What a difference an iron makes!!!

Linda posted a comment about the kangaroo yesterday which made me think and take another look at it. She asked if I'd altered the stitch count as the back looked different. Well I have to admit it did look naff but I'd not tweaked that part. You see when I work a pattern I believe that it should naturally lie flat (unless it's 3D, of course!!). So when I fling something onto the ironing board I just damp and press. I must've flung it down wrongly so this morning I have gently pulled it into shape and pressed it again!!! Looks a lot better now!!

Yesterday I had a good day, a very good day. I got accepted back at blood donor and have now 'done' my 68th donation!!! Simple things please simple people!!!

Now I'm sure!

I'm sure she's finished now. I made the back legs two block rows longer from the hip to the joint. This has made a whole lot of difference. Of course this threw a lot of the text out and that had to be re-jigged too. Maybe one more bit of adjusting needs to be done where the chain from the second back leg to the joey just may need a ds or two less. I'll look at it again in a few days time.

I'm playing with a new 'quickie' idea at the moment. Not sure if it'll get anywhere - we'll see!!!!

A litle relaxation

After the trials and tribulations of the kangaroo I gave myself a day of relaxation!!! I need to add these motifs to bangles before I put them away - or give them away!!!
I did have an idea for another little pattern which I hope to work on AFTER I've finished the kangaroo.
Last night my friend Jules in Ozland wrote to say she has accepted my offer and is going to use the kangaroo in their newsletter. I'm really, really flattered to be accepted by such a talented group. Thanks, Jules and Toni. This is where this pattern will make her debut!!! I do have other 'stuff' ready to upload in January so there won't be a 'gap' and then there's this latest small but (hopefully) amusing idea which is brewing!!!

Kangaroo - nearly, nearly finished

Ta de dah. Thanks to a really, really wet and horrid day here in the U.K. I was able to sit down with the laptop in the afternoon and concentrate on the kangaroo.

I used two shades of brown as I think they look pretty cool. There are a few places that need 'tweaking' but I'm getting quite pleased with it now. The text needs to be checked (along with the tweaking) and the drawing needs quite a bit of work too.
Ah, this time I'm trying another idea with the text. I know that a lot of people like to do 'front side, back side' tatting so I've written the pattern in order to help those people. Let me show you the start of the text for the kangaroo.
R1: 2 vsp 6 vsp 4 - 4 Cl RW
Ch: 6 RW
R2: 3 + (R1) 3 vsp 3 – 3 Cl RW
Ch: 8 RW
R3: 3 + (R2) 3 vsp 3 – 3 Cl RW
Ch: 8 RW
Can you see where I've used italics? That's to show where you start a ring (or chain) using second half of double first followed by first half ds. (Like the second side of a SR).
The kangaroo is worked in one 'hit' so no cutting and tying until you get to the end.

Oh, nearly forgot to add the picture!!!

Kangaroo and trees

My adopted son, Mark Myers, suggested that the joey should be facing sideways. I'm going to try to make him look upwards at his mom when I do another draft. Thanks, Mark.
Last night I made brooches. I started late afternoon and used the Christmas tree earwig pattern. I made the last chain slightly longer and have added small coilless safety pins to the back. I want to give one or two to the ladies who work and smile all the time at the local Post Office. They're always asking me what I'm sending out in my ebay packages and finding me the cheapest way to mail them too. Here they are.

Day 8 - final draft, phewwwww

This is the final draft. I'm so pleased to have got to this stage. I shall now leave it for a few days while I make Christmas tree earwigs and other play stuff.
When I get back to the kangaroo I shall use brown/tan thread and start tweaking it. The mother's head needs to be slightly larger, there are 'issues' with the back legs and tail and perhaps the joey needs a bit more work too. I'm beginning to see that this pattern will eventually be OK.
I think I've also devised a method of writing it down for 'front side, back side' workers which may make it easier for all (WHO WANT TO) to use this method. Personally I don't bother if the item I'm making is going to be seen from both sides but in the case of the kanagaroo I think I shall only sew it onto something (or do what I usually do - chuck it down somewhere in the houselose it and forget it!!).

Day 7 of the kangaroo

I looked at yesterday's start on the front leg with the block tatting and decided that it just would NOT do. It was time to have a whole new start!!!
The main problem with this leg was that the worker would have to remember to do the block tatting in the reverse order from normal. By that I mean that the first chain would have to be second half ds followed by first half. The second chain would then have to be first half, second half. Even I have a problem remembering that so tat's another grand idea down the drain!!!
Below is a whole new start. The tail is slightly shorter but still not right. The joey's head is a little better but still needs sorting. That front leg is going to HAVE to go. It's never going to work like that!!!

Day 6 of the kangaroo

Last night a new kangaroo was born. The first long tailed kangaroo!!! Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!! I'm happier with the new block tatted legs but the tail turned out way too long as the whole thing has been thrown into a new position!!! If you look at the tail it's now coming from further down the back.
Something which could help pull her back into a better position is if I join the chain from top of the second leg to the chain leading to the joey.
Th lower parts of the legs need to be slightly longer and perhaps another two rows of block tatting will cure that - I'll try it tonight.
The joey is by no means right either! The head is too big and doesn't have the 'cute' factor yet. I used a ring for the mouth so that the head appears to peek over the top of the pouch. More work needed on that too. I've a feeling that if I join the head to a later chain so that it overlaps the upper body that might also help. Tonight I'm going to start again on a new tail etc - probably!!!

Day 5 of the kangaroo

Well here we go again. I undid the second leg that I started last time and then did the one below. I really, really don't like the legs at all so went back to the drawing board. This is the drawing I've done for another new start!!! Oh, the agonies of designing. Why, oh why do I do it? Why can't I just be happy to sit and make things rather than pushing myself through these hurdles?

Kangaroo? What kangaroo?

Day off kangarooing yesterday.
I do have some tatting news to report, though. I went to the Lace Fair which was being held about twenty miles away. I'd arranged to meet up with Jennifer and Sheila there which was great. We met up at Lyn Morton's stall (Tatting and Design). It was lovely to see Lyn and Mike again and I soon spotted a lovely pendant she was wearing. She was selling the thread that she used for it which was a gold, sparkly one. The problem was that she had a range of shades so making decisions was hard. I'm a real ditherer when it comes to this sort of thing so find that the easiest way round it was to take three shades!!!
Jennifer and her friends (two Welsh 'dragons' and a Scottish/Welsh one) that she'd brought with her and I all went to have lunch together. Lots of tat talk of course!! Then back to heaven - whoops, sorry, I mean the vending room.
From another place I bought a lovely pouch with clear pockets inside like one that SueH has got. Here's a link so you can see it. They had very few colours and the one I fell for was purple!!!
Also I got to speak to Pam Palmer. Yes, the real Pam Palmer. The last time I met her was about twenty years ago when she was more interested in my back!!! The reason for that was because I had one of my jackets on with one of her designs on it. I'll try and find the pictures she took - I only saw them a month or so ago! I've made lots of her patterns in the past and in those days they went onto my jackets. Now those designs are on hangings round the house! Pam, I might add, didn't look any different from when I last saw her. I asked her when her next book was coming out and she did say she was going to look through her stuff after Christmas and would see how she felt about things then. Keep your fingers crossed, folks!
Well that's about it for yesterday. I'm now going to take a serious look at the kangaroo again. May get something done about her this afternoon as it's persisting with rain today!!!

Day 4 of the kangaroo

Now don't laugh. NO, I asked you not to yesterday too! I shall throw this out of the window if I hear you laugh again! I didn't do much more of the first sample yesterday - for obvious reasons!!! The head is the bit at the top right hand corner. I'd lost interest by the time I got there and also had a few too many interruptions along the way. That's the picture on the left dealt with!!
Now for the one on the right. As you can see - I've started again. This time the tail and back leg are a lot, lot better. I started on the second back leg but that's going to be taken undone tonight as I'm not the least bit happy with it. I'm trying to think all the time about how this would look in 'kangaroo colours' and not the blue and yellow I'm using.

Day 3 of the kangaroooo

Now I beg you not to laugh at last night's attempt. Honestly I'm still making a kangaroo. Sometimes I know it stretches the imagination!!! I've decided to still 'go with the flow' but I've stopped writing down what I'm doing as it will all have to be changed.
OK, let me try and analyse this.
Main leg is OK - just needs tidying up.
The tail is not long enough and is at a funny angle - again it's almost there.
The back at the top of the leg is sagging. Needs a fair bit of attention.
Now the other leg is - well, in the wrong place but I feel that it will be just another matter of playing with it.
The joey (looks like an alien at the moment) is horrid!!.
The arms are sort of OK but the shoulder etc isn't right. I started the face but it really was too late in the evening.
By the way, that's only half a face there!!!
The way the kangaroo is 'hunched over' will correct itself in the final chain from the head to the shoulder - least it SHOULD!!!

Kangaroo!

Well, actually, no kangaroo. Didn't pick up a shuttle all day. Life got in the way!!

Day 2 of the kangarooooooo

After yesterday's attempt I decided to start again. I find this nearly always happens with me! I drew the tail again with two alternative ways of working it.

When I finally settled down to try it out last night I quickly decided that the drawing on the left was a 'no go'. Can't say why but it felt wrong. I went with the drawing on the right. You will see from the tatted sample below that this is fairly good for a first attempt. I then went on round to complete the back of the leg (the one nearest the tail) and the other leg too. I think the first leg needs 'fattening up' and the tail needs to be a tad longer. The other leg needs more work but I think it only needs 'tying in' to the previous one with a picot. I've started on the joey too but this will have to be done again - at the moment it looks rather like one of those dreadful things whicih comes out of somebody's stomach in those awful horror movies. Do I feel another 'start again' coming over me? So far, though, so good. It looks quite like a kangaroo and it's still on the way to being achieved in one 'round'.

Tatting a kangaroo - day 1

I've started a kangaroo!! I'm not sure who originally asked for this but the idea is now rapidly developing in the aged brain!!!
I'd like to do this for all the friends I've got in Australia. Particularly the 'two aussie twits' (one of them is Julie Patterson who makes me laugh so much and who's path I seem to stumble happily into regularly). Also there's her friend Toni Storer and then Omar Bentley plus, of course, Judith Connors. Forgive me for anybody 'down under' that I've forgotten but my geography and memory are pants!!!
First of all I drew the 'prospective' pattern with Serif DrawPlus. Then I started tatting.
I usually find that my first attempt is always depressing and, as usual, this time has proved to be no exception!! The tatted piece below, I'd better explain, is a leg and a tail as you might not recognise it!! I think that block tatting the tail is just toooooo time consuming. The leg - well that's not right either but I've thought of a way round tat problem!! NO, not amputation!!!
So, back to drawing a new tail. Show you more tomorrow!!!

'Glam' earrings!

Now I don't 'do' glam (glamorous) as anybody who knows me will tell you!!! I'm strictly a jeans and t-shirt sort of person and always have been. BUT for some reason I do allow myself 'glam' earwigs!! This is the last in this session of making earrings. Again if anybody wants this pattern, just shout!!

Ah, just before I go - a warning. The design 'bug' has bitten again. Do watch this space!!!

New earrings

These earrings are again based (even more roughly!) on the 3D ones on my site. This time, however, I've added a ring on the chain and a large beaded picot at the bottom. I've actually written this down as I made it which surprised me no end!! As it's a simple derivative of a very basic idea (just rings and chains) I'm not going to add it to my pattern pages. However if anybody would like the notes on this please do email me. I will send it as a Word document. I think I'll make some more in Christmassy colours!!

Found normal at last

Well I finally managed to get my nearly last batch of Christmas tree earrings up onto ebay yesterday (two more to add later today!). In the end I wrote to ebay support and had a very helpul answer. They told me to do all the things I'd already done so I did them again and this time it worked - on both computers in spite of the fact that I only performed their recommendations on one!!!
SharonC left a comment on yesterday's post (please email me privately) about the pattern for these trees. This got me thinking (sometimes this does happen) and later in the day while talking to SueH 'live' on the phone we got to discussing this. The following are my opinions and dear SueH listened to them!!
I devised these trees way back in the very early 1990's and the pattern was published in it's 'then' form in a UK craft magazine. SueH mentioned that they'd also appeared in a Workbasket magazine too and we've seen them in various other places. As they are a 'generic' pattern (i.e. one anybody could have devised) this is the reason that I've not added them to my pattern pages. (I do have a copy of mine if people wants it - email me privately). It would, of course, be interesting but impossible to find out who first devised this idea and mine has morphed over the years as I've learnt split rings and split chains. Remembering, of course, that at the time mine were published in the UK the internet was a mere baby (if it had even been born!) and I had never heard of, let alone seen, Workbasket magazines!
Another interesting pattern is the one that I've used below. This little generic 'baby' came about after doing the 3D one. Chicken and egg syndrome. As this FLAT little snowflake is so simple I do not consider it as a pattern in it's own right but when it's taken to the 3D state then I consider that part as being my copyright.
This makes me ask myself the question of what we can call original and thus being somebody's copyright and what is 'generic'. By generic I mean that it is a complete pattern which is easily arrived at by a relative beginner to designing. Nothing at all wrong with that and any designer is to be applauded BUT by putting a copyright notice on everything then are we going to come to a stage when everything 'belongs' to somebody. Will this stifle creativity? Will this cause arguments? Do you follow me? Have I lost the plot? Time for a cup of tea, I think!!!

I've lost normal!!

Well I'm fed up. Really fed up. I've been selling the Christmas tree earrings via ebay and managed to add three pairs yesterday. Suddenly today I can't access the selling feature on the site (mind, I did struggle yesterday with uploading the pictures)!!! I've got two (and a half) pairs ready to 'go' and can't get on via either computer (one using XP and one using Vista). I've emptied cache's, deleted 'history' and read all the information I can. The two computers give up in different ways. Now I'm giving up!!! I think I'll list in Etsy instead!!! I've written to ebay and am hoping they can sort it out.
Meanwhile I shall continue sulking!!!
Just to cheer myself up I'll show you the two that are ready to go!!!

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!!!

Do all the people who read this blog and live in the UK remember those words from the 'olden days' (Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible)? For others - this was the phrase that used to appear on our televisions when something went horribly wrong in the studios or at the transmitters. Sometimes the 'normal service' would be back with us before we'd had time to read the words but usually there was a break.

Anyway, this is what has happened to this blog!!! Normal service has been interrupted by an influx of orders for Christmas tree earrings!!! I didn't sell all four of the ones I listed on ebay but shortly after had orders for 13 more plus 2 pairs of snowflake earrings. This plus a day (yesterday) of sorting out many personal hiccoughs and problems AND after two night's bad sleep have stopped most 'normal' service at all. Needless to say when I do get a spare moment I've been tatting Christmas trees!!! Once these orders are filled then I shall list more on ebay and on Etsy.