Progress on the new jacket

This is going well at the moment. Long may that last!!! All the fabric is made although there may be places which need more squares or adjustments. I’ve also done a zigzag stitch to anchor and give more substance to the fabric. Now to plan how to add this to the original fleece. Bring out BC3!!!

The top picture shows all the pieces laid out on the grass and the second shows the zigzag round the squares. They need a good pressing under the iron and then I’ll be trying to puzzle out how to proceed!!!

A new dress

Sally (my little sister) was telling me about a new dress she’d bought last week. She showed me a picture of it and sent me this link too.

As you can see it’s denim and I love denim. So I decided to copy my sister and buy one for myself!!! We both plan to add some tatting to our new dresses which will be fine as we’ll never be seen together in the same dress.  Sadly we live 100 miles apart. Shame as we never get to meet up nowadays.  Least we have email and WhatsApp etc.  

Monday moan

YouTube. Yes, that’s the subject for today’s moan!! 

I love YouTube in so many ways (I managed to fix the dishwasher a couple of years ago by watching a tutorial) but there are some videos that I find truly a ‘waste of space’. 

Yesterday I found I was watching one which showed a ‘free tatting pattern’ being made. 

This was a generic pattern that’s been around for years so it’s not ‘new’ as such. But it was the quality of the video that was so poor and misleading. No soundtrack (please NEVER play background music) and text on the screen which wasn’t that useful either. There was no explanation of the starting method either.  

Ah well, back off my soapbox and on with the day!

Another round!

This is the penultimate round of Robin's doily called Jan's Doily.

I will be finishing the next round hopefully by next week as I have another project in mind!!! 

What I've loved (apart from the design itself) about this pattern is the way it's been tweaked by Robin so that each stitch count works perfectly on every round. It lies flat, flat, flat and hasn't needed any blocking so far. Not that I ever do block as I haven't the patience!!!

Back next week with the completed doily - I hope!!!

Bookmark by Angie

Angie popped in one day last week with this bookmark she'd made. 

I wondered whether she'd made a mistake as I honestly didn't recognise it!!! I looked it up as this is what she said:-

"I made your bookmark! Thanks for the pattern! 😍😍

I was using up leftover shuttles, so color choices... well they are what they are. Lol."

I like her colour combinations and I eventually found the pattern here on my site!!! 

I wonder where I would've got in my life if only I had been born with a brain!

I have been

Plodding along with my bright green sweater.

Talk about 'straining the brain' - this one certainly has.  It's taught me the excitement of never knowing 'what comes next' in a pattern.

The top picture (look at right side of photo) shows how I finished up with what looks like a ‘strap-y’ top which is NOT what you want a sweater to be!!!  

If you look at the left side of the same picture you’ll see that the ‘strap’ is almost gone.

The bottom picture (although it’s not that clear) shows how I’ve picked up stitches around the armhole and have almost finished the short rows to make the top of the sleeve.  It’s a very interesting experience and not for the faint hearted.  The pattern can be found here.

The next project!!

Well this and yet another project are now 'on the go'!!!

After the huge success of this jacket I decided to make another but this time with squares.

I'd got an old fleece which I rarely wore (the black one in the picture below) and which will hopefully make a warmer piece of clothing. The original is a Spring/Autumn weight and I wear it a LOT. I'm often stopped by people who say they love the jacket - complete strangers (we get a lot of tourists in the town) and it always pleases me no end. Specially when I point out it's homemade and onto an old shirt. 

Here's a few pictures to show you where I'm at as I started this new one a couple of weeks ago. 

The first picture is the fabric for the back completed. Then there's work in progress and finally the 'original' fleece. The thing with doing this sort of project is to not plan too far ahead!!! After my last jacket I thought I'd make all the fabric first this time and then fit it over the fleece. I may top stitch over the squares but I'm not sure yet. Any advice would be VERY welcome!!!

The Coronation

As the world knows we are celebrating the Coronation of King Charles III tomorrow. I hate to admit this but I remember the last one - I was heading towards ten years of age and we had a TELEVISION in our home.

It was a miserable day (weather wise) and all I wanted to do was go to the big party which was happening over the road after the ceremony. 

Anyway all these years later (but not wiser, I might add) this Coronation will be spent watching it on a colour television. 

The day after will be a street party which the neighbours have been preparing for for ages. We've got a road closure and bunting etc so the day should be full of fun. At our local group where we meet to sew, knit, crochet, craft etc we've been working on our annual quilt and this is this year's offering. People will be able to buy tickets to win it. 

One or two (well, all of us!) think it's the best one we've done so far. Jo has done an amazing job putting all our crazy quilt squares together. Thanks, Jo.

Cozy production

Well I'm running out of friends!!!!  No I've not been upsetting them - least I hope not!  I'm running out of people to give these to!

I love making these - they're so simple to do  and so useful when done!!!  

For those who don't know - they're for putting a bowl into the microwave on so that you don't burn your fingers (or laps!) with hot stuff.

Progress on Robin's doily

Now I hang my head in shame!!!  I forgot to scan round 5 of Robin's lovely doily but I've remembered to do one of round 6 - even if it no longer sits entirely on the scanner!!!  

Number 90!!!

Well here we are!!!  

Janet has sent in her aliens and here's the link to what she has to say.

Thank you, Janet.

Monday Moan

Please would designers think about the amount of pages their designs take up AND how many instructions they actually need to write down.  I know I've done this moan before but I feel it's worth going over again. 

I've recently been looking at a pattern which is 32 pages long and would cost a fortune in inks (lots of dark backgrounds) and paper to print out (let's try saving our planet).   If I had been asked to write this simple generic pattern down it would take 3 pages (maybe 4) to describe, draw and present.  New tatters need to learn the craft thoroughly before venturing into designing.  Starting with researching what has gone before.

Another thing that's worrying me now is that due to YouTube people are now using other designer's patterns to show 'how to make' a design (hopefully with full permission given).  I've watched one or two of these and feel we're doing our craft no favours at all.  Why? We're teaching people to follow like sheep and not have to think.  This is the same for some of the patterns that are being sold online too. Pages and pages telling and showing how and when to turn or reverse the work but not necessarily writing it down in the pattern instructions.  Again this is going to lead to laziness in understanding how and why the lace 'works'.

My biggest moan of ALL for today is that these patterns NEVER give you a comfort break!!!! I know - I'm being silly now but soon they will be including instructions on how and when to take that break too!!!!   Too many instructions will lead to the death of tatted lace and  our brains too.

Must stop now - I need a comfort break and another cup of tea!!!!  A picture of some pretty flowers I saw on a walk the other day.

More aliens!!

Now this gang aren’t going onto the TIAS blog as they’re from Pamela who asked, a few weeks ago, if I’d done the whole pattern yet.  Well she shouldn’t have asked as she then put herself in the position of becoming the test tatter!!!!

Here are her aliens and the pattern will get onto my website - eventually!!!  Why ‘eventually’?  Well because I need to do so many things at the moment which need to be resolved before I can add aliens to websites.  

Another cozy

Now this one hasn’t got a home - yet!!!!   I’m deciding what to do with it while I make a few more which will also need to find homes!!!!  Keeps me out of mischief making them, though!!!

A new sewing project!

Heading now for (hopefully) warmer weather and the sewing spirit has risen within my body!!!  Spring means sap rising to most people but to me it’s the sewing bug which hits!!!

To get back into the swing of it I’ve started making bowl cozies.  I’ve got one which was given to me when I visited Canada years ago.  I LOVE it but as it’s grey it tends to be hard to find in my kitchen drawer!!!  The first one I’ve made is for a friend who lives nearby and this time round I’m making them with thicker wadding.  Why?  Well that’s because that’s what I was given!!!!  I LOVE Freecycle!!!!!  

We’ve got to 90!!!

Well, almost!!!  The next one will be number 90 as over the weekend two more aliens arrived - hot off the ferry from Ireland!!!  That’s, of course, the flying saucer ferry!!!

Here’s the link to find out more.  

Please visit the

Tat It And See blog today.  I’m not going to tell you anymore than that but I will share the link!

I’m a bit quiet here at the moment but that’s because I haven’t got anything to say!!!  Enjoy the rest - I’ll be BACK!!!!

Robin’s Doily - round 4

Well round four is done.  As you can see I haven’t put the iron on it yet but it really sits well.  That’s down to good, careful design skills.  It doesn’t need ‘blocking’ or anything.  Brilliant design.

Jumper

Another update on the knitting progress.  

As you can see I’ve now got below the armholes and it’s all joined up in one long round.  This is now a lot more interesting but a lot slower to knit.  I’ve got a digital copy of the chart on the iPad and use markup as I progress each row.  This means I can erase each row as it’s done and move upwards to the next one.  

I’ll add part of the chart to this blog post so you can see what Im doing.  

Coriolis

Hallie has sent me another of my designs that she’s done and I’ve checked it’s OK to share with you all. Here’s her comment.

“Good morning, Jane,

Since you said you like knowing people are enjoying your patterns, here's my latest effort: the Coriolis Motif. I'd only done block tatting a couple times before, but it works so well in this pattern. Thanks again for sharing your BC3 with all of us!

Best wishes,

Hallie in Wisconsin”

Oh, the pattern is here, by the way. 

Yesterday

Just in case you didn't notice - another alien arrived in my inbox. A great start to the week. 

This one is from Claire and I'll give you the link so you can see what she says.

Still hoping that a few more will fly in as I know there are still quite a few 'out there' waiting to land!!!! 

Monday

Yes, Monday but no moan!!! In fact I don’t really have a lot to say at the moment. 

Yesterday was such a busy day and I was too tired to do much. Hope to have more to share later this week.

Just a pretty picture from one of my walks.

Round 3 of Jan’s Doily

Well I’ve managed to tear myself away from the knitting at odd times and had actually finished this before the Gloucester tatting day!!! How’s that?!?!? 

In fact I took the doily with me to work on and when I got home found that I’d done the usual ‘thing’ of ‘talking too much and not concentrating’ so had to pull out a good deal of round 4!!!  

I don’t know if there’s something wrong with my BC3 but I never mind taking work out and re-doing it.  I guess it’s because I probably do more of that than getting things right in the first place!!!  I really ought to sit and read things through and understand BEFORE I start.  I do it with almost everything in my life!!!  Don’t ask about cooking!!!!  That’s a hit and miss affair too!!!!

The green jumper AGAIN!

Well here it is a few days ago. You can see that I’ve now got a front and a back on the jumper. The top picture shows that the front (the top part of the photo) is shorter than the back!!! I think the next stage will be to join the front and back under the arms. Can you see that stitches have been added to the sides of the garment?

Hallie’s Easter egg

Today I’ve got Hallie’s egg to show you.  It’s not often that people show me what they’ve made with my designs but it’s always VERY reassuring when they do as it shows I’m not really wasting my time and it also reminds me to look at them again to see if they need improving on.  This is what she had to say.

“Good morning, Jane,
I wanted to thank you for the bugle bead Easter Egg pattern (2019), and your technique sheet for simplified split chains. I'd looked at both previously and said, "No way!" 
But I recently sent in my T.A.T. Apprentice work, and felt up to another challenge. And to my delight, the beads weren't nearly as hard to deal with as I'd feared, and the simplified split chain method worked great.

Best wishes,
Hallie in Wisconsin
Keeping my fingers crossed that enough aliens show up to encourage you to let us have another TIAS treat next year!”

Yes I hope more aliens arrive too, Hallie!

Monday - not a moan!

Well I wish I’d managed to take some photos on Saturday when I went to the Gloucester Tatting Day organised by Linda Williams. 

I’m a real dumbie when it comes to going places in the car. I avoid driving as much as I can even though I’m not a bad driver. I just lack confidence but having sat nav does help. Anyway I arrived at Churchdown where the day was being held.

It was a lovely relaxing day and I sat next to Anne who was delightful. I didn’t get the names of everybody there which is typical of me. Even if I’d been told them I doubt they would’ve ‘stuck’ in BC3!!! 

There was a raffle (I won two very old shuttles) and a wonderful display including Janet’s gorgeous Christening gowns. The display gave me lots of inspiration and was good to see. There was going to be a workshop but to be honest I think we were all happy just to talk tatting!!! 

So, as I didn’t take any photos I’ll show you a photo I took last summer sometime!!

History repeats itself

Thankfully due to being a shuttle tatter for so many years I was able yet again to do a rapid repair of another broken washing line.  This is the last time it broke in January.  

Before you cynics say anything - it was the other end that broke this time as the tatting knots have held.  Another line has now been erected and my fingers are crossed that this will last for a good while!!!

Round 2

The start of this project is right back here as my wretched BC3 wandered off on other things - things like knitting!!!

So, back to the doily!

I can now reveal that it's Robin Perfetti's gorgeous Jan's Doily which is truly magnificent.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't destroy it for others as I try to make something equally as stunning. Robin's Etsy shop is here but it appears to be closed at the moment which is a shame.

I did tweak this round slightly as I don’t like big picots that others are later joined to.  Instead of the larger picot I substituted a very small one, two doubles and another small one instead.  It doesn’t detract from the design one bit but made it easier for my BC3 to tell my hands what to do without worrying about any picot gauges!!!

The hat finished

Well as we were destined to go through another really cold snap in the weather I decided to just knuckle down and get the hat finished.  It’s really hard to take a selfie of the top of the hat so I used the iron to model it too!!!  

It looks as if it’s very long but actually it sits well on my head.  

The visor part was easy to do and I had an empty milk carton (the plastic sort) which I cut up to make it stiff.  I did ‘cheat’ on the band which was needed to ‘hide’ the join and instead I crocheted that!!!!  

Jumper progress - again!

Further work has been done on the new jumper.  This is SUCH an interesting construction.  

I am now working on the back of the neck.  The needles show where I’ve got to as I’m constructing the shoulders (top, right of the photo).

  

85

That’s the number of aliens who’ve landed on earth. Here are the latest arrivals who all flew in on Saturday!!!

I must admit I was getting a bit worried as the numbers were so low for finished aliens and perhaps this might be down to the final part - the head. I know this was a hard part for some but my biggest concern now is the number of headless aliens roaming our planet earth without being able to enjoy the beautiful parts of our world.

So, please, please get in touch if you need help with your headless alien - I’m sure that the missing aliens would love to join the TIAS blog!!!