Another square project completed.

Well a few more afternoons and the seconds square is finished.

I added greenery to the pond itself and flowers at the bottom.  A dragonfly and two butterflies completed the scene.  I'm hoping to contribute more before the whole project is finished and, of course, I'll be showing you when it is.  

It's been amazing how different all the squares have turned out.  There's some stunning stitchery and great imagination has been used in all of them.  

An orange Ann Onnymouse

I had to make a mouse!!!  

Well I didn't 'have' to but a family member has been feeling a bit down in the dumps at times lately and her  cat is partial to mouse hunting and bringing them into the house - if she can!!!  We were discussing that and I showed her Ann and she loved the idea that this wasn't a 'live' mouse.

That was all I needed to encourage me to make one for her.   Why orange?  I asked what her favourite colour was and that's what she said!!

The pattern is here if you want it.  Free, of course.

White earrings

Remember these earrings I made for Abbi?  

Well I decided to make myself a pair - only longer.   Again I added a bead to the centre of both snowflakes and also one between the two parts.  

One day soon I'll write this down and make a page out of it but I need to check first to see if it's been done before.  Anybody seen them before?

Start of another square

A friend brought her ‘bare square’ back last Tuesday as she’d not got time to do one.  I jumped in and said I’d do it.  I must be mad.

I thought I’d do the pond that’s in the garden so as I’d got a few frog patterns on my site I thought I’d do them peering out of the water.  First I cut the pond shape out and crocheted the wall around it.  I then spent an afternoon trying to work a frog that would work (without a lower body) to be peeping out of the water.  That wasn’t easy so that’s when I stopped playing!!

After a couple of afternoons l had two frogs and the wall around the pond.

I cut a slit in the blue fabric and slotted the frog in, sewing the sides of the slit together again.

This was fiddly but I think eventually it'll look OK.  Time and patience will tell!!!

Monday moan

I've been robbed AGAIN.

It happens every year just before Christmas.

My daughter, husband and one of the kids came over on Saturday as it had been Abbi's birthday a few days before.  I should know better but I said to my SIL that he could choose a dangle for his Christmas tree and one for his mum too.  When I looked in the box after he'd gone it was a lot emptier than I expected!!!

Now I'll tell you a secret.  I LOVE that he likes the dangles so much that he takes more than one.  In fact if I set off early enough next year I'm going to make him lots and lots.  So since Saturday I've been making more dangles so I've got enough for my Tuesday and Friday groups to choose one each.  

My own kids were brought up with tatting being done all the time so I think they're burnt out with looking at it!!!!  

Thank you, SIL for making me so happy.

Ann Onnymouse sports a new hat

Well look at this snazzy Ann!!!  Dressed in her own hat too. 

Maureen sent this to me yesterday and with the following note

“We spent a lot of time in the fitting room, Mouse and I, and in the end the thing that worked was size 40 thread. Mouse is 20, but the hat in 20 looked ridiculously large.”

So if anybody wants a hat for their mouse they can find the Santa hat on this page.

Thanks, Maureen, for finding a hat for Ann!!!

Celebration Bell

This is a pattern which I did for my aborted Palmetto submission.  I called it a Celebration Bell as it was to be for their 20th Tat Days.  Sadly, due to Covid I've decided not to travel again next year.

It's a pretty simple pattern and the only thing I'd probably add to it is beads on the two outer lower rings.  I've also made the Josephine ring using this method which I find so much nicer than the original way.  Obviously it can be worked the original way but probably more half doubles would be required and, I suppose it could be turned into 'just' a ring.

There are also two versions.  Two colours or one colour.  In the single version there are no ends to sew in at all!!!  The two threads are used to hang the bell.

I've now added it to my pattern pages .

More dangles

This time I decided to change pattern after I'd done the top sequin one.  

I just love the look of bugle beads worked into a design like this.  All the difficult 'bit' is done after the first three rings are worked and half a chain!!  But, having said that you do need to keep an eye on the centre not twisting about when you join the next 3 or 4 chains!!!  They seem to have a life of their own those bugles!!!  

If you don't have bugles or don't like the ones you've got then you can use rice beads or several small seed beads (measuring up to the size of the bugle, obviously.

The pattern for this is here and you can see how it looks with seed beads here.

Teeny tiny snowflake earrings.

My granddaughter recently had her ears pierced (she was 14 yesterday) and I decided to make her a teeny tiny pair of earrings.  

These are simple rings of 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 but with beads added as you can see.  There are four at the top of each ring (3 on the outside and 1 on the core thread) and a bead in between each ring.  

In the very centre I've added a large bead.  Now I'm not sure if this has been documented anywhere but it's quite easy.  

As you're closing the second ring you add the large bead to the core thread keeping it close to the first double made of that ring.  Secure that large bead with a safety pin/paperclip so it doesn't escape and continue with rings 3 and 4.  On ring 5 you have to join to the large bead after you've made the ring (removing the pin/paperclip) and continue to close.  It's really simple but I can write/draw it up if you think it's worth it.

Stiffening tatting

Waaaay back in the dark ages when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was a primary school teacher I realised that there was one small perk to the job.  Glue!!!!  Back then I was making tatted earrings (it was that which set me off as a designer) to entice the reception children into school in the morning to 'see what teacher had in her ears'.  In fact I met a pupil last Thursday who remarked that I was still making them.  She was with her 13 year old daughter!!!!  

So I used to use the white PVA glue (as you know it takes a smidgen) to see if it would work as a stiffener.  It did and some 38 or so years later I still find it's my favourite stiffener.  

Well, that was until last week when I popped into The Works in town and spotted clear PVA glue.  Actually I am almost 'out' of the white stuff so this was my 'excuse' to buy myself a bottle.

I was totally amazed at the results (which I'll show you later in the week) as it was clear (and dried clear too) and the beads didn't stop sparkling at all.  Mind, I've never found beads were dulled by the white stuff as that does dry clear anyway.

It is different in another way though.  It gives a much stiffer finish.  I'm going to try it out on my snowflakes but the results on earrings are spectacular.  More later in the week.

Finished square

I finished the square for the Lifeways project.  This is depicting the Midsummer parties we have there each year.  

Each of the family is now stitched down along with the bunting.  In the bottom left corner is a squirrel and at the bottom right are two little hedgehogs - they all live in the garden.

One of the joys of sitting in the garden in the summer is the sight of the swifts (top right) zooming across to access the loft spaces in the houses along the road.  Sadly we don't get them but I love to hear them screeching as they head at full speed towards their nests.

In the evening the bats come out to feed over the garden (top left) and they're a joy to watch too.  I wanted to put in more but when I did it started to look too cluttered.  Knowing when to stop is always difficult!  With me it's usually knowing when to stop talking!!!

Finished leaves

I did start to put beads down the centre of one of the leaves but then decided it was 'overkill' and took them off!!!  

As they are able to twist and turn I thought it was daft to have them just down the one side so they're going to stay naked - except for the edges.  

This is one pattern where the reverse join is invaluable when turning around.  Here's a link on how to do that.

I'm not sure whether I'm happy with the placement of the leaves on the inner three but maybe I need to move the chain up a bit at the sides.  I'll wear it (probably) and see. 

Two giveaway dangles

I realised that I didn't have many dingle dangles left to give to people so decided that now would be a good time to put that right!!

I don't make Christmassy ones as I've realise that people like to hang them up in all sorts of places round the house and then like to leave them up all year.  Or am I just speaking for myself?!?!  Probably it's just me being lazy that I tend not to take things down to replace them.

So, which pattern to use?  In the end I thought I'd use this one.  Here are the first two.

There's a mouse in the house!

As it's getting towards the silly season I thought that the mouse pattern would be appropriate.  

I remembered this poem " T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse." so that got BC3 thinking it would be a good idea to add her first to the pattern pages.  I've put a link to the whole poem on the first line with the explanation.  

This is Miss Anonymous and she can be found here.

Monday moan

Today it's all about Covid and it's long reaching affects.

I had planned to put in my application to teach at Palmetto next year and all the patterns were ready to send.  All I had to do was get the application form done (it all has to be in by December 1st) and send it off with the patterns but before I did that I thought I'd better check with my travel agent about flights.

My dear friend, who I spend the last week of my trip with, has moved house and is now nearer to another airport so I thought I'd check if I could do the return flight from there.  That's when things went down the pan.  

The lass at the travel agent couldn't help at all.  She said they'd no idea how flights were going to be next year (looking at August) and couldn't give me any advice at all.  It seems that the airlines aren't going to be getting back to 'normal' anytime soon.  

This means that I'm not going to try to 'fly the pond' next year as I don't want to be put in the predicament where flights are  suddenly cancelled or changed or even more transfer problems too.  I think old age is creeping up and I'm not prepared to give myself the worry of taking the trip.  

I'm just so sad.  

The final leaf!

The square is progressing!

Well here it is with a few bits and pieces pinned on.  

I found some fabric for the background and then went and made some Tatbeads (the patterns can be found here).  

You’ll see some hedgehogs in the bottom right hand corner and the bunting is flying for a midsummer party!!  At first I was thinking of doing a beehive and bees (they’ve been resident in the garden for forty years) but decided I wanted something colourful.  There are some more bits and bobs I want to add and they all need to be stitched down too, obviously!

Bet you’d forgotten!

I’m still plodding on with my waistcoat and the second front is done so I’ve been tackling the armholes.  Here’s one of them to prove that I’m not slacking!!!

More leaves

Yes I’m still working away on the leaves but I must go back over them all and add beads to the centres too.  I’ve decided they definitely need them!!!  

A square!!

Not a tatted one although I do have one of those to share with you all soon.  I just haven’t had the time to settle down to a final read through.

This is a square of fabric.  It’s a thick cotton damask type of weave and it’s 5” square. 

The group I belong to which meets on a Tuesday morning is making a collage to hang in the room in which we meet.  I’ve mentioned this particular place before, I think but here’s the link if I haven’t.  It’s situated in our road and has a huge garden at the back.  We hold our midsummer parties there as well.  

The manager (James) showed us a piece of work that another group that he belongs to had done and it was exquisite so we’ve decided to make one based on the work that Lifeways does.  It’s a charity and, as the saying goes, ‘charity begins at home’ - so that’s what we’re going to do.  We’re all making a 5” square picture depicting something that takes place at the centre.  Here’s my start.,

Two more leaves

Yes they're all slightly different.  Both in sizes and thread colours.  Such fun making them.

I said I would!

Here we go on another adventure with leaves.  

As I've said in this post - these are based on Ruth Scharf's leaves.

I'm thinking I'll make a necklace of tumbling leaves but please don't ask me how I'll put it all together as I really don't know the answer!!!  It's a 'make it up as you go along' project!!  I love those.

I've added a split ring (metal sort) to the top of each leaf and will probably add beads down the centre split rings but I'm not sure yet.  I need to make a few more before I decide.  I've used HWT sewing threads - either two or three wound onto one shuttle.  There are tiny gold beads on each turn of the chain too.  I think I'm going to enjoy making these.

The waistcoat is progressing

I forgot to take photos of the other side of the front but it would've looked just like this one if I had!!!

I've sewn up the shoulder seams and am embarking on the armhole edgings.  

This involves counting and evening out the stitches picked up which is taxing poor old BC3!!!  I'm wondering how he'll get on with the front edgings if this is causing him problems!!!

The leaves have gone

I mailed the leaves for Nita's new skirt over to Tasmania last week but then found I was suffering withdrawal symptoms!! 

How about a necklace of tumbling leaves?  How does that sound?  

I think I'll use some of my sewing threads and wind some HWT (hand wound thread) and make my own colours.  I always find I get such subtle blends by doing that.  More to follow on this idea but meanwhile here are the Tasmanian leaves.

Another bookmark

No I'm not fixated on these but really want to get a few done for my stash.  This is back to the Flowery one which can be found here.

Meanwhile back in the knitting corner slow progress is being made on the second front of the waistcoat.  As I've been doing bookmarks and leaves I've not had time (or inclination) to do much knitting!!!

More and more!!

Having made about half of the leaves required for Nita I'm now thinking of making some for myself to turn into a necklace.  I'll use oranges and browns to make a bit of a change of colour!!!  

If I get started at about half past seven in the evening I can make two leaves before bedtime!!  

To follow this pattern I use the pdf file on my iPad and follow the lines round using 'markup'.  I rub the pencil out when I've finished and that's the end of that!!!  Also for the last chain I use this method which leaves me with just one end to sew in and no knots!!!  

I’ve been asked about the idea of converting jeans into a skirt and have found if you put in a Google search there are several Youtube videos including this one and also this tutorial on Wikihow.

A thank you

Well at the last minute I changed my mind and last Friday's bookmark is still with me!!  The pattern for this one is here.

Instead I made one out of the threads that the lady gave me.  I think she was quite surprised.  

The threads are those you can see here.

More of the same

BUT different colours.  

I gave you the link to the basic pattern by Ruth Scharf yesterday but here it is again.

I've been asked for about a dozen of these leaves by a friend who lives in Tasmania.  Yes, they'll be going round to t'other side of the planet!!!  

She's converting a pair of jeans into a skirt and wants to add these to it.  I've done her a couple of leaves in the past for another project of hers but this amended pattern (thank you, Judith) is a delight to work.

Now you can guess what I'll be doing sometime in the future.  Yes, converting jeans to skirts!!!!  Well, one pair anyway!!! 

Here are the day before yesterday's leaves along with yesterday's!!!  Things are rocking and rolling along!

Monday moan

Today's moan isn't so much a moan but a groan!!!  

Back in ancient history, when I learned to tat, the old Penelope and Coats booklets never told the tatter how much thread they needed to wind onto the shuttles to make the design.  In 'those' days they hedged their bets and often put 'two balls of ......' and left it at that.  

Remember that back in those days too you were never told to use two shuttles.  Why? Well because split rings hadn't come into general use so two shuttles weren't needed.  After all, what's wrong with a shuttle and a ball if that's all you actually need  Oh, one thing I might add here is that if you're going to keep dropping the ball and it keeps running away then perhaps the ball thread wound onto a shuttle will solve that problem!!!

I feel nowadays that I 'need' to put quantities on for each shuttle but I never would dream of doing that, unless asked, as I find adding in new threads is no problem AT ALL.  No knots needed either.  

So to work out how much thread is needed I usually tat a final motif (or whatever) having measured the thread onto the shuttles.  I note the quantity on the them and then make the item.  After I've finished I take the amount left over from the original quantity and that's it!!!  

BUT, of course, different tatters work at different tensions so I always allow extra for 'loose' tatters.  BUT I still don't think it always works!!  Now I'm moaning as I hate doing that last bit for a pattern!!!!

The leaves are from Ruth Scharf's design which is to be found here although there are slight modifications as suggested by Judith Connor.

A bookmark!

Why did I suddenly feel the need to make a bookmark?  Simple answer is because I was running out of them in my stash!!

Why was I running out?  Simple answer is because my neighbour has bought some to give as presents to her friends!!!

I think one of my favourite patterns is this one.   I know it's popular with other people too as I found a stolen copy of it in a Russian book once.  They'd taken the pdf file off my site, whitened out the hyperlinks and my name and published it.  Flattering but it would've been nice if they'd asked first.

I've decided that this bookmark won't be added to my stash of gifts but will, instead, be given to the lady who gave me the threads last Friday.  As I'm going to see her this morning I can't think of a better way to start the day.

You're not going to believe this!!!

I'm not lying  but this is the finished left front to my waistcoat!!!!  

Yes it's curled and curled into a tube like structure!!!  I've looked at numerous suggestions using Mr Google on how to straighten this up and I'm hoping that somebody can suggest the best way they've found.  

The yarn is acrylic.  

So, this is a summary of my search

"The best method to block acrylic yarn is with heat, no matter if the piece is knit or crochet. The heat makes the fibers more susceptible to straightening out. Steam blocking or blocking with a hair dryer yield similar results. Acrylic yarn can be blocked, and depending on the project, should always be blocked."

All comments welcome as I'm going to knit the other (right) front before I start straightening things out!!!  Maybe a little heat applied to BC3 may help in future projects?

A lovely present

One of the lovely ladies at the Friday knitting group gave me these balls of thread last week.  

I've never used this brand before but aren't the colours yummy?

I'm going to try tatting with them but if I don't get on well with that then I'm going to use them for crochet.  

I can see some little Amigarumi creatures being created over the winter!!!  I still find mice round the house that I've made over the years.  My problem with 'stuff' I've made is that as soon as they're finished I don't want to part with them for a while.  They get put away and then forgotten.  Periodically I have a look through my boxes full of tatting in the cupboard and have a session of giving the bits away.  Trouble is I need to give a LOT more away or I'm going to get swamped!!!

I looked up Freccia to see what it was exactly and this is a quote from one site.

"Anchor Freccia 12 is ever popular within the crochet community, and it's not hard to see why. This fabulous high quality 3 ply mercerised cotton combines softness with strength, with a delicate sheen on each strand. Available in an incredible selection of over over 80 solid shades and over 30 multicoloured shades, each 50g ball of Freccia 12 boasts a generous 285 metres of yarn. Great for crocheters of every skill level, Freccia 12 is ideal for home decoration projects and accessories, as well as for delicate baby garments.

Please note - While this yarn does have a 3-plied-strand structure, this is not a 3ply yarn. Numbered crochet thread gets thinner as the number gets higher, with No.6 being the thickest while No.25 is the thinnest."

Hat finished

Well that was a challenge!!!  Now HOW can a simple hat be a challenge?  Well I assure you it can when you're ruled by a BC3!!!

Everything was hunky dory until I got to the crown and the decreasing.  I honestly couldn't get my head round the destructions.  I think I started the decreasing three times before the penny dropped!!!!  

Now I have a hat with 'almost' matching gloves.  The hat is in double knitting yarn and the gloves are four ply.

Thanks to Mary J’s comment on this blog post I’ve looked into this method which I’ll be trying next time. IF there is a next time after my hassles with this hat!!!!  It's the magic loop knitting method.

I've heard of and used (with great success) the magic loop with starting a crochet pattern but had never heard of this idea of knitting in the round with one circular needle.  Last Friday I joined the knitting group who meet at the coffee shop by the train station on a Friday morning.  I mentioned this idea to one of the ladies and she said she'd bring a piece she's knitting using this method in with her next week.  Such a smashing and friendly group.

Meanwhile things are speeding up!

I now know that I will never go back to my old way of knitting as I've now 'cracked' the purl stitch and am building up speed on it too.  I think the main problem was worrying about how I was doing and how slow it was and once I'd decided that it really didn't matter things speeded up!!!

It's not as fast as the knit row but I'm much more comfortable with it now and rarely drop a stitch.  

In the pattern it said to start with the left front but me, being me, decided that as the back was the biggest part I'd get that out of the way first!!  So here it is and progress is now being made on the first front.  

The good thing about doing the back first is that it's reassured me that I've plenty of yarn to complete the project.  Win, win!!!

This time it's a hat!

This is a hat to go with the pair of gloves I made.  

A year or so ago I made myself a hat but the pattern I used wasn't 'in the round' so had to be stitched up when it was finished.  I tried and tried to find the pattern I used but in the end I gave up.  So I counted the stitches I'd used on my original hat and decided to knit this one to the same size.

I haven't got a circular needle short enough to use so in the end decided to go with double ended ones which I do love using.

A good start has been made as you can see but I still wanted to find a way of making the crown and needed to know how and when to decrease!!!   Finally I found this pattern and it's also got the stitch count for the size I'm knitting!!  Really chuffed about this!!!

Another project

I haven't shown you this before because.  Well I kept forgetting!!!

I was wandering around Hobbycraft some weeks ago and I spotted these gorgeous colours of yarn (purple, dark green, variegated).  I tried and tried NOT to buy them but in the end I simply had to and that's when I had to make a decision on what to do with them.  

I've decided to make this waistcoat (see below).  The reason for a larger project like this and one that is knitted in rows and not in the round, is to make myself practice continental purl stitch.  Now this isn't as easy as the knit stitch but I'm slowly getting there.  I keep a crochet hook handy for the occasional dropped stitch and this is my progress (after several weeks) so far.  

After the fingers and thumbs

I have just carried on as I didn't want to bore you all to bits so here are the finished gloves for my daughter.  

I didn't really enjoy them as they were so plain but they're done now.  

Next small 'job' is a hat to go with them.  Now I'm going to tackle two patterns for this.  Last year I knitted a hat for myself but it was one that needed stitching up afterwards.  This time I'm going for avoiding having that seam by using circular needles.  That's if the amount of stitches fit on the circular pin and allow me to go 'round the bend'!!!  No comments there, please as I know I'm already round that bend!!!

These are the two hats that I'm hoping to combine.  First of all this one and then this one.  

I think poor old BC3 is going to drive himself round the bend with all the counting etc!!!

My pattern site

Well it's been six weeks of worrying about my pattern site.  

You will have noticed that I use 'freeservers' as my web host and I bet a few of you thought 'good old Jane, she's got it for free'!!!   Well that's not the case!!  I pay for my space every two years (this time it's £105.00) and I usually hope to raise that amount from people clicking on adverts on this blog - hint, hint.  Lately that hasn't happened as much as people seem to have migrated to Facebook.

Anyway, I had an email from freeservers about six weeks ago telling me to check my billing status as they were going to take money from my account on October 11th.  Well I checked and horror of horrors the card I'd used two years ago was now obsolete.  No problem, thought BC3, I'll just change it to my new card.  

WRONG.  I got a big red sentence at the top of my page telling me - well you'll see below.  I tried another 12 or 13 times and each time Freeservers appeared to take 72 pence out of my bank account.  Actually that didn't really happen as they turned out to be ghosts and disappeared from ‘pending’ in the account after a few days.  I tried from time to time over the following four weeks and each time I got the same message.  I didn't ring them (too expensive from the UK) but did email but those were only answered once a week and were no help at all.

Finally at the beginning of last week I thought I'd have a final try at updating the billing information again and much to my surprise it appears to have worked. 

Yesterday dawned (11th October - pay Freeservers day) and I got a text from my bank saying that a company was trying to debit an amount of £105 from my account and told me to follow instructions - which I did very carefully as I knew who and what it was.  Blow me down with a feather but my bank saw fit to decline to pay even though I’d told them to.  I rang the bank and am now waiting for Freeservers (remember they don’t answer emails very often) to try again and the lady at my bank who I spoke to said that the payment would go through if requested again.  So if my website disappears then you’ll all know why.  

8:15 this morning and an update to the last paragraph.  PAYMENT HAS FINALLY GONE THROUGH!

Meanwhile I'd decided that the winter would be spent moving the whole caboodle over to another hosting site.  That's probably nearly 400 pages with at LEAST two links per page etc etc.  What a waste of valuable crafting time!!!

Keep your fingers crossed that it’ll all get sorted.  

Monday moan

Front side/back side tatting.  Is it important or not?  

Personally I don't think it is.  Not at all - BUT I do do it when I think it's going to be for a competition (not that I've entered one for years) or if I'm going to scan a piece for my blog (which I usually do!!).  

As a lot of us give our tatting away then it's probably a good idea to do what I think is the original way of tatting - with disregard to the way it may look.  That's just making the knots the same way on both rings and chains.  

The point is that the receiver of the tatted gift won't know there's a 'right way up' or a 'wrong way up' and when they plonk their doily (or whatever) on a table that won't even occur to them.  So I'm trying to say that it honestly doesn't matter to most people and certainly NOT to those who know little about our craft!!!

I've never seen mention of front/back in any old books or leaflets and I think it's a modern idea.  Well, within the last 20 or so years.

So today's moan isn't really a moan - more a discussion point but I'd love to know what people think.