Just for a change

I just want/need something relatively easy to do in the evenings at the moment. I am fiddling around with new ideas but not happy with anything (including myself!) at the moment.

Blog posts may become a bit sparse til I get BC3 back on track!!! We'll see. 

Meanwhile this is my relaxing tatting which is keeping me awake in the evening. Without it I would probably fall asleep!!!  I've used this pattern so many times in the past and here's just one of those 'times'.  

Oh, here's another too!!!  I'd completely forgotten this one.  I wonder where it is?  Ah, probably in the box in the cupboard!!!!

The butterfly snowflake - again!

I know somebody who will like these - eh, Diane?

Still playing around with this design and enjoying it too which makes a change!!!

Last Monday

We had an appointment at eleven thirty. Simple really so we got in the car and toddled down there. 

We didn't get back til seven that evening after a few 'things went haywire'. The reason I'm telling you this is because I didn't take my handbag with me (I rarely take it out anymore as I use my phone to pay for 'stuff'). 

Now you may well ask, what is the old git rambling on about? Well, no handbag means no tatting supplies. Well it was just to be a quick visit to the doctor, wasn't it? The following day I was WELL prepared to be out for what turned out to be even longer!!!

These are my regular containers for sitting around tatting when I don't need to concentrate. I have the 'intermediate' supplies but these are the 'emergency' tatting supplies!!

I LOVE these little containers. They came from Walmart many, many moons ago  (probably around fifteen) so I'm not sure if they're still obtainable. I sit and make butterflies to give away while I'm in situations where I need to keep an eye on what's going on around me but also need to keep my fingers busy!!!

The smaller green type of container I tend to use for larger beads too. I think they were in the cosmetics section of Walmart but it was around fifteen years ago that I bought them!!!  All the sections in the pink one have ready wound bobbins  and shuttles.  

Butterfly snowflake again

Now these two are made using some HDT that Sue kindly gave me. 

I used the same variegated on both but with the top one I used a plain Lizbeth green too. 

I know which one I prefer - the bottom one which really shows off the thread. Thanks, Sue.

Another 'go' at this snowflake

I've already given this little guy a name - the Butterfly Snowflake. 

I started it weeks ago and then got distracted to try a new idea - the koala.

I’m so, so thrilled at the reaction to the koala.  It’s restored my faith in tatting again although I’m finding it harder and harder to think of new ideas!!  I think poor BC3 is feeling his age at the moment.  The long grey days of winter and other problems don’t help either.

More tomorrow.

It's finished and ready to be made!

Just a quickie today to give you the link to the koala. 

Here it is

There are a few techniques to make it more 'interesting' and more life like. 

There's a folded ring which is explained within the pattern, a bead added to the centre of a ring and I've used the double double stitch too to make the chains firmer in places. Jenni hadn't done any of those before but she whipped up hers within an hour or so. Here he is.

For my Australian friends

Here in England we've been hearing about the devastating fires in Australia but there's so little we can do to help. It occurred to BC3 that another animal design may be useful for my Australian friends to make to raise funds to help the wildlife. I've already done a kangaroo with it's joey so a koala sprang to mind as the 'next project'.

I only started this less than two weeks ago so it's a really quick one for me. Mainly, I'll admit, because I got focussed because of the impact to wildlife 'down under' is so devastating so I kept going. Judith made a couple of suggestions (thank YOU) which finally added the finishing touches. 

Another Australian friend (thank you, Jenni) then wrote to ask me for help with designing a kangaroo or koala - this was the day after I'd completed mine so I wrote back with advice on making animals and the pattern to test!!! I think (or hope) she was a little surprised!!!

As soon as she gets back to me with her alterations (which she now has) I'll finish uploading all the pictures and links. Meanwhile get out your black and grey thread ready!!!  Oh, and a couple of beads for the eyes!!!

Round 3 second thoughts on motif

As I was having a bit of hassle from the purple fabric I decided to just do enough of these hexagon shapes to put on the ‘corners’ of the whole project. 

The sides will require 2 on each ‘side’ so 12 altogether and that’s too many to struggle with the wretched purple!!!

So I decided to put the purple surrounded by the other colours in the sides and this is what it turned out like. Two pictures as I wanted to see the difference on the backgrounds!!!

Jan 7 motifs finished

I've done a little doily made with Jan's motif which I started playing with back here.

Now you may well wonder why I've put two pictures up today showing the same thing!!! Well that's not strictly true although I see that I've put one with the swirls going to the left (bottom picture) and one to the right!!! How dozy can I be? NO NEED to answer that!!!!

The reason there are two pictures is that there's a glaring mistake on the first one which caused me to have to take out the final motif. 

Can YOU spot it? 

There was a bit of cussing for ten seconds but I never mind re-doing stuff so that's what I did!!!

A good idea

Yes I had a 'good idea' the other day.

A week before Christmas it was panic stations for giveaways as I'd done the dreaded thing of giving away all of my stash!!!! How silly is that? Also there were people who didn't get one and who I wished I could've given to - like my son in law and my Zumba teacher. 

Fortunately over the Christmas period I managed to make them a couple or three!!! 

Then my dear friend and supporter (BC3) decided it would be a 'good idea' to start on 2020's giveaways now so that's what I've started doing!!! A first attempt below!

This is weird!

I've got one of the hexagons done for the next round of the patchwork but something 'strange' is happening here!!

Well I think it's strange!! The purple fabric doesn't want to play nicely with me.

All fabrics are either pure cotton or poly cotton of some sort. As they're all remnants I've no idea of their true content and this seems to be causing a problem with the purple one. 

I'm using a fabric glue pen like this to hold the papers and it works a treat with all the other fabrics but it doesn't 'like' the purple one. 

Come on, purple, get a grip on yourself and BEHAVE or you'll be on the redundancy list!!!

Round 2 - completed

Here's round two of the patchwork finished. 

I've taken the papers out of the previous round and the centre to make it easier to stuff into the box that I'm keeping all the bits and pieces in. 

As you can see from this post I've got the fabric cut out for the next round already. Only snag is - I've got to cut the papers out now!!! These are not easy to do as precision is vital to enable everything to fit. I'm wondering what the next round will look like and IF I'll still be interested enough to do a further round!!! Only time will tell!!!

A Vicki Clarke motif

I have two kits that I've been given which contain all the bits and pieces to make a motif but this isn't the one that I was going to do first!!! I've mislaid that one somewhere in the tatting cupboard or in Tat Corner!!! It'll emerge like a butterfly from it's pupae one day!!

I love Vicki's little designs. They always make me smile for some reason. Vicki's blog is here and is well worth a visit.

This is an easy tat and the instructions are VERY clear. I'm not sure where or when I was given the kit but I really enjoyed making it. THANK YOU, Vicki and I'll be making up the hexagon one - when it next emerges!!!

Another Dora finished.

Do you remember that waaaaaay back in the summer I decided I needed an 'on the go' project? No?  Well here's a link to the start of that journey which started back last July. It's travelled a few miles since then and has been backwards and forwards to craft groups back here in the UK a few times too!!! 

After all these motifs I'm STILL not tired of this wonderful little design by Dora Young.  The book can be found easily from most tatting suppliers and it’s called The All New Knotless Tatting Designs.  In fact here’s a link to get it directly from the lass who put the new version together.

I've added two pictures today but neither really show up what it really looks like in 'real life'. The 'rounds' are done in cream and white alternately. I've also added an edging to the final round just to hold it a bit better. It's worked in size 40 thread which is another detail I normally forget to tell you!!!

Moaning Monday!

Well nothing much to moan about really but I am going to moan about being 'forced' into a purchase. 

I've bought myself a new vacuum. The old one was beginning to fail but the main problem was the fact that I was actively 'not allowed' to plug it into the usual socket in the hallway that I've been using for the past twenty plus years!!! 

The socket now has a new 'purpose' and I wasn't 'allowed' to unplug it, use it (the socket) and then put the other plug back in. So I took matters into my own hands and bought myself a new vacuum!!!! That's independence for you!!! Old Gits can still make radical decisions!!!

The old one was a Dyson but this new one is a Shark!!! AND it's cordless so no more discussions on the most convenient place to plug it in!!! 

Ah, craft related part!! It's easy to click apart and the handheld 'bit' has tools with the option to add a tight (as in the sort of thing ladies wear on their legs) or similar over one tool to 'pick up and save' any errant beads that might accidentally fall onto the floor!!! A real bonus in my little world!!! 

Want to see a picture? OK!!! 

YES I got it in the sale too and it wasn't even Black Friday - more of a grey Saturday, actually!!!

Jan's pattern - 4 motifs done

Now those of you who have made this pattern will notice that I've made different joins for the motifs. I have never understood fully the way Jan writes his patterns so I'm afraid I work it out another way. I use the 'normal for me' method of doing front/back tatting.  That's just me, though!!!

The motif with the red thread hanging on it (middle left) is the centre motif and I marked it that way so BC3 wouldn't lose the plot!!!!

Each motif is worked from beginning to end without cutting and tying.  To get the threads from the centre to the next round does require a split chain and then a single shuttle split ring with the one shuttle thread hidden inside the ring.  Just needed some thought - and a friendly BC3!!!

Another day's blobbing!!!

The colours are the same as yesterday's - promise!!! Blobbing doesn't make for good photos, I guess!!

Can you see that on this one I've put the orange diamonds next to the centre - just to make it more interesting!!! Even blobbing has to hold some interest in the old fuzzy brain whilst stemming the flow from the stupid little nose that is mine and mine alone!!!!

So, admittedly not a lot of tatting has been done lately but I will have some more progress on the Jan motif to show soon. Maybe even tomorrow!!!

More progress on the patchwork

These are the colours I’ve chosen for round 2 of the patchwork. This is round 1 and the centre finished.

I think this round will be a big contrast to round one but I’m hoping that round three will pull it all together. Well if not then there’ll have to be a round four!!! Not sure BC3 will be able to manage that!!!

I’ve spent a LOT of time ‘blobbing’ over Christmas as I’ve not been well. I’ve had a STINKING cold so have not had the energy to do much more than sit and sew while watching catchup TV. My friend down the road calls it ‘blobbing’ and that’s exactly what it is. Sitting like a blob of something and doing nothing in particular.

Cutting out the fabric

Now if you go back to this link here you'll see again where I'd got to with the 'whatever it is'.

The next decision needed to be made on colours for round two so I got the fabric out and started cutting. 

Well the colours I thought would work for the next round left me with lots left over so there was a quick change of mind and I carried on cutting those to make enough for the following (3rd) round. 

Again I needed to re-think round two and that's what I've got in these two little bags. Enough for round two and round three - unless I change my aged mind yet again!!!

I think I'll have enough to keep me busy over the next few days so I'll wish you all a happy Silly Season (Christmas) and leave you with a break of a few days from the OG. 

Well I'm guessing nobody has time or inclination to read the ramblings of a slightly bonkers old git in the UK during the festivities.

Jan's Waistcoat pattern

Now my friend Sue (Pigmini) showed me the waistcoat she’s currently working on. This was about six months ago and I fell for the motif lock, stock and barrel. 

Trouble was that I didn’t have the book it’s in and I wasn’t going to ask her for a copy and put her in the very embarrassing position of saying no. Why ‘no’? Well Sue’s like me - a great respecter of copyright so I just admired what she was doing and thought about how I could get a copy of the book. 

I could probably buy it here in the UK but it would be expensive for just the one pattern I want to make. So I decided to wait until I got to Palmetto Tat Days.

What enormous luck - there was a copy in the silent auction. I stalked that copy for the whole time I was there as I found that somebody else was bidding on it too. Just before the end of the auction I saw her write on the bidding paper again so I waited for her to wander off and steamed in with another bid and I WON IT. 

I wanted to make it in two colours and without cutting and tying the threads. I managed it with a split chain and a SSSR hiding one inside.

Round one finished

If you look closely at round one you'll see that every alternate hexagon is different to it's neighbour.

Why - you may ask? Well it was because I feared boredom would set in if I didn't do something a little 'off piste' at times.  

I like that expression - ‘off piste’ although I’ve never been up close and personal with skis.  The closest I’ve been to piste is pissed but we won’t go into that in public!!

In this picture you can see I've joined the new six hexagons to the central one and now need to start thinking about which fabrics to use for the next round. Decisions, decisions!!!!

Round and round!

Now although this isn't tatting it does have 'rounds' like tatting!!! Well, that's what I think!!!!

These are the fabrics I've chosen for round 1 of the 'whatever it is'. 

Took ages to decide on what to use and how to use it. Can you see that I ran out of the patterned purple fabric so have popped in a plain one instead.

Now I'm going to have to be VERY careful when I join these six motifs to the central one so that I'm sure that the plain purples are all in the same place. That'll keep us (BC3 and me!) on our toes!!!!

Centre done

The first thing I did was find the fabric that I'd got very little of!!! This then formed the centre.

I've now got to decide what to do for round 1 and I will be sorting fabric to see what I've got of which colours which will go with this central motif.

I finished this last week so have already sorted out the fabric for the next round. Not easy as BC3 kept changing his mind!!!  I could become a world champion at dithering, you know!

A discovery!!!!

Nowadays I tend to go browsing the internet when I start something new. Well - not if it's a tatting project as I THINK I know enough to get myself by on that craft!! 

Something like patchwork does need some research although it's a craft I've done many times over the years. I've found out that it's now called 'English paper piecing' (EPP) which was a surprise to me!!! I guess times change even though there's never enough of it (back to Monday's moan!!!).

I found a really good video on the subject here. The main thing I got from this video was the fabric glue pens!! I'd never heard of them before (I lead a sheltered life!) so, off to the internet and I bought myself a pen!!

Some progress on the project.

Forgot!!

I meant to show you some of the fabric I intend to use in my next project which you've probably guessed by now (and from the paper shapes in my last post) is going to be a patchwork. All hand sewn from the comfort of my tatting chair!!!

I'm so lucky to have such a great choice of colours here and hope that this will be a truly colourful 'whatever it is'.

I've been asked what I'm making when I'm at my craft groups and I can truly and honestly say - I've not got a clue!!!!

A lack of tatting

That's true. I've been trying to finish off the Dora Young white doily which you can see back here but I've now been hijacked or sidetracked by another project!!!

I was given some fabric while I was in America this year and along with other pieces I decided to do some more sewing. 

Now sewing is done in the conservatory which I am too mean to heat. Also it's not pleasant sitting in there in the winter looking out on the rather sad looking garden so I tend not to spend too much time in that room in the winter. 

I decided to do some - well, I'll let you guess from the picture below!!!

Moaning Monday again!!!

Bet you thought '0h NO, not that crotchety old woman AGAIN.  Well  yes but honestly - it's only a small moan today and about something I can do nothing about. Least I don't think I can.

Time!!! That's the subject of my moan today. 

I keep running out of it and can't find new supplies on Amazon or Fleabay (oooops - I mean Ebay).

My routine is to do most of my blog posts on a Sunday morning and put them scheduled in drafts but last Sunday I got waylaid by a neighbour who needed help setting up his new Windows laptop. It was a steep learning curve for me as I think my last major dealings with Windows were back in Vista but I do get to do some when I'm volunteering in the library two sessions a week. 

I can report that a week later we're almost 'done'. The actual setting up wasn't too bad but it was making it easy for the neighbour to use the laptop that took the time. He wanted it to be just like his old Windows 7.

I now have 'time' back in my control for the moment so I really don't need to moan anymore!!!

Tatting with a sting in it's tail.

I try to take a bit of silliness to Palmetto Tat Days when I go. Not easy as there's already a lot of silliness and fun there anyway.

This year I thought of resurrecting the fleas again and infecting people with those but it didn't 'quite' sit right with BC3. Then I thought of other infections and came up with a bug. Yes, boring I know but I do like tatty bugs!!!

This one's got a sting instead of a tail. That sting infects people with the tatting bug!!! 

If you make it (and it's very simple with absolutely no ends to hide or sew in) then be very, very careful how you handle it and who you give it to. 

Thinking about that last sentence - you don't need to be careful as the tatter will already have been stung so it's only really the recipients who need to take care!!!

Another thought about that last sentence - we actually need more people to catch the tatting bug so that the world becomes a place full of contented people making knots in thread!!!!

Having made no sense at all in this post I think I'd better stop right here and give you the link!!

A pair of Santas!

Well here they are together - Santa and his wife!!!

I’ve really enjoyed getting back to making Tatbeads. I’ve put one pair onto a backing and will wear it as a brooch - if I remember. The other pair will become earrings!!!

If you want the pattern for both then you can find it here!

It had to happen, didn't it?

Yes, along came Mrs Santa to join her husband!!!

Well he'd have been lonely without her!!

Look out tomorrow as I'll be posting the patterns.

Santa Tatbead

Some of my longstanding readers may remember the Tatbead family. If not you can find them here.

I designed this series of little people with beaded arms and legs waaaaay back in 2007 and they came with a story for each person and this was published on my blog. It was terrific fun and kept me amused for some months.

The Tatbead family went off to America on a big tour of the country and arrived back with me at a Palmetto Tat Day and all due to the care that Karey gave them. They came back to me with a sweet little book of messages from the people they met on their travels. 

I was thinking about them a week or two back and decided that they needed a Santa to visit them.

Santa sorted!!!!

Well his head at least!!!

This started out as a probably cat’s head and then changed rapidly into this but sadly (or gladly) deteriorated (or evolved) into a Santa head.

This seemed to BC3 to be a simple design to do but I’m a bit of a fusspot over my work. Getting the eyes in ‘just the right’ place caused many re-tats as you saw the other day!! 

Anyway, he’s finally done and floating around on my web site.

Oh, nearly forgot.  Do you want the link?  Here it is!!!

Moaning Monday

There's one thing that's guaranteed to drive me bonkers. Well, more bonkers than I usually am!!!

One of those things is the re-naming of perfectly fine tatting terms. After all a ring is a ring, a chain is a chain and a split ring is a split ring etc. BUT why do people go out of their way to confuse this old git by calling a ring on a chain a 'thrown ring'. 

For goodness sakes I know we've all wanted (and probably have) thrown a shuttle at the wall, floor etc but we don't and can't throw rings!!! They're attached. 

I know what other people think 'thrown rings' are but to me they are simply rings on chains. They've always been called that and that's one of the reasons I still call mine - rings on chains or RoCh.

To me a thrown ring is this. Bina came up with this many years ago in 2008 and called it a loop tatted ring. I always think of a thrown ring as this. I did draw this out for my own benefit a few years ago and this is the link to my page.

Getting closer!!

Well this is what I was aiming for in this post (pictures below) - believe it or not!!!   A Santa head.  

These are a few of the attempts that I found on and around my tatting chair! 

BUT this pattern isn’t quite ‘there’ yet.

I’ve actually almost got it sorted now but just need to get the web page up and running before I share.  Check back on Monday when I WILL have it done.  That'll make me get it finished as I've promised in public!!!

Snowflakes are beginning to bore me even though I did that last lot of midi ones.  I'm trying to be a bit different this year and there’s more to come AFTER the Santa head and hopefully next week too.

Hold tight - you’re going to need more red and white thread and black, white and pink (yes, PINK) beads before the end of next week.  

Hat part 2 - finished

Well here’s the finished hat!!!

The photo makes it look quite elongated but I assure you it’s ‘just right’ and I don’t have an elongated head to put in it!!!

It’s not been ‘road tested’ yet as the weather has been a little warmer and I haven’t been able to do my usual long walk as the river has completely stolen my path. It’ll take a week or more for it to become passable again, I think.

I thought about putting a bobble on the top of the hat but haven’t done so - yet!!! I may or I may not!

It all started with this!!!

You’ll probably guess that I get surrounded in lots of tatty bits when I’m on a designing spree. I’d actually decided not to do anymore designing anyway after the protracted midi snowflakes and all the worrying I did about copyright and treading on people’s toes. 

Then it came to tidying up and I was about to throw the top scrap in the bin when I thought it looked like a cat!!! Well I do have quite a good imagination!!!

So I picked up a pair of shuttles and started playing as you can see in the second picture. Sadly the ‘cat’ appears to have just one ear. Well, that’s if it ends up being a cat when I’ve finished playing.

I never start with a drawing of what I want to make and always just pick up shuttles and see what happens. Wonder where this adventure will take me!!!g

Start of the hat.

Now the hat I wanted to make to go with this scarf became my next project.

Last Tuesday (or was it the Tuesday before) Anne came to the craft group with three balls of yarn which she didn’t want and I brought in some fabric too. It was a great coincidence as amongst the fabric was some that she liked and the balls of yarn became a very good swop for both of us!!!  The pink (well it’s darker than it looks on this picture) is a great match for the scarf.  Luck’s on my side with this project already.  

I thought that knitting a hat with a rib (knit one, purl one) would be very slow using the continental method but in fact it turned out to be pretty fast. The video that I found most useful is this one and you’ll notice she knits into the back of the stitch. This (for me) makes it much easier to purl. I’m not sure why but that’s the way it is!!!

You know what I’ll be doing for the next day or two - knitting!!!!

A new scarf

For my birthday in October my dear Joanie gave me this scarf. 

It's very long (BRILLIANT) and she gave it to me when I was staying with her in Florida back in September. Not the sort of place you need a scarf very often I should think!!!

Well it's gone REALLY cold lately so I got it out and put it on. It's very light and has lots of holes which trap the air and I must tell you - it's the WARMEST scarf I've ever owned. It's wonderful that it's so long as it goes round the aged neck a couple or more times (doubled) and it sits snuggly in the neck of my coat too.

Now I have a pair of gloves that are blue but I don't have a hat to go with it so you can guess what my next task is going to be, can't you?!?!

Butterflies in Flight

This is another of the lessons I taught at Palmetto Tat Days and which I've remembered I'd not added to my site!! I found another pattern too but need a few hours to sort it so it won't be arriving until next week!!

Some of you will recognise the basic SCMR butterfly that I did years and years and centuries ago and which can be found here.  The original pattern is so old that I can see I haven't even got a date on it. Probably thought it wasn't important back in those days but now I realise it probably is a good idea to date my work!! 

This new idea took some working out and I haven't really given a reason  for making it as it could become a bracelet, an edging or even a bookmark.  I may well play around with this one further.  I did have a version where I had a lock chain going over the first wing but it was so complicated to explain and it kept sort of twisting on me.  Having discussed this with Joanie (my wonderful test tatter) I decided it wasn't worth the hassle and would've been too hard to get that part done in a class and we'd probably have run out of time!!!

Anyway, here's the pattern link.

Waistcoat finished

I blame my 'need' to really get to grips with continental knitting for this!! I've been knitting like crazy and am now very, very comfortable with this method of wielding knitting paraphernalia!!!

In fact I've actually already worn it and it fits a treat and is very comfortable.

You can see I managed to sort the pockets too and they were actually very easy and add a bit of interest to what is otherwise a very plain waistcoat. 

Now, what shall I do next? Who knows!!!