Packing and wondering

As I'm gradually packing things into the suitcase (and carry on) I'm wondering how many of these pests I can take with me. 

Darn things (for those who don't know - they're Canada Geese) are the scourge of the riverside in town. I walk round the recreation ground most days and these pesky things are 'there' and trying to take over from our swans. 

Did you know that a Canada Goose poops 2 lbs a day? Not nice and not healthy either.

Anyway I will be trying to squeeze a few in to return them to the Canadians in a few weeks time -  we don't want them here.

How many do you think I'll manage? 

Kelly - will Dennis and Hannah mind you having a few new 'guests'?  I can re-home them with Ruth if you'd rather!!!!  They're coming, though - whatever you say!!!!

Another Japanese knot bag

Today I'm showing you another Japanese knot bag. This one is no longer in my possession - it's flown the nest!! 

Sandra (Crazy Mom) gave me the cat fabric and as she has two cats which she is owned by I thought she ought to get a bag!!! Having lost everything in her house fire eighteen months ago I felt she'd need another bag. Also she's teaching at Palmetto next week so it may come in useful to carry her tatting things around in. 

I split the bag with two different fabrics just cause it seemed to be a 'good idea'!!!! I think it looks classy.

Round 12 completed and more

This is round 12 completed of the Jan doily. I just can't seem to leave the darn thing alone!!! There are many other things I ought to be doing but it just pulls me back each day.

Below the doily is a picture of me (promise - I was sober at the time!) and Sue (Pigmini from Yorkshire) who I met on Tuesday. We've met before and had a good 'tat natter' and this was another occasion for the same thing!!  Poor Chris put up with it well!!!  I think we covered a lot of patterns, threads etc.  Actually didn't really get to talk about much else!!!  Threads, beads, buttons, patterns, hooks, threads, beads, patterns, buttons - well, you get the gist!!!

It was a miserable day (weather wise) so we wandered from coffee shop to library to another coffee place.  That's the way life is in my neck of the woods!!! 

Two new patterns!

It's happened AGAIN. I'd completely forgotten that I'd done these keys as submissions for last year's Palmetto Tat Days.  When will I remember things?!?!?

I was snurging around on my main computer looking for something or other when I suddenly noticed a key!!!   I had to go and check my web pages to see whether they were 'up there' and lo and behold - they weren't!!!

Well, they are now!!  If you go to the 'Odds and Ends' section you'll find the links there!!! I seem to have a lot of 'odds and ends' lately.

Oh, a thought occurred to me. I suppose you could make a card with an 'key', a 'two' and a 'heart' for a loved one.  Something like a 'key to my (not sure how you'd do 'my') heart'. Next Valentine's day? Anyway, these make lovely pendants too.

Another seahorse!

Another of the seahorses - just because I like making them!!!! 

Just hoping that the designing 'mojo' will return when I get back from my trip cause if it doesn't then the TIAS won't happen in January!!! 

I have got an idea so don't panic just yet. Just need to sit down and sort it out and retrieve it from BC3 and put it into thread!!!

Abandonned edging

Not one of my best ideas for colours! This is an edging I started for a handkerchief. A plain white one. 

The thread is from Edda and you can see all about it here.

It's a delight to use and that wasn't why I cut the shuttles off. I just didn't like how it was turning out!!  I think it's a lack of contrast between the plain and the variegated or it could be simply that I didn't really like it for the white hanky.  Just me and my weird way of thinking.

So, I started something else with the same shuttles and I'll show you once it's finished. 

Another 'good buy'

I was again lucky on Ebay when this lot came up a couple of weeks ago. 

I paid the small sum of £3.19 which included £1.20 in postage.

When I think about it (and I do sometimes think!!) this is cheaper than when I used to buy them brand new in the local shops as a kid!!!  Is this the best bargain of the 'season' do you think?

Another Japanese knot bag

Now this time I tried using two different fabrics on each full side of the bag. 

I have enough fabric to make another exactly the same as this one so may well keep one of them for myself. 

 Again - if you want one reserved then please ask.

Another of the shuttles

This is one of the shuttles in the lot I won on Ebay recently. I'm not sure if it's ivory or bone but think it's more likely bone. 

The two ends on the middle picture look as if they've had part of the surface scraped off but they're actually very, very smooth. No idea what this means but perhaps one of our experts will be able to tell me.

All I know is that it's a lovely shuttle.  

Mistakes and corrections!!!

My latest bag making is the Japanese knot bag. I showed you this one which Liz took away with her a week or so ago. There's something about this type of bag that appeals to me!!! 

It's not that it's 'easy' even though there are no zips or buttons etc - it's more 'interesting' in the way it's constructed (fully lined too). This is another one with a round bottom (just like mine, you could say!!) and I find my bottom is very useful for sitting on - so does this bag too!!!

The top picture shows my first real 'boo boo'. Can you see the upside down peacocks? Well, that had to be unpicked and they had to 'go'!!

There are three fabrics used in this one which I think makes it rather 'jolly'!! That's if you can call a bag 'jolly', of course!!! 

I've no idea what I'm going to do with these bags but if there's anybody who is going to Fringe Element Tat Days and who would like one then please let me know and I'll reserve it for you. There are more to come but these are, at the moment, a limited edition of 5!!!

Finish round 11 and a surprise!!

First of all I have to say thank you to Gail.  You'll see why if you follow this link!!  I'm not telling what the thank you is for - you'll have to look!!!!

I finished a week or more ago but I forgot to blog it!!! Round 11 done and dusted and well into round 12 now. 

Sadly for other things I 'ought to be doing' this project is still totally enjoyable.  I think it's the challenge of working out bead placements and stitch counts that keeps me going and the thought of 'what if I do' for each round too!!!  So far I've still limited myself to the three colours and I think it'll stay that way too.

A new member of the Exclusive club!

StringyDogs is the latest person to join the mouse club and she sent in her little chap a couple of days ago. 

You can see him on the exclusive page at the top of the blog. I'm not going to say what StringyDogs had to say - you'll have to go and look for yourself but here are the pictures she sent.

This wee mouse has put temptation in my way yet again but I have to resist for a while as there are other 'things' I need to do to prepare for my trip to Canada and Fringe Element next month.  I must say that the other day I went to the site to look up what I needed to take in the way of tatting 'stuff' and found that it had changed and become much, much nicer.  Cleaner and more vibrant and with pictures too.  Here is a link to their new look web site.  

Another seahorse

While I was making this little chap I suddenly remembered that I'd changed the pattern a bit some time ago!!!  Tatting changes over the years and so has my notation too.  I realised that the version I've been working on is an 'old' one and that somewhere on the iMac there was a newer one!

So, yesterday I went searching and found it, pdf'd it and uploaded it to replace the older version!!!  It's more detailed and (I hope) more user friendly!!! So, here it is.

Oh, the seaweed is simply split rings of 4 + (bangle) 4 / 8.  I used a 3" bangle with size 20 thread.

Just a seahorse!

I fancied a change!!! I needed/wanted to make something different so I turned to the dear old seahorse for that very reason. 

I remember the excitement of this design back in probably 2001. I was doing the odd bit of 'work' for a magazine here in the UK and the craft editor rang me up one evening to ask me to do a seahorse. I asked her what the deadline was and she said - 'three days'!!! 

Now anybody who's tried to do any design other than a simple flowery one will realise the panic that set in!!!! Actually it came together very easily much to my surprise and I had it done within a week - drawings too. 

When was it published? Two years later!!! Now what was that panic all about?!?!?

Shuttle comparisons

I showed you the shuttle on the left which is one of this batch that I won on Ebay recently.

The one on the right was given to me by a lady who lived in a beautiful thatched cottage opposite Shottery church (not that far from Anne Hathaway's cottage). I was about 14 when it was given to me as a new tatter. I never did find out if Mrs Wildig was a tatter or not but this little beauty has been with me ever since and won't be going anywhere else - not in a hurry, anyway.

It's interesting to see them both together. Slightly different in design and in size.

I've DONE it!!!

Finally got the time yesterday to finish off and upload the rest of the patterns I'd forgotten.

They're all on the 'odds and ends' page which is here.

There are two breeds of gingerbread men - one on a button and one 'plain' and a large cupcake which can be made into a pendant to go with yesterday's smaller one.

When WILL you all listen to me?

I keep TELLING you all I'm bonkers and that I don't have a memory (actually that's not down to old age - it's always been bad) but you never believe me.  Perhaps you will if you read this post!!!!

It wasn't until somebody mentioned a cupcake on Facebook yesterday that I remembered that I'd done one (or two) for Palmetto Tat Days last year. They were making jokes about it so I went to look for the link on my pattern site. Well, of course, it wasn't there!!! Why? Because I'd forgotten to put it there!!

The patterns taught at Tat Days go onto a CD which anybody can buy so I don't usually upload the patterns I've taught until the following February. Well this year February came and went (I believe) and I just darned forgot!! 

So yesterday I started uploading the patterns. Got four up and then realised that they hadn't got the abbreviations on so I'll add the rest tomorrow - got the small ones finished and they're here.

These are teeny tiny cupcakes and ideal for earrings or similar. The other cupcakes (coming soon) are about right for a pendant.

Round 11

Just started on round 11. This darn doily is becoming (or, do I mean 'has become') an addiction! I really, really ought to be doing other things and am slowly weaning myself off it at the moment. This is the time of year when I should be thinking of the TIAS and Christmas designs but I can't get BC3 to start on it yet. 

Round 10 of Jan's doily.

First of all - there's just one shuttle left in the shop.  Well, there was when I last looked!!!

I'm so glad I marked the joins when doing the last round!!!!  Made this one so much easier.

This is round ten finished. Again I'm behind with blogging progress as so many other things are in the queue to be blogged!!! 

I'm also working on other odds and ends including two designs which have been started - and abandoned!!!! When I 'pop my clogs' (die) then I hope somebody will go through the pattern section on my computer and retrieve all those half done or even fully finished designs and retrieve them!!! 

I tend to do them then forget because once done they're not important!!! I know there's a necklace there somewhere which is very beaded but none of the beads are on the shuttle or chain threads. I'm pretty sure it's finished too as I made one for myself. BUT because I don't wear necklaces very often I forget it's 'there'.  Oh, there's a bracelet there too - maybe I'll get it uploaded next week.

So, please, when I do die then send somebody to snoop around and find these things. Meantime I'll be shoved in a box, taken to the crematorium and burnt into smithereens (or even ashes!) to be chucked somewhere by somebody.

Second scrap bag

Here's the other scrap bag!!! Not sure which is my favourite so they'll both have to go in the end!!!!

More shuttles

So here are two more of the shuttles I won on Fleabay (also known as Ebay to those of a saner disposition)!

Yes there were two in the collection. TWO of my favourite of all time shuttles. If you look at the top picture that was on Fleabay (here) - you'll see one at the top under the purple thread and one at the bottom. 

I'm sure I've told you before that I was first introduced to Milward shuttles at the tender age of 13 by my gran. As far as I can remember they were the only shuttle we could get hold of in the local shops. 

Then a few years later I came across the dear old Aero (made by the same company) which I didn't like at first. It wasn't until some time after that that I decided it would be much faster to wind and easier on the sofa (kept having to take it apart to find the wretched Milward hook).  I also thought it would be faster to use as the hook couldn't get lost. 

So, a few days of severe 'brain training' (I used to have many more than just BC3 in those days), I taught myself the knack of using this shuttle. Did you know that the life of a real Aero can be in excess of 50 years? Well, I'm not sure that's a fact but I'm sure I'm still using some of the original ones!

First scrap bag

I finally got round to finishing off my 'scrap bags' which I started back in May or June!!!! Here's the link to their 'birth'!!!

Now I really was making these for myself but unfortunately (or fortunately!!!) I don't need them!!! Why, you may ask? Or probably you won't!!!!! Well, the last one I made for myself is still absolutely fine and won't need replacing for simply AGES!!! I made six of them in 2012 and the one I use every day is still fine. I throw it in the washing machine from time to time and is comes out looking as good as new!!! Here's the batch I made 'back then'.

Now I'm seriously wondering what to do with this bag. Do I sell it or do I give it to somebody? Decisions, decisions!!

Round 9 start

First of all - there are still some Pop A Bobbin Shuttles left in my Etsy shop.  I didn't really advertise them a lot so maybe some of you may have missed them!!!

So, here is the start of round 9 although I'm further on than this now!!!!. 

As you can see I'm marking with a thread where the joins are needed on the next round. Poor Diane got into a load of trouble with her doily when she made mistakes on the previous round or this one so I decided to mark the joins as I went. Also it helps as I'm placing beads on some and not on others too!!!

Should zip through this round and am looking forward to round 10 next!!!

Today's the day!!

More Pop A Bobbin Shuttles will be in the Etsy shop here as soon as I've checked my draft listings.

Japanese Knot bag

I fancied a change!!

Crazy Mom Tats visited me a month or so ago and very kindly gave me some fabric.  I find it hard to buy fabric except online.  We have a very expensive shop in town that charges an arm and a leg for their stuff.  There's a tiny shop in Alcester where I go to Crafternoon and theirs is a little cheaper but there's nothing as good as I can get in America when I visit so Sandra's gift was amazing.

Now stupidly I'd left the stash of new fabric out a few weeks ago when Liz and Jim came over for a family get together.  Liz spotted the cats!!!  She's got cats and loves anything with a cat design on it.   She asked if I could make her a bag.  Now I knew that the little square bags were probably of little or no use to her (she doesn't tat!) and I'm not sure if the print is too big for them too. (That will be tested in the future!!!). So, having been shown a Japanese knot bag I decided I'd research that as a possible task. 

I found two designs - one a floppy saggy design which would be easy peasy and the other with a round bottom (not quite so easy). Me, being me, decided to 'go' with the latter!!! When I showed the finished item to Nick he didn't quite know how to tactfully tell me that the handles weren't the same!!! I had to smile. I then showed him how the bag closed and he was well impressed. So, that was that. Then somebody asked whether I was going to make them for the Etsy shop!!!  Now, what do you all think?  It's actually a great size for carrying tatting around in. Any comments welcome.

More shuttles very soon

Below is a list of the shuttles I'll be listing in my Etsy shop which can be found here.  Don't forget to look at my little bags too.  If possible please buy one or two or even twenty to help an old git to keep up with her bead and thread supplies!!!!

I'll list the shuttles on Saturday so that I can get them in the mail on Sunday. Not sure what time I'll put them 'live' but they'll be there.

POP-A-BOBBIN SHUTTLES all with hooks 

3 OREGAN MYRTLE £18 

3 SPALTED BEECH £18 

3 SYCAMORE £18 

2 SEQUOIA £18 

3 ASH £18 

3 ROSEWOOD £18 

1 YEW £18 

1 EBONY £22.50 

1 MAHONIA £20.50

Day 8 - shuttles

I have another like this but until then I'd never seen one. This style (metal) must've bypassed me back whenever.

I started off with the Milliards shuttle as they were readily available in all haberdashery and knitting/sewing shops - even in our small town. BUT I never came across these metal ones 'back then'. So, I now have two in my collection. I'll try test driving this one soon.

Day 7 - shuttles

I think this is the best of the shuttles that I won on that Ebay listing. In fact, I'll admit, this is the one I had my beady eye on in the first place.

I do have a very similar one already which I'll show you sitting next to this another day. 

I wonder how old it is? Pretty old, I think.

Round 8 finished

There you are!!! Round 8 of the Jan doily done and dusted. 

I've been trying to understand myself and this addiction. 

Is it because it's an easy tat with the added frisson of working out the bead placements and the actual stitch count? Or is it because I'm not really worrying about it?

All I really know is that I can't put it down. I've a new design which I really ought to be working on but whenever I sit down I choose the doily!!! Maybe I'll give up on designing and just stick to tatting which is what I mainly did for the first thirty to forty or so years.