Using a picot gauge

As you know I bought a set of picot gauges last Saturday when I was at the Lace Fair. 

Of course, as with any new toy, a person HAS to play as soon as they can!!! I'm working on another Dora Young pattern (not telling which one yet!) and thought they'd be darn useful. BUT I was wrong, wrong, wrong.

They may well work for 'normal' picots but for those being followed by lock joins they're not good. Well, that's my opinion.  Or, rather, that's what I think right now.  

I struggled to get a decent picot to sit properly or stay the same size as it's next door neighbour. I've put them to one side for now but will have another 'go' when I'm doing 'normal' picots which aren't followed by lock joins!!!  

OK

So you've had the sun, the moon and now you're going to get (whether you like it or not) the stars. 

Based on my original ancient star this is what I offered as a lesson to Palmetto this year. I've now added the pattern to this page and it can be found in the jewellery section.

Sheeeesh

I missed blogging yesterday because I didn't have anything to show. Least I thought I didn't think I had until I was looking at my photos last night and realised I'd got some of the Lace Fair that I went to last Saturday.

So here they are. The person standing in the photo is Sue (commonly known as Pigmini) who blogs over here. The lady behind the stall is Lyn. 

I have met Sue several times before but didn't realise how dangerous it is to talk to other tatters when there are supplies being sold nearby!!! I'd come back well stocked from America but temptation (neatly egged on by these two) got in my way yet again.

It was a good day and thankfully not as crowded as it was last time I went which was a few years ago.  

The 6-point Filet Star

Do you remember this post?  This is the Filet Star on page 18 of the All New Knotless Tatting Designs book by Dora Young.

Well I managed to do one of these little motifs (no failure this time!) without using a picot gauge and it looked pretty darn good!!! So, off I went on another motif. The reason why I made another one will become obvious when I've done another five!!! The effect when you've got a lot joined together is a bit like the first Dora motif that I did. VERY, very pretty. 

So, back to the tatting shuttles and upwards and onwards with my Dora work.

Pendant and earring pattern

I've had two good days at getting these patterns up - long may it last!!! Here's the star pendant and earring which didn't make it to Tat Days!!!

Introduction to the TIAS

I've just added the introduction to the TIAS on the web site. I hope many of you will have the courage to join me again in my rather ridiculous little game!!!! 

For those who haven't heard about this game before - it's simply a pattern which is 'chopped up' into small parts and each part is given out every few days. The fun part is that you don't know what you're making. Guesses, pictures and anything goes in the four to six weeks that it takes to complete the uploading of the links. There is no time limit and there are no rules either - except I ask you to make it as fun as possible. 

If you need help at any point please ask although I can't help needle tatters. Before I forget - I'd better let you know where the introduction can be found. Here's the link.  There are also links on  Riet's blog to her translation (Dutch) and Julie's translation is here (French).  Julie's link maybe wrong but I'll update it when I see it appear!!!  I'm also putting links on the side of the TIAS blog too.  My thanks go to these two for all their hard work on this and the upcoming game.  They will be translating all the TIAS as it happens.

Just to pretty up the blog post - here are a few pictures of past Tat It And See games.

It's Monday - let's all start the week

with a smile!!! The next pattern on my list that needed to be uploaded is the one that I did for Tat Days. I did this as a sort of 'instead of' pattern as I suddenly realised that the sun would be tooooooo long a project for a lesson. Thus the Sunny Smile was born!!!

I suppose he's almost another emotitat too!!!  Ooooops - forgot to put in the link!!!!

I will NOT be beaten!!

Off on another Dora adventure!! I've now decided to return to the one I tried (and failed with) earlier - this is the post where I was mumbling on about picot gauges!!!

This time I'm tatting it 'naked' without one of those wretched objects!!! Bet that made you sit up and notice when I said naked.  If I was tatting without clothes on it would frighten the local residents!!!  Result (so far) is faster tatting and a pretty neat motif. 

We'll see what happens over the next few days/weeks!!! I'm going to try and stay focussed on this without wandering off to other things. Well, that's the aim but the best laid plans of mice, men and, of course BC3 etc!!!!

Another project is

FINISHED.

Isn't this delightful? Actually I take back what I said the other day and once again I cannot believe that Dora Young was such an innovative tatter and I've missed getting to know her for all these years. I just envy those who knew her  'back then' but also wonder if her talent was recognised when she was alive as much as it will be once her book is again available as a re-print.

Somebody told me the other day that they'd been looking for a copy of the original book but I explained that it was like hen's teeth. I still can't quite believe that Patti Duff gave me a copy of the book. I have the proof, though, and am slowly working through it but not in any particular order!!!

I started with my favourite and then went onto the next - which I then realised was going to be my new favourite!!! So each new one that I tackle becomes 'my favourite'!!!! Told you before - BC3 doesn't make sense from time to time!

Next new pattern

Here's a little sunshine for your life. Don't get too close or you may get burnt and don't look directly at the sun as you'll harm your eyes!!! 

Well I thought I was going to get these new (ish) patterns sorted sooner than this but sadly time seems to fly out of my hands lately. I'm not sure why, really. I'm not doing anything spectacular apart from keeping the aged head above water and continuing my addiction to Dora Young!!

This is a pattern that I didn't really offer to Palmetto - mainly cause it's too long for a lesson and we'd all have fallen asleep by the time it was done. In fact it would've taken probably 3 or 4 lesson periods!!! There will be an 'off shoot' of this one (when I get round to it!!!) which I'll put up another day. 

I found that I was getting into a horrendous muddle if I tried to do them all at once. In one way it would be easier to do the 'lot' at once as it would mean one login onto the server but dancing around from folder to folder on the server (which is more like a tortoise than a hare) gave gaps of time in which BC3 (brain cell 3) wandered off to do something else and then got lost!!!

So sweet

Before I forget I want to give a plug to a lovely young lady's new Etsy shop. Her user name is thestrugglingactor which is exactly what Gemma is. She lives along our road and has just started up her Etsy shop while she waits to get her foot on the first rung of the stage ladder. She'll take custom orders too. Please visit her new shop.

I've just added another bauble to the exclusive club.

This time it's a bee with flowers from Bev. She's already got a mouse and is therefore an exclusive member of the exclusive club!!!! 

She sent this in specially for Gary. This is what she says.

"Hi Jane I'm already in the Exclusive Club with my mouse, but here is a bee and some flowers to wish Gary well. Bev"

Isn't that the sweetest thing?

Patterns galore

This week I've told myself (along with my sidekick) that we're going to get all the patterns I took to Palmetto this year up on the pattern pages.  Of course you can still get them (and all the other AMAZING patterns from the other teachers) from Palmetto Tatters. Here's the link.

It's a long job getting the patterns ready for the site as I have to put on the abbreviations (Palmetto use standard notation for everybody's work), re-size things, put thumbnails on, upload images, add links etc. Not easy when you get multiple interruptions!!!!

This time I've deleted the mobile of the 'sun, moon and stars' which has been on my site for eons as the new versions are in this batch of patterns. They will be on separate pages to make it easier for downloading. Also I've added the star which wasn't 'needed on voyage' to America!!!! It's - well, I'll tell you more when I 'get there'.

So, today I'm introducing the first one. It's the moon and here's the link.

Two more mice

I'm delighted to show you two more mice. 

Particularly pleased as it's a reminder to all of us that Gary Houtz isn't well at the moment. 

Here's to wishing him a good recovery with lots of tatting time when he's able to.

The mice today come from Anita and you can see what she says about them over here.

A mystery

Well it is to me anyway. 

A week or so ago I spotted this shuttle on Fleabay. Whoops, I mean Ebay. I looked at it and wondered. As it was a BIN (buy it now) I flipped it into my basket and bought it.

Now I grew up using the original Milward black shuttles with the separate hook and know that they were made not far from where I live. Then the Aero was 'born' with the hook and bobbin and I converted to that (eventually) and never looked back. It was also made 'just down the road'. 

Now this new one has the Milward name on it and is blue and modern and made in Germany. Milward and Aero are related and Aero were re-located to Germany many years ago but what are these companies up to trying to confuse an OG? Does anybody know anymore about the Milward/Aero/Coats relationship?

I've just found another one like mine but in yellow on Fleabay (cheaper too, darn) and am now wondering if this is Pony (do NOT like their shuttles) who are now re-branding? The seller bought the blue one from a store near her a few months ago so that answers one question - it's new. She also said the shop was closing the haberdashery department due to Coats UK ceasing trading. Can the news for us crafters get anymore dire?

I never seem to stay focussed!!!

What IS the matter with BC3? He can never stay focussed on one thing!! Instead of carrying on with the latest doily he's decided to have a go at more rings. Must admit I enjoy going from one thing to another.

Yesterday I didn't' achieve much in the way of tatting. I went to a nearby town to help out with silver surfers, shopped on the way back, had lunch and by the time I'd finished pottering and a little bit of time tatting it was quarter past four and time to meet a friend. We were off to see the lights switched on in town. There was a wonderful laser light show displayed on the front of the Birthplace too. Bet poor old Shakespeare was turning in his grave!!

Life goes on!!!

And on and on!!! More progress on the doily. 

Actually although there's still some way to go I like this as a finished item with (probably) a little tweaking it could be a flower and stopped there.  BUT I will continue!!!

On other matters - I've changed the blog header (may work further on that!) and widened the page a bit. I think this threw out the comments section somewhat. I'm hoping it's sorted now after a few hours 'fiddling' with the settings. I also found that I was quite closely linked to Google+ which I never use. I'm not sure how it works as when I visit I find other people's 'stuff' on there. Is it like Facebook? 

I'm so enjoying 'life after Facebook' although I do pop in there to put my walk photos up there and very occasionally to check out other things but I'm now getting a lot more tatting done!!!

Rings on and in rings

Ah, remember that necklace I got from the charity shop? This one.  Well, here it is in it's demolished 'state'. 

There won't be a pattern for this but there are some tricks to doing the joins. One day I may get round to writing that down. The second one down (variegated thread) has a missing ring in it but I don't think many people would notice - only you experts reading this!!!

Two new techniques

Only really, really simple ones that I've been meaning to get round to for ages.

First of all is the lock chain which can be found here. 

The next one is the real reason I started doing the these pages. Over the weekend I uploaded the TIAS (Tat It And See) and realised that there was little out on the internet about the ZigZag chain. As I'm using this in the TIAS I thought I'd better kick myself into making a page. It's SUCH a simple technique (like the lock chain) that I suppose I didn't feel it was worth the effort of 'paging' it!!! Anyway I have and here's the link to the ZigZag chain. 

Dora page 12/13 start

The start of another Dora adventure. I've abandoned the other one for now but knowing me the temptation will still be there so I'll be getting back to it sometime. 

For those who have the book this pattern is on page 12 and 13. Just hoping that this adventure will last and succeed!!

Meantime when I'm not tatting (that's when I'm sitting comfortably in my armchair in Tat Corner) then I'm still working on the TIAS.  Hope to get the information page ready and available for you soon.  I'm pleased with this one although I think it's going to be an easy guess.  Mind, I think that every year!!!!

A total failure

After the success (well, in my opinion) of my last Dora Young project I'm showing you just two pictures of this failure!!! 

This is the pattern on page 18 of the Dora Young book.  It's not an easy one to follow but has been made more complicated by trying to 'train' BC3 to use a picot gauge.

When I started tatting there were no such things as gauges and when they did finally become 'available' some forty years or more later I just didn't see the point as I'd got pretty good even picots by eyeballing them.  BUT when it came to this pattern it states categorically that all picots should be 3/8".  I decided that I'd better use one.  Well first attempt (not shown here) resulted in a real mess.  This was because I din't know whether to lay the gauge (made out of a milk bottle container), alongside the core thread or standing up!!!  Once I'd determined which way (standing up) I then made another which lay alongside as that made for faster tatting (for me!).  Lots of experiments to get the 'right' sized picot resulted from that!!!

It took these two attempts for me to realise that it wasn't going to work using a gauge when making lock joins so (for now) I've abandoned this pattern.  I WILL go back to it as I truly love the motifs when they're attached to each other - the negative space is pretty darn cool. Meanwhile I'm off on another Dora adventure so - watch this space!!!