Cyril's Swans

Here in Stratford we have swans. Not as many as we used to have as we sadly had a bout of Avian flu over the winter but we still have half of them left and hopefully the Spring will see some signs of them breeding in earnest! 

Cyril is our unofficial (I think) swan person. He's got a dedicated swan bike which was recently donated to him and he is called out at all hours to rescue swans who have got tied up in fishermen's lines, got ill or, sadly, died. He does an amazing job and is well thought of by all us locals. 

This is the reason I'm calling these guys 'Cyril's Swans'. I've made him a couple to sew onto his jacket or whatever he wants. We met a few weeks ago outside the library and he was really chuffed with them. 

I expect you'd like the pattern, wouldn't you? Well it's on my free pattern page or via a the direct link here.

Coats doily again

Well I also found time to get the border of the Coats doily done and I must say that I'm pretty pleased with it. 

I have oodles of this thread in size 40 so I will continue on my merry way. It's going to be my 'take with me' project when I go to the craft groups so it will be a long time in the making!!! 

I'll add another picture of the completed doily which will now become a cloth just so you can feast your eyes on what it will look like - one day!!!

Monday thoughts - not moans

Yes it's that time of the week again!!!

This time it’s not a moan but more a matter of talking to myself about a couple of ‘techniques’. Well I think they’re more ‘suggestions’ than techniques as such. 

The two which I find most amusing is ‘posting the shuttle through the ring and/or doing an extra half double before closing’. Now this is meant to make the base of the ring lie better and to make it easier to open the ring if needed. 

When I first heard about this idea I adopted it. In fact I used it for several months until I decided that it was a pain in the ‘you know where’ and which also slowed me down. Anything which means letting go of the shuttle slows the tatter down and this certainly slowed me. 

So, I rang up BC3 (for those who don’t know BC3 - he’s the only brain cell I’ve got left and is a good hardworking soul) to ask him to check it out. 

It dawned on me that the only reason that the rings might look better is because I was being more careful when closing them after 'posting' the shuttle and that if I went back to my old ways and closed carefully I’d probably get the same result. So back I went to my original method and it was true - when I closed more carefully (without the posting and/or extra half double) the rings did look better. It was also the same with doing the extra half double. 

Then I questioned myself and realised that I didn’t want ‘perfect’ tatting (whatever that is!) but wanted to enjoy the craft so I went back to my ‘good old ways’ and life is good!!!