Part 3 of the mystery

Just showing you the next part of my mystery. Any guesses yet?

Must go 'off topic' and tell you about our trip to the vets with our cat last week. Catching Tilly is always a problem and we had the usual 'catch me if you can' event landing up under the bed in the back bedroom.

Going to the vet is something we ALWAYS dread. There is on street parking nearby but you have to (a) find a space and (b) pay to park in it. The vet's do have their own car park but it's a nightmare. 

First you have to negotiate an archway which is just a tad wider than the car. Once through there you have a small courtyard with a right hand turn up a steep ramp to a space where about six cars can park. Meet anybody on the way in or out and you've got major problems. So between us there's always a 'discussion' as to who should drive there. It's only about five minutes drive and twenty minutes walking. We've walked in the past but carrying a 'cross' cat in a carrier is hard work with frequent rest stops.

This year we both had the same BRILLIANT idea. Why not use Nick's mobility scooter? So, that's what we did. I walked as usual and Tilly's carrier just fitted on the foot well under his feet. 

When we told the staff at the vets how we'd avoided the car park issues they said they'd never had a patient arrive like that before!!! Tilly? Well she was not impressed with her annual visit as usual but we now know that this is the way she'll be travelling in future!!!

Next part of the mystery

Yesterday I decided to add a bit more to the puzzle that I set you here.

This may help you to solve my mystery adventure. There again it may not help at all!!!

Somebody somewhere in Tat Land must recognise it soon!!!

Meantime I'm pleased to report that I've found a t-shirt and will hopefully be adding my bits and pieces to it over the weekend.  I still know where they are too which is pretty amazing!!!!

T A T

OK so here are the rest of the 'bits' for the new t-shirt!!! 

Thanks to Maureen commenting on yesterday's post I've also managed to find a picture of the original t-shirt which was/is on my blog.  

The real one is now found in a crumpled heap by the side of my chair - UNDER a load of other 'stuff'!!!! So, here's a link to it!!!

I'm going to make a really determined effort over the next few days to source a t-shirt to sew all these bits onto. I know what'll happen, though - by then I'll have lost my eye, 2 and TAT!!!! First place to look will be under the scanner!!

2

That's the title of this blog post!!! Just '2'!!!

Here it is the number 2 for my yet to be sourced t-shirt!!!

You will notice that I'm using lots and lots of different colours. The reason is simple - I have no idea what colour t-shirt I really want. Oh, except that it won't be blue as the last one with the slogan on was blue. Let me see if I can find a picture of the old t-shirt. No, not to be found on the computer anywhere.

Let me see if I can FIND the old tshirt to take a picture of it.

Heart

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.  Distracted from yesterday's project already!! 

Having told you about the tshirt idea on Friday - (here) I thought I'd do the heart ready for when I got the 'right' tshirt to sew them on. So, here's the heart. 

The pattern is this one - only cause I knew it was the right size to go with the eye!!!

Next I'll have to work on the 2, T and A but being a dozy old moo I didn't write them down last time I made them for the old tshirt so I'll have to start all over again!!!!

The start of another tatting adventure

This is going to be my relaxation project for a while. Probably for a few weeks as I'll always continue to have 'other things' on the go too.

Now, I'm NOT going to tell you what it is or where it comes from.  I'm going to challenge you all to tell me which pattern it is.  There may well be a prize at the end - something I've made probably OR a tatting leaflet or more.  We'll see.  The pattern does have a name, by the way and it isn't my design!!! 

I will tell you two things about it:-

1. It's going to be large.

2. It's going to be made with HWT - hand wound thread.

The plain colours of this project are reels of quilting thread that I found in a sewing shop in Cincinnati more years ago than I dare remember (see pictures below)!!!  The family was shopping in Krogers (think it was that store) when I sneaked off to the shop nearby.  Two or so years later on a return visit to Cincinnati I managed to sneak back there for more colours!!!  I did manage to sneak in the King Tut with the plain pink for this part!

Talk about value for money - doubt these reels will ever run out and I've used them loads of times for HWT.

Updated

Just a quick post today to let you know that I've updated the eye pattern which can be found here.

The reason for doing it right now is because I 'need' to make another one for a new tshirt/top I hope to buy!!! There will be an eye, a heart, a 2 and the letters T A T.  I found a few mistakes in the original and also needed to redraw all the pictures as they'd been done on a PC and I now use a Mac.  Then I decided to notate it for front/backside working too.  A simple job turned into a 'not so simple' one!!!

The tshirt I originally did the pattern for in 2006 is now being retired to the charity shop as my body seems to have outgrown it. OR, as I'd rather believe - it's shrunk in the wash. Cough, cough, splutter, splutter!!

Another task finished

Must be old age but I'm beginning to finish things I've started and not that long ago either!!! I think a health scare last week focussed the aged brain into getting my computer and tatting corner tidied up!!!  Won't last long now the scare's sorted so don't panic - I'm not leaving you all yet, I hope!!!  As I said to Nick - gotta stick around longer just to annoy people and I included him too!!!

So, here it is - the square motif finished in all it's 'glory'. A reminder picture is below although I know you've seen it before!!!!

Now this pattern isn't for the faint hearted.  I've been on Facebook for a long time now and have realised that people nowadays want fast, easy projects to do.  That's fine but it won't progress our craft and that's what I try to do.  Why?  Well if it's a bit more interesting than rings and chains then I'm hoping that people will want to try more challenges.

Well, whatever - it keeps me amused to try new 'stuff'.

Ah, but wait til you see what I'm going to do next - you may want me to eat my computer!!!!  A few years ago it would've been my hat.  Not sure which I'd prefer to eat!!!

Yesterday

Last week I was asked if I could possibly help a local WI group as their speaker for the meeting had been taken ill and couldn't manage to do her stint. 

Interestingly the chairperson is a lass I taught to tat about 400 years ago (well you can take a nought off the end of that!) so I was very happy to say I'd step in. Well that meant a grand rummage and sort through the two large boxes and the suitcase of tatting (all full to the brim!) to find out what I could take to show.

It's some years since I did the 'talk circuit' so I was a bit nervous. I started off explaining a little of the history and showing the knot itself using cord and a Tatsy shuttle. Then I spoke about how I'd stumbled on tatting via my gran and the time just went so quickly that I was surprised when the chairperson started to fidget as if I should shut up. So, I did shut up - after few more minutes!!! 

The highlight for me was when one of the members came up to me at the end and said that she didn't know who had been booked originally to give the talk but that she was very glad that she couldn't come and that I did!!!! RESULT - one VERY happy OG and BC3 wandered their way home for several LARGE cups of tea!!!

Now, I'm wondering how many other groups in the locality would like to be inundated with knotted thread for a couple of hours?!?!?!?

Finally and at LAST

So after a few more attempts at an edging (which I'm not going to bore you with) I can now show you the finished item. Now this would work for any size you care to make a doily/mat/thingie!!

I'm now at the stage of finishing off the pattern. This is a difficult one as it was inspired by a pattern in a magazine - a pretty old Italian one. You can see the original picture if you click on this link.

Let me explain. When I worked my first version it was by simply looking at the picture and then reading the numbers in the long hand written pattern. Guesswork then took place!!! I think the original is made in two rounds but you all know me and my lack of patience with sewing in ends - I immediately started with a SCMR for the centre and then used a SSSR (hiding one colour in that) to work my way out to the outer part.

Then I changed the centre completely to use rings and chains (with thrown off rings) and again using the SSSR idea and throwing in a split chain (minute!) too. Side rings were changed in size and a SR used at the corners. 

So, although in essence this looks a lot like the original I do think it is 'almost' my pattern. In order to share this pattern (I hope legally) I am going to publish it on my pattern pages with a note that it was inspired by the original. 

I will put a © (copyright notice) on the page in order to protect it for both the original unknown designer and for my own input (including drawings) which I THINK is fair.  I'd appreciate any comments on this and if people think it shouldn't be shared at all then I'll happily leave it to stagnate on my computer instead!!!

9 squares and more

You can see here that I decided to play some more and added a few more squares. It's now a nine square mat!!!!

I just had time too yesterday to try out an edging idea but it really doesn't work for me - yet!!! More tomorrow, I hope. Well, unless I get distracted!!!

Then there were four!

After seeing the single square I just knew this was going to work!!! 

SO, here's a group of four.  I LOVE the way the four SR's join together hey diddle diddle right in the middle.  That's a bonus.  Also those pesky side green rings meet nicely too.  This is beginning to look NOT a lot like the original square which I've put below mine.

BUT I'm now not happy with it again. I think it 'needs' an edging to go round it so let's go call on BC3 to see what he can come up with!!!!

Got IT!!!

Solved the problem of the centre that I didn't like. 

I realised that I needed to have something 'in there' to stabilise it. That (before this 'invention') centre part was like a dead eye staring at me and because of it I was no longer seeing the rest of the motif!!!

So, with smaller side rings, split rings on the chains and now the centre solved then I'm 'good to go' on this motif!!!!  I LOVE the way the chains coming out of the centre rings 'look' as if they're sort of going through the green chains.

All this is achieved with no ties and ends until it's finished!!  Mind, if you want to work it that way then you do need to know the split chain (VERY small one) and the SSSR carrying the second colour.  More about that later!!!  IF I remember!

Now for four

Next step was to try four of the green and blue squares together.

For this attempt I tried using a split ring again in the middle of the very long and wobbly chain. That still works for me.

I also used the skimmed down side rings but that didn't work as you can see. If you can't, then enlarge the picture and see how they tend to overlap each other. NOT good.  Well not in my opinion.

So, back to the future - or should that be the past?  

I still haven't totally decided what to do with the middles of the squares although I'm nearly 'there'!!!  Working hard with 'you know who' on solving the conundrum.

The morning after

All Fool's Day was really a daft day to start out on a new venture on my web site!!!!! Particularly when it needed me to look at source codes and other html   issues!!!

I did have a search thingy on the front page of my site at one point but it was pretty darn useless, I thought, so I took it off ages ago. Then I read somebody asking somebody (it could've been me), somewhere on a list somewhere on the internet if there was a search facility somewhere or other.

That woke up BC3 out of the doldrums so off we set to solve the problem of putting a search on my pattern site!!!

Thank you once again, Mr Google, for pointing us both in the right direction. Having found the right place to generate the right source code that I thought I needed all I had to do was to add it to the front index page. Easier said than done!!!

The instructions said to put it in the 'body' of the page so it couldn't go in a table. Then there was the 'how to' do it too.

I set aside the whole of yesterday morning to do this. 

So, how long did it take? Well (and this is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth) - a LOT less time than it's taken to write this blog post!!!!

I present my pattern site along with it's new search facility!!

All Fool's Day

Not a day to celebrate when you teach four/five year olds like I used to!!! Bless their cotton socks but some of the 'jokes' were so funny because they were so - well, unfunny!!!

All Fool's Day is based on an old tradition which in this country stops at twelve midday.  A day when practical JOKES can be played on others but only in the morning!!!

I remember the discussions on allocating a day to be 'International Day of Tatting' and when the first of April was put forward I inwardly cringed as I thought it would make our craft look 'foolish' too.  

Well it happened and it was the day chosen and I still think it's an 'odd' day to celebrate our craft which I don't think is foolish.  So I sit here at home and tat (as I do nearly every day of the year) but wouldn't dream of taking it out with me as I don't want people to associate All Fools Day with either the craft or (less importantly) ME being foolish!!!

OK, I know I'm a fool but a harmless one, usually!!

A square in another colour!

So, further thoughts on the square and this is what I've come up with now!!!!

Another 'thing' I don't like either now is the centres of the squares. I've worked this up entirely differently from the original and this has made it not as easy to keep the centres the same size so I'll be looking to change this too.

I know what I'm going to do (BC3 came up with an idea) so at least that's sorted!!!!  Just got to do it now!!!!  Where DOES the time go?

A second attempt!

Another sailing boat arrived yesterday so please go and look at Surya's - she's number 93 so we might yet make 100!!!

So, in this version of the square I've lengthened the chains slightly and skinned down the rings a bit too. Still doesn't 'do' it for me. I'm going to have to sit down and have a serious chat with somebody about this. Now, who shall I ask/consult?

No point in me saying anything else as you all know who I'll call on!!!

So, I can if Toucan!!!

Well, finally he's done and up on the web site here.

He certainly looks a lot better in 'proper' colours!!! When researching toucans I found so many colour combinations for the beak it was amazing. Also some have a black piece on the beak too but hey, I'm not a perfectionist and thought adding a bit of black was pushing things a bit too far on a small tat like this!!!!  Personally I prefer the second one with the darker coloured beak.

One thing I've learned through doing this guy is that it's almost harder to alter a pattern you've done previously as it is to start from scratch!!!

Now, what shall I do next - OR what am I already working on.  More another day!!

A square

I do like this little square I found in an old book. Not sure yet how it'll work out joining several together as it doesn't look very 'square'!!!  In fact the outer chains look 'stressed' where they join in the book.   I'll tell you which book it is when I have more time and there'll be further progress on this in due course too!!

I'll play with the idea for a while and let you all know 'what happens next'!!  The book has a lot of designs which appeal to me.  Watch this space!!!

Hopefully the toucan will be ready tomorrow!!!!