Marie's finished doily Irene

Marie very kindly offered to test tat Irene for me and this is her rendition which is SOOOOO pretty.

She used Lizbeth size 20 in coral pink (number 608) and shell pink (626).  Interestingly hers measures 10 3/4" whereas mine measures 11" when worked in size 40!!!  Isn't that interesting?  I'm a tight tatter and so is Marie!!!  Who knows.  

I'm hoping that I can get the pattern up over the weekend so keep your beady eyes open for it - probably on Monday if I don't have a moan!!!

Mrs Odum strikes again

Way back (almost three years ago) I decided to make a Mrs Odum’s daisy.  This is my first attempt.

A month or two back I decided to have another go at her daisy as I wasn’t very happy with my first attempt.  Oh, before I forget - here’s a link to find the original pattern on the internet..

I got talking to the person who knows SOOO much about tatting that it leaves me breathless - Judith Connors.  She showed me her version which certainly got the old juices flowing and she gave me some splendid advice after she’d seen my blue attempt below.

The glorious pink one is Judith's version of Mrs Odum - it's what made me have another attempt at it.  Do I feel another one coming on?  Yes I do!!!

Irene is progressing well.

Here we go with rounds 8 and 9.

Slowly 'getting there'!!!!

Moaning Monday

Let's see!  What can I moan about today?

Well, not a lot.  I do have one or two moans and this is one of the smaller ones.

Front side/back side tatting.  Back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth and when I learned to tat there was no such thing as front side/back side tatting.  Well, if there was it was NEVER mentioned in ANY of the publications I ever had and they varied from Mrs Beeton's Book of Needlework to the entire series of Coats and Penelope booklets and via Norma Benporath's book too.  Now it may be that the designers 'presumed' that you'd know about this 'method' but I very much doubt it as in none of the 'how to tat' sections of any of the books was it ever mentioned.  Indeed I'd never heard of it until I was in my 50's and had the pleasure of meeting Gary Houtz (ooooh, I do love a bit of name dropping) at Rosemarie Peel's (another name I have great pleasure in dropping) house.  

He showed me this method and I was totally unimpressed.  I didn't see the point.  This (I might add) was in the very, very early days of the internet and before I ever dreamed I'd be able to use it as much as I do.

Anyway, I did finally adopt this method of tatting - BUT for only one very simple reason.  I like my work better when it's done that way and scanned to show you guys.  

I DO NOT believe it's essential to tat that way and if I'm making a gift like a coaster, a doily or an ornament for somebody I don't use it.  People who don't tat would never know which way was the 'right' way or the 'wrong' way to place something down on a table.  I therefore don't think it's essential to tat that way at all.  After all what a person sees is the overall design and not the intricacies of whether a piece is upside down or not!!!!

Now for a picture to brighten the blog post up.  Why a banana?  Well, why not?!?!

Rounds 6 and 7

I hope you're not getting 'blog bored' with the Irene doily.  

There is one blog that I try to read from time to time and each time I try I get so bogged down in the sheer amount of waffle on there that I never ever get to the end of it.  I don't want mine to be like that - or to become too repetitive either.

Anyway - here are rounds six and seven.  Very straightforward too.  

The reason for the little pin at the top was because I finished round 7 late in the evening but worked out where to start round 8.  I put a pin there for BC3's sake when next I pick this up!!!!

Round 5 of Irene

Now this round looks very simple and straightforward although I agonised over the start of it!!!  No idea why but these mental 'blocks' happen to me.

It looks really wonky to me but I'm sure the nun has got her wicked (should I say that word when talking about a religious person?) ways of sorting it out on the next round.

Loving working this doily and I'm NOT a doily person!!!!

A distraction!!

I have a very dear friend in Atlanta who is determined to lead me astray!!!!  

She keeps sending me pictures of the dishcloths/hot pads she's been making during lockdown.  Now that's cruel as she knows darn well I'm easily led astray.  You can see she's been waving her magic wand over me here in the past!!!

I ordered some more yarn off Fleabay (yes, I do know it's not spelt like that - Ebay) and it was due on the last day of June/1st July.  I left it until the 13th (after contacting the seller several times) and then asked for a refund which came within half an hour.  Off I went to Amazon and ordered more from there.

The Amazon yarn arrived the next day - along with ONE of the missing balls from Fleabay.  So it's either feast or famine here!!!  

This is the first one done with the Amazon yarn although I took the photo before I'd sewn it up.  Loved this pattern which you can find here.

Thought I'd better

Keep showing you the progress of the doily that is now being test tatted.  

This one I've called Irene as that's the name of one of Queen Juliana's daughters.  

Here are rounds 3 and 4 done.

Beatrix has arrived!!!

I know it's Monday but today I'm a very happy bunny!!!!  

My good friend, Tim has kindly test tatted Beatrix for me.  This is the large round Dutch doily that I translated and finished before the oval ones.  I'm glad to get it off my computer and onto the pattern pages simply because I get in a muddle otherwise!!

Tim has tatted his version in a very, very fine thread and I'm sure he'll show  you once it's finished.  I think he's probably still working on the final round but got there and tested it first.  THANK YOU, Tim.

I've currently got Irene out for testing, thanks to the lovely folks in Tat Land and am working on one I've called Margriet both named after Julian's children.  BUT I stupidly picked up the books again the other day and found more I might tackle in the future.  This is proving a very nice rest from designing although I am sort of itching to try out a new idea that BC3 is thinking about!!!

Right - before I go you'd probably like the link?  Well, here it is.

PS to the kind lass who told me there was a typo on the translation page here - I've finally remembered to correct it!!!

Blanket progress

This is my third blanket and I'm making slow progress due to the distraction of the tatting I've been working on!!!  

Not probably the BEST idea to be working on in hot weather but then I've always been a bit daft!!!!

Off on another adventure!

This time I've found a couple of round doilies that I like in the Dutch books.

I've started as you'll see in the bottom picture.  I'm just LOVING these  spiral chains now I've learned how to do them the 'Dutch way'.

I am looking for a test tatter for this one so is there anybody 'out there' who's able and willing to take on the task?  It's an interesting one this time as it can be worked with only one place where you need to be aware of front/back side tatting.  That's if you want to use that anyway!!!  Very straightforward but you still need to be 'eagle eyed' as it comes from the brain cells of BC3!!!!

De Drie Nonnen (oval doilies)

Finally and finally got the page finished.  Why does it take so LONG?!?!?

You will see that I've named them.  I read Maureen's comments and while I was considering those I suddenly had a lightening visit from BC3.  YES he's still around but not as active as he has been in the past!!!  They are now called De Drie Nonnen which means The Three Nuns.

Here's the link before I wander off and forget!!!

Test tatted oval doilies

I'm eternally grateful to my two lovely test tatters who took on the task of doing the oval doilies for me.

Martha did them and so did another lass who showed me these two she'd done.  They've all done such neat work.

This is the colour information on the two variegated doilies.  They're both made with  Lizbeth Size 20. The Version 1 is in color 157. The Version 3 is in color 163. 

I will get the pattern up and running for tomorrow - PROMISE.

Moaning Monday

This time I'm going to tell you a TRUE story!

I was browsing through Etsy just before last weekend and found that a seller was making and selling items made from one of my little patterns.  I wrote and asked her to kindly remove it from her shop as I had a Creative Commons License on my work.  

Well the lady did apologise and take the items down but the conversation then got a bit more 'difficult' when she designed an item which looked EXACTLY like mine (just a picot where there was once a small chain) and using the same stitch count, beads  and another design element in 'hers'.  I pointed out that this was indeed not acceptable as copyright/intellectual property doesn't allow this type of 'alteration' to be called a 'new design'.

To my astonishment the Creative Commons Licence people were then brought into the discussion by the seller about my license.  I'm pleased to say that they came down on my side having checked how long the licence has been in operation by using the wayback machine.  

Much to my amusement this shop owner has now got an identical looking item back in her shop but this time it's done in crochet.  It's not got 'quite' the appeal of the tatted one.  

Hopefully I've probably (inadvertently) helped this lady on the road to becoming a crochet designer.  I just hope she doesn't decide to tread on my toes again!!!!  Seller BEWARE!!!

Nothing to do with the above but I can't put a post out without a picture!!  An old school photo when I was about seven!!!  Still look scruffy to this day!!!!

Another day another round.

This is going SOOOO well now that I'm hoping to get the pattern up on my site by the weekend.  Just one more round to go.

Can you see how the spiral round has been sorted out by adding this round?  Magic, I say, MAGIC!!!

Some yarn I found

Most of my yarn stash is just odds and ends of polyester or some such mix of fibres but the other day I did find a lonely bit of pink cotton yarn.  

I decided that I’d make a ‘just because’ present out of this yarn.  I made three little baskets which fit inside each other.  The one should probably be a bit taller but that’s where I ran out of yarn!!

All three have little handles and I’ve added some tatting to them too.  Most of the tatting can be removed and worn as brooches.  I wonder who’ll get this little set?  No prizes for guessing!!!!

Here’s the link I found to these sweet little baskets.

Wonky but fine!!!!!!

Here are all three versions at the end of round 3.  

I really enjoy the spiral chains done 'the nun's way'.

The bottom one does look completely bonkers but it's right as I've counted and checked several times.  I'm sure it'll all work out right 'in the end'!!!!

A set of blue

I like to play as you know and this is the set I made with a different doodad for the centre.

I wanted to prove to myself that it doesn't matter where you join as long as you have eight places in a doodad and that it measures 1.5 centimetres (or thereabouts).  By thereabouts a millimetre more or less shouldn't make a big difference and the doodads I've got all seem to be roughly 1.5 in places anyway.

Can you see the necklace 'thingie' (can never think of the right word for them) below?  Joanie sent me home from her house with lots of them and I really, really love them as they're adjustable and easy to put on and take off.  I use a metal split ring at the top of the pendants so that I can slip the tatting on and off just the one necklace as and when I change to another colour.  Well, that's in theory!!!!  

Pot holders again!

So the diversion continues!!!  Two more pot holders or dishcloths.

The top one is just one layer as I knew I wouldn't have enough yarn for a double one like the other day.  This is the yarn that I bought on impulse and then found was too thin.  It's a double knitting weight but it'll still be useful.

The blue is the proper 'stuff'.  Aran weight so I could knit this one!!!  There are HUNDREDS of patterns out on the internet but I found this one here.

What's in a name?

Another update on the oval doilies.

I'd really, really appreciate somebody coming up with names for these.  There are three and I feel it should be something to do with the original designer/designers - the nuns in The Netherlands.  

When they've got names I always feel that they then can be put on the web site.  I'm really hopeless at naming my own work as you've probably noticed!!  

A name is important and that's why I changed mine some thirty years ago - back to my proper name instead of a name that it was 'taken for granted' I'd use when I got married.

OWCH - something personal nearly slipped out there and you know I rarely let anything personal escape online.  I must be getting old and senile - AGAIN!!!!

Before and after

Last week I decided that I was going to 'get rid of' the clothes I no longer wear.  It sounded like a good plan!!!

When I looked in the wardrobe I realised that I hadn't got that many clothes.   I have one wardrobe - not very big and I keep all my summer and winter stuff in there.  

I spotted this skirt (top picture) and decided it 'had to go'.  I must've bought it some ten to fifteen years ago when Cotton Traders had an outlet in a local garden centre.  It was much longer than it is here.  I've worn it and worn it as you can see and shortened it too.  The reason I gave up wearing it is because it doesn't have pockets.  I LIKE POCKETS!!!!

I got it out of the wardrobe and decided on the spur of the moment that I'd make some pockets for it!!!  Over the years I've also got to hate the buttons on the skirt too so they went and I covered the ugly buttonholes with matching fabric.

I have a NEW SKIRT!!!!  The difference in the colours is because I took the first picture in the sunny conservatory and the second one in the living room!!!!  The 'real' colour is somewhere in between!!!!

A bit of a diversion!

Again!!!  

I'm still working on the Dutch patterns and still slowly blogging progress.  Tim is doing well trying to finish Beatrix and has reported that he's doing really well with the spiral chains.  

I daren't start another pattern (yes, I've found two more that I think are worth spending time with) until Beatrix and the oval doilies are up on my site.  I have got a rough translation of another round doily done, though but that's only a very small start!!!

Meantime my good friend Sandra who puts up with me when I go to Tat Days has tempted me off the 'straight and narrow' and into making pot holders/dishcloths.  It was a combination of seeing her knitting lots and a conversation with my daughter and granddaughter that caused me to buy a ball of cotton double knitting yarn.  I tried knitting it but the result was too 'floppy' so I undid the two knitted ones and started on crocheting instead!!!  The pictures below are one knitted square and one half done knitted round one.  Right at the bottom is the CROCHETED square which you can see easily from the picture is a lot, lot better.  I haven't enough of this yarn to make another like the bottom one so will make another single layer one.  The 'recipe' for the bottom pot holder can be found here and I thought it was good fun to make.

The third round

I'm still plodding on with the oval doilies and I think it was a good decision to work all three at once even though I do sometimes get into a bit of a panic with which set of destructions I should be working on!!!

Now this round worked in the tan colour is the slightly more complicated one.  The chains are spiral chains.  They're easy to do once you get 'in the zone' but there is a catch in that the middle doily the stitch count is slightly different.  That's when I did get BC3 freaking out.  

Once I'd done a couple of chains it all fell into place.

Black earrings

I've used the same finding (doodad) as in this post and created a pair of earrings to match.  Will I ever wear these or the set?  I doubt it!!!

I'm wondering what to do with this set and others.  My friend Joanie gave me lots of these necklaces to play with and they're the sole reason I have started to make pendants again!  The only problem I have is what to do with them.  Does anybody want one?  

I think I'm going to give them away for just a small donation towards thread/beads and the price of the postage.  Would anybody be interested?  I've got this black 'set' and another two sets to come.

A present from Abbi

Simple!!

This is just one of the doilies with the second round finished.  I'm not going to bore you with them all!!! This is the top doily, though in case you're interested!!!

Can you see how easy this is?  Don't be fooled - there are some complications to come but they are pretty straightforward.  

PROMISE

Judith's leaf

Just for a change!!! 

I need to have a change from time to time and Judith Connors - the famous tatter in Australia kindly sent me a copy of their Newsletter.

In it she'd put this variation of Ruth Scharf's leaf pattern.  Obviously Judith had discussed this with Ruth as it was her idea in the first place.

The difference isn't obvious at first - wonder who can spot it?  No, I'm not going to tell you unless you come and twist my arm but you're not allowed to do that because of the virus so I feel safe!!!!  I will tell you if nobody's guessed in a later post.

I went through a serious addiction to Ruth's leaf back a while ago.