A very special bookmark

Here is the penultimate link - day 9.  I will be very busy over the weekend so I'm going to keep the last one until Monday morning.  Sorry about that but little sisters come first!!

This bookmark is very special.  It's Nick's.  

Last year as part of his birthday present I bought some magnetic bookmarks from Waterstones.  Just a sort of 'stocking filler' present.  

It was as I was walking back from town that the whole idea of making tatted ones started germinating in my mind and thus they became a small (but growing) section of my Etsy shop!!!!

Sadly last week I returned a book to the library for him with one of the small  Waterstones bookmarks left on it so felt I needed to make him a new one.  Actually he asked as he was getting jealous of all the others flying out of the house!!  This is the badger head (FLAT, not 3D).  Nick loves badgers.

Now him being him - he doesn't use it as I designed it to be used!!!!  He's got a better idea and I'll admit one I hadn't thought of!!!  He puts the two magnets either side of the front or back covers of the book and then uses the head on the dangly tail to mark the actual place he's reached inside.  He's wickedly clever is that old git!!!!!  

Final bead talk!!

First of all - another package posted on 14th or 15th December (that's LAST year!) has now arrived in the USA.

Now how to add beads another way.

I think it must've been as a result of something that somebody said on a blog somewhere about Rhoda Auld's method of adding beads which got the old brain working.  

I remember that moment when I was making something just a few years ago which needed the mental capacity to work out not only 'how many' but also 'what order' to add the beads to the threads before starting and it was a LOT of beads too.  I just wasn't coping well with that concept - I've never had a good brain for that sort of thing.  Then it occurred to me that perhaps I could add the beads when I 'got there' - like Rhoda did but differently so that they didn't have the thread over the sides of the beads (see yesterday's post).

This (after probably around 50 years of tatting) was a huge moment for me.  I'd not seen this idea used before.

So, this is how it's done.  When you get to the place that needs a whole lot of beads on a picot (or what I call a LBP - long beaded picot) you add the beads to the back of the hand above the last doubles and put a safety pin/paperclip to hold them in place.  Then continue with the pattern and join to the LBP when required.  This gives you the opportunity to experiment with colours, sizes and different orders of beads too.

Here are a couple of quick pictures but there is a link here with more explanation.

I was SO thrilled when seeing the TIAS pieces coming in that this idea has been adopted for making picots to fit even just one bead.  My first thoughts were to put this in the TIAS instructions but I didn't want to 'frighten off' participants who had recently learnt to tat.

More about beads!!!

Before starting - day 8 is out now and can be found here.

A few people choose to add beads to their tatting after completion.  I've never understood this as the sewing thread could so easily come undone.  When I do something I like it to 'stay done' and not fall apart!!  With a little planning and good instructions it's so easy to add beads into the work as the piece is made.

There are several ways of using beads in your work - at the top of the picot (that is, included in the picot itself) is probably the first method that comes to mind.

This needs a bit of 'planning'.  Patterns should tell you to add the beads either to the shuttle or chain threads (sometimes both) and the quantity before starting.  When the element (ring, chain, split ring or whatever) is reached that needs the bead then some patterns will instruct you to move the bead to the back of your hand before starting the next part.  Always read the instructions before starting each element - just in case!!!  When annotating patterns I tend to use B as the instruction for a bead used like this (see below) with the 'move B to back of hand before starting ring' at the end of the previous element.  Sometimes I forget, though.

If the bead is to lie between the doubles then it stays on the shuttle thread until required by the pattern's instructions.  Then it's just moved along the core thread to sit there happily between it's two doubles!!!  Like this picture below.  In this case I use the instructions MB (move bead).  This is perhaps the easiest way of using beads but does leave a thread over the top.  Useful effect for some patterns and very useful for placing 'eyes' in critter designs!!!

Combining the top two methods (on and in a picot) gives some interesting effects like the sample shown below.  There are other combinations too.

Another way of adding beads is one  I first found in 1974 when I bought (new as just published!!!) Rhoda Auld's book.  This is what I've always thought of as the 'lazy way' of adding beads!!!  Why lazy?  Well, no planning is needed!!!  When you feel you want or need a bead you add it to the thread round your hand, take the shuttle thread through the loop coming out of the top of the bead and then snug up the thread.  I  think the result is ugly.  I've never liked the threads showing over my beads so soon after using that method I abandoned it.  This is how it's done!!

And this is what it looks like when finished!  Not my cuppa tea!!!!  I found that the thread round the bead 'snagged' on things too.

Tomorrow I'll be talking my final (probably!) talk about beads in tatting.

A 'How To' page

Before I start - another packet has arrived with it's new owner.  This was mailed on the 14th December.  Long live Royal Fail!!!!!!

Today will be the first of three posts which will be talking about beads.  These will be serious posts and will probably interest those who are reluctant to use beads!!!

I think the first time I ever added beads to my tatting was onto picots.  That is 'ready made' picots.  Like this!!!  

 

During the TIAS there was somebody who was having trouble adding her beads to the picots.  Now this is a problem and one which we've all met at sometime or another.  I use two different methods - depending on my mood and the size of the bead/thread.  

The first way is using a very, very small crochet hook (my favourites of all time are from Georgia Seitz cause they're short and have a chain and cover on them).  The size I use is 0.4mm.  The bead is put on the hook, the hook through the picot and the bead slipped over the thread and thus onto the picot.  Then the join is made.

If the hole in the bead is too small then I use a beading needle and some sewing thread and do it this way.  I take the needle through the bead and slip the bead onto the thread.  Then I take the needle through the picot then back through the bead.  All I do then is slide the bead onto the picot.  Job done!!!!

I'm SO ANGRY!!

Do you know what really, really, REALLY makes me totally angry?

I'll tell you.  People who can't read my patterns.  They're tatting away and then see they've made a mistake.  That's after all the hours and hours I spend doing them and THEN they have the nerve to complain.  Complain to ME.  That's right - they complain to MEEE.  MEEEEEE the best thing since sliced bread!!! HOW DARE they?  

Who is it who has upset me?  I'll tell you and I hope you'll send her to Coventry. 

It's MEEEE who has upset me.  I can't STAND it when I can't even follow my own patterns and then I complain to me!  I was working on the sheep yet again and mis read it AGAIN and in the SAME place!!!  I drive me MAD!!!!!

OK, off to Coventry - I'm not going to speak to me again all day!!!  I'll speak to everybody else in tat land but just not ME!!!

Here's the offending sheep who's now eating grass in Etsy.

Day 7

In case anybody has come to this blog I'm putting the link here for Day 7 of the TIAS.  Here it is!!!

Day 8 will be on Wednesday.

More magnetic bookmarks

This is another 'batch' of bookmarks which were ordered by friends.  

The first 'batch' is for Dinah who used to live in this town.  She wanted 4 for female readers and 1 for a male reader.  Easy for the ladies but the gentleman needed a tad more thought.  Thus was born the bowler hatted bookworm who you can see top left!!!

The penguin is another request in the second picture alongside the butterfly for the 'lady at the post office'.

Next?  Well, baaaaing too many distractions - sheep!!!!  

Changes in tatting

Don't forget - today is Day 6 of the TIAS.

Following on from yesterday's post about starting and finishing tatted pieces today I want to ramble on about picots and front side back side tatting.

It's not until I came online in the early days of the internet that I'd ever heard of picot gauges and I still to this day don't know what use they are except for the longer picots that have to be a certain length to make a pattern work.  For the smaller decorative picots I'd never slow myself down by relying on those - eyes are better than gismos!!! Also a slight variation in sizes gives a piece a more 'easy' look to me.   Please note, however - I am NOT and never have been a perfectionist!!  I enjoy my craft but I don't want or expect each piece to be perfect.  Using a gauge seems to be quite a popular way of working nowadays but as far as I know there's no record of it being the way our ancestors worked.  Certainly it didn't show up in any instructions or patterns when I learnt to tat!!!

Now the question of whether to use front side, back side tatting.  I can certainly see the effect of tatting this way (with a 'right and wrong' side) and now notate patterns to help people to do it.  But I'm not convinced it's important.  I DO use it when I'm making a piece that will be sewn or stuck onto something but if it's going to be 3D or given away to somebody then I stick to the 'old fashioned' way of not worrying about it.  Why?  Well how many people would NOTICE or know if a tatted doily was the 'right way' or 'wrong way' up on a table?  I'm sure no non tatters would!!!!  Again looking through old patterns it's obvious that this was never done in the dim and distant past.


Well, that's enough of me for today - tomorrow I'll show you something I've been working on.

I've been thinking!

No, don't worry - it won't last and I'm sure it's not catching.

As the TIAS has been progressing I've noticed 'things' about the way people work.  Only minor 'things' but 'things' nonetheless!!!  

The first thing that sprung to my attention was that many people nowadays  seem to start their tatting with CTM (continuous thread method) which  obviously couldn't be done with the TIAS.  The CTM  while allowing the worker to avoid tying a knot at the beginning, seems (to me!) a big fiddle before you even start.  Unless you know exactly how much thread you're going to need (and not many patterns tell you) there seems little point in doing this as you'll still have some thread left on the shuttles when you finish!  I know some people then use the 'remains' to make little diddly things (I personally take the thread off and re-wind it back onto the ball).  The TIAS involves starting with two colours which prevents the CTM totally!!

A lot of people have used an overhand knot like this to start.

Now obviously this isn't 'wrong' and people have their own reasons for starting this way but there are other ways.  Personally I do prefer to knot my ends together when I start IF the item is going to be a 'wearable'.  But I always use a weaver's knot which can be found here.  Why a weaver's knot?  Simples (does anybody from the UK follow the meerkat adverts?) - because it makes a much, much smaller knot.  I then tat over the two ends too - one end in the first ring and t'other in the following element.  I just sorta feel 'safer' using a knot too!!

If the item isn't going to be worn or suffer a lot of wear then I just start without a knot - here's a link for some ideas.

The one 'trick' that I've only ever used once or twice is the magic thread trick for which you can find a link here.  


There are two reasons for this - the main one on which I fall at the first hurdle is planning!!!  


Also I feel there is no point in using it at the start of the work as the ends can be hidden so easily.  The second reason is that it does take some working out on where to put the additional threads - if you are using it as a finishing off method.  


I did try it once but the ends came out a few days later!!!  I know, I know that some people will say that I got the 'wrong sort' of additional thread and probably I did - BUT it's something I'm not going to risk again.  Not when I know that for me it's so much easier to tie a double knot (reef knot) and then, using a self threading needle, sew the ends in!!!

Which reminds me - another tip is to add the needle onto the thread before cutting it.  That way you can judge exactly how little you need!!!


The above are only my personal opinions and are a true report of how I work!!!  Here endeth today's ramble!!

Welcome to my new dating agency!

Well I should've learnt by now to keep my BIG mouth shut - see here!!  There again you can't teach an old dog new tricks, can you?  

Please, folks, it WAS a joke the other day about starting a dating agency but if at the age of 67 I have to start along new career path then that's what I'll do.  Actually what better way to spend my time than fixing pandas up with dates!!!

Please meet Bo who is the progeny of Sarah.  Now what a bobby dazzler.  

Oh, Sarah says that Bo's top hat is a pattern by Teresa Woods, 2006. She wanted to make sure she got credit.

 

 The news on Royal Mail is now gettng slightly better.  I had a message as I was lying in bed last night from one of my bestest customers saying this:-

"I don't know if you put the fear of God in your postal workers but one of the missing packets showed up today! Yeah (happy dance) and I have hope that the next one will arrive in the next day or two.  Funny post mark is Dec15, 2010.  HaHaHa if I was that slow with doing my job I wouldn't have a job."

It's the packets that I mailed on that date or the day before/after that have been causing me to worry.  I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed that the others turn up over the next few days.

Done and dusted!!

Here is the chicken wing doily with MANY thanks to Geraldine for pushing brain cell 3 towards this!!!

Also, believe it or not, the Fandango bookmark!!!!  I'm going to reward myself now with some chocolate this evening.  

Next task is catching up on bookmark orders!!!!  Also I need to make a kitty cat for bookmarks too but brain cell 3 isn't QUITE ready to tackle that.  7 bookmarks first, old lady, 7 bookmarks first!!!!

More news on missing mail - Maureen's has turned up in Brisbane despite the floods.  Still several not arrived in the USA.

Panda talk

Today it's time for day 5 of the TIAS. This is the halfway point but there's still plenty  of time for people to start and catch up!

Meantime here is a picture of Erika's panda which she sent me a few days ago.  She's looking for a boyfriend for him - does anybody have a panda who needs a partner?

Oh, heck, does this mean I've now started an animal dating agency? Get a life, old woman, get a life!!!

I'd not long finished the above talking about Erika's panda when who should pop in but Sarah's pair below!!!  

Now I'm seriously wondering if this really is going to be the start of a new animal service.  Sarah said:-

"I thought I would show you what I have been doing while waiting for day 5 of TIAS... I had a hard time with the SCMR. I had never tried it before and for some reason the loop kept knotting when I tried to close it ... don't know what I was doing wrong but with some fiddling and a lot of un-tatting ( I seem to spend much of my tatting time un-tatting rather than tatting! ) I think I got it worked out. Think I will try another one to see if I can do it with out so much taking apart!  Lol ...I am in awe of you and many of the other tatters I see on the internet who seem to be able to whip up something in no time at all... these little critters took me hours and hours over three days! Well I do think they are cute and well worth the time...Thank you for sharing the pattern and the instructions for the SCMR...  don't know what I will do with them but I'm sure something will come to mind."

Still counting sheep!!

Another day, another sheep.  Baaaaa, baaaaaa, baaaaa.

I nearly didn't bother but then thought long and  hard and had a strong, firm word with my brain cell 3 and told him he COULD do it with a little more effort!!! 

I can't stand seeing patterns that are 'nearly there' but not quite and only because of another day's work and a bit of 'tweaking'.  I've got some on the pattern page like that which I really ought to sort out.  So I took myself in hand and (with the help of my Friday glass of red wine ) settled down to another sheep.

So here they are - the 'not so good one' and the 'bit better one'!!!  Am I there yet?  Is this sheep ready to be made into a magnetic bookmark for Gina S?  Answers on a postage stamp addressed to 'the OG'!!!

Does this look like a sheep?

Today it's day 4 of the TIAS.  Here's the link.

After a few days of struggling this sheep has finally (I think!) been 'born'.  No, not quite.  Three of my best critics have flown their eyes over it and said it's still 'wrong'.  I'll have another go at it in a few days after a 'rest'!!!

Strange that Nick is asking for a lamb roast for Sunday dinner - must stop showing him and asking him for his opinions.  I mean, what if I make something like a dinosaur, eh?  Where would an OG buy a dinosaur for Sunday dinner?  Also how would you get it in the oven?  

Oh, Jane, what on earth are you rambling about?  The TIAS is going to your head.

More good news - shuttles posted in December are slowly arriving in the USA.   

What am I doing?

Before I start - tomorrow (Friday) will be day 4 of the TIAS.

Next some good news - Royal Fail has reverted to Royal Mail.  Not sure how long it will last as they're now pulling out all the extra workers who've been taken on to clear the backlog - but we'll see.  Also USA Snail has finally delivered Martha's book which was sent around the time of the 'missing shuttle packages'.  I'm hoping they all turn up this week or next week too.  Must've all been because of the snow back in December here in the UK.  One snowflake and the UK grinds to a halt!!!


Well, what am I doing while the TIAS is going on?  I finished off the bookmarks and listed those yesterday and then had a look at doing a sheep for the same purpose - to make into a magnetic bookmark.  I did one yesterday evening and was going to show it here but I DON'T like it!!!!  I'll try and improve on it this evening.  Next?  Well that will be a cat for bookmarks.  Again I've had a try at one but it was dreadful so it'll be 'back to the drawing board' - or the tatting shuttles!!!!

The bookmark bug!!!

Darn this bug - it bites and bites HARD.

This is the next batch ready to go in my Etsy shop.  I just needed to finish off the elephant and he's done now - see below.  If the critters look a bit wonky it's because they kept being attracted to each other - little stinkers!!!

I promised I'd do the chicken wing doily and I have started but I keep thinking of new critters to make into bookmarks.  I really want to do a sheep, a small cat and a dog but then I need a 'colour fix' so have to make the flowers or butterflies.  It's a sad OG that I am.

Oh, did you notice I'd put Mark's picture taken in Moo Street on my page?  As one comment suggested quite rightly - it's too good to 'lose' in an old post.

The tatbead family are BACK!!!

Before I start - Day 3 is now here.

Now I did give Sandy a warning when she first wrote and said she was going to do the Tatbead family but she didn't listen.  Sadly the addiction has struck!!!! 

The first picture is her family.  The second is her Dr Who themed session!!!!  The Tardis is a pattern made by AnneB and can be found here.  Don't you just LOVE the cyberman?  Inspired.  Now I haven't heard about any new members in Sandy's family for a few days but when I do I'll keep you posted. 

At LAST!!!

At last I've got a tiny owl's face that I'm happy with.

Two whole afternoons have been 'wasted' on this wretched little critter's face!!  I think it was worth it in the end, though.

I used my original pattern taken from here but that was done in two parts - just for the face!!!  This time I've finally managed to get it down to one round with the 3 beads included in the tatting.  I NEVER EVER sew or stick beads onto tatting - I feel that's cheating and certainly isn't safe as beads can so easily fall off. I needed to resolve the problem in case I wanted to make more of these owls as too many cuts and 'sewings ins' take too much time - they're a 'lost leader' anyway!!!

Sorry about the wonky looking picture but the magnets kept trying to get together again.

Tomorrow I NEED to go back to colour and beads.  OR another sort of critter - wonder what it'll be?

Look what Mark did!!!!

First of all just to remind you - day 2 is ready to go!!!!  Here's the link.

Isn't Mark a STINKER?

Look what he did to my picture!!!  Now who is he calling an old git, do you think?  
This is one very, very funny tatting man with a talent for tatting and manipulating pictures!!!!  DOO visit his web site for loads of tatting tips and truly wonderful patterns.  Well, I guess that's what he does for a living!!!!  Taking the mooo out of old gits!!!!!

More news on Royal Fail and USA snail!!!  Apparently it's more like 190,000 pieces of post behind at the local sorting office (according to the postie).   I have outstanding packages that I mailed (shuttles etc) on and around the 14th December to the USA which still haven't arrived - three or four of them.  Now, is this my end or their end - the mystery continues.  SOOOO cross about it all but what can an old git do?

I have a habit!

Not a disgusting one or naughty (well, not really) but it's a habit!!!

I tend to call people a 'daft old moo'.  Well I also call myself that too (when I'm not being an OG!!).  This is a friendly sort of thing and it's something I've always done.  Probably stemming from my days of temping round and about and not being able to remember people's names!!!  I used to call people 'old moo's' back then!! 

Anyway, the following is a picture I took when I was in town early the other day - before the tourists were around!!!  I thought it was amusing (well, it amused me!!!).


More news on Royal Fail.  

Before Christmas the local sorting office were behind by 45,000 pieces of mail.  We're still getting Christmas cards - a neighbour had one from somebody 'down the road' two days ago which was posted at the beginning of December.  

Well yesterday the local newspaper stated that Royal Fail were now - wait for it - 90,000 pieces behind.  Now I'm beginning to suspect that this is affecting outgoing mail too.  The story continues.  Time for another walk to the sorting office to demand to 'speak to a manager', I think!!!