Netting needles

Before I start today I would like to tell you that I've slowly started sewing again!!!  The weather has been a bit warmer on a few days so I've been able to get in the conservatory.  New fabrics courtesy of Miranda (many thanks) have broken my vow not to make anymore bags.  I'm easily led astray!!!!  Here's the link.

OK, so here are the netting needles I own.

Just to prove (to myself more than anybody else) that I did do a bit of combining netting with tatting in the past here is a picture of a piece that I did for a little booklet produced by Margaret Hamer and Kathleen Waller.  Interestingly I learnt bobbin lace from Margaret - via snail mail to help her write the first  of a similar series of booklets she produced.

Can you see the picture at the bottom?  One is the net made into a square mesh and then stretched onto a frame and embroidered on and the other has a tatted centre with netting round it.  That was a nightmare to do as the picots on the tatting had to be just the right size to take the knots of the round of netting.  When I look back I believe I had more brain cells than I do now!!!!

New technique page

Well I did it.  I got it done.  It's finished.  

Here's the link to the finished technique page for Lock Chain Block Tatting.

I hope you enjoy doing this as much as I did.  At the top of the page is a sneak preview of a pattern which I've been working on.  Well, actually, I've got two that need the pages finished off.  Just need to give brain cell 3 a kick up the 'you know what'!!!!

I've also listed some more Wrap It, Flip It and Mark It bookmarks in my Etsy shop.  This time they are seahorses!!!

Finally please check out the TIAS blog where you'll see number 107 from Mary Jo.  It's worth reading the link I've put on this post too.

Playing and messing around

Playing with the same pattern again.  I'm still trying to do alternative centres to the rings in the original.

Messing with block tatting with a difference too.  Can you see what I've done?

Instead of regular block tatting I'm using lock chains!!!!  Now this is MY technique and nobody's to use it and IF they do they've GOT to mention my name and ask permission yada, yada, yada.

Just kidding!!  Honest.  TEASING!!!!!  Well you know I don't take this craft or anything very seriously - specially myself!!!

I'm working on the technique page for this type of block tatting and will have it completed for tomorrow - promise!!!!!  It took a bit of fiddling to work out the best way to do it but I think I got there in the end.  All I've got to do today is work out a conversion so any block tatting can be changed to lock chain block tatting.

I've also got two new designs bubbling away using this technique.

Threads from Jess

Well after an extremely serious word with brain cell 3 just after Christmas we both decided that I'd got more than enough threads to keep me going for a good many years.  

Then along came Jess.  I met Jess and her dear little daughter Livie last September at Tat Days and was taken aback by the colours of threads on her table which she was selling.  Mind, Karey's was pretty darn cool and also Yarnplayers and all managed to leave a dent in my dollars!!!!  So after this serious word with BC 3 we both settled down and tatted and didn't look at anymore threads.

That is until Jess ran a 'free shipping' in her Etsy shop.  The stipulation was that if you lived overseas you should buy more than one skein.  Nothing but absolutely nothing was said about ordering four.  BUT once we both (BC 3 and myself) got into the shop that was what happened.  Here they are.

Left to right - Kaleidoscope, Carnival, Mindango Gum and Purple Pansy.

Not tatting but netting.

When I was in my 20's or thereabouts my gran (who I'd learnt to tat with as she was learning too) gave me a bundle of netting needles and meshes which somebody had passed on to her.  I took it upon myself to find out what they were and how to use them.  I had a very good trip to the local library who searched down in their cellars and found me one book with instructions on  how to do the craft and so I taught myself netting.  I went on to accomplish filet too which is another story.

So roll on a few more years and I picked up The Lady magazine in a dentist waiting room (or it may have been the doctors as I had young kids then) and read an article on bobbin lace in there.  I'll never know why but I jotted down the address of the magazine and wrote and suggested they ran an article on netting.  They wrote back and said that if I wrote one then they'd look at it and maybe publish it.  Panic set in.  I had no idea how to type so borrowed an ancient typewriter and set off to use it!!!  Well I daren't tell you how long it took me to write it all down.  Weeks and weeks and weeks of laborious one fingered typing!!!!  

I was gobsmacked when they wrote and accepted it and I waited for about two years for it to be published.  You'll see that the date on it is 1973 so I was 30 years old and would've written it at the age of 28ish.

They paid me.  I can't remember how much it was but it was such a small amount for all the effort I put in that I really didn't think it was worth it but I was SOOOO proud.  You'll see that it's published under my married name P J Dunn which I ditched as soon as the M R Dunn part of the deal left!!!!  Why be Dunn when you're really an Eborall?!?!!?

Meet Spud!

This is my new pet.  Well, actually it's my daughter's and I haven't met him yet.  Knowing that they were getting a puppy I decided to go ahead and tackle a doggy design.

Over the years I've been asked time and time again for doggy patterns but have always not quite 'got there'.  The main problem was that they were all different breeds or mutts.  We've only ever had mutts in the family and as you all know all dogs differ a lot.  It was too hard to decide on what breed of dog to do so I eventually decided on a puppy as they all look 'much the same' when they're little.

So, Spud was born.  

Want to meet him?  He's here.  

Snowflake with LOTS of beads in centre

No, this isn't the new and exciting idea - this one is NOT going ANYWHERE!!!!  I wasn't happy with this at all and the notation I did for it has been thrown out of the window!!!!  Well, not quite but it certainly got deleted!!!!!

Another attempt will be tried out over the next few days.

Kathy woke up brain cell 3

In the comments section of the blog two days ago Kathy said:-

"A couple of words stood out to me: 'magazine' and 'doodad'. Did the magazine do an interview also, in addition to printing your pattern? And apparently you were using doodads back in 2000!"

Well that prompted another trip up into the loft to look for the patterns I did back then for a magazine here in the UK.  No interviews and no mention of my name either!!! 

All I really remember is the craft lass rang me up and asked for 'tatted snowflakes', please.  I'd done things for them before which I will show you another day.  Well I suppose I've always had a rather unusual way of looking at tatting so I decided to do something that nobody I knew of round then had done before. These were done in 1999 at the beginning of my 'four bad years' so this was a real morale booster back then.

In those 'good old days' there was a lady who had a tiny, tiny wardrobe sized outlet in one of the antiques arcades in town. In fact many times you had to wait outside for the only customer in there to come out so you could squeeze in!!!! 

I found some (now called doodads) metal findings in there and promptly set about doing four designs for the magazine. Three were published as you can see below.  Unfortunately they took over a year to be put in there and as these sorts of metal findings were so hard to get the lass in the arcade had run out of one sort!!! That's the reason that one of the snowflakes below doesn't have a doodad!!!!  I wonder why they didn't use the other one?  I'll never know now.

So, for those who missed previous posts here are the links to the patterns that came about because of this.  First the altered original here on rings and currently I'm working on updating this one - which wasn't published!!!!

Snowflake with big bead in centre

First of all - please take a moment to read today's TIAS blog for an explanation of the failings of brain cell three!!!!  I have also amended yesterday's file to give thread quantities.  Must've had a bad few days with the aged brain!!!!

Now I'm playing with another of the old patterns - this one.  I've put a bead in the centre just like I did with the old one.  I'm off into the loft later to see if I can find the magazines that had the originals in - watch this space!!!

I'm pretty pleased with this idea but I want to try something new and exciting out too.  Well, it might not be new but it's certainly exciting!!!  Watch this space!!!

Last of my playtime!!!

Another 'before I start rambling' note.  Yesterday we reached 99 prams - wonder who will become the magic 100th?

Finally here's another pattern completed.  

This is an update of a pattern I did round about 2000 for a magazine here in the UK.  After a few years I took the doodad out and replaced it with a cabone/curtain ring and the pattern is still lurking on my site here.

A while back I wanted to make a newer version along the same lines so that's now done and dusted too.  Here's the link for the new one.

Back to the snowflake again!

Well after the TIAS there's time to play and I'm back to this idea again!!!

I've almost sorted the revised pattern too so must get it finished and off my list of 'things to do' next week.  I love the top one here - don't the colours zing.

On the subject of the TIAS - we're nearly at the 100 mark now.  I wonder who will make number 100?  There seems to be a bit of a 'thing' about becoming 100!!!

Both small cats and Godzilla

Another 'before I start' post.  We've now got 95 prams (beginning to think we might 'beat the goats' in numbers) but I'd love you to read Katharine's comment which tickled me to bits.  More about her sense of humour below.

First I want to show you the two cats together so you can get an idea of how they could look.

I love to see what people have done with my patterns but this one came as a shock!!!!  This is the pattern - a kangaroo and joey.  Imagine my shock at seeing what Katharine has done with it.  Shock but WHAT a hoooooot.  Don't you just love people's imaginations?  This one even breathes fire!!!  Thanks for a humungous giggle, Katharine.

Small cat stretching up

Just when you thought it was safe to visit this blog - this is what happens!!!  Another feline appears.  This is part of the reason you never got the other cat until yesterday.  Not only did I have problems with tweaking that cat but this one just didn't want to be designed back then!!!

When I remembered the two patterns a week or so ago I just picked up this one and it 'happened' straight away!!!  No idea why sometimes I struggle and other times things fall off the shuttles.

Anyway - here's the companion to yesterday's cat!!!!

Small cat.

First of all - thank you to everybody for your comments and private messages about the TIAS.  There will be another next year and it will be mainly the same as before but with one or two small improvements.  Please check this link too to see the three TIAS's sent in yesterday - there's a surprise on there!!!!

I have been clearing out my computer with a confession or several to make.  

This little moggy was started and was ready to go about two years ago but I wasn't quite happy with parts of him so he got forgotten!!!!  I also wanted to make a companion too!!!!  I like animals to be 'doing something' sometimes so this little critter was 'born'.

Well finally the pattern is ready and is here.  

I've got his alter ego nearly ready to go too and just hope that I get time today to finish him off.  It's the links and uploading odds and ends which seem to take the time.  Anyway, enough rambling - happy tatting!!!!

A sort of a questionnaire!

This year has been the sixth year of the TIAS and it occurred to me the other day that I'd never asked what I could do to improve it.

I'm sure there MUST be improvements I can make so I'm taking notes now in preparation for next year's 'effort'.

I need to know things like are there too many parts to the designs?  I aim for around 10 but should there be fewer?

Is each part of the pattern released too soon or is the gap too long?

Do you feel you are obliged to send in comments and/or pictures?  I don't want this to happen although I do like to have a first and a final one from everybody just so I can see if it's worth doing another the following year.

Should there be some sort of 'signing in' to do the TIAS in future whereby those people and only those get the links?

I'm also curious as to why so many start and then roughly only half finish.  I know things like 'life' get in the way but does it mean that people give up because either they can't manage it or because (when they realise what it is) they don't want the finished item.

Any help or suggestions would be very welcome and I'd appreciate if they were sent to this email address.  lovetotat @ gmail.com.

A host of bookmarks!

Well, not quite a host - more like 7 to add to the other 3 already in there!!

Over the past ten days or so I've been making more of the Wrap It, Flip It and Mark It bookmarks for the Etsy shop.  

I've been using one of these since I first came up with the crazy idea.  Well, it seemed sort of crazy at the time but they actually work very well.  

You take the tape and fix it round the back of the book cover (this is adjustable) and then the motif can be flipped into the book to mark your place when you've finished reading.  

Here are a few of the ones I've listed.

Snowflake 2 again

Well I'm still playing with this snowflake.  I'm like a dog with a bone and can't leave it alone.  Sheesh, that rhymes!!!  

As you can see this time I've used one of the shell beads for the centre AND it fits in a ring too!!!!  So, do I feel another play session starting?  Well I had to do another - just to check the pattern out!!!!

Pram

Well I managed to get the pram back on one page!!!  The pattern is now here.  

I know it was originally on one page because that's the way I first did it but that was before I chopped it all up, messed around with it and then couldn't remember which was the original document!!!  BUT then you all tested it for me!!  

You see you've all been tricked!!!  What YOU thought was a fun tatting experience was really a HUGE trick to get you all to test tat the pram for me!!!!

Actually it's also been re-tested by Cheryl during the past few days too.  Thanks, Cheryl - much appreciated.

Valentine's Day - a non event!

So today I present you with the 'not a lot else' side of my tatting blog!!!!!

These earrings (yes, there is a pair - somewhere) were found buried in a basket in one of my favourite charity shops.  I was with Sally at the time (a few months ago) and she didn't spot them!!!!  Her loss - my gain!!!

So they came home and have since been taken apart ready for Valentines Day.  What happened next?  Precisely NOTHING!!!  They're still waiting in 'tat corner' for attention.

I forgot to show Sherry last Saturday which may have made me do something with them if I had!!!  So, I suggest you come back next year to see if anything has happened to them by then!!!!

Remembering

A year ago today a big space was created in my life.  Miss you so much, Gina, my friend.

Final round doily

Before I start - I have 52 people who have completed their prams.  THANK YOU.

Well I finished it.  Really enjoyed doing it too.

I stuck with the same colours that I used on this round.  Why?  Well I was limited to the choices of this type of HWT so that really solved the 'problem'.

I've put in an extra middle as you can see but I'm not really convinced it works.  Still as it was put in after everything else a pair of scissors will sort THAT problem out!!!  

Meeting another tatter!

I was lucky enough to meet up with another tatter on Saturday - somebody you'll all have heard of - Sherry Pence.  She lives in America but is over here for a week or so with her husband.  We met up and I took them on a walking tour of the town.  Then home for a cuppa tea and tatting chat!!!

The picture below is Sherry in the mirror maze in the main theatre.  I take my grandkids here when they visit but suddenly realised that I'd got two slightly larger kids with me who may also like to see it.  Hmmmm, same as the younger ones - a job to tear them away!!!  This is a travelling exhibition which will be gone in April.

I had a wonderful afternoon and we thoroughly enjoyed talking about y'all in Tat Land too!!!

Look what Sherry gave me too - one of her splendid new hooks.  You can find them in her Etsy shop which is here and when she gets back home later this week.

Final day of TIAS 2013

The final day and the final link which is here. 

Please don't forget to send in where you live and the threads used if you know them. The first picture is MINE. One of the many 'trials' I made while designing this pattern. NO, it had nothing to do with the Royal baby which is due sometime this year as this was ready back last November when that was only a twinkle in it's parent's eyes!!!

Snowflake morphing!

Now many, many years ago I had this pattern (one of a series) published in a UK weekly magazine.  Originally these were made on doodads which I'd bought locally but when they were no longer available I re-did them on cabone or curtain rings which is what you see on my pattern pages.

Another almost twenty years on from the original pattern I've decided to re-visit the pattern again and 'get rid of' the ring in the middle.  

So, my first foray into re-vamping the design is below.  Hmmmm, it's sort of OK but not what I'd call a good design.  

Please come back another day to see what actually happens to this idea.  Believe me - in the end it's a much improved one!!

This must be a record!!!

A record in that it's only a few days since I showed you these notes and here now they're up and floating around in cyberspace here.

Big pat on the back for the OG, eh?

Day 10

Today I am posting the link for Day 10 of the TIAS.  This is where you can use a new (I suggest plain) colour.  It may take you a little longer this time but I thought that by now you'd be bored with the game so there will be this one and just a small portion on Sunday (Day 11).

Treble clef

Thanks everybody for all your comments on yesterday's post.  I'm pleased to tell you that I'm even more confused now than I was before.  I'll put all the names in a pot and pick one out in due course!!!

I was heartened to also find out that I'm not alone on not liking music too - makes an old git feel not so odd!!!

Now I know the name of this note - it's a treble clef.  No idea why I know that but I do.  I think it's quite important in music but not sure why.  No, I really don't want to know either - ignorance is bliss and I'm truly ignorant!!

HELP needed

Now just lately I've been working on musical notes - small ones for notecards etc.  Mainly because my sister asked me to although I must admit to having been asked many times over the years.  One thing quite a few people know about me is that I utterly HATE music of any sort.  It makes me tense and angry for some reason.  Now you have the proof that I'm bonkers.  

Anyway, having done these two notes I suddenly realised that I don't know what they're called!!!    I did try googling them but still didn't settle on a 'real' name.

The top one I've called 'small note with bar and blobs at both ends' and the one underneath has been named 'small note with squiggle at top'.

Can anybody out there tell me what their real names are before I put the pattern onto the doodle page?  I don't need a long explanation of what they say to you - sheeeeeesh, it'll only make me abandon them again.  Just a name - tat's all!!!

One more to come but I know the name of that one!!!

Day 9 of the TIAS

Here is the link to Day 9. Have fun!!!