. The Male Betta is just about done. I need to tat it once more, then add some in-progress photos for clarity. A little bit of reformatting would be good too. I am getting tired of this project, so once the Female is done I'll probably combine both designs in one pattern for sale. I haven't done much other tatting, and I need to move on.

Finally, I'll show you my newest shuttles. I got these two Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles the last time Jane offered them for sale. Which is getting to be a while ago now.

The top shuttle is made out of Eucalyptus wood and the bottom one is made out of Sequoia wood. I love them both, though I love all my Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles. I guess while I'm writing here, I might as well share my newest tatting book too:

The book is in French, as you can probably tell. I'm not sure what it is with foreign language books and me lately. I do have some knowledge of French, so I can understand some of what is written. Not enough though, but I do find it easier to translate than my German and Japanese books. There's quite a few really cool looking designs and patterns. Hopefully I will try some of them soon.

That's about it for now. Hopefully I can get both patterns finished. And some other tatting done to share. Till next time.

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.

Refining a Design, Updated

I'm not off to a good start for blogging regularly this year, am I. I have been busy tatting though. I just don't have much to show right now. I don't have anything new to share, but rather something old that I have been tweaking. I have also been working on writing out the pattern for the design in question. The writing process brought on a few thoughts and questions that I will get to after I'm done sharing.

I'm sure some of you remember my Male Betta? Well, I finally managed to write out the pattern for it. While I was writing the pattern out, I managed to fix a few issues I had with the pattern. So, here is the final version:

For reference, here is the original version:

I think the new version looks much better. And, I actually like the looks of the variegated thread I used in this version too. It's Lizbeth #125 Seascape. It fits the design; go ahead, Google Male Betta and see for yourself. Check out the images. Now, the pattern has been tested by one other person (thanks Jane!!), but I should have one or two other people to test it as well. So, if you are willing to be a Guinea Pi.... er, test tatter, please comment on this post. The first two will get a chance to test the pattern. You would need to know how to make split rings, but everything else is fairly basic. I would expect a needle tatter could tat this too. The pattern will be sent out Friday or Saturday. If there are more than two people who want to test the pattern, do not worry. I have a plan!

While writing out the pattern, it occurred to me that I can modify the pattern to create other fish. That is what I am working on right now. I've got two other designs in the works. The two other designs are Female Betta, and Dwarf Gourami. I will need test tatters for these patterns too.  I am planning on selling the Male Betta pattern, and since the other designs are based off of the Male Betta, they'd be for sale too. I was thinking of offering all three patterns together, kinda as a book. Or pattern collection. Though, I don't know if that is what people would want. I could offer them for sale individually. Any thoughts? I don't have a price in mind yet, but it would be cheaper to offer all three (perhaps more?) patterns together.

Update: Between this post and Facebook, I've got enough test tatters. The first 2-3 will get to test the Male Betta. As I said above, I will send the pattern to the testers either tomorrow or Saturday. The other two patterns will be sent out as they are completed. That will hopefully be by next weekend. Don't worry if you don't here from me till then. Thanks!

That's about it for now. I'll try to post again this weekend. No promises. It's my birthday next Monday. That's also when the iPad I bought myself (for my Birthday) is supposed to arrive. I'll probably be busy playing with that for a while. I have a new tatting book coming tomorrow too. I've got a lot of tatting to do before the weekend is over. 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.

Merry Christmas!!!

Well, I obviously didn't get around to another post before Christmas. So, I guess I'll have to do an extra post when I get back. So I want to wish everyone a very

Merry Christmas!!!!

Hopefully this post works; I forgot to schedule it before I left so I'm writing it using my iPod Touch. Till next time.

Jeff

Yarnplayer's Marian Snowflake

Just a quick post; I was more productive tatting wise than I expected. I'll still probably do one more post before I leave.

I saw on Yarnplayer's blog that she had designed a new snowflake and had the pattern available in her shop. I just had to buy it. And it's actually a fairly quick tat. I made two Friday evening/Saturday morning.

Both snowflake used size 20 Lizbeth thread. The first one is in # 601 White and #116 Christmas Delight. The second snowflake used #163 Blue Ice. This is a quick and fun to tat pattern. My only problem is that my picots are a bit uneven. More obvious in the left one. I don't usually use gauges, but it probably would be a good idea for this pattern. I might give them away, I'm not sure yet.

That's it for now. I need to get ready for bed. Work tomorrow. Till next time.

Frivole's Snow Crystal Snowflakes

I think I mentioned in my previous post that I did some test tatting for Frivole. I've finally gotten around to posting about them. Not really much else going on here. It's been cold. It snowed once or twice since my last post. I've been working like a dog at work, and I absolutely hate working in a retail store at Christmas time. Which sucks, 'cause I like Christmas, but it gets to a point when I can't stand hearing the music anymore. But it'll be all over soon. Well, you know, unless the world ends, again. Then it'll be over sooner.

Anyway, here are the snowflakes that I test tatted for Frivole:

The snowflakes in the top row are Crystal 1 and the ones in the bottom row are Crystal 2. Unless Frivole changed the names since I test tatted them. These are all done in size 10 thread. I found the size 10 the easiest to practice her 1 stitch SCMR. Now that I can get the chains nice and pointy, I'm sure I could easily make the snowflake in size 20 or finer. The Crystal 2 snowflakes are a bit easier, but they do require the use of a picot gauge in order to make it look nice. That makes them a little slower to make, for me, anyway. They're both really nice patterns and are available in Frivole's shop. You get both patterns in one PDF file. The white snowflakes used Cebelia size 10 (which I hated using!) and the other two are Lizbeth 10, #149 Peacock Blues and #611 Gold. They are about 2 3/8 inches (6 cm) across.

That's it for now. I'll probably only manage one more post before Christmas. I'll leaving to go to my parents either next Friday or Saturday. If I can get a shift at work Friday, then I'll definitely leave Saturday. I don't have much tatting to share, but I got my two newest Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles in the mail this week which I have to share. I've also gotten some more HDT from Jesse during her Thanksgiving sale. That's it for now.

Jelly Bean Earrings

Nothing new to report since my last post. It snowed again. But that's not really new here. So, I guess we'll get on to the tatting.

After I got my Aerlit shuttles, I tatted three pairs of earrings for my mom. Some of you may have seen these, but I haven't heard anyone mention them before.

These are Jill Hanna's Jelly Bean Earrings. Anyone who has purchased an Aerlit shuttle will have the pattern. It's printed on the back of the package. The bobbins have a different pattern on the back of their packages. I don't think anyone has mentioned the fact that there is a patten on the back of the packages. I don't know why, I just find it surprising. Anyway, the pair on the left was tatted according to the pattern, with lots of picots. I used Lizbeth 20 colour #122 Caribbean for this pair. For the blue pair, I got a bit adventurous and added some beads to the outer picots, which added some weight to the earrings. For these, I used Lizbeth 20 colour #658 Lt Ocean Turquoise. For the black pair, I went a bit bead crazy, and added beads between the rings as well as to the chains. I used Lizbeth 20 #604 thread. I will probably stiffen them then add the findings. I will probably make another pair of a different design.

That's it for now. As I mentioned last time, I test tatted a couple of snowflakes for Frivole. Once I got one of her techniques down pat, I find the snowflakes kinda addictive. It probably doesn't help that I can manage to tat a snowflake in a single evening. That usually doesn't happen. I'm currently on a crochet kick right now making a couple quick scarves to use as Christmas gifts. Till next time.

The Next Japanese Motif and New Shuttles

No, I haven't disappeared, again. I don't know how some of you can post daily. Nothing really interesting happening. I have been tatting. I've done a little bit of chainmaille. It snowed, again. Yeah, we'll move on to the tatting.

I actually finished the following motif at least a week ago, but hadn't got around to posting it till now.

This is from the same Japanese book as the last motif. That book would be of course, Tatting Lace by Sumi Fujishige. Again since I don't know if it has a name, it's on page 55. I like the way this motif looks. However, despite my best attempts I realized that I missed a join about halfway through, and didn't notice it until the final repeat. I only noticed it 'cause something didn't seem right. To finish the motif (I wasn't cutting out over half the round) I had to repeat the mistake and skip a join. So I am missing one repeat, and I think it makes the motif a bit oval shaped instead of round. I'm definitely redoing this pattern soon. Also, the centre two rounds are used in other patterns, so I may have to try them too. The above motif is about 4.75 inches in diameter and tatted using Lizbeth size 20 thread, colour #163 Blue Ice.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I ordered several of those new Aerlit tatting shuttles. But not from Handy Hands. As much as I'd like to spend $100+ on tatting stuff to make their shipping charges worthwhile and trust me, I'd like to (maybe after Christmas), I opted to purchase from one of the other tatting suppliers. I believe all the major online suppliers have the new shuttles for anyone interested. Anyway, I bought 4 of them, in three colours:

I'm sure you guys knew I would have to get a couple of blue ones. These were the colours that appealed to me the most. And among the least, um, feminine. I also bought some additional bobbins to go with these:

You had to know that was coming, right?? So far, I'm quite impressed with them, the shuttles, of course. I've been using one since they arrived. It started off somewhat stiff, but it loosened a bit and work great now. Though time will tell about how long the ratcheting action will last and we have a loose bobbin. I have to admit, I'm not used to how thin they are. I use mostly my Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles which are rather thick. I should (perhaps again) mention that I almost never use post style shuttles. I almost always use bobbin shuttles. I know this came up a couple posts ago about the Japanese motif with the overlapping (Celtic style?) chain. The bobbins wouldn't fit through the space. I had to unwind the bobbins.

I think that's all for now. I have other stuff to share, but I'm going try to split my posts up and post less, more often. I commented on Jane's blog this morning on her post about the Blogger/Picasa image storage issue that some people are having. I'm using a whopping 4% of my storage limits. Instead of resizing my images, I probably should post more often. So, I'll try. I've been working on some tatted earrings for my mom and I've been test tatting for Frivole, so I'm going to make them each a separate post, probably scheduling them to post every few days. Anyway, till next time.

Black Friday Sale

I try to avoid doing posts like this but, I think it's been a while. For anyone interested, I will be having a Black Friday sale. Everything will be 20% off. I'm not sure, but the coupon code on my blog should also work too. So, a possible 30% discount(or so) for followers of my blog. I'm not the only one having a sale, but you'll have to visit Jess' blog for the coupon code. My sale should happen automatically. I'm using an Etsy App to manage my sale. It should start at midnight (my time CST, I think).

That's it for now. I'm still working on the second motif from the Japanese book. I'll share once I'm done. Till next time.

Motif From Japanese Book

I'm still here. I was in pain for most of last weekend, though I was feeling better by Monday. I was also happy (I know, I shouldn't be) to hear that I wasn't the only one who slipped going in to work that day. I guess our store manager slipped and fell too, among others. Anyway, it snowed again Friday night and during Saturday. So we got anther 6-8 inches of snow. It's supposed to warm up again by the end of the week. Anyway I want to make this short.

I managed to tat a motif from the new Japanese book I recently bought. And, I tatted it with the new HDT I got from Jess.

I assume it has a name but I can't read it. I guess it's pattern 7 from page 53 from the book Tatting Lace by Sumi Fujishige. It's tatted with Jess' Blue Ridge HDT in size 20. It measures about 3.5 inches is diameter. I guess this is more of a glass mat/coaster. This is also the centre of two other doilies in the book. Though I don't know if I'm going to continue in that direction. I'm sure if I could read the book, I could figure out a better way of doing it, but I had to unwind both shuttles in order to overlap the chains in the second round. I did that 12 times. Not fun. I forgot to mention it earlier, but I was using bobbin shuttles to tat this. The bobbins didn't fit through the space.

That's about it for now. I am working on another motif from the same book, which I hope to share soon. It's going MUCH faster than the above motif. I'm also crocheting a shawl for my mom. It'll probably be part of her Christmas gift this year. I also received my Palmetto's Tat Days Pattern CD-I ordered it as soon as they became available. And I've also ordered a few of those new Aerlit shuttles. You'll have to guess which colour(s) I ordered. Till next time.

New Books, HDT, and Even Some Tatting

First of all, I'd like to mention how much I hate snow and ice. Mostly ice. We had some freezing rain Thursday night, followed by a fair amount of snow, 6-8 inches easily. I made it to work alright, however, I had an incident in the parking lot of my workplace. I was walking up to the building when I found a piece of ice. I slipped a bit, but caught myself. I walked a bit when I remembered something I forgot in my truck. I turned around and "found" the same piece of ice. I found myself on my back a second or two later. I'm fine. Just stiff and sore. Made for an interesting day anyway. A few of you commented about the snow on my last post. It isn't uncommon for us to have snow now. The last few years any that we get now melts away, and the snow that stays comes later and later.

I'll move on to the tatting related stuff now. As I mentioned earlier, I recently purchased a couple new tatting books. Both non English. Yeah, I know. I have two more books that I can't read. Both have diagrammed patterns, however. The first book is Japanese:

There's not much to say about the book. It's called Tatting Lace by Sumi Fujishige. There are a lot of nice patterns so you will probably see some of them. The next book is German:

Again, not much to say here either. This is Spitzen-Kreationen by Suzanne Schwenke. There are a number of nice patterns here too. In a way, some of them remind me of Mary Konior's patterns. There are number of motifs that look simple when by themselves but look much more complex when put together. The large doily on the cover is a good example. The single motifs are triangular. I know you will be seeing some of the patterns from this book

Finally, I'll share the small amount of tatting I've done since my last post.

This is the Ariel Glass Mat from Favorite Crochet & Tatting Designs, Book No. 205. This is the second pattern that I had rewritten. As I'm sure you can see, I made a couple of blatent errors towards the end of the motif. I don't know what happened. I've been working a lot lately, so I'll blame it on working too hard. I had planned on continuing tatting the 2nd and 3rd rounds, but I will have to redo it. I also spilled some Coke Zero all over it too, but I was fortunately using an ecru coloured thread, Lizbeth #603 size 20, so it doesn't really show. I really like the way this looks, though the eight "points" are kinda floppy. This could also work for a snowflake if you only did 6 repeats.

And finally (for reals this time!) I will show you the HDT I recently bought.

These are both from Jess. The top one is Havana, and the bottom one is Blue Ridge, both size 20. I don't really have any plans for them right now. I have Blue Ridge wound onto an Ez Bob, and I do plan on using it soon. Perhaps I'll make something from one of my new books.

That's it for now. I'll be going to bed soon. I have to work tomorrow, so I may miss the latest release of Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles from Jane. I do have the link to her shop on my smartphone so if I remember I'll check them out. I have been working on some chainmaille projects too. I hope to get a few of them listed soon. I am offering free North American shipping from now until Christmas for nearly everything. The Sterling silver jewelry is exempt. Due to my price changes, earrings qualify for free shipping too. Till next time.

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.