The cushion project

Looking back it appears that I'd forgotten (blame the TIAS!!) to explain the reason for the square crazy patchwork that I've been working on!!!!  BC3 can be SO unreliable!  So here it is.

The group I belong to on a Tuesday morning often does group projects.  We've made several quilts and last year we made cushions.  Well the cushions started pre lockdown but only got 'used' last June at a midsummer party in Lifeway's garden.

During the party we raffle our project and the money raised goes to a charity.  We've decided again this year to make cushions and as these are individual projects I've started on mine as you know.  

This is a ten inch square based on a five sided shape.  I found this video on YouTube which I thought was a great idea.  

Coats second attempt

After giving up on the green Coats doily (here's the picture of the doily) because I was going to run out of thread and (mainly) because I didn't like all the fussy picots I went on a high level dive into my stash!!!

I knew I wanted to stick to size 40 thread but also that I needed quite a lot of it too. 

Fortunately I found this gorgeous Coats thread which is old but still fine and that's what I've decided to use. 

I've eliminated all the picots on the rings but have kept them on the chains on the outer row. Why? Well because it'll be easier for joining purposes later!!! Now somebody mentioned working out the joins by scanning the picture and enlarging it. I've already got the full pattern (and all my other leaflet patterns) digitised but when I tried to do this with the Coats one and enlarge the motifs it came out too fuzzy so I'm going to have to work it out from the text alone!!! 

That'll keep me quiet for a while!!

Sad or happy?

Sad that this is the end of another ball of thread but happy that I COULD allow myself to buy more.

BUT I can't because I have a lot of thread that needs using first!!! I'm keeping a tight lid on my stash building and am making BC3 use what we've got first!!! 

So, happy that I'm getting closer to being allowed to buy more but sad to see another empty nest!!!!

Another cushion square

Now this one turned out to be really bright and cheerful and the weather was just right for taking a photo outside on the grass.  Other people have lawns - we have grass!!!  Why?  Well it's full of all sorts of weeds and 'stuff' and I'm not really bothered whether they're there or not!!!  I love mowing the grass but other than that it does what it wants to do!!  Live and let live!!!!

I need one more square now and then it'll be time to put them all together!!!

A Square in a square

I love my little Fandango square which you can find here and it has been changed into many other patterns like the heart, the bookmark, the coaster and the edging to name but a few.  

I was thinking about doing another square pattern but wanted something a little different this time.  I wanted a wonky square.  Well I wanted a square in a square but not in the usual way.  The first place to start, I'm afraid, was the Fandango square.  Well it had to be altered of course!!!  Life ain't that simple!!  Then I had to get BC3 to cooperate too as it was a sort of difficult to get a corner in the middle of a side and  a side instead of a corner!!!

I DID it way back last year but due to an influx of dragons it got forgotten!!

Anyway, here's the link to the FREE pattern.

Oh, it works fine when it's joined to others too!!!

Green Coats motifs

So I got a move on with this Coats design.  Here is the centre of this pattern (see below) and this is what it's finally going to be.  Well, that's a lie because it's not!!!

I know that if I go any further I'll run out of thread but that's not the only reason.  I really don't like it as it's too fussy for me. It took me a long time to work out the joins too as it's written in 'old fashioned' notation. This form of writing patterns was what I started the craft with and they were no real problem back in those days because they were all the same.

I remember that there was one very pretty butterfly in a French book that I have which, of course, I had to translate to English first.  In those days computers weren't thought of and I had to work it all out with a pen and paper only to find that there was a big mistake in it!!  So that's why I'm wary of the old notation now!!!  I digress.

I will now look for another colour of thread that I have plenty of in my stash and will start again but with  a LOT fewer picots!!!

Calling all dragons

It's been almost a week since number 71 arrived in my inbox.  I'm wondering if there are anymore to come in?

I thought there would be more than this as we were going along but maybe I can't count!!!

More dragons welcome and you can email them to me on the address on the top of this blog.  

Rounds to the finish.

This is the final of the Dutch doily.  Now did I enjoy it?  YES.

Although it worked out very large it was a really easy one to make.  I am still gobsmacked by the swirls in it and how well it lies too.  I rarely block my tatting as I feel that all patterns should lie flat without any fiddling around with them.  This is one of 'those' designs because the only things I really needed to 'sort out' were the long chains in the penultimate (or thereabouts!) round.  

I need to now get this sorted and onto my site.  I would love to add the designer's name to it but I've been unable to trace it.  The pattern appears to have been published in several languages too so was obviously very popular when it first came out.  

I'm going to call it the 'Unknown Doily' I think but if anybody has a better idea then please let me know.

Carrying on with the Coats motifs

In the evenings and when I'm not knitting I'm continuing with the Coats mat which I started back here.

I'm using size 40 thread and I'm not sure I'm going to have enough.  I'm also not sure I even like what I'm doing either!!!!  

Another cushion square!

This time I decided on green for the theme!!  It's a great way of using up scraps of fabric and as long as you keep the iron handy (and on) it doesn't take long to achieve a square.  

I'm not giving you any guesses as to what colour I'll be using next!!!!

Lifeways

I'm going to tell you and show you a LOT about this place today.  

It's the most amazing facility we have in the road as it has a HUGE garden which 'back in the day' (Shakespeare's time) was a farm.  Thankfully it's enclosed by houses which over the years have been built around it.  There is no vehicular access to the back which is a bonus in this day and age.

In the garden there are bee hives, orchards, chickens, a wildlife pond, a forest school and loads of peace and quiet right in the middle of Stratford.  I often take a drink down there in the summer to sit and relax even though we've got a garden of our own!!!  

I think the main asset of the place is the manager - James.  He's a 'one off'.  They (whoever 'they' are) broke the mould after they made him.  He's not just friendly he's so, so helpful and never fails to put himself out to give help when needed.  

Some time ago he showed our group (Needles and Neighbours) a wall hanging that another group he belongs to had made.  We asked him if he'd like one based on Lifeways and he said he'd love it.  He even made one square himself.  So this is what we did.  Each square is tiny - roughly 14 centimetres.  Here they all are - a veritable feast.  You'll recognise the house from the website.

The death of a project!

I bet you've all forgotten my waistcoat that I started back here and which progressed to here and here!

Well I did finish it and started looking around for buttons.  BUT I decided I totally didn't like it.  Not at all.  I love the colour of the yarn but part of it was the texture which was lovely and 'silky' (it's acrylic) but there was something about it that just didn't 'gel' with me so I took it along to my knitting group on the Friday morning and they gave me good advice - put it in the wardrobe!!  That's what I did for about three months.  

I cannot abide wasting money and that yarn kept calling to me to do something about it so last week I rescued the waistcoat from the wardrobe (I'd hidden it quite successfully) and unpicked it all.

I spent hours and HOURS on Ravelry trying to decide what to do with the yarn but in the end I thought that a scarf would be a good idea.  Then 'which pattern' was the next problem.  

In the end it was Sue who came to the rescue and she wrote down her pattern on a cigarette packet.  NO, not really but in the old days we used to scribble things down on them although I never smoked there was always somebody who'd got a cigarette packet.  Seriously Sue wrote me an email with a really great idea and that's the one I'm using as you can see.  

I've decided not to use the yarn with the white in as I think it's the white that put me off in the waistcoat.  I may use it in the 'middling' part of the scarf or in a hat or something.  It won't get wasted!

Rounds 13 and 14

Now I'm back on my home blog it's time  to catch you up to what is going on in my corner of Tat Land!!!

These are rounds 13 and 14 of the Dutch doily that I fell in love with.  My good friend Bev over in Australia is kindly test tatting my destructions at the moment.  Poor woman.  

It's an easy and quite fast tat if only the person writing and drawing it had the use of all of BC3!!  Unfortunately (but VERY fortunately for me) it's proved quite a nightmare for Bev.  Eventually it will find it's way onto my web site!!

EVEN more dangles

While the TIAS has been going on I decided I'd make a small start on next year's Christmas giveaways.  

Now I rarely use Christmas colours as I've found that people like to keep them dangling somewhere in the house all year round - just like me!!!!  So I used this old chestnut of a pattern and started!!!

Now this has given BC3 another 'good idea' so I'll be playing with that shortly too!!

Rounds 7 to 12

Of the Dutch doily.  Really pleased the way this is going although I did stumble somewhat on starting this round.  What fascinates me is the fact that I've managed to progress from round to round mostly without many split chains.  I'm hoping that any test tatter who might come forward will help me rectify any anomalies in the pattern.  

Meanwhile I'm thoroughly enjoying this experience.

Tat It And See starts today

Here we go.  

I'm publishing the day 1 link here but mostly it'll be easier to find the links on the actual TIAS blog.  So, here's the link to that blog.

I will still be posting progress on the Dutch doily on this blog when I have time and have something to show you.  There are no adverts on the TIAS blog so if you've time please click on those on this blog to keep the pattern pages going!!!

Another past TIAS.

Janet's mermaid

This is Janet's mermaid.  She kindly sent me the picture last week and I thought today was a good day to blog it as an added incentive to join in this year's TIAS.  

The mermaid was the result of 2018's game and was the last one I was ever going to do.   You can thank Covid for last year's and this year's as my voluntary work hasn't yet started again so I do have a bit more time on my hands!!!  Something good came out of the pandemic after all!!!

This is the last reminder as tomorrow we start!!!  Keep an eye on the TIAS blog here for the links which can be found at the top left of the screen.  Well, not that near the top!!!

Yes this is more serious!!

Don't forget that the TIAS starts on Wednesday.  For more details on the game please visit this link.  

Today I have further progress on the Dutch doily and have since found out that it's also been published in Spanish and Italian.  Now I'm not sure if I can ever let you have the instructions for this but will continue to research the publishers etc. 

Things might slow down now

Before I start today - don’t forget that next Wednesday is the start of the TIAS (Tat It And See).

Here are rounds 2 & 3 and I think things might just get a bit serious soon.  So far it's been pretty straightforward.  

I will be looking for an experienced test tatter at some point.  One who has two balls of thread in size 20 and who can check also that I've got my front side/back side instructions correct too!!!  Bit of an ask but my last test tatter who helped greatly with the other Dutch patterns has disappeared into the ether!!!  Please contact me via email if you feel you can commit to this challenge.

Round 1

From what was originally a square the shape has morphed into a circle.  Interesting and the beauty of it so far is that it lies flat!!!  Beautifully FLAT!!!

I think I can admit that I'm now seriously addicted to this challenge although sometimes I find the translation a little confusing!!!!

Off to a good start - I think!

Well this is the centre of the doily.  I've chosen a colour that I don't particularly like but I did check before I started that I'd got two balls - just in case I run out.

The doily looks HUGE so I didn't want to run out at all.

I start this project (like the other translations I've done) by scanning the pattern.  Thankfully I forced my brain to learn touch typing when I was 50 and this makes life  a LOT easier.  

I have Google translate on one side of my screen and the jpg of the text on the other side.  I also use 'markup' and make a line that I can move down the page on the jpg as I work otherwise I get into a real mess!!!  I don't speak Dutch so it can prove quite a challenge.

Then every so often I copy the translated text onto a blank copy of Pages.  I work in the cloud so that I can access the whole thing when I sit down eventually to try and work out what I need to do.  Each row is then re-written in 'Jane' so that I can understand what I'm doing.  This is not for the fainthearted!!! 

The doily I've chosen

Am I bonkers or am I bonkers?  No, you don't have to answer that.

This is the doily that I've chosen to translate and work up from this book.

What attracted me to this particular one is the swirly effect.  Can you see that it swirls in two different directions too.  I'm going to have to get BC3 out and polished up before I tackle this one!!!!  

As usual I will be re-writing this in 'Jane' and will try and find out who the designer is or rather, was.  If anybody can offer me a clue on this I'd be very, very grateful.

Sidetracked from being sidetracked!

Yes it happens regularly to me.

While I was looking for the Coats book I came across this Dutch book.  Now the cover design doesn’t appeal to me at all but there are some very interesting designs inside.  I found one that I particularly like so that may be another ongoing task for me.  No, that’s not quite the truth!! It WILL be another project!!!  Maybe one I’ll get underway during the TIAS as the one I like is a doily.  I’ll show you that shortly.

The Coats leaflet

Do you remember this post from last week?  Well that was going to be my task for over Christmas - to make a good start on it.  

I’ve chosen a size 40 Lizbeth thread and the first centre motif is now done.  

I have started a second but then I got sidetracked.  I know, it’s tedious but that’s what happens in the land of BC3!!!  I’ll show you what’s done that to me tomorrow.

Please note - I do NOT use a picot gauge in case anybody thinks I do.  They’d not been invented when I started tatting except probably (and I do mean ‘probably’) they were occasionally used for the occasional very large ones.

The squares have started

This is the progress on the new blanket which I'm making using this method.

During the search

During my search for the Coats leaflet I came across the following which I thought you might be interested in.

Please remember that this was before the internet and that I would've had to go to the bank to buy dollars and then wait anything up to three months to get these.  

So, what have I here?  I'd heard somewhere that there was a 'thing' called needle tatting so decided that I really needed to research and try it.  I had somehow found out about Ed and Selma Morin so wrote (along with bank notes) to them to buy the necessary equipment and their book (which is somewhere on my tidy bookshelves).

So, as I've mentioned in the past, I gave this new fangled idea a whirl.  I thought it was OK for yarn but was hopeless for thread so soon gave it up.  As you can probably see from the picture below - the needles in those packets don't appear to have been opened.  

I found even back then that trying to get a good tension using needles just hurt my hands too much.  Anyway, thought you'd like to see my bit of history!

Lots of leftovers

I still seem to have a lot of leftover odds and ends of yarn so I've started another of  the square blankets again.  I do like this method of joining as you knit as it means no ends to sew in or edges to sew up for that matter!!!  

I'm using the same idea as I used doing the tatted poncho in that I'm laying colour combinations together on the carpet and taking a picture so I know what goes where.  Well, that's the theory but who knows what tricks BC3 will play on me!!!!

Moaning Monday

Goodness knows how I manage to get through life with the way my brain works!!!  

Last week I wanted an 'easy to do' long term project that I could sit and do without too much thinking during the 'silly season'. 

I remembered a large doily pattern by Coats that I'd made around fifty years ago but I've no idea what happened to it - the doily, I mean.  I know my gran was impressed that I wanted to do it!!!  Anyway I'm not sure whether it lay flat or not.  I did start an even bigger one from an old House of White Birches leaflet many years after that which I know didn't lie flat and it got thrown away when it was already huge!!!  Nowadays I'd have made sure that I amended the stitch count so it wouldn't happen.

I digress and apologise.

So the search for this small Coats booklet started but it led to many things.  In the end we parted with all the cookery books we owned and other odds and ends of books too (the charity shop were VERY pleased to receive them) so now I have a huge area just for my tatting stuff.  It's truly wonderful.  

Now to the stupid part of this.  I DID find the leaflet and then realised that I'd already scanned all my Coats and Penelope booklets onto my computer!!!  Now how STOOOOOOOPID is that?

Answers on a postage stamp please!!!

Here's the doily pattern I was looking for.