Zig Zag doily - getting a move on!

Well I can get a move on at times and  as I've said before - I really enjoy making this doily.  It'll eventually find it's way into the box of finished tatting!!!!

Cushion

I'd forgotten to show you the finished cushion.  So, here it is.  

I managed to put 'window frames' round each square just to bring out the differences in the colours.  There's also a dark strip round the outside too.  The back (last picture) is reasonably 'plain' in a wonky sort of way.

Can you spot the added bits of 'tit and tat'?  Oh, I mean tatting?

Zig Zag doily

Do you remember this project?  

It's the translation of a Dutch doily which I absolutely love.  I think the pattern is almost ready to 'go' onto my web site but I do want to check it through once more.

Bev has done a terrific job test tatting it too and made lots of really good suggestions.

So I've started another but in yellow and size 40 thread.  I had to search through my stash to find two balls of size 40 but this is what I decided on.  As the design is so interesting and as there are very few cuts and ties during the whole pattern I decided to make it in just one colour again.  I'd like to see it in a variegated thread but I think you'd lose the beauty of the flow.  

Purse to match

Just occasionally I find I need a little coin purse.  I do have a little leather one but the zip 'catches' on the currency notes (£5.00, £10.00 etc).

So I decided to make a crochet one (same idea as yesterday's post) which I've also lined. 

This zip is a finer one and doesn't 'catch' on the notes.  Can you see I've lined this one too.  

It must be six or more years ago when I started using my phone to pay for everything and the only time I really need cash is when I'm dealing with people who can't accept digital payments.  This should solve those times (Friday market and visiting sole owner shops) - unless, of course, I forget to put it in my pocket before I leave home!!!

Ear pods

I've had these little ear pods for a few years now and wear them a LOT.  Most of the time when I'm out walking. 

I've carried them around in their little container which also charges them when I get home.  The little container is quite bulky in my trouser pockets so I decided they needed a new home.  This is a simple Amigurumi type of crochet 'thingy' with a very small zip in.  I can now hook it onto my trouser belt and it's easier to put them in when I go into a shop.  

Genius, eh?  Well, no, not genius but a pretty good idea, I think.

Continuing from last Monday's blog post

Last week I was talking about the posting the shuttle and an extra half double to make the work neater - see this post.

I did mention that some people reckon that it makes it easier to open the ring if you post the shuttle but I don't understand this as Ive never tried opening a ring from it's base.

So today I'm mainly trying to ensure that people who make mistakes in a ring (which is something I do regularly) don't panic!!!  

Forget trying to open from the base (shuttle posted or not) and go for the last picot in the ring.  There aren't many rings that don't have the 'odd' picot in them whether large or a vsp.  

Oh, heck, here's a new page I've done explaining it better - I hope!!!!

Cyril's Swans

Here in Stratford we have swans. Not as many as we used to have as we sadly had a bout of Avian flu over the winter but we still have half of them left and hopefully the Spring will see some signs of them breeding in earnest! 

Cyril is our unofficial (I think) swan person. He's got a dedicated swan bike which was recently donated to him and he is called out at all hours to rescue swans who have got tied up in fishermen's lines, got ill or, sadly, died. He does an amazing job and is well thought of by all us locals. 

This is the reason I'm calling these guys 'Cyril's Swans'. I've made him a couple to sew onto his jacket or whatever he wants. We met a few weeks ago outside the library and he was really chuffed with them. 

I expect you'd like the pattern, wouldn't you? Well it's on my free pattern page or via a the direct link here.

Coats doily again

Well I also found time to get the border of the Coats doily done and I must say that I'm pretty pleased with it. 

I have oodles of this thread in size 40 so I will continue on my merry way. It's going to be my 'take with me' project when I go to the craft groups so it will be a long time in the making!!! 

I'll add another picture of the completed doily which will now become a cloth just so you can feast your eyes on what it will look like - one day!!!

Monday thoughts - not moans

Yes it's that time of the week again!!!

This time it’s not a moan but more a matter of talking to myself about a couple of ‘techniques’. Well I think they’re more ‘suggestions’ than techniques as such. 

The two which I find most amusing is ‘posting the shuttle through the ring and/or doing an extra half double before closing’. Now this is meant to make the base of the ring lie better and to make it easier to open the ring if needed. 

When I first heard about this idea I adopted it. In fact I used it for several months until I decided that it was a pain in the ‘you know where’ and which also slowed me down. Anything which means letting go of the shuttle slows the tatter down and this certainly slowed me. 

So, I rang up BC3 (for those who don’t know BC3 - he’s the only brain cell I’ve got left and is a good hardworking soul) to ask him to check it out. 

It dawned on me that the only reason that the rings might look better is because I was being more careful when closing them after 'posting' the shuttle and that if I went back to my old ways and closed carefully I’d probably get the same result. So back I went to my original method and it was true - when I closed more carefully (without the posting and/or extra half double) the rings did look better. It was also the same with doing the extra half double. 

Then I questioned myself and realised that I didn’t want ‘perfect’ tatting (whatever that is!) but wanted to enjoy the craft so I went back to my ‘good old ways’ and life is good!!!

Four squares make a

Cushion!!!

Well a long way to go yet. I forgot to take a picture of 'just' the pink one!!! 

I'm going to put these together with a frame around each block and the whole thing so just have to wait for another warmer day - or two. 

I only sew when the weather's warm enough for me to do it in the conservatory and that's not happened a lot lately - the warm weather, I mean.

Back to the Coats doily

When I posted the single motif I showed you on Monday I'd already got a lot further ahead due to the TIAS and me not using this blog for a few weeks.

You'll see that I managed to join each motif together and it does lie well. It was a bit of a nightmare but I made a few notes (I think!!) as I went along.

You may wonder at all the markers on the picture but they're there for reasons. The coloured yarn is so I know whether the motif was a first, second or third one and that helped enormously with the joining of them together. 

The pins on the outer edges are to show where I join the next round so now it's 'onwards and upwards'. Well, in theory!!!!

Considering that I've had this pattern for probably sixty years it's about time I conquered it!!!

The scarf just grows

Now carefully relegated to 'Friday mornings only' (that's when I go to the knitting group) the scarf only grows slowly!!!! I'm still going to bore you with it from time to time, though!!!

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!