Bookmark Update, and What Else I'm Working On

First of all, sorry. I had hoped to have the bookmark pattern all ready to go for today, but it isn't. I had put the bookmark aside for a few days and planned on getting back to it. But my few days turned into a whole week. I decided to fully tat the bookmark, following my written instructions, so I could include a photo of it in said instructions. Apparently, I can't follow my own instructions, and on top of that I have a couple errors in the instructions (that I didn't notice until I tatted them), and now I have to cut out a small section and retat it. I can't include a photo with an error in it. I do have a diagram almost done. It needs a little tweaking, and it's not as good as some out there, but I think it will do. I hope to have the pattern posted by Wednesday. I have opted to use the free Keep & Share service to host a PDF file.

I don't have much else tatting related. It was suggested in the comments that some of my modifications of the bookmark ends could make some interesting motifs themselves. I plan on seeing what I can come up with, since I can definitely see the shapes that were suggested. I have received some more thread, thanks to the Thread Exchange. You really need to try it, if you haven't already. Here is a quick photo:

I don't know if you can read the labels on the cards, but there is some Perlovka Perle cotton, Anchor crochet cotton size 40, some Lizbeth in size 40 (turquoise) and 20 (green and white variegate) and some Coron size 40 in two different blue variegates. Thanks ladies! I'll have fun with these. I'm actually using the turquoise Lizbeth right now. I'll have to get a ball (or two) of the colour.

Finally, I'm going to show you a teaser of what I'm working on right now. It's something I've been wanting to try for a while, but keep putting it off. Here's a mosaic of the materials I require to make them:

And here is a photo showing the next step, taking one of the Styrofoam balls (wrapped in fine yarn, not shown) and finally wrapping it in sewing thread:


Any ideas? Don't worry if you don't know what I'm making. I'll reveal all later. I am hoping to spend this afternoon (which is probably over by the time this posts) working on the black ball. I hope it looks like the one pictured in the book I'm using.

That's all for know. Keep watching my blog for the bookmark pattern. Hopefully I will be motivated to start getting my other designs (which are adding up) written up, diagrammed and shared. 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.

New Bookmark Design

Well, I finished tatting my bookmark last night. I haven't worked on anything else, so this will a short post. So without any further delay, I present, The Sine Wave Bookmark!

It's nothing special, but I like it. Kinda. I still don't like how I made the top and bottom of the bookmark. I tried two different ways to do these. I prefer the clover on the left, but it needs some work. I used Lizbeth size 40 in colour #656 Dark Wedgewood. Now, and I may regret this, but I want your honest opinions of my bookmark. I also want to know if anyone has seen anything like this. I know I haven't seen anything like this, but maybe someone else has. Oh, and if you are wondering where the name of the bookmark comes from, it's because while I was tatting the sides of the bookmark, they reminded me of a Sine Wave.

That's it for now. I will be remaking the bookmark again, so I can perfect the ends. I also want to finish my crochet project, since it's almost done. We'll see if the weather cooperates. I tend not to crochet when it's really hot out. It's been rainy and cool here for the past few days. Till next time.

Catching Up, Or What I Still Haven't Done

I know, I didn't post before I left for the weekend. I think I have a good excuse; I didn't really do anything since my last post. Really. I hardly touched my crochet project. My tie is at a standstill due to thread testing that is underway-kinda. However, I think I accidentally designed a new bookmark while testing a thread. More on that soon. I have also been busy exchanging threads, thanks to Fox's Thread Exchange. If you haven't been there, I highly recommend it. I don't believe you have to be an author on the blog to swap threads (correct me if I'm wrong Fox). Just comment on a post that has the thread that you want to try, and let the person know what you have to offer. A way of contacting you is also a good idea.

Now I mentioned that I accidentally designed a new bookmark. It started late last week, before I went away for the weekend. I picked up a ball of Cebelia size 10 thread (in white) from Michaels either early in the week, or late in the previous week. I wound a couple shuttles, and began tatting. It wasn't anything special, just rings and chains. I got bored with that really quickly, and tried something different. Here is the result:

I think it looks pretty cool. Though there is a lot of switching shuttles in order to get it to work. Practitioners of frontside/backside tatting will probably be horrified to look at it. I can't say I've seen anything like this before, but could be wrong. I know, it does happen. Though, it may not matter, since I joined two strips of this together, well actually one strip joined onto itself. I experimented with a couple of ways of working the top and bottom of the bookmark-to-be. I quickly diagrammed it last night, and came up with another way to work the top and bottom that I like better. I am currently tatting a second prototype and will post about it later. I've actually done a lot of the bookmark already, so I may be able to post about it again soon.

I like tatting with the Cebelia size 10 thread, so it may be the thread I will use for my tie. But, I've been using Fox's Thread Exchange to get samples of other size 10 threads. So my choice might change. Of course, not all the thread I'm getting is size 10. Here is a couple of photos of my recent thread acquisitions:


I don't know if you can read the writing on the cards, but there is some Lizbeth size 10, Cebelia size 20, Sulky Blendables 30 wt (~ size 80-100), Omega size 30 (I've used Omega before, but I liked the colour), some silk thread (pretty fine thread), and some Flora size 10. The second photo shows an unknown Cordonnet thread. You may also notice that I wrote who I got the thread from on the card. I'm trying not to mix them up, but it may still be futile.

Finally, I will show you a photo of my newest Pop-a-Bobbin shuttle from Sally and Nick:

This one is Cocobolo Rosewood. It is much darker in real life. It's absolutely gorgeous, and well worth the wait to get. Of course, I love all my Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles. All four of them. That number could change if Nick and Sally get a hold of some more really cool woods. I wonder if there is a tree that produces a blue coloured wood ...... . A guy can dream.

That's it for now. Hopefully, I'll have the bookmark done in the next day or so. I'll share the pattern too, unless it is too similar to one already done. Please let me know if you've seen something like it before (I know, I haven't posted the full bookmark, but I still want to know). Thanks. Till next time, which I hope will be sooner rather than later.

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.

Tatted Coaster & Random Thoughts

Before I get in trouble for not posting in a while let me explain. I haven't really done anything. OK, that's not really true. I guess I just got really busy. Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. While I haven't decided on the colour (dark blue may be out since I already have a "normal" tie in dark blue, and I still don't want to use a variegated thread), I am considering using size 10 Cebelia (Thanks Fox!!!) for the tie, though I do want to test it first. I want to mention that I don't normally tat with size 10 thread, it feels like I'm tatting with rope. Size 20 would simply take too long, I'll post the sample I made to show you... if I can find it. I think the Michaels here sells Cebelia size 10 (only white and maybe ecru) so I might stop in and pick up a ball sometime. Even if I don't like the thread, I can crochet with it so it wouldn't be a big loss. I am taking advantage of Fox's Thread Exchange to obtain samples of size 10 thread that I want to use for the tie. Of course, I'm finding other threads I want to trade for as well. If you want to see what I am offering, please see this post.

I haven't done much tatting over the past week or so. However, I can't post to a blog with tatting in the name and not post any tatting so I pulled out a couple shuttles (Pop-a-Bobbins, of course, one is new, but I don't have a photo yet; next time, promise) and whipped up the following:

This motif is called Interlaced Medallion and is from Judith Conners book Creative Tatting with beads, shuttle, and needle. The book also goes by the name Tatting Adventures with Beads, Shuttle, and Needle, at least in the US, anyway. This was a nice motif to tat, however it needed my undivided attention to keep track of which chain to overlap where. I also need four arms to keep track of the two shuttle threads and two ball threads. However, I could not grow two more arms so I ended up placing the unused shuttle and ball in either my lap or on my desk. I also goofed (as usual, it seems) and didn't/couldn't overlap the final chain (top of the photo) correctly. I guess that proves it truly was handmade, right Eliz? For this motif I used Lizbeth size 20 in colour numbers 656 Wedgewood Dark and 603 Ecru. As you can see, the completed motif is partially prepared to be mounted in an acrylic coaster. I didn't hide any ends; I just poked a few small holes in the adhesive cardboard disk you see above, and pulled the ends through. You can see the finished coaster here:


I really like the looks of tatting inside one of these coasters. I had planned on making one of Mary Konior's Spinning Wheel coaster in King Tut to place inside, but I haven't made it that far. I'm not sure if it will be small enough in King Tut, so it's been on the back burner. I probably should buy another coaster, though I don't know if I can get them locally anymore. I had bought this one from Wal*Mart, however, the one I bought it from moved a few kilometers to the city's outskirts and became a Supercentre (which wouldn't normally bother me, except they are now my store's main competitor; ironically, they were less of a competitor when they used to be across the street from us). Anyhoo, I need to buy more of the coasters.

That's about it for now. I am working on another crochet project from the Crochet Dude's book (click on the "Crochet Dude" label on my left sidebar for previous posts about him). I'll post when it's done. I've also been working on some more chainmaille. I made a few more bracelets today. I finished a copper Byzantine bracelet and a tri-metal Jens Pind Linkage bracelet. I used aluminum, copper, and brass for the JPL bracelet. Hopefully I'll be able to take photos for them tomorrow. I also hope to redo my Etsy shop header and avatar tomorrow. My current ones looks like I spent 5 minutes making them (I think it was actually 10 minutes, but who's counting). Hopefully those changes will take effect tomorrow, so feel free to stop by in the next day or so if you want (the link is in my right sidebar).

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll get around to posting again in a few days. Till next time .... assuming the mosquitoes don't carry me away!**



** In case you're wondering what I meant by that, apparently we have something like 10 times our normal amount of mosquitoes here in the Bridge City due to the large amount of rain we've been having over the past month or so.

My Tatted Tie, Part 1-The Need For Advice

This will be the first of several posts related to my Tatted Tie. As I mentioned in my last post, I had to modify my original idea in order to make the idea work. Here is the first attempt:

As you can see, the basic idea was for me to tat four groups of four rings. The bottom four rings on each group of 16 could be made a little larger than the others to allow me to widen the tie. The next group of four motifs, I'm calling a "Tie Unit" could then be made larger (using the same stitch count as the last four rings on the previous tie unit, with the exception of the bottom four rings). This could be continued until the tie was the length I wanted. I'm sure some of you might notice an obvious flaw with this idea. By the time I got to the bottom of the tie, the rings are going to be huge. Another problem is the thread itself. I used a size 3 "fashion crochet" thread to make this sample. I didn't like tatting with it. It is a 2-ply thread from what I can tell, and it is soft. It's also too thick for my tatting tastes. What you see above was made with two Aero bobbins worth of thread, which I think was about 4 yards between the two shuttles. This version was scraped and I modified the drawing I made.

The result of the redesign was this, Tatted Tie, Mark 2:

The Mark 2 is similar to the Mark 1 with a few exceptions. Each Tie Unit now varies in size as work progresses, and the rings stay the same size. The tie is widened by simply adding the equavalent of one motif to each row of the Tie Unit. I'm not sure how often I will need to widen the Tie Units in order to make the tie the correct width. I have a hunch some math will need to get involved. Depending on how many increases will be needed, I may be able to increase the width every 6 or 8 rows. We'll see. I used some size 10 crochet thread for the Mark 2 tie. I used about 8 yards of thread between the two shuttles. And no, I don't plan on using a variegated thread for the tie. In case you're wondering, both versions of the Tatted Tie were completed tatted using regular and split rings and each was tatted continously. Oh, and when the tie is finished, I plan on outlining the tie with chains to finish it off.

Now for my need of advice. I need help with the choice of thread. I think I'm going to stick with size 10 thread. It is the best compromise. Anything larger than 10 and I don't like tatting with it, and size 20 and smaller would take forever to tat. I know that 6-cord thread is generally the best choice for most tatting. Would it be good here? I was thinking buying a few balls of Lizbeth size 10 for the tie, but I have heard that some people don't like how stiff the thread is in this size. I haven't used a 6-cord size 10 thread before so I can't comment. Another thing I'd like your opinion on is colour choices. I really don't think I'm going to take more than one (or two) ties. I would like the tie work with as many other colours as possible. What would you recommend? Black? White? Dark Blue??? I'm open to two colour ideas as well.

That's all for now. I am going to have to get ready for bed soon. I have training tomorrow at 8 am at our chain's second location. Which is located on the other side of the city. Which is going to be fun getting there since Construction Season is in full swing here, and I know there are detours galore over there. Wish me luck. Till next time.



PS: I changed my blog layout today. I hope you like it. If there are any problems, or you don't like something, please let me know.

A Little Bit Country, And a Little More Tatting

I see I'm getting back in the habit of not posting regularly. I'll have to try to post more often, again. Though, I do have enough stuff for another post later on in the week. I have a few things to show you today, but I want to do a quick update on the work "issue". I guess my letter had an effect. I have been assured that the issue(s) will be fixed. Apparently, management doesn't want me to leave, and they appreciated my hard work and dedication. Too bad they didn't mention that until I threatened to leave. I'll try not to mention work during my posts for a while.

I'm sure many of you are aware of the knitting/crochet site Ravelry. I joined about a year ago, but haven't done much with the site since. However, I have started using the site more recently. I added a few projects to my profile (there's a link to my profile on my sidebar as well, if you want to visit). One project was the Renegade Dawg hoodie I posted about earlier. The Crochet Dude himself saw the hoodie and liked how it turned out. I was also browsing patterns and found a cowboy hat I really liked. Of course the pattern was in a book, so I went looking on the Saskatoon Library's website to see if the book was available. It was, but in a different library. Last fall all the library systems in the province began to merge into one large province wide library system. Which is nice, since there are a lot more books available to us now. Anyway, the book arrived mid week, and I picked up some yarn on Friday.

So last night, with the book, yarn, and a hook in hand, as well as a few beers (hey, if Jane can have her wine, I can have my beer) I started working on the hat. With some finishing this morning, this is the result:


This is Felted Yeehaw Gentleman (my manly version of Yeehaw Lady by Dot Matthews) from Debbie Stoller's book Stitch'n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. That's the actual name of the book. Well, actually, I think it's a series of books, websites, etc, mostly for women. Though there is supposed to be a book for men too. I'll have to look in to it. Anyway, I like the way it turned out, though it is heavy, and pretty hot too. The hat needs a band or something though as well; I'll have to see what I can do. Since I wanted to felt the hat, I used some wool yarn, Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool to be exact. It may not be noticeable to you, but the hat needs a shave and trim (well, so do I, but not till I have to go back to work; I hate shaving) since the felting process made the surface kinda fuzzy. My beard trimmer works surprisingly well for this (and for me!). I should mention, for anyone wanting to try this pattern, the book has a number of errors in it. The designer has posted corrections on her website that do help. But I still had some stitch count issues (as did others). I wouldn't recommend the pattern for beginners, despite the encouragement from the author of the book. You should have the ability to alter patterns on the fly just in case you run into problems. Now that it's made, I'm not sure how much I'll actually wear it. I have wanted a real felt cowboy hat for a while now, and plan on buying one, once I have enough money. I want to get a good, high quality hat.

Now for the tatting part of the program, er, blog post. You may remember Jon's Fold Over bookmark I posted a couple posts back. I remade it after posting last week. Here it is:
I used Lizbeth size 20 in Black for this one. I was feeling kinda dark after my last post. If you look at my first attempt and this latest one, you'll see that there's something not quite right about it. I goofed on several chains. The four large chains in the main body of the bookmark are all four double stiches and one picot too short. fortunately the error works. I also goofed on the smaller fold over part. I made four chains too long. Strangely enough, it too still works. So, I guess I made a variation of Jon's bookmark. I forgot to remove unneeded picots on this one. I'll have to make another one sometime.

I've also been working on my Tatted Tie idea. I'm currently on Version 2, since my original idea didn't quite work. I'll post about it mid week or so. That's all for now. Till next time.

A Little Bit of Tatting

Sorry for the delay in posting. Life kinda got in the way. I wasn't feeling good for a few days, and then I had an "issue" at work yesterday that has me questioning if I want to continue working at that store. I had planned on posting yesterday but instead opted to write a letter to the store manager and my supervisors. But it not worth talking about here. Onward to the tatting!

I didn't get as much tatting as I had hoped, though the motif was quite large. Anyway here it is:

This is Fan Coaster from Rosemarie Peel's book Tatting With Colour. I bought this book off of eBay a couple of years ago, but haven't tatted anything from it till now. There are a number of cool looking motifs in the book that I will have to get around to tat. For this motif, I used Lizbeth size 20 thread in colour #s 656 Dark Wedgewood and 611 Gold. The finished mat is about 4 3/4 inches in diameter. I really like this pattern and I think I did a pretty good job tatting it. Until the end. It was going good. I had to open three rings due to me joining to the wrong picot, and I did so successfully. I have opened rings in the past, but not three successfully in a row. However, when I got to the last ring, I missed making one picot and three double stitches. I probably should have opened it and fixed my error, but I wanted it done and decided to leave it. It's not that noticable, the ring in particular is just a little smaller than the others. This motif is #25 of my Third 25 Motif Challenge. I don't think I'm going to do the challenge again. At least not right now. I really want to work on some of my WIPs (or rather (WISPs). And I want to work on my tatted tie idea. Thanks to some inspiration from Sharon, I have an idea on how it may work. I'll share later. I need to try it out first. The idea is currently just theory.

I'm not sure how much tatting I'll get done this weekend. I probably will work on some chainmaille. I decided to try Etsy's Showcase feature to promote my shop. I'll be in the Jewelry - Bracelets section beginning midnight June 11. I don't know if it will help, but Etsy claims that all shops that use the feature get more traffic and have more people favoriteing them. That could mean more sales in the long term. I guess we'll see. Till next time.

My Mystery Chainmaille Project

I promised to post about my Mystery project, so here I am. Several people guessed what I had made. While no one got it, there were some really good guesses.

I won't keep you in suspense. May I present, my chainmaille ............ Tie!


That's right. A chainmaille tie. It is made out of bright aluminum and is quite light, it weighs about 5 ounces (about 139 grams). This is also my first design done in chainmaille. There are a few tutorials available for chainmaille ties, but I didn't like the way they looked. So, I made up the pattern as I went. I have to say, that while like the way it turned out, it is very over-engineered. I really wanted the tie to look like, a tie. A real cloth tie, so that's what it's modeled after. I'm not sure how long it took to make. I know I watched three movies while making it and then some. So I'm guessing that I spent about 6 hours or so working on it. Hopefully I'll be able to wear it sometime. This will probably be another item I won't be making to sell.

While making my chainmaille tie, I had another great idea. A tatted tie! I haven't worked out any of the details yet, but I have it pictured in my mind. It would have fairly solid-ie: little negative space, though I'm not ruling out simple rings and chains. And it would have to be quite manly, of course. No excess picots, or other frilly things. I'm not sure if this has been done before, but it's still going to be fun to try. And, as an added bonus, this will give tatting a purpose! I know, we've been there before, but still.

That's all for now. It's supposed to be cool and rainy here all weekend, and I have the weekend off. I plan to spend most of it tatting. Till next time.

Jon's Foldover Bookmark. And More Maille

Well, again, I didn't get as much tatting as I would have liked. I focused on chainmaille again. I will try to make this post somewhat short. I do plan on posting again in a few days.

As the title indicates, most of the tatting I accomplished was Jon's Foldover Bookmark, found here.

This is a really cool pattern. And pretty easy to do. I decided to use some of my Silk HDT (HDST) from LadyShuttleMaker. I used sized 20 HDST in the Pensacola Beach colourway. I love this colorway. And the silk thread was a pleasure to work with. I haven't worked with silk thread until now because my hands always seem to be too rough, and I didn't want to have the thread snag constantly. But lately my hands have been fairly smooth, so I decided to give the thread a try. I'll have to use the silk thread more often, before my hands get rough again. This will be Motif #24 of my Third 25 Motif Challenge.

As I mentioned, I did a lot of chainmaille over the past week. One of the first projects I did was to remake my wallet chain. Again. I guess the Stainless steel rings I used were just a bit too big, and the chain started to come undone in a few places. Being somewhat of a perfectionist, that wouldn't do. I decided to make the chain in three different metals, since the Jen Pind Linkage weave that I used has three different planes in it. I chose to make the new chain in stainless steel, brass, and bronze. I thought they would look really cool together.

Unfortunately, in this gauge brass and bronze look quite similar so I didn't get the contrast I was hoping for. Since brass and bronze both tarnish and darken with age, my only hope now is that one darkens more than the other. I am NOT remaking this. My hands were killing me for a few days after I finished the chain.

I also made two bracelets in Sterling Silver.

I have to say, they both look gorgeous in real life. Though, I will admit, I don't expect them to sell. They are kinda expensive; about three times the cost of my other bracelets. But we'll see. Just for kicks, I also took a photo comparing the colour of stainless steel and sterling silver:

I had planned on posting yesterday, however I was so involved in my lastest chainmaille creation that I didn't want to stop. I'm not going to show you the finished piece though. I will post a teaser photo instead. You guys can guess what it will be, although I think it is kinda obvious.


So, any guesses?? I will post again in a few days with a photo of the completed item. That's all for now; my short post is getting pretty long. Till next time.

Not Alot of Tatting Goin' On

I had another week where I didn't get much tatting done. I really tried. I did manage some early in the week, but I got sidetracked with other projects.

You may be wondering what I was working on if I wasn't tatting. Well, this:

It's a chainmaille bag, often called a dice bag. I finally decided to make one, and honestly, I'm quite impressed with it. While it was fairly easy to make (bear in mind that I am working my way up to making a chainmaille shirt for myself-maybe; we'll see), I'm not sure if I will be making these for sale. Unless someone wants one; it does make a cute tatting bag, if lined and/or you place small cloth bags inside it. Which is what I did:

You should be able to see a red coloured thing through the chainmaille. That would be the Poke Proof Pouch I bought from Jane Eborall a while ago. Might have to buy a few more. Anyway, the Pouch is in my dice bag for a reason. And here they are:

Yup, I have a couple more Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles in my possession. The light one is made out of Cedar, and the black one is Ebony. I love them!!! Sally has a nice story on her blog about some cedar wood she got from a local church. I've been wondering if my cedar shuttle was made out of it. Maybe Jane or Sally could let me know. I'm still on Jane's list for a Coco bola Rosewood shuttle; hopefully it will still be possible. Anyway, they both work great. And, the hooks seem a little different. A little more refined, perhaps. They're still made by Sally's husband, Nick (you all may know him better as "I'm in the garage", but it seems weird for me to call him that; I mean, if I had a garage, I might have that name too). Mind you, I may have gotten better at using the hooks.

And finally, we come to the small amount of tatting that I managed to make this week.

This edging was made from a pattern that Mark, AKA, Tatman shared on several tatting list a week or so ago. In a way, we were his test tatters. The way the pattern was written caused it the curve severely. Six repeats would make a circular motif. I made a few modifications to make the edging straight. It's very pretty, though the large rings at the bottom were kinda a pain in the butt to close since they are so large. I used Lizbeth size 20 in colour number 663 for the edging.

I haven't done much else in the way of needlecrafts. I have, however, been working on a few projects of the culinary type. I've been making cheese! That's right, every weekend for the past month, I've made a small (~2 pounds in weight) block or wheel of cheese. Nothing fancy; the first three were simply called "basic hard cheese". I also made some Feta cheese (which tastes great by the way). This weekend, I made some "Stirred Curd Cheddar". I've got some photos, if your interested. What's that? You want to see them. Here they are:
















The Feta is in the jar on the left. The cheese on the right is the Cheddar I made this weekend. It has to air dry for a few days, then it needs to be waxed. I then have to age it for at least two months. Fortunately, the other cheeses that I made will be ready before this one. In case you're wondering, the Cheddar recipe is from the book Home Cheesemaking by Ricki Carroll. Ricki has a website where you can buy the book, and other cheesemaking supplies. The basic cheese and feta recipes are from this website.

That's it for now. We'll see what happens on the tatting front. Hopefully I will get a significant amout of tatting done. Till next time.

Mother's Day Pendant

This is going to be a quick post. Sorry for the long delay between posts. Lots going on, just not tatting related.

Some of you may remember the "Rose Garden" motif from Mary Konior's book Tatting in Lace that I made in white thread. If not, here is a refresher photo:

Here it is in all it's colourless glory. I thought it would look good in two (or more) colours. So that's what I tried. Here is the result:

All I can say is, Wow! I think it looks much better done in multiple colours. The purple thread I used for the rose is Purple Punch size 20 HDT by Yarnplayer and the green is Lizbeth size 20 in colour #684. I wanted to use HDT for the green as well, but all the green I had was in size 30 & 50 and most of the colours suitable for the rose were in size 20. The only colourway suitable for the rose in size 50 was still in skein form (I know, the horrors; actually I have quite a bit HDT in skein form since I never seem to have the time to wind it onto floss cards-I am working on it, I swear!). I was going to make this motif into a brooch, but I didn't have any proper brooch backs and I couldn't find any safety pins, so I attached a split ring to it to make a pendant. My mom loved it!

I was able to give my mom her Rose Garden pendant, as well as a chainmaille pendant, photo later, and a pair of teal anodized titanium earrings, that I showed earlier, today. My parents had to come to the city today, so I spent most of the day with them. It was nice.

That's all for now. I really, really, hope to post again, maybe mid-week. I do hope to get a substantial amount of tatting done. But, as always, we'll see. Till next time.



Oh, and Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers out there!