Ripley The Ghost Pattern

I finally got the pattern done for Ripley the Ghost. The test tatters were very helpful, and they did find a few mistakes in the pattern. However, Marty not only tested the pattern, but found a better way of tatting him without cutting and tying between rounds. Her way also eliminates a rather tricky join and two alligator joins. Other than the six split rings, the pattern isn't as difficult as I initially thought. The link to download the pattern is on the left top sidebar of my blog in the "My Patterns" section. Hopefully there are no errors. I tatted it several times this evening after reworking it according to Marty's improvements. Let me know if you find any errors, and if you need some help feel free to email me. My email address is jwh4000ATgmailDOTcom. Remove the AT and the DOT and replace with the appropriate symbols. Enjoy!

That's all for now. If all goes well, I should be going away for a few days starting tomorrow after work. I hope to get lots of tatting done. I'll try to post when I get back. And before I forget, thanks to all of you who commented on my last post about the contacts. I really appreciate it. I am getting faster at putting them in, and they don't feel that bad now. Though I am pretty sure that I put them in inside out the first few days. My lenses are a soft type of lens, so it's pretty easy to do-especially if you can't see what you are doing without glasses on. I did buy a new pair of glasses though (as an employee, I get 50% off everything in Optical, well almost everything) since I can only wear the contacts for 12 hour maximum. Though 8-10 hours has been my limit right now.They have to come out when I get home from work.

Till next time.

Another Week Gone, Plus a Pretty Flower Photo

I think the title pretty much sums it up. I haven't really accomplished much over the past week. I did get my ghost pattern written up and diagrammed. It is in the hands of my test tatters (hopefully, there seems to be a few people who don't get my emails). I should have the pattern posted in a few days if there are no major errors, and the pattern is understandable. I mean, I don't consider the pattern a "beginner" pattern by no means, but if I am the only one who can tat it successfully, something may be wrong with my pattern writing/diagramming skills. I also finished the vest I started several months ago. Well, technically it is finished. I'm not 100% happy with the final result. It seems a bit "boxy". I might have made it a size too big, but I'll have to see if I can round off the arm holes, or sleeves, or something. I'll show a photo once complete.

Besides that, I haven't done much else. I kinda got into a bad mood Tuesday. It was like I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and then stayed that way for several days. Friday seemed a bit better. After work I went to our new Optical Centre (we got it when we did the major renovations earlier in the year- and no I don't work a Wal*Mart if anyone is wondering) to pick up and learn how to put in my new contact lenses. I've never had contacts before and have wanted to try them for a while. I finally got around to it recently, and got a trial pair to give them a go. I did have some trouble getting them in Friday, but did manage it Saturday after work, and (so far) every day since. It takes me a while to get them in, but I do like them so far. Obviously I am still getting used to them. Any other tatters out there with contacts? How do you like them?

Finally, I'm going to show you a photo of a recent plant acquisition. It is a Gardenia:

From what I've read, I may regret buying this plant, but it was only $10 (it's in a four inch pot). It came with one bud on it, and surprisingly it didn't drop the bud after I brought it home. Hopefully I can keep it alive, at least until spring so I can put it outside. If it doesn't die, I'll perhaps provide an update on it.

That's it for now. I wasn't able to go away as I had planned. So I plan on going away this coming weekend. I will be posting the pattern for Ripley sometime this week, so watch for that. I think I'm going to try to get some tatting done, and try not to look out the windows-it's snowing. Till next time.

New Design in The Works

Let me say one thing before I begin. I better not get sick again till, well, for awhile anyway. I was feeling better last Sunday. However I work up early (and I mean early) Monday morning with one heck of a sore back. I guess I must have done something to it while at work the previous week. So I haven't done much until a few days ago. My back is feeling better, its a little stiff right now. Anyway, I started work on a new tatted design.

But first, I wanted to provide a little information about the conductive thread I used last week. The thread is in fact thread. Specifically, it is silver plated nylon thread (apparently; I don't know how you plate nylon). It is about the same weight as sewing thread, maybe about a size 100. I used two threads together to tat the sample in the video. I also used four strands as a test, but I haven't compared it to see what size it is yet. Being a thread, it tatted quite well, not stiff like wire. More info can be found here. This project will probably be put on the back burner for a while;  I've got Hallowe'en and then Christmas tatting to start thinking about. This brings me to my newest design.

With Hallowe'en just around the corner, I figured I'd better get my next design finished. Without any further ado, here is (tentatively) Ripley the Ghost:

I say tentatively since I may change his name in the final draft. He began as a variant of my Sine Wave bookmark. However, I didn't like how the Sine Wave pattern worked with Ripley-so I really can't call him Sine Wave Ghost. I'm almost happy with how the design has turned out. I'm not happy with his ectoplasmic trail (not sure what else to call it; its the bottom thingy). I'll be refining the pattern over the next day or two. Then I have to write out the pattern. A few people volunteered to test tat my pattern on inTatters, so I should take them up on the offer, if they still want to. With any luck I'll have the pattern available for download early next week.

That's it for now. I plan on going to my parents house this weekend. So I probably won't post until I get back. Till next time.

Windmills Doily Progress and Special Thread

I had hoped to post earlier, but obviously that didn't happen. I ended up with a cold this week, and didn't feel like doing anything. I hardly touched my tatting this week. And I spent part of today working on a couple of bracelets that sold this weekend. Which is nice; sales have slowed right down lately. Anyway, I'll make this a short post. I'm still feeling kinda sick, and want to take it easy tonight.

This is the doily as of today. I am working on the seventh motif right now. Or rather, I've been working on the seventh motif for most of the past week. As you can see, the doily has become oval in shape (if you ignore the topmost motif). This is the same way I'll make the doily oval after this round in complete. Since I haven't received my order of thread yet, I'll have to move on to something else once I've finished the ball of thread. I probably won't show the doily again until the round in complete, but we'll see.
Speaking of moving on to something else, I want to mention my special thread. Actually, I'm not going to say much about it at all. Instead here is a video (assuming it works) showing what is special about the thread. By the way, this is actually tatted, no foolin':


Pretty cool, right? This is going to be a work in progress. I was playing with the thread. Due to the nature of the thread, I'll have to carefully plan out a motif to use the thread properly, and will have to use some cotton (or some other thread) to isolate different sections. And I'll need more LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes - a special kind of diode that emits light when electricity flows through it).

Before I go, I want to mention something. I was playing around with Blogger's settings, and discovered that I have the new editor after all. My blog was set to use the old one. So anyone who is using the new editor and wants to go back, check the Settings tab of your blog (it's visible in the new post and list of posts screens, and probably elsewhere) and see if you have an option to switch between the two editors. I've got my blog set to use the new editor so I can see what it's like.

That's it for now. Hopefully I'll get something accomplished this week. Before I go, I want to wish all my fellow Canadians a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. Due to my cold, I have opted to stay in the city until next weekend or the weekend after to go see family. Till next time.

Something Different

Sorry for the delay in posting. I haven't been feeling well all week. Then I haven't felt like tatting for the last few days. I am still tatting Windmills motifs, and should finish the ball of thread over the next few days, if I get back to tatting. According to my estimates, I should get at least seven, and possibly eight, motifs per ball of thread, so I ordered enough DMC Cordonnet thread to complete the doily. I'll post an update on the doily once I have finished the ball of thread. On to the non-tatting portion of the blog post.

Since I have nothing new tatting-wise to show, I thought I'd show you some of the paintings I have done. All of these are from 9-11 years ago when I was in Grades 10, 11, and 12.

The first three are from the "Art History" portion of my high school art classes. For Art History, we had to reproduce a famous artist's painting from a photo in a book, then write a paper about the artist and the painting. All paintings pictured were painted with acrylic paint on a heavy weight paper.

This painting was done when I was in Grade 10. The original was done by Paul Cezanne. I don't remember what the name of the painting is. Couldn't find it through Google Images either.

This painting was also originally done by Paul Cezanne. I don't remember the name of this one either. Found a similar painting through Google, but there was more pictured than what I painted. Not sure if it is the same painting. Painted during my Grade 11 art class.

This painting was originally done by Vincent van Gogh. The painting is called The Trinquetaille Bridge. I painted this one when I was in Grade 12. Personally, I think this painting is the best one out of the three.

Here is a painting I did in Grade 11, I believe:

I painted this from a photo I found in a magazine. Unfortunately, I didn't write down where the photo was taken. I didn't do too bad of a job on this one, though my teacher felt the water could have been done differently. I love this painting.

Finally, another painting from a photo:

The photo I used was from a family vacation to Banff, Alberta or somewhere near it (I was pretty young at the time). In some weird coincidence, my sister used the same photo for a painting in her art class well; I didn't realize it until after I brought my painting home. And, understandably, her painting has several noticeable differences to mine. I don't have a photo, so you'll have to take my word on it.

I hope you have enjoyed this brief view of a different artistic talent of mine. My next post should be tatting related. I ordered some "special" thread to maybe outdo Jane. Think tatting with invisible thread is crazy? I have something more "electric" in mind. Till next time.

The Waiting .........

The waiting is killing me. I still haven't met with anyone yet. However, both people I'm supposed to meet with have been away for the last three day. So, hopefully next week. Thanks for all the kind words, by the way. They definitely help.

Anyway I'm still tatting Windmills motifs for my doily. I have two days off now, so I hope to keep working on the doily. I want to see how many motifs I can make with a ball of thread. I need to buy more thread (I think I said that back in March, but I recently found another ball of thread). I don't want to buy too much of the thread. I know some of you will disagree, but I far prefer Lizbeth to DMC Cordonnet now. I hope to switch all my white thread to Lizbeth as soon as all the DMC stuff is gone. Well, the sizes that Lizbeth comes in. Depending on how far I get, I may post a progress picture sometime next week.

Before I go, I've been noticing a lot of people mentioning a new editor in Blogger. What new editor? The one I have looks exactly the same as the one I had when I first started my blog. I have noticed that lately it starts in "Edit HTML" but it's easy to switch back to "Compose". Is it something they are still rolling out?

That's it for now. Not sure when I'll post again; I am aiming for Tuesday or Wednesday, but anything can happen to delay posting. Till next time.

Not Much Goin' On

Really. I haven't felt like doing much of anything lately. I guess I've been lost in thought since my last post. Unfortunately, it's work related again. Though, this time it's different. An opportunity within my department has become available. I spent the weekend thinking about whether or not I wanted to apply for it. I did apply for the position yesterday. Now, I'm a nervous wreck waiting to meet with Human Resources and a manager. So, I haven't managed to tat much. Though I did get a little done.

I started working on the third round of my Windmills doily, see here. I made one motif Sunday and Monday evening. I started a second one yesterday. With any luck, I'll have the second one done tonight. I'll then have only 16 more to go. Actually, more than 16. I have decided (time allowing, of course) to expand the doily into an oval once the third round is complete. I'm not sure how many motifs will be needed, and quite honestly, I don't want to think about it right now; I've got enough on my mind right now. Before I go, here's a tatting action shot:

This is the second Windmills motif that I was working on earlier this evening.

That's it for now. We'll see if I get anything else done. I'll keep you updated on the work thing, too, if anyone is interested. Till next time.

Ring A Ring O' Roses

I was hoping to post yesterday, but I ended up having freezer issues last night. This cut into my tatting time, and subsequent motif blocking time. I was really looking forward to the first Tatting Beer Tuesday. I did have a Guinness while tatting yesterday evening. Maybe next week. Anyway, here is what I had hoped to show you last night.

I'm sure by now you have seen Fox's two renditions of Mary Konior's Ring A Ring O' Roses snowflake, from Tatting With Visual Patterns. Check out her blog if you haven't. I was inspired to try the snowflake again. I started tatting one using some thread I got from the Thread Exchange. Here it is, in all its glory:

Kinda. Apparently, this snowflake require more than 12 yards/metres of thread. The thread is Coron size 40, #156-7B, from Umintsuru. This is a really nice thread to tat with. I too wonder if there is a North American supplier of the thread. Probably not, since Google wasn't much help. Anyway, I decided to leave the snowflake unfinished until I am able to get more to finish it. Not satisfied with leaving the snowflake as a UFO, I started again with some good ol' Lizbeth. Here is the result:

This is Lizbeth 20, colour # 147 Red Burst. It may just be me, but I like how the variegated threads work with this pattern. I have to admit, I didn't find the pattern to be particularly difficult to tat. It just takes a while. There are really no fancy techniques. The difficult looking 'triple ring' is a single ring with two chains surrounding them. There are a lot of thrown off rings, but they aren't difficult either. While its not mentioned in the pattern, I found it necessary to switch shuttles regularly to get the thread in the proper position. This isn't a problem, it just slows the tatting process down. It is still a nice snowflake, and one I'd definitely tat again.

That's it for now. I picked up my ring order Monday and have worked on a few projects. My Etsy Showcase on Monday wasn't as successful as I'd hoped, but the increased exposure may help. A number of items got favorited, which could become sales later on. I'm going to leave the free shipping active until the end of the week. Till next time.

Tatted Seahorse

Just a quick post here. I figured that since I managed to tat something, I might as well show it instead of waiting till later.

When I first saw the pattern for the motif I am going to show you, I fell in love with it right away.

It's a really cool pattern, and was pretty easy to tat. And no ends to hide! They all end up as part of the fringe on the back. The pattern is by Susan Cuss and can be found here. I used Lizbeth size 20 thread in colour #688 Dark Seagreen. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him. He wants to go into a coaster. I said he won't fit. He insists he's pregnant. I don't think that's the problem. He retorted back that I shouldn't talk. What I meant was he's too long, but before I could tell him, he ran off with the mermaid, who herself still isn't sure she wants to go in a coaster yet. Anyhow, I plan on tatting another seahorse again soon. In a smaller thread size. So it's shorter. Nothing else!

That's it for now. My order of jump rings isn't ready to be picked up yet, so it'll be next week before I get them. So I will try to get a bunch of tatting done this weekend. And if anyone's interested (and in case I don't post Sunday), I will be in Etsy's Jewelry showcase starting midnight Monday Sept. 13, and running all day until 11:59 PM Monday. I will probably offer free shipping (Canada, US, & reduced International) again, probably Sunday, Monday and maybe Tuesday. Till next time.

Dragon Wing Doily and New Books

Yeah. I know I said I'd post again in a few days, but, um, yeah. I guess I haven't felt like tatting. Again. I decided last weekend to purchase another Showcase spot on Etsy. Because of that, I then decided I should add some new items to my shop. Which is what I have been working on instead of tatting. You can see a few of the new items in my shop. More items will be added over the next week. A few of the new items even incorporate beads as part of the chainmaille. Anyway, let's move on to the tatting.

I started working on Anne B's Dragon Wing Doily last Saturday (or maybe Friday). Managed to get about halfway through when an idea hit (see above). So, the doily has been set aside throughout the week. I finally sat down last night and didn't stop tatting till it was done. It's not blocked yet, and there are a couple ends to hide, but it is done. And here it is:


It would look better if I had blocked it. Despite my slowness at tatting it, I really like this design. I was able to memorize the pattern pretty quickly (still remembered it after a week!) so I could almost go into autopilot while tatting it. I will do it again. Thanks Anne! Thread stats: Lizbeth size 20 in colour #656 Dark Wedgewood blue. Love this colour! And it's still all mine!

Finally, since I don't have much else tatting related to show, I'll show you a couple of books that I recently got. The first is one you have probably seen a lot of lately. It is, of course, Martha Ess' new book More Critters on the Block.


I can't wait to try some of these designs. This is my first book from Martha. I like what I see; I may have to get her other books. And thanks Martha for signing the book.

The second book is one that is pretty hard to find, I guess. It is, Patti Duff's Minitats: 60 Petite Motifs.


While looking for the book, I found that DS9Designs had a few copies of the book. I also learned through InTatters that Gale of Tat's All also had a few copies of the book. I ended up going through DS9Designs since I wanted, nay, needed more Lizbeth thread. Of course as luck would have it, the size 80 Lizbeth came out less than a week after my order shipped. Mind you I haven't heard of anyone mention that they got some of the size 80 Lizbeth yet. I believe a few people got a sneak peek at the thread, but I still want to wait. Then again, how often do I use size 80 thread? Anyway, I can see why so many tatters like Patti's book. There are plenty of quick patterns that could easily empty partial shuttles. Hopefully I'll try a few motifs from this book also.

That's it for now. I'm going to watch a movie, drink some nice cold Kokanee, and get some tatting done. I have an order of rings coming, and I'm sure once I get them, I won't be tatting. Till next time.



PS: I want to mention again that a couple of errors were found in my Sine Wave Bookmark pattern. Please redownload the file to get the corrections. See link at the top to the left sidebar.

Quick Post: Sine Wave Bookmark Pattern Corrections

As I said in the title, this will be a quick post. I hope to do a longer post in a day or two, depending on when I finish the tatting I am working on.

I shared the Sine Wave Bookmark on InTatters as well as on my blog here and for some reason, it took a while for the post to show up in InTatters. When it did, a couple of errors in the written pattern were brought to my attention. The diagram is correct though. I have corrected the pattern, and changed the usage terms while I was at it. I do apologize if the errors confused anyone. I have replaced the file I have on Keep & Share, so I highly recommend everyone downloading a new copy of the pattern.

Till next time.

Sine Wave Star Pattern

Since it's Tuesday and was tatting, I thought about calling this post Tatting Beer Tuesday since I don't really like tea and happened to be drinking a beer while tatting, but a) it doesn't have the same ring as Tatting Tea Tuesday and b) might be a bit disrespectful to the people who participate in TTT (??) so I won't. I haven't done much this past week, so I will get to the point of this post.

I have finally finished the pattern for the star in my previous post. I am glad so many people liked it. You can find the pattern here. I also have the link posted on the top of the right sidebar. I've changed my usage policies starting with this star (it also applies to the bookmark, but I can't change the files everyone has downloaded). You can tat as many stars (or bookmarks) as you want for gifts or to sell. If you choose to sell the tatted items, please credit me as the designer. You may not, however, sell or reproduce the pattern I am providing to you. Email me if you want to use the pattern for teaching or classroom purposes. Hopefully this is fair for everyone. If you have any problems with the PDF files, or with the pattern itself, feel free to contact me at jwh4000ATgmailDOTcom. Remove the AT and the DOT and replace with the appropriate symbols. And as always, I'd love to see any completed stars, so feel free to blog about them.

That's it for now. I am working on another design that came about due to the bookmark. But, it's morphed quite a bit from my original diagram. In a good way. I may put this one aside and tat something else. I am getting a bit tired with the sine wave pattern. But don't worry, I won't abandon the ideas I still have. I think they will be pretty cool once done. Till next time.

I'm Seeing Stars (But in a Good Way)

I spent another week not tatting as much as I wanted. While two of the custom requests through Etsy still haven't gone anywhere, I did get another one that I spent working on most of the week. I also finished the other custom request that I was waiting for colour choices. So the week wasn't a total loss. And I made a little cash that will go towards some tatting supplies. I have been wanting to order some of the new Lizbeth colours as well as some size 10 Lizbeth (still unsure of the colour-probably black, will have to spend a few minutes deciding). A book or two may be in my future as well. I have been wanting a few of Martha Ess' block tatting books; especially the new on that just came out.

I did manage a little bit of tatting this week. I was working on one of three little motifs that kinda happened while designing my Sine Wave Bookmark (if you haven't downloaded it yet, there is a link to the pattern in the top right sidebar). May I present the Star motif:


So, what do you think? Both stars were tatted with size 20 thread, Lizbeth in colour #113 Jewels on the left and Flora in colour #743 Yellow on the right. Each measures about 1 3/4 inches (about 4 cm, give or take a few mm) wide. I need to retat the star so I can write out the pattern. I will hopefully have the pattern available to download by my next post. I hope to have one of the other two motifs at least tatted, if not written up. I have both motifs diagrammed. I just need to tat them and figure out the stitch count. And to see if they actually can be tatted the way I envision.

That's all for now. I am hoping to make this a tatting week. I would also like to try another motif or two from Marilee's new book. Till next time.

A Tatted Pendant and Some Chainmaille Too

This will be a short post. I haven't done much tatting over the last week. I've been making chainmaille related stuff lately. My Showcase spot on Etsy last week brought in a few sales, which was nice (one of which was a Sterling Silver bracelet). I also had a couple custom requests through Etsy as well that I'm waiting on. I think only one could be considered guaranteed, since I'm just waiting on a colour choice. The second one was probably scared off by the price (I think, and I was being generous too; it's happened before). I've been waiting on a third custom request for over two weeks now; I don't know if it will happen either. I was actually looking forward to this one; the item requested was intriguing (at least to me). C'est la vie!

Anyway, here is the only tatting that I managed to get finished this past week:

This is the Five Petal Pendant from Marilee's new book Up and Tat 'em. I have to say, I love this book! It's full of cool and mostly smallish items suitable for gifts. I have to admit, I did learn something while working on this motif. What did I learn? Bead sizes don't change as much as I thought when changing thread sizes. The pattern called for size 20 thread and 4 mm beads. I used size 10 thread and figured 6 mm beads would be suitable. 5 mm beads might have worked. However, I made the 6 mm beads work; I added an extra stitch here and there as needed. I bet you're wondering about the thread. This is Lizbeth size 10 colour #129 Purple Splendor that I got from Typstatting in the Thread Exchange. I have to say, I didn't know what to expect with this thread. I know a number of people didn't like the size 10 Lizbeth. But I, um, LOVE it! No, really, I do. It tats beautifully and it is strong (a big plus for me, I regularly snap threads when closing rings, and ending off). I'm, of course, now not sure what thread I want to use for my tie. I think it will come down to what colour I will use. I am thinking black may be the way to go, but I'll have to have a better look in my closet some time (soon).

Finally, I will show you a chainmaille pendant I finished yesterday.


I took three of my stainless steel Celtic Star pendants, and joined them together. I have them on a cotton cord, but I think I will look into a matching metal chain to make it more complete. And adjustable. I can make adjustable necklaces using a single strand of cord, but I'm not sure about double strands. I'll have to look into this. Hopefully I'll get this in my Etsy shop in the next day or two.

That's about it for now. If some of these custom request go through, I'll be busy with chainmaille for most of the week. If not, I'll try to get some more tatting done. Including those little motifs I mentioned last week, but haven't worked on since. Till next time.

Temari Balls and Saskatchewan Day

First of all, Happy Saskatchewan Day!!!!! Or Civic Holiday. Or, well, whatever you want to call it. Yup, we have another stat holiday here; we can't agree what to call it, however. It's called something different in nearly every province or territory. Or at least in those that observe it. I ended up cleaning most of the day. I know, the horror! But it had to be done, plus I wanted to rearrange some furniture. I get that from my mom; she used to rearrange the furniture on a regular basis. It would drive my dad nuts! Not sure if I like the result, but I can always change it again in a week or two. Besides that I haven't done much. I spent the weekend relaxing (which was needed). I did some digital tatting yesterday. I worked on diagramming another pattern of mine, and created another two. Still have to tat the two new ones to see if they work. More about them another time.

I don't want to mention my etsy shop more that I need to, but I decided to try the Showcase feature again (I was in the Jewelry section). Seemed to work. Mind you, offering free shipping (two days only, ending tomorrow midnight CST, buy now before it's gone!!!!) probably didn't hurt. This gives me a chance to get accurate shipping rates to other countries, so shipping rates overseas could change. That is all. We will now return to our regularly scheduled blog post.

Since I don't have any tatting to show you tonight, I will show you the new art form I'm learning. A few of you correctly identified it, and a few of you weren't as correct(fortunately, I can't stand clowns; I don't know why). Anyway, what I am working on are Temari Balls, or Japanese Thread Balls. Which are pretty much exactly that. A ball of some sort, traditionally from scraps of silk fabric leftover from making kimonos, though other materials can be used including Styrofoam balls which I'm using. The ball is then wrapping in fine yarn, and finally sewing thread. The thread forms a cloth like surface to do the decorative embroidery on. I won't go in much more detail. Here are a few photos of my first Temari balls:















This Temari is called Fireworks, for obvious reasons. I hope. They kinda look like fireworks. Technically, I don't know how traditional this one is, but it looks kinda cool. You need to see it in real life to appreciate it. The next one looks better, well I think so, anyway:















This one is called "Autumn Moon". This one is more traditional since it is divided up and the embroidery is stitched symmetrically. I think I did a pretty good job with this one. The only thing I'm not happy with is that the metallic gold thread that I used to divide the ball, and used for some decorative embroidery blends in pretty well with the gold sewing thread. Oh well.

That's all for now. Hopefully the next post will be tatting related. I got Marilee's new book in the mail (last week, I think). Finally, the secret to the tatted atom is mine!!!! Sorry, I don't know where that came from. Till next time.

Sine Wave Bookmark Pattern

I was hoping to post this yesterday, but I've had a rough couple three days at work. Early Monday morning my department (and a couple related departments) started doing inventory (which I forgot about). Even though we had a third party company come in to do the actual counting, we have to help. Specifically, I had to help. For the lack of a better term, I had to babysit three inventory guys all three days. It wasn't hard work, just very, very boring. I mean, essentially, all I did was bring pallets of stock down from storage racking, moved pallets around, went through pallets with the inventory people, made sure they counted everything, and acted as a go-between between them and either my supervisor (who wasn't there on Wednesday) or a manager/assistant manager. So, even though I didn't feel like I did much, I was exhausted. Thus the delay.

I was hoping to have a few photos of my newest interest, but it will have to wait another couple of days. So I guess I will go on to the posting of the pattern for my Sine Wave Bookmark. So, without any further delay, you can find the pattern here. As I mentioned in the pattern, feel free to tat many bookmarks as you like for gifts, etc. However, I ask that you do not sell the bookmark, or pattern for that matter, for profit without asking permission. As I mentioned earlier, there is no definite front or back side. If you practice frontside/backside tatting, you will have to modify the stitch order yourself. I don't practice fs/bs tatting so I'm not going to write my patterns as such. Sorry, but I assume if you practice fs/bs tatting, you probably can modify the patterns yourself. I hope you understand. If you have any problems with the pattern, feel free to contact me at jwh4000ATgmailDOTcom. Remove the AT and the DOT and replace with the appropriate symbols. And if you do tat the bookmark, I'd love to see it (this isn't a requirement).

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll post again in a few days. That is if I don't melt first. It's been pretty hot here for the last several days (I'm sure I won't get any sympathy from anyone), though on the plus side, it hasn't rained for a few days as well. Till next time.

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.