Thread talk

I went to Tat Days with a shopping list!!! It wasn't a very big one as I already have a good stash of threads but I was running out of some colours and then got 'tempted' into some of the new Lizbeth plain colour ways!  I think I came home with three balls only but I'm not telling anybody and I hope you won’t either!

These two spools must be my all time favourites which Jenni gave me. The threads are by AlenAleaDesign whoes site you can find here. Can't wait to try them out but will take my time finding the right design to make it up with.

Thanks, Jenni.  They're amazing.

I bought shuttles!!

Well what are Tat Days for except buying goodies?!

Do I need anymore shuttles? No. Did I want any more shuttles? No. I have two favourites and plenty of those too. Number one of those are my good old Aero England shuttles. Number two are the Clover bobbin shuttles and that's 'it' really. 

BUT I saw and tried the new Dreamlit shuttle (thank you, Handy Hands and Barb Foster for getting these made) while I was at Tat Days and was (thankfully) sorely tempted and gave into temptation too!!! 

I LOVE THEM. 

Easy to wind, easy to put together and take apart (they're magnetic) and they seem to hold a lot more thread too. Fine in my hands etc, etc. I'm hooked!

Yes, they have a hook too!!

Home again.

Sadly back home after another amazing trip to Palmetto Tat Days. The friends I have over in America are truly amazing and look after the old git so, so well. It's hard to leave but I'm hoping to be back sometime. 

This week (and probably a bit more) I'll be talking about the things I brought home with me - that's beside some great memories too.

First of all let's talk shuttles. 

Today it's the contrast between a wooden one and a 3D printed one. I still can't get the ancient head around 3D printing and would love to see it done sometime. 

Here are the two I was given side by side.

Post Tat Days blues

Well here I am. Monday morning and it’s all over.

How is it that Palmetto Tat Days just gets better every time I get there? I didn’t take many pictures as I was too busy either teaching or just soaking up the atmosphere. 

I’m not going to start name dropping on all the wonderful people I met as that’ll only make you jealous! But I will show you a few personal highlights which amused and amazed me.

Today I’ll show you something that really made me think I’d gone totally bonkers. I walked into the show and tell room and saw what I thought was MY tattysaurus. 

It won the top prize which it thoroughly deserved if only for perseverance in making it! I’m so sorry I can’t remember the name of the winner but I’m hoping she see’s this and leaves a comment.  I’ll add her name when I find out!

Thank you Melissa Mead for the comment letting me know you’re the brave lass who made the Tattysaurus.  

The outbound flight

I actually composed this post just after passing over Lands End in Cornwall on Monday afternoon.  I wrote it in ‘notes’ on my iPad and have just remembered it!  BC3 is still suffering from jet lag. 

I’d just had a glass (in a plastic ‘glass’) of wine and was beyond tired having left home at ‘silly o’clock’ many many hours ago and facing another nine hours in the tin can (aeroplane) before arriving in Atlanta to see Sandra’s wonderful smile.

I wanted to tell you about my layover in Paris. When I travel I’m very content to be on my own and not communicate with people. Well except for the odd giggle or comment. I sat at my departure gate with my Dora Young ‘out and about’ doily. 

I hadn’t been there long when a lady came up to me (she lives in Atlanta) and knew exactly what I was doing. Her parents still live in India and she thought that tatting wasn’t done there. I soon put her right! 

I didn’t get her name but she asked for mine and I showed her my web site. I think she said she could tat so I hope she gets in touch. She was beautiful in looks with a personality to match and a joy to talk to. 

Pictures below from my flight from Birmingham to Paris.

By the time you read this

I’ll be on the way to America, I hope. 

I’m writing this post on Sunday afternoon having got the house ready to leave as much as I possibly can!! I’ve mown the grass, done the hoovering and the responsibility of other things has been almost handed over.  

I’ve checked in online, got my boarding passes digitally and also printed (that’s me - belt and braces) and my passport/e-tickets are ready in the carryon bag.  That lovely bag cost me £3.00 around twelve years ago (at a guess!) from Poundstretcher and I find it the best thing to take as it sits under the seat in front of me so I can get things out (or put them back) as and when needed.  Saves struggling to lift things into the overhead lockers.

The suitcase and carryon are packed (see below) and I’m raring to go. Palmetto HERE I COME.

A few more

What is sleep? I’m beginning to wonder after the last few days of making the shuttle button earrings!!!

This may be my last post for a while as I’m leaving on Monday for ‘pastures new’. Well, not new as I’ve been lucky enough to be able to be selected for Palmetto Tat Days a few times in the past.  I’ll probably schedule a post for Monday but I’ll have to see what I’ve got in drafts.  

I just LOVE going to any Tat Days although it’s a lot of preparation which goes on for months and months starting with the design work and finishing with the inevitable last minute panics!!!! 

I always feel so ‘at home’ at Tat Days and get to spend quality time with some very, very dear friends too. They know who they are as they transport me, feed me and put up with me and my quirks.  This also applies to my trips to the Fringe Element (in Canada) too. 

GOT IT!!

I’m a very, very happy old git. This earwig (aka earring) is now sorted.

The only problem I have now is that they sparkle too much to be successfully photographed. That’s my excuse as it could be down to the photographer!!!

I’m going to bring as many as I can make to sell at Palmetto Tat Days next weekend. So here’s today’s offerings.  Hope I remember to pack my clothes before I leave on Monday!!!

Nearly ‘there’

Well this is the ‘nearly there’ version of the shuttle button earring.

Yes, that’s what it’s going to be - an earring. All I need to do now is tweak the stitch count slightly (it’s always hard to do ‘slightly’) and it’ll be ‘done’.

The button is just an inch long but I doubt that anybody will be able to find more of them for sale. I throw out a challenge to you all to find a button like this.  It measures 1” in length.  

Anyway when I get back from America in late September I’ll try and make a tatted middle for this design so that anybody can make it. Meanwhile I’m going to make as many as I can to sell at Palmetto Tat Days - coming up shortly!

It’s going to be a wotsit!

Progress (or lack of!) continues with the shuttle button - see my first/second attempts here. 

Why do I always over complicate things when I’m designing?

Can you see that I’ve tried to link the beads at the side to those at the bottom? I think (or should that now be thought) that the tatting ought to be anchored at the bottom of the button as well as the side. Well I’ve changed my mind!! They say a lady is entitled to change her mind and as I’m a female OG (old git).  I sometimes count myself as a ‘lady’ too!!!

So that idea has been firmly scrapped but I’ve now got a better one which I’ll show you tomorrow - IF you behave yourselves!!!

Progress

This is how far I’ve got (see below) after the start I made a few days ago and now I’m stopping for a while so I’ve got plenty to get on with while I’m waiting around at the airports. 

You may wonder what the piece of yellow/green thread is doing on the one motif - but again you may just have thought it was a mistake!!! 

It’s there because that motif is a different colour to the other two. YES IT IS!! It may not look like it but it really is. I’m doing this in a size 40 and have two different shades of white/cream so I needed to mark the central one for when I’m working on it in a gloomy place.

Shuttle button - first and second attempts

I know only one way to design. It's called 'hit and miss'. 

I take two shuttles and a vague idea and run with it. I also write everything down as I go - on my tablet or whatever is available. NEVER on paper as I used to lose those notes time after time or (if found) couldn’t remember what I meant!  

When I've done the first attempt I then copy the notes (having named them 'version 1’) and paste above them calling that version 2. This means that if I don't like version 2 I can go back and look again at version 1 or see which stitch counts work and which don't.

Well that makes sense to me!!!!

So today you can see that after the first attempt it was cut off in it's prime!!!! 

Second attempt did go a bit further but I'm not happy with that!! By the time you read this blog post many more attempts will have been made and hopefully something good will come out of it in the end!!!  More next week!

I o

My new carry about

I never know what to call this sort of tatting!!!

Mindless? Carry around? Any suggestions out there?

I need something when I'm with my craft groups that needs little or no concentration but I do need to make a few at home before I take it along so I'm on the right track!!

This will also be my 'go to' (there's another name for it) piece while I'm travelling or sitting around talking in America.  Mind our talk is mainly about tatting!!

Gosh, I'm SOOOO excited about my trip that I can hardly keep still.

A new tatting shuttle

I bet you've all seen Handy Hands have brought out a new shuttle. It's called the Dreamlit and you can find it here.

Well I suddenly remembered (after studying the Dreamlit shuttle) that I had my VERY OWN supply of shuttles so could probably go into competition with Barbara.

Well I fished my supply of shuttles out of the tatting cupboard and set off on my new venture!!! 

That was all a joke, folks!!! I couldn't market my shuttles as they're only 1" in length and are (probably!) the only ones in the whole wide world!!! I'll show you one just to wet your appetites!!

I'm going to make earrings out of them but this will take time as the tatting I want to do MUST fully show the shuttle button in the middle. BC3 is off on another adventure!!!

A VERY long braid

This time I decided that if I was going to do another braid then it had to be LOOOOOONG.

I started off with around 4 yards of wool on each point of the compass. Obviously this was going to bring up issues with the tangling of thread behind the 'wheel' so BC3 had to give it a little thought.

First idea was to use these. I happened to have an unopened packet which had 8 in so that was ideal. OR so I thought!!! 

I happily set off but found out all too soon that they kept unwinding themselves. Darn nuisance. 

So, back to the tatting cupboard and I found some floss winders like these.

My four yards of yarn worked out to a braid of 2 ½ yards in length. I've now got three braids of various lengths and NOT A CLUE what to do with them!!!! Think this will be the end of my braiding session as I've had another GOOD TATTY IDEA!!!

As far as I'm going!

Now that I've decided to pull the plug on this I've changed my mind!!! I DO like it now as it does what I wanted - shows the swirls from one shade to another! 

But I will still not be keeping it as I've started another in white. Well it's white and a sort of 'off' white if you know what I mean. I'll talk about that another day!!

So, whoever 'gets to me' first at Palmetto (and wants it, of course) will be given this. My box of tatting bits sighed a big sigh of relief when I told it!! 

Well, to be honest, there are two or three boxes of 'stuff' around the house. One day I'll show you a picture of them!!!

Another few days on

First of all - the missing items from two days ago are found!!  I’d already looked in my suitcase but hadn’t looked in my carryon bag!!  That’s where they were lurking!!

Also today - another braid!!!

Slightly different colours this time - and a bit longer too!!!

Longer means more things to get used to - mainly trying not to get the ends in a tangle under the loom thingy!!!

Carry along tatting

Further progress has been made with my carry along tatting - BUT.

There's a BIG BUT with this now. It's working out really well and I loved the idea of the mix of greens when I started but now I've fallen out with it totally!!!  There's nothing wrong with my choice of colours but I've definitely fallen out with them.

Not sure why except that's just ME!!!

So, what I'm going to do is finish off this round, stick it under the iron and pack it in my suitcase. If anybody wants it at Palmetto they're more than welcome to it. No charge as it will save something from going 'in the box'!!! 

The first person to ask for it will get it and if nobody wants it then I'll ............ Well, suggestions always welcome.

Now my problem is - what shall I take as my travel tatting. Maybe the same pattern (thank you, Dora Young) but in another colour!!!

Two more greenish ones!!!

There you go!! I guessed there maybe two more lurking under the pile of 'stuff' on my tatting tables!!! 

I sort of thought there were more waiting for additional metal split rings to adorn them!!!  I was right.  Why do things deliberately go and hide themselves?

Something sort of vital to my trip has gone and lost itself too.  I may need to hire some bloodhounds to find it.  

Another craft

Now this is a new one to me. I was shown how to do this ages and ages ago and then promptly forgot how!!!

It's kumihimo braiding. 

I've had a go at using a lucet in the past and enjoyed that so decided to give this kumihimo braiding a 'go'. 

Now as I'd forgotten the 'how to' the obvious thing to do was ask Mr Google for help!!! This first link (for teaching children) was just right for me to get started! 

The hint at the bottom of this next link was probably THE most useful once I'd got started!

So, this is my first attempt although I did use four colours - well, I'm awkward like that!!