Another part of the mystery

Don't forget - 12 o'clock BST (midday) is the time I'll be letting the shuttles loose!!!

So, further progress on this mystery. This caused me some fun working out what colours and where to use them!!!

It's almost 'there' but I need time to get the last round sorted.

Meantime the sewing machine is out and bags are being made.  

Tomorrow

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is a dedicated 'shuttle day'. Least it will be if tomorrow is Saturday and I'm sure that usually follows a Friday!!!

The time will be 12 midday BST.

Another two pictures to dangle under your nose!!!!

Oak at the top and Olive underneath.

Fandango bookmarks 2

Two more of the Fandango bookmarks I've made over the last two weeks. I reckon each one takes an evening and a half - almost two. 

I really like these colours but don't ask me which they are as they're old threads and some HDT too.  All in a size 40.

BC3 had an idea yesterday and decided to email the school we all went to (see yesterday's post) to ask if we may pay it a visit.  I haven't been back since I was 18 and it's only about seven miles away!!!!  I couldn't believe it when I got an almost immediate reply to say that we'd be very welcome.  I did point out in my original email that I was probably NOT the best behaved pupil the school had every had.  Numerous hours spent 'on the landing' having been told to leave the lesson (mainly history from what I remember) and also outside the headmaster's office too. 

In my defence - I wasn't 'naughty, naughty' but really downright mischievous with an overdeveloped sense of humour!!! Pranks were my main 'thing'!!!!! 

Have I changed over the years? I leave that for YOU to decide!!!!

Fandango bookmarks

I'm lazy. VERY lazy when it comes to looking for new patterns to work on! I tend to just look around on my computer for something I can follow easily and that means I usually stick to my own work. It's not that I think mine's better than everybody else's - NO WAY. It's just that I simply understand my style of notation and diagrams.

Anyway, sometime in June/July a friend will be arriving from Tasmania. We've been friends since we were at school - secondary school, that is. 

There were roughly seven of us left in the sixth form who were mates and in the same class and when we left school we started a circular letter.  The letter comes round about once a year - sometimes more so that's over 50 years and over 50 letters.  The way it works is that you read all the letters from everybody, take your old letter out and put in a new one.

Over the years we've had one or two drop out (sadly one of us died) and one joined in but we were all at school together.  So, I wanted to make a gift for each person and I can show you what I'm making - bookmarks.

The friend in Tasmania is the only person online so if you're reading this, Nita, then there may NOT be one for you - or there maybe one for you!!!
The pattern is the Fandango bookmark worked in size 40.  

Shuttle talk AGAIN and progress.

I hope everybody sees this. There's been a change of plan for the listing time for the next lot of shuttles. 

Instead of the evening over here we've decided to do it at 12.00 BST (mid day/afternoon) for the sake of the Australian tatters on the west coast.  There seems to be some confusion too over which Saturday.  It will be this coming Saturday - the 17th.  As there are so many this time I'm hoping that everybody will get what they want. It's SOOOOOO hard to pitch the right times specially when BC3 isn't very good at time zones!

Next round of the mystery done but it's nowhere near finished yet!!!! I need darker colours again for the next part, I think!!!

Shuttle talk

Coming soon - next Saturday at 22.00 BST (British Summer Time) will be a good selection of shuttles!!! There are Pop A Bobbin Shuttles and some very pretty pokerwork flat shuttles too - pictures below. 

I've updated the page with the shuttles on (see tab above this post) and we are offering some new woods this time for the Pop A Bobbin ones. There are 2 Spalted Beech which are very pretty and Ash and Sycamore which I don't think have been seen before in that type of shuttle. Oh, there's Olive wood too.

All listings are now done in GBP but should show up in your country with your currency - I hope!!!

I'm sorry but BC3 can't cope with 'out of shop' requests and due to the fact that we never know what wood 'im in the garage will have this prevents us from doing custom orders too.

Here is the list of what will be available. 

SHUTTLE LIST MAY 2014 

3 COCOBOLA ROSEWOOD 2 with hooks 1 without 

2 PURPLEHEART with hooks

2 EBONY £22.50 each (1 with hook and 1 without) 

3 ZEBRANO with hooks

3 OLIVEWOOD (2 with hooks, 1 without hook) 

3 OREGAN MYRTLE with hooks 

3 AMERICAN BLACK WALNUT with hooks

3 CHERRY with hooks 

1 APPLE with hook

2 PEAR with hooks

9 SEQUOIA (7 with hooks, 2 without hook) 

3 OAK with hooks

3 ROSEWOOD with hooks 

2 SPALTED BEECH with hooks

3 SYCAMORE with hooks 

3 ASH with hooks 

FLAT SHUTTLES

10 Ash 10 Sycamore

Top shuttle is Spalted Beech and below is an example of the flat pokerwork shuttle with picot gauge marks towards the tips for those who measure theirs!!!

Run, RUN

As fast as you can!

You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!!!!

Well look what arrived in the mail yesterday!!!! Isn't that a kind gift? It's from Pam in SC who has been playing with a Gingerbread Man pattern!!! 

It's one of the patterns I'll be teaching at Palmetto Tat Days in September. 

All flights and insurance are now booked and sorted and the fun will begin on September the first when I arrive in Atlanta for a few days with Crazy Mom (who isn't the LEAST bit crazy but kind, generous, brave and FUN) before heading to Tat Days!!!!

It might be expensive and a lot of work to take a trip over the pond (I'm being a brave OG this time as I'm travelling alone) but it's SOOOO worth it.

Next panic will be when the registration begins as I get neurotic that nobody will want to take my classes so I keep checking and checking the Palmetto site.  I know of two other teachers who are going to be there as they're mates but I've no idea who else has been picked!!!  Apparently the list will be out this weekend.  SOOOOO exciting.  It's quite mind boggling the amount of work it must take to host and run this event.  This will be probably my 5th or 6th visit and each time things swing into action and run so smoothly.  I can't WAIT to see my friends and make (hopefully - unless they run a mile in t'other direction) new ones too.

I've started packing already!!!!  That's honestly true.

More achieved

So, nobody has yet guessed what this is so I take it you've all given up on me!!!!  Another row and another colour. 

Yesterday it rained all day and everything went a bit haywire!!! 

Firstly I played with the cat and accidentally she clawed a vein in the back of my hand. BOY, did it spurt blood!!! Swelled up like a balloon too!!! 

Next the black ink ran out in my printer (I rarely print stuff out) so I knew we'd got ink in the house and decided to leave changing the cartridge til later. 

Then we went shopping in the morning and popped into Staples - Nick likes to look round there and so do I. After grocery shopping and lunch I went to replace the cartridge in the printer but we hadn't got one the right size. DARN IT. We'd just been in Staples - another walk up there today, I suppose!!!

Tatter in town!

The Eborall tours continued yesterday with a visit from 'down under' by Lyn Clemons and her husband!!  Lyn is another tatter and it was funny as we recognised each other from a distance.  Poor woman had seen my picture somewhere online so guessed it was me.  I just have a 'nose' for tatters who stand around looking lost outside the Birthplace!!!!

I forgot to take a photo until we were just parting and we were all thoroughly WET!!!.

Yes, it rained - torrentially!!!!  If we'd had a bucket with us we'd have collected it for them to take home but unfortunately we were 'bucketless'!!!!!

For those who want to meet HMQ!!!

If you're round my neck of the woods at ANY time and want to meet Her Majesty the Queen then that can be arranged!!!! I am her personal secretary!!!

Here's a link to the video of her sitting in my car!!! There's a static picture here too just to cheer up this blog post!!!

I got the sewing machine out for my summer sewing yesterday.  I'm making some more Wrap It, Flip It and Mark It bookmarks - some for a friend in America and will be taking those to Tat Days with me.  This is what I'm talking about for those new to this blog!!!!  There are a few still in my Etsy shop!!!

I'll also be making a few more roly poly bags and poke proof pouches but the old brain wants to make new bags after that!!!  Wonder what BC3 will come up with?

Crazy Mom Tats and CHATS!!!

Crazy Mom couldn't have chosen a BETTER day to come to Stratford. The sun shone all day and the town wasn't too crowded either. 

Her Majesty the Queen picked her up from Leamington Spa train station along with me acting as the chauffeur.

Now, I hear you ask - HMQ?  Yes, HMQ sitting on the dashboard of the car.  Must explain that this is a recent 'jiggly' that a friend round the corner gave me (Joanie - they've arrived in England now and I'll be looking for the corgi too).  Crazy Mom (Sandra) also gave me a new jiggly For my 'jiggly' addiction (see link). which is the same design as the one Joanie sent me a while back but Sandra's has got a pink dress!!!! They are the most energetic of the jiggly family on my windows!!! Oh, she also gave me a TON of beads AND a present which I sent back to Atlanta with her!!!!  More about that will be revealed at Tat Days!!!!  We are plotting a wicked plot, the pair of us!!!

First stop we made was for an enormous cup of tea chez Eborall and then we set off for the town!!!

We 'did' Shakespeare's Birthplace (I'd not visited that for many, many years) which is a really interesting building. Then we grabbed lunch in a place nearby and finally got to the Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare is buried along with his family.  

We ended up back home in the garden for another chat with 'you know who' and Tilly who was very, very gracious and allowed Sandra to 'actually' stroke her!!! She's a timid cat.

Sandra's GOT to come back soon as we didn't 'do' the theatre or that area of the town.  So, Sandra's bosses, you NEED to send her to England again to work!!!!

Lobsters are red!

What a stupid subject line!!!

I made this lobster which can be found here after a conversation with a young lady who is at a London fashion school doing a degree.

I've worked with youngsters like this before and it's great. I like to encourage anybody with any interest in shuttle tatting to use it in their work. Not sure exactly what she'll want next but her first love is the lobster which I did over Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

Exciting day today - I'm meeting Crazy Mom Tats and we're going to spend the day together while I show her the local sights.  More on that on Monday.

Pearls of wisdom?!?!?

Or not - that depend on each individual's opinion!!!!

Pearl tatting is easy and very fast IF you have 'the knowledge'!!!!  There are many ways of doing this technique but this is my favourite way just because you can so quickly 'tat up a storm'!!!!

I decided that as I may need this technique while I'm at Tat Days or later on my visit to America I'd better take a long hard look at the page I did a few years ago once again!!!

I'm hoping that this will make this method of pearl tatting easier for folks to follow so here's the amended file.

Oh, and a picture from that page just to make this post a bit 'prettier'!!!!!

More progress on the mystery

Well here's the next round and you can now see why the last one was slightly 'odd'. 

 Isn't it clever the way the designer made this round?

So, I think the next part (and there's more to come) will need to be different colours.  I'll have to think about that.

Meanwhile back on 'Planet Jane' life has been busy.  Lovely weather for a couple of days brought on a rash of gardening and that, along with other things going on in life hasn't given me much time for tatting during the day.  

When I say tatting during the day - it's mainly working on the computer on tatting related 'stuff'!!!!

Final T-shirt!

Before starting - please take a look at number 94 on the Tat It And See blog here. Thank you, Ladytats.

The last of the trio of t-shirts got finished over the weekend!!! 

This time (to save getting bored) I used the SSSR 'trick' (hiding a thread in the first half) with a chain round. Well, I used that for the neck edging but then got fed up with that and decided on 'just' split rings for the sleeves. 

It's just enough, I think, to make the whole thing a little less boring.

An odd row!

Now to continue the mystery tat that I'm doing. Nobody seems to have worked it out yet!!!

Isn't this a strange round? The pink sections (note - another change of colour!) look like horseshoes to me. 

Easy round to work with 'just enough' interest to keep me going!!!  Looking at the picture - slightly to the left of the centre at the top you can see that the 'horshoes' are not very stable!!!!  Well a lot of that is to do with the way I flung it onto the scanner!!!!

Come fly with me!!!

I'm SOOOOO excited. 

My lessons have been accepted for Tat Days in September!! I'm going over the pond to join my friends old and hopefully new on the weekend I love the most. Palmetto Tat Days. Here's the link to their web site.  This year I've got to put on my bravest face and travel alone.  Sally isn't coming due to other commitments - I'm sorry to say.  I know she'll be sad that she'll miss the fun.  

I applied back in January or February (really can't remember) as soon as they asked for teachers as I'd secretly been discussing this with BC3.  I NEVER, EVER presume I'm going to get a place there as they might not like what I offer - or me either!!!  I always work on several patterns to give them more choice and thankfully they liked what I sent in!!!

This now means that I have a few patterns which didn't fit their constant search to offer a wide variety of techniques and fun things.  Those will be going up onto my pattern pages over the next few weeks - if I remember!!!!

Just wanted to show you the final green t-shirt finished.  

Green t-shirt

What I didn't tell you was that when I bought the yellow t-shirt for the eye, heart, T, A, T, I also bought two more as they were such lovely fabric AND cheap. You've got to realise this about this OG - I'm as 'cheap as chips' as the saying goes!!!!  Let me point out - that's English chips and NOT American ones!!!  There's a vast difference between the two!!!

If you look at the top picture you'll see that the garment has a sweet sort of edging already so I didn't want to cover that.  The first 'row' is simple split rings joined on one side (the variegated side) with a vsp.  I then went back along one side with a lock chain which lock joined into the vsp's.  Simple to make.

For the plain thread I used a 'somewhere around 50' cotton thread that I have in my stash. For the other thread I used a Perfect Quilter doubled.

IF I remember I'll show you the completed t-shirt which will hopefully have the same trim at the bottom of the sleeves too.

Mystery changes colour

So, I got bored after the purple and I worked the next two parts in two greens HWT'd together. 

This was a nice easy relaxing couple of rounds and thoroughly enjoyable.

Next time I add to this mystery I think you'll find it quite different.  I'm not saying anymore so just 'watch this space'.  Not the space between my ears but the space on this page!!!!

Eye love to tat

I actually made a start on sewing the 'bits' onto the t-shirt over the weekend but also had to undo and reposition twice. The eye was originally too high up and the two too!!! Then this picture shows the two re-sewn again but this time the '2' is crooked so I've got to take it off and do it again.

I (thankfully) abandoned the idea at the last minute of using fusible web stuff to hold the pieces in place before sewing - think of the pickle I'd have got into trying to get the 'stickiness' off when I wanted to re-sew!!!!

I also did this eye a little differently - not quite the same as the pattern. This is because in the pattern I used long picots which were cut. When I sewed the eye onto the last t-shirt it looked wonderful but each lash had to be sewn down in several places. That wasn't too bad as I've got a lot of patience.  BUT after many washes the lashes looked - well, manky.  This time I didn't do long picots - just ordinary chains so the lashes are sewn on with a black thread afterwards on this t-shirt. I'm sure this will wash better and keep it's 'good looks'!!!!

More on the mystery!!

First of all I must say Happy Birthday, Bill.  Bill?  Well more commonly known as William Shakespeare.  Well I really ought to acknowledge the old guy as he was born near me and spent a lot of time getting into trouble around this area.  Does that sound familiar? I swear, though, that trouble finds me without having to look for it.

Now this next stage in the mystery may look exactly the same as the last time I showed it to you. Well, must admit I thought I'd got into a muddle when I looked at my files!!!

BUT if you look closely there is a row around the whole piece now. I think I found a small mistake either in the last part or this so had to 'wing it' round the ends!!!! Made BC3 work hard on getting it right!!!

I'm still pleased with it but feel that if there's anymore to be done then another colour will have to come into play!!! It's getting boring now - colour wise!

Finally all components are finished!

Everything is sorted and ready for the t-shirt which is now found, bought and home!!!! 

Yellow is the colour I chose in the end and yesterday I pinned all the bits of tatting on so that today I hope to have time to begin the task of sewing them on!!!

In fact I may use fusible web to 'stick' them on first so that they are easier to sew and I'll then use my 'favourite' thread with which I have a love/hate relationship!!! It's the invisible kind - IF I can find it!! That's supposed to be a joke - invisible - find. Get it? Sorry!!!

Today I've uploaded the 2 and T A and linked them to the eye and the heart. Also added links to them from the eye pattern so all links SHOULD work in case anybody else wants/needs to do similar!!!

Did anybody notice the front page of my pattern site?  I've changed that slightly too.   I like to change stuff regularly - now, Nick, how about I change you?!?!?!!?  That was a joke too!!!

Part 3 of the mystery

Just showing you the next part of my mystery. Any guesses yet?

Must go 'off topic' and tell you about our trip to the vets with our cat last week. Catching Tilly is always a problem and we had the usual 'catch me if you can' event landing up under the bed in the back bedroom.

Going to the vet is something we ALWAYS dread. There is on street parking nearby but you have to (a) find a space and (b) pay to park in it. The vet's do have their own car park but it's a nightmare. 

First you have to negotiate an archway which is just a tad wider than the car. Once through there you have a small courtyard with a right hand turn up a steep ramp to a space where about six cars can park. Meet anybody on the way in or out and you've got major problems. So between us there's always a 'discussion' as to who should drive there. It's only about five minutes drive and twenty minutes walking. We've walked in the past but carrying a 'cross' cat in a carrier is hard work with frequent rest stops.

This year we both had the same BRILLIANT idea. Why not use Nick's mobility scooter? So, that's what we did. I walked as usual and Tilly's carrier just fitted on the foot well under his feet. 

When we told the staff at the vets how we'd avoided the car park issues they said they'd never had a patient arrive like that before!!! Tilly? Well she was not impressed with her annual visit as usual but we now know that this is the way she'll be travelling in future!!!

Next part of the mystery

Yesterday I decided to add a bit more to the puzzle that I set you here.

This may help you to solve my mystery adventure. There again it may not help at all!!!

Somebody somewhere in Tat Land must recognise it soon!!!

Meantime I'm pleased to report that I've found a t-shirt and will hopefully be adding my bits and pieces to it over the weekend.  I still know where they are too which is pretty amazing!!!!

T A T

OK so here are the rest of the 'bits' for the new t-shirt!!! 

Thanks to Maureen commenting on yesterday's post I've also managed to find a picture of the original t-shirt which was/is on my blog.  

The real one is now found in a crumpled heap by the side of my chair - UNDER a load of other 'stuff'!!!! So, here's a link to it!!!

I'm going to make a really determined effort over the next few days to source a t-shirt to sew all these bits onto. I know what'll happen, though - by then I'll have lost my eye, 2 and TAT!!!! First place to look will be under the scanner!!

2

That's the title of this blog post!!! Just '2'!!!

Here it is the number 2 for my yet to be sourced t-shirt!!!

You will notice that I'm using lots and lots of different colours. The reason is simple - I have no idea what colour t-shirt I really want. Oh, except that it won't be blue as the last one with the slogan on was blue. Let me see if I can find a picture of the old t-shirt. No, not to be found on the computer anywhere.

Let me see if I can FIND the old tshirt to take a picture of it.

Heart

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.  Distracted from yesterday's project already!! 

Having told you about the tshirt idea on Friday - (here) I thought I'd do the heart ready for when I got the 'right' tshirt to sew them on. So, here's the heart. 

The pattern is this one - only cause I knew it was the right size to go with the eye!!!

Next I'll have to work on the 2, T and A but being a dozy old moo I didn't write them down last time I made them for the old tshirt so I'll have to start all over again!!!!

The start of another tatting adventure

This is going to be my relaxation project for a while. Probably for a few weeks as I'll always continue to have 'other things' on the go too.

Now, I'm NOT going to tell you what it is or where it comes from.  I'm going to challenge you all to tell me which pattern it is.  There may well be a prize at the end - something I've made probably OR a tatting leaflet or more.  We'll see.  The pattern does have a name, by the way and it isn't my design!!! 

I will tell you two things about it:-

1. It's going to be large.

2. It's going to be made with HWT - hand wound thread.

The plain colours of this project are reels of quilting thread that I found in a sewing shop in Cincinnati more years ago than I dare remember (see pictures below)!!!  The family was shopping in Krogers (think it was that store) when I sneaked off to the shop nearby.  Two or so years later on a return visit to Cincinnati I managed to sneak back there for more colours!!!  I did manage to sneak in the King Tut with the plain pink for this part!

Talk about value for money - doubt these reels will ever run out and I've used them loads of times for HWT.

Updated

Just a quick post today to let you know that I've updated the eye pattern which can be found here.

The reason for doing it right now is because I 'need' to make another one for a new tshirt/top I hope to buy!!! There will be an eye, a heart, a 2 and the letters T A T.  I found a few mistakes in the original and also needed to redraw all the pictures as they'd been done on a PC and I now use a Mac.  Then I decided to notate it for front/backside working too.  A simple job turned into a 'not so simple' one!!!

The tshirt I originally did the pattern for in 2006 is now being retired to the charity shop as my body seems to have outgrown it. OR, as I'd rather believe - it's shrunk in the wash. Cough, cough, splutter, splutter!!

Another task finished

Must be old age but I'm beginning to finish things I've started and not that long ago either!!! I think a health scare last week focussed the aged brain into getting my computer and tatting corner tidied up!!!  Won't last long now the scare's sorted so don't panic - I'm not leaving you all yet, I hope!!!  As I said to Nick - gotta stick around longer just to annoy people and I included him too!!!

So, here it is - the square motif finished in all it's 'glory'. A reminder picture is below although I know you've seen it before!!!!

Now this pattern isn't for the faint hearted.  I've been on Facebook for a long time now and have realised that people nowadays want fast, easy projects to do.  That's fine but it won't progress our craft and that's what I try to do.  Why?  Well if it's a bit more interesting than rings and chains then I'm hoping that people will want to try more challenges.

Well, whatever - it keeps me amused to try new 'stuff'.

Ah, but wait til you see what I'm going to do next - you may want me to eat my computer!!!!  A few years ago it would've been my hat.  Not sure which I'd prefer to eat!!!

Yesterday

Last week I was asked if I could possibly help a local WI group as their speaker for the meeting had been taken ill and couldn't manage to do her stint. 

Interestingly the chairperson is a lass I taught to tat about 400 years ago (well you can take a nought off the end of that!) so I was very happy to say I'd step in. Well that meant a grand rummage and sort through the two large boxes and the suitcase of tatting (all full to the brim!) to find out what I could take to show.

It's some years since I did the 'talk circuit' so I was a bit nervous. I started off explaining a little of the history and showing the knot itself using cord and a Tatsy shuttle. Then I spoke about how I'd stumbled on tatting via my gran and the time just went so quickly that I was surprised when the chairperson started to fidget as if I should shut up. So, I did shut up - after few more minutes!!! 

The highlight for me was when one of the members came up to me at the end and said that she didn't know who had been booked originally to give the talk but that she was very glad that she couldn't come and that I did!!!! RESULT - one VERY happy OG and BC3 wandered their way home for several LARGE cups of tea!!!

Now, I'm wondering how many other groups in the locality would like to be inundated with knotted thread for a couple of hours?!?!?!?

Finally and at LAST

So after a few more attempts at an edging (which I'm not going to bore you with) I can now show you the finished item. Now this would work for any size you care to make a doily/mat/thingie!!

I'm now at the stage of finishing off the pattern. This is a difficult one as it was inspired by a pattern in a magazine - a pretty old Italian one. You can see the original picture if you click on this link.

Let me explain. When I worked my first version it was by simply looking at the picture and then reading the numbers in the long hand written pattern. Guesswork then took place!!! I think the original is made in two rounds but you all know me and my lack of patience with sewing in ends - I immediately started with a SCMR for the centre and then used a SSSR (hiding one colour in that) to work my way out to the outer part.

Then I changed the centre completely to use rings and chains (with thrown off rings) and again using the SSSR idea and throwing in a split chain (minute!) too. Side rings were changed in size and a SR used at the corners. 

So, although in essence this looks a lot like the original I do think it is 'almost' my pattern. In order to share this pattern (I hope legally) I am going to publish it on my pattern pages with a note that it was inspired by the original. 

I will put a © (copyright notice) on the page in order to protect it for both the original unknown designer and for my own input (including drawings) which I THINK is fair.  I'd appreciate any comments on this and if people think it shouldn't be shared at all then I'll happily leave it to stagnate on my computer instead!!!

9 squares and more

You can see here that I decided to play some more and added a few more squares. It's now a nine square mat!!!!

I just had time too yesterday to try out an edging idea but it really doesn't work for me - yet!!! More tomorrow, I hope. Well, unless I get distracted!!!

Then there were four!

After seeing the single square I just knew this was going to work!!! 

SO, here's a group of four.  I LOVE the way the four SR's join together hey diddle diddle right in the middle.  That's a bonus.  Also those pesky side green rings meet nicely too.  This is beginning to look NOT a lot like the original square which I've put below mine.

BUT I'm now not happy with it again. I think it 'needs' an edging to go round it so let's go call on BC3 to see what he can come up with!!!!

Got IT!!!

Solved the problem of the centre that I didn't like. 

I realised that I needed to have something 'in there' to stabilise it. That (before this 'invention') centre part was like a dead eye staring at me and because of it I was no longer seeing the rest of the motif!!!

So, with smaller side rings, split rings on the chains and now the centre solved then I'm 'good to go' on this motif!!!!  I LOVE the way the chains coming out of the centre rings 'look' as if they're sort of going through the green chains.

All this is achieved with no ties and ends until it's finished!!  Mind, if you want to work it that way then you do need to know the split chain (VERY small one) and the SSSR carrying the second colour.  More about that later!!!  IF I remember!

Now for four

Next step was to try four of the green and blue squares together.

For this attempt I tried using a split ring again in the middle of the very long and wobbly chain. That still works for me.

I also used the skimmed down side rings but that didn't work as you can see. If you can't, then enlarge the picture and see how they tend to overlap each other. NOT good.  Well not in my opinion.

So, back to the future - or should that be the past?  

I still haven't totally decided what to do with the middles of the squares although I'm nearly 'there'!!!  Working hard with 'you know who' on solving the conundrum.

The morning after

All Fool's Day was really a daft day to start out on a new venture on my web site!!!!! Particularly when it needed me to look at source codes and other html   issues!!!

I did have a search thingy on the front page of my site at one point but it was pretty darn useless, I thought, so I took it off ages ago. Then I read somebody asking somebody (it could've been me), somewhere on a list somewhere on the internet if there was a search facility somewhere or other.

That woke up BC3 out of the doldrums so off we set to solve the problem of putting a search on my pattern site!!!

Thank you once again, Mr Google, for pointing us both in the right direction. Having found the right place to generate the right source code that I thought I needed all I had to do was to add it to the front index page. Easier said than done!!!

The instructions said to put it in the 'body' of the page so it couldn't go in a table. Then there was the 'how to' do it too.

I set aside the whole of yesterday morning to do this. 

So, how long did it take? Well (and this is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth) - a LOT less time than it's taken to write this blog post!!!!

I present my pattern site along with it's new search facility!!

All Fool's Day

Not a day to celebrate when you teach four/five year olds like I used to!!! Bless their cotton socks but some of the 'jokes' were so funny because they were so - well, unfunny!!!

All Fool's Day is based on an old tradition which in this country stops at twelve midday.  A day when practical JOKES can be played on others but only in the morning!!!

I remember the discussions on allocating a day to be 'International Day of Tatting' and when the first of April was put forward I inwardly cringed as I thought it would make our craft look 'foolish' too.  

Well it happened and it was the day chosen and I still think it's an 'odd' day to celebrate our craft which I don't think is foolish.  So I sit here at home and tat (as I do nearly every day of the year) but wouldn't dream of taking it out with me as I don't want people to associate All Fools Day with either the craft or (less importantly) ME being foolish!!!

OK, I know I'm a fool but a harmless one, usually!!

A square in another colour!

So, further thoughts on the square and this is what I've come up with now!!!!

Another 'thing' I don't like either now is the centres of the squares. I've worked this up entirely differently from the original and this has made it not as easy to keep the centres the same size so I'll be looking to change this too.

I know what I'm going to do (BC3 came up with an idea) so at least that's sorted!!!!  Just got to do it now!!!!  Where DOES the time go?