Tomorrow I'll have something different to show!!!



I've been thinking. Now I know I do a lot of it but having so very few brain cells it's not easy and takes a lot out of my energy cells! I've been re-visiting a pattern that I put on my web site in 2005 and found it a tad confusing!
I don't think it's particularly difficult if people had been following me (and that DOES include me) from the beginning of my 'career' (or lack of) in designing.
What really amazes me is that in just 3 years my methods of writing patterns has changed so much. Let me explain.
First of all when I looked at this pattern I realised that there was no sign of notation for right/front side wrong/backside tatting. YIKES!!!
Do people REALLY want/need the notation in italics and red for front side/back side tatting? Tat is the question!!!! (sorry Bill Shakespeare).
Next thing I noticed was that all the beads were added to the threads before starting instead of adding as you go which could be done for a lot of the beads used in this pattern.
What I really, really want to know is if I should change the pattern or leave it 'as is'? I do find this way of adding beads so much easier - BUT do others? To quote a bit from the bard (again and with apologies) - 'to load or not to load tat is the question'?
This very much makes me (and the 3 best brain cells) realise that I will never be 'ready' to put a book together as I've got what many people have called it in the past - a butterfly brain. It flits from one idea to another always hoping it's going to do better!!!
Any and all comments are very welcome.
As I'm not showing any tatting at the moment (I'm doing plenty but it's been 'assigned') I thought I'd ramble on a bit about the exciting life I lead. So here's all about yesterday's adventure.
In the UK we now have subsidised public transport for 'old gits' like we are now. So we've both got bus passes. We can travel anywhere within our county after nine thirty in the morning for free with these passes. We've got a car and both drive so normally would go either 'on the hoof' (on foot) or in the car.
Yesterday we caught a bus at the end of the road and went to a town eight miles away. We wandered round and found a 'real' pub. Not one that had been modernised but one that had been left alone for ever. We had lunch there, wandered round the town and caught the bus back. Unfortunately we made a bad decision and came back on the top of a double decker and as it went round a lot of the small villages we suffered from sea sickness by the time we got home!!!!
So, that's what we call an exciting day!!!!!!!
Tomorrow I hope to have some tatting to show!!
I've not got anything to show again today BUT I can tell you that I've had a major breakthrough with a design I'm working on. I will tell you, though, that I've been playing with beads and this 'item' is very 'beadful'. Roughly 145 beads but with only 2 added to the threads before starting. Also another way of . . . . . . . . . . .
Because I can't show you I'm going to have to go and do something else today or tomorrow - just so I can share. I miss not scanning or photographing every day!!!
Ah, not a lot done this weekend. I went out on Saturday evening. On my own, without Nick.
BOY, did I have the best time. I spent part of the evening in bed with two guys. Now what could be better than that? Now aged 65 and I managed to 'pull' two guys in one evening. I was exhausted yesterday but that's the price you pay when you get to be a 'real time' old git.
I suppose you want to know what I did with my two guys on my night out? OK, I'll come clean. First of all we played with meccano and then, when we were in bed, I got the chance to read three chapters of George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dhal. My guys are aged 8 and 6!!!
When we'd finally exhausted George (and me!!) I managed another trial of one of my designs.
I also finally got the TIAS finished. Thanks, Sherry, for doing this. I'm sorry I 'lost the plot' on it towards the end but my friend was rather 'desperate' for her little motifs.
I know this blog is supposed to be about tatting but it is titled 'nothing much else' so I'm going to use that as my excuse!!!
During my 65 years and 2 days on this planet some odd things have happened to me. I'm sure they happen to most people so this is my story.
Yesterday I had to pick up some odds and ends from Home Base which (for those not in the UK is a DIY store) and so after I'd been out and about I popped in to pick them up. Well, first of all I arrived there dying for a pee!!! This place actually does have a loo (one of the things I MOST admire about shopping in the USA is the abundance of these facilities) so I did consider making a visit there first. However I went down the wrong aisle so postponed my visit!!! That's where and why I got lucky!!!
So, there I was standing in front of the loft insulation stuff. You can buy 2 humungous rolls for the price of 1 in two thicknesses. I stood there mathering (which I'm VERY good at) about which thickness to buy when a man further along the aisle asked me whether I was buying 1 or 2 rolls. I said my 'remit' was to buy 2. ('Im wot must be obeyed said very firmly that we needed 2). So we had a chat (me and this man) and he said he only needed a small amount of one roll. Anyway he said he was going to buy 2 (as that was the offer) and would give me one of his for free. Well, I couldn't believe it but that's exactly what happened. We went to pay and agreed to meet outside where I was given a free roll in the car park!!!!!
The funniest part was when I got home with 3 rolls. Nick was aghast. Why did you buy three when I only need two? Then it dawned on him that the offer was two for the price of one!!! Why didn't you get four, then? Boy, was I the megga star when I told him what had happened!!!
Most afternoons I go for a walk. I usually go round the river and back up through the town and yesterday I had some banking to do on my way back through the main streets. Before going out I'd noticed an article on a new shop that had opened in one of the small shopping malls so as it was near the building society I decided to take a look.
On the way there I saw another shop was closing down. It's one I'd never been into before. A balloon and party one. So, I went in and had a look around. I noticed some bolts of fabric on a shelf. I reckon there must be about 4 yards in each. Colours are white, cream, two blues, purple and green. I bought them all and paid only 50p for each one. That's about a dollar. They'll make splendid linings for roly poly bags and some will make the bags themselves (I'm thinking of the purple!!).
I finished the matching earwigs for Etsy in the evening so back to playing again!!!
In the evening I started to tat it (see below). Total and utter failure!!! IF I get time today I might try to change the diagram filling as I did think out another idea in those last few minutes before I fell asleep last night. At times like these I'd happily give up trying new stuff. Below is the day's 'waste of thread'!!!!
I then have to remind myself of past successes like the pendant and earwigs.
Easy. Become a sort of designer like me!!! I've just started out on another idea. Starting is sometimes very hard. I want this to be another TIAS so it has to be 'devious'. Not only that it has to be balanced in skills and looks too. I now have about half a dozen 'false starts' in the first evening. Hopefully this idea will eventually work but at the moment it appears to be the best way on earth to waste thread!!!! By the way, this is SO normal for me. The reluctance to start and the inability to get under way!!!
Before settling down in the evening I did the next part of the TIAS.
So, Sunday was spent in a 'coming down to earth' mode! No, not a hangover as such but I was tired.
As I'd sold the only pair of Christmas tree earrings I'd made on Etsy while we were out, I replenished that meagre stock during the afternoon. I also made another pair with red 'lights/beads' which I will list today when I've done my dad's shopping etc.
I did finish the earrings yesterday and they're below. Also tidied up 'tat corner' but 'im wot must be obeyed said (and quite rightly) 'that'll never last'. Still, for a few hours, it does look reasonably tidy!!!
I also managed to 'tweak' the pendant yet again and this time I used blue no. 40 thread. This is the final version - not that you'll see a lot of difference between this and yesterday's pink one!!!
Oh, another thing. We were out and about yesterday and went to a new bead shop I'd heard of. It was right out in the 'sticks' and at a craft centre. The centre has small outlets in old farm buildings so I wasn't that bothered about going there as many of these places are a dissapointment when you finally find them. Also I don't NEED anymore beads!!!
Well I thought I'd gone to bead heaven when I walked in the door. Did I buy any beads? What do you think?
The owner told me they're expanding threefold next year and are currently setting up a web site so I think it'll become a regular haunt - corse I won't need anymore beads, will I? I'll just go there to look, won't I?
I'm reasonably happy with the outer round but it does need a lot of tweaking with the stitch count or a change to a number 40 thread. I'll decide later today!!!
I had fun yesterday adding all the blogs that I follow to my dashboard. Still not totally sure how this works but I'm gradually understanding it. I've now got 11 followers - yipppeeee.
I forgot to add that I've re-listed the remaining tatting leaflets in ebay.
Goodness knows how but I was fiddling around with the blog and found a new gadget - followers!!! So I added it to the top left of the page. I was totally gobsmacked when I put it on to find that immediately I'd got five followers. Can't tell you how brilliant that feels. I use google alerts for blogs but I'm going to have a look at the gadgets again to see what others are being offered. I shall be looking to add myself to other people's blogs too!! BEWARE - daft old git at large!!!
Thanks to Sherry (celticdreamweaver) I have now added the Spanish couple to my site. I'd completely forgotten them. Sorry, Sherry but thanks for reminding me!!!
I finished the other earring of the pair I was making the day before yesterday (the brown ones) which means that I have yet another pair to choose from in the mornings!!! I really MUST clear out some of the darn earwigs - they're taking over my bedside table - in fact I'm sure they're breeding!!
Anyway yesterday morning I sat down and did the drawings for this pair. This is a fairly big task even though it's only a small piece as I want to be sure that people can follow my perverted way of working it easily.
In the evening I started working on the medium sized hoop. This one measures 1" in diameter so I don't want to make it any larger than that if I can help it. I've solved this problem by working beads into the covering over the ring.
The inner (as you can see below) is sort of OK. I shall work the central large bead into it in another way. I really fancy a 'dangly' something in the middle there. In fact I've been experimenting with ways to do that (the pink 'bits' at the bottom). All I've done is take ......... heck, I'll explain it on the pattern and do a drawing but it's really easy.
If you look really closely at the scan you'll see there are definite variations as I've worked round the ring. I was trying to work out how many ds's to do etc. I think I'll add another large 'dangly' bead at the bottom instead of the LBP. Anyway, that's this evening's task sorted!!!
I also managed to do part 3 of the TIAS 4.This game is proving to be very good practice at doing block tatting!!!! I've sent Sherry my three stages this morning so she can blog them when she gets time. I've solved the mystery of what it's going to be but you'll have to wait until later when it's blogged here!!!
Now most people know I'm not married but live happily in a muddle with my dear partner. This means that the threat of divorce doesn't hang over me - once bitten twice shy in both our cases. BUT this doesn't mean that a relationship doesn't have 'those moments'!!! So in order to avoid one of 'those moments' arriving I felt obliged to tidy up my tatting stuff yesterday!!! It does tend to migrate somewhat! I decided to put the books (well over 100) tidily on the shelf as I tend to take them out, look at them and put them back on top of the others!! I came across the leaflets (about 50) that I've collected too and then decided to dispose of the duplicates. As the title says - a girl has to do what a girl has to do. So I spent yesterday afternoon listing them in ebay. The reason I've got so many duplicates is because people tend to list them in clusters and sometimes there are leaflets in a 'cluster' that I want so the others become duplicates.
I also got part two of TIAS 4 done and I know what it's going to be. It's a miniature Eiffel tower (or Blackpool tower!!!).
I got the earring finished too and a rough draft of the pattern. I'm not sure if folks will want to wear this idea as earwigs as they are rather large!! I know I will but if not they could make them as zipper pulls, decorations for handbags, brooches - almost anything.
Well he (brain cell # 3) finally got a result late last night. I don't totally like it yet so will take # 3 to one side and have a word with him later!!!!
It took all evening to achieve this one sample!! The reason? Brain cell # 3 kept wandering off into the other room so by the time I went to bed I'd decided that this was something that was going nowhere!!! Looking at it again in the 'cold light of day' I can see that it has great potential. Let me explain.
The centre motif is easy. You do have to tie and cut but that should be the only one in the whole thing. Actually covering the brass ring and including the central motif is easy but it took several attempts to get this right. I've now got the 'recipe' for that sorted.
What I should've done is put 1 bead onto the pink thread on the shuttle so that I could include a bead before the bottom pink split ring. Then all you do is leave threads dangling.
The next round is just SO simple - rings and chains. What I should've NOT done here is try to be so flipping clever. I don't like that long beaded picot at the bottom. It sucks big time. I shall miss that one out on the next attempt. I will have to add more doubles to the chains too. Another mistake I made (and had to retro tat) is where I put the hanging LBP. The first time I did it I put it on a chain instead of above a ring - dugh!!! I think I'll probably use a second shuttle here and make a ring with the jump ring added.
IF brain cell # 3 works properly this evening (and it is a wine drinking evening!!) then I should be able to get him to fathom a way of finishing the motif without sewing ends!! That's the plan anyway.
Well the pink dolphin and seahorse didn't stick around for long!!! They were snapped up out of Etsy and are well on their way to the USA!!!
I started Sherry's TIAS 4 and have one thing to say. Just one complaint/criticism. It's VERY dangerous to tell old gits like me to 'put aside for future use'. VERY dangerous!!!! I just know I'll lose it. Well done, Sherry - looks good but so far no guesses - unless it's a basket!!! OR am I just a 'basket case'? Answers on a pin head please to lovetotat at gmail.com!!!!
OK I started on another idea yesterday evening. If you take a look at the brown earwig beneath you'll see that this was made on a brass curtain ring - one I made some years ago. Not sure where the pattern is but I think it's on my site somewhere!!!
Anyway, having learnt how to cover a ring with knots I decided to give it a whirl the 'modern' way - I don't like the ugly brass showing through. First of all I made the centre purple part. I then added the beads to each picot. Next I took the tail end of the green thread through each picot to sort of 'lock' each bead onto the picots. Next I used the shuttle end of this thread to cover the brass ring also working over the tail running through the picots. This locks the purple centre to the inside edge of the ring - firmly and neatly.
In the purple/green scan on the left you can see that I haven't put enough knots over the brass ring. The next one shows an improvement but I think I still think I need more ds. Using the tail end I've next worked a small SR to take me to the outer round - but knowing me this could and will change.
Now why do I bother to cover a ring when this could be made by just tatting round the purple inner? The reason is because I cannot stand 'bendy' earwigs. Mine have to be very firm but pretty. On other designs I've relied on beads to help keep the shape but sometimes there are 'other ways'. I'll play with this again and although it might sound hard it's really VERY simple and I'll draw it out when I do the pattern.
First of all I managed to get round to listing the pink dolphin and a few more roly poly bags yesterday in my Etsy shop. The orange with purple flowers bags are really bright!! I was tempted to keep a set but will part with both - I think!!!! As it rained again most of yesterday I did quite a bit of computer stuff and also managed to make a banner for my shop!! That was a big step for me!!!
Below are my tatting achievements for yesterday. The orange and pink was going to be earrings but after you've looked and laughed it will be cut up and recycled. Talk about major boo boo!!! IF only I could read my own patterns!!!! I didn't count how many beads to put in the centre of the first ring on the SCMR so that put the whole pattern out!!! Actually it would've been too big for an earwig anyway!!! I used a no. 80 with a sewing thread but next time (IF there is one!!!) I'll use just the no. 80 as I know that'll work!!!! As a consolation to myself I made a sequin motif. This one uses two sorts of chains. First the lock stitch chain using 1st half flipped second half unflipped and then the other chains are 1 double flipped followed by 1 double unflipped. I'm quite pleased with this so may add it to the sequin page as another alternative.