Just a hanky!!!

I think this hanky came from Handy Hands in a gift bag or something.  Maybe even in one of their Newsletters? 

Anyway I've never tried tatting straight onto a hanky before and it has it's problems!!!  The main one being, of course, a dithering BC3 who couldn't decide what to do.  I started this ages and ages ago so I think the first round was a lock chain with a vsp in the middle.  The simplest way to do that is to do an ordinary ds before and after the vsp.  

Then I did a ordinary chain on the following round which I forgot to scan to show you!!!  That's going to have to be a 'wait and see' game until I get the final round finished.

The aim (for me!) with a hanky is to use a pattern that will be VERY easy to iron if required.  I love the mega fancy ones that people make for special occasions but they are a beast to iron.  I'll be giving this to a neighbour 'just because'.  The colour will suit her too.

A Spiral Snowflake

Here's the last post about the Spiral Snowflake.

This is NOT how I envisaged the snowflake turning out AT ALL.  I am going to have to play further with the idea which is still lodged within the dark depths of BC3's muddled old brain!!!  I was wanting something quite  different but . . . . . . .

Anyway, here's the link to the pattern and I would just like you all to wish BC3 'bon voyage' as he sets off on another attempt to produce what I WANT!!!!

http://janeeborall.freeservers.com/allimages3/OrangewWhite_tiny.jpg

http://janeeborall.freeservers.com/allimages3/OrangeWhite.jpg

Moaning Monday - a conundrum

Question.  If a pattern is published in 2004 and then a person finds out in 2020 that it was published under another name in a book in 2014 who owns the copyright?

To add to this conundrum - the publisher of the 2014 version (a very close variation of the 2004 one) says that the designer did it in 1997 but it wasn’t published until 2014.  

How would the 2004 designer have known about the 1997 version if it wasn’t in the public domain?  

Also how does this all relate to Intellectual Property.  I'm NOT asking this to stir up ANY trouble as it's already been discussed with the publisher and it was just a discussion and ended up with our own conclusions BUT answers  and opinions happily accepted.

Having asked this question I may end up here!!!! 

Bowl cosies

After my little stint of pot holders/dishcloths I decided to try making bowl cosies.

Now I've made fabric ones aplenty in the past but this time I decided to experiment with crochet ones.  Why would anyone want a bowl cozy, you may well ask?  Bowls tend to 'cosy up' to each other in a cupboard so why do they want another 'man (or woman) made' one?  Let's face it they don't go out for walks and need a coat like we do!!!! 

Well they're for putting a bowl in in the microwave and they stop humans from burning their fingers when they get the very hot food out.  

I use mine a lot for the pudding sized bowls and I have several small bowls I use a lot too so I made a smaller version too.  

There is some logic in what I do from time to time!!!

Another spiral

Just a few posts this week as I've not got a lot to show!!!  Still plodding along with the knitting and the spiral snowflakes.  

I've found that the reverse join (although not 'essential') is a great technique for this little flake.  Mainly to keep the colour looking better in the very short chains.

Here's another I've done!!!!

Get behind me temptation!!!

A couple of weeks ago I got 'one of those' emails - like everybody does!!! 

This one is always quite interesting and on this occasion it was offering 4 ply wool (as in sock wool) at a truly great price.  

I kept this email in my inbox all week and kept going to look and kept trying to decide which ball (or balls) I was going to choose.  

I happened to be in the room where the tatting cupboard is (and my stash of yarn) when I wondered if I'd got any 4 ply wool that needed using up.  I found a few balls.  

There was a ball of variegated blue which I'd made my favourite pair of gloves from a few years ago.  They're SO warm.  So I found the gloves themselves and went to weigh both the gloves and the leftover yarn.  Eureka.  I've got enough for another pair!!!  Here's one of the pair already finished.

More dishcloths and hot pads

This is total relaxation for me.  Well, tatting is too but sometimes the old brain needs another challenge as well - just to convince it that it's really, really tatting that's consumed me for the past 64 years!!

During those years I've pursued many other crafts but always it's the shuttles I come back to.  

Anyway, I digress - but you're used to that by now!!!

Below is a blue and also a white thingy that I made a week or two back.

Margriet finished

Well here's my version of Margriet finished.  

Here's the link to the page too.  

I've found another oval doily which I've just started translating as well.  

A new little snowflake.

Can you guess what's brought this little idea on? 

Yes - too long spent on the Dutch translations!!!  

I'm not happy with it yet so will spend more time on it although it is only rings and chains.  I'll continue with this idea!!!

Another technique page

Now this is a simple but oh so useful little technique devised recently by Elaine P. Gan.  At first I must admit I didn't 'see' it as a particularly useful tool as, after all, the SLT was doing the same thing for me and that was already implanted in BC3's little old brain.

BUT when I came to try it out in a new little pattern I'm working on it certainly was helpful.  Not QUITE as Elaine probably would have thought of but it has now got me really excited.  

I bet you want to know what it is?  Well, Elaine has called it the reverse join which totally sums up the usefulness of this idea.  I used it with a switch shuttles too - will show you the new little design tomorrow - even though the web page itself isn't quite ready.

Here's a little technique page which I've done for thsoe who prefer to have things the 'old fashioned'way and not as a video!

Marie's Margriet

Marie offered to test tat Margriet for me but I didn't expect such a gorgous result.  Well I sort of did as I've seen her work and it is always stunning but having worked this pattern in a plain colour I just didn't appreciate how stunning it could look with a little more thought.  THANKS Marie.

Marie also added another round to the doily andI think it sets it off beautifully.  I would never have thought of that!!!

These are the colours that she used.  Lizbeth, size 20 in Elderberry Jam (177) and Raspberry Pink Lt (623).

HOT OFF THE PRESS - an update to this post.  Marie said she entered her doily in the county fair and received 1st place and "Best of Class."  See picture below.

Happy days, Marie and congratulations.

Sidetracked once again!!!

This time I can name and shame the person responsible for the start of this distraction!!!  It's Sandra!!  

Now Sandra's been pretty isolated since lockdown and has taken up knitting with a vengeance and has come across lots of patterns for hot pads or dishcloths or whatever you like to call them.  I've made a few over the past couple of months of which this is just one.  I must find the others and show you as they're all different.

Now to a story.  Many years ago when Nick and I were in America we spotted these hanging from people's appliances and places round their kitchens.  I'd never seen them back here in England but I managed to get a few while we were over there.  Very useful for wiping the fingers on when you're cooking!  

So, after the hot pad phase I've decided it's the hanging dish towel phase which will  happen next!!!  Here's my first one.  Can you see that it's 'not quite' finished?  I've got the thread (on the bobbin) and the button ready to sew on but will it actually happen this side of Christmas?!!??  I'll let you guess - yes or no!!!!

Margriet six seven eight

I'm still working on Margriet and  have just completed rounds six, seven and eight so I haven't a lot to say today!!!  

Who did I hear cheering in the background?  

A name already!!!

The new design by the nun doesn't have a name in the book.  I wonder why they rarely named their work? Perhaps they're a bit like me - I struggle to name my work too!!!!

This one is going to be called Margriet after another of Queen Juliana's children.

Below are rounds four and five.

FINISHED!

Do you remember the blanket I started on back here?

Well in spite of and despite my wandering brain (and hands!) I've managed to finish it at last!!!  There's something really relaxing about this design which appeals to my little mind.  

This is where I learned this technique from and thanks to this I've now made three of the blankets and have little yarn left.  Now, of course, this means I have a GOOD EXCUSE to buy more yarn!!!!  Who doesn't need that?  These will go to a care home when they've been washed and dried.  Actually, as I type, they're having a whirl in the machine!!!!

One thing I would add to the knitting squirrel's design is to firmly remind the person who starts a blanket to mark  the first square!!  I didn't on the first blanket and it caused a lot of grief!!!  I think I'm now an expert at this type of blanket!!!

Oh, the blanket is square - I promise.  I was trying desperately to not get my shadow in the picture!!!!

A 'not' Moaning Monday!!!

Bet you were all wondering what today's moan was going to be about!!!  Well there's nothing that I can think of today!!  Did I hear a big sigh of relief?!?!?  Cheering even?

I missed quite a few blogging days last week but that was because I was deeply engrossed in this new doily that I've been working on.  It's another from the little Dutch books and again features lots of spiral tatting.

Here are rounds 1, 2 and three

Irene is finished

I'm just hoping that the nun who designed this doily isn't cross that I've translated her doily (along with the others) but if I hadn't they might have never been worked again.

This one (and the next one) are really simple to make but both have made me look once again at spiral chains.  Those types of chains certainly help in keeping a straight line if you want one in a design.  It's made BC3 think about using them in something or other!!!  

I've given up on doing anything new myself at the moment.  Mainly because I'm enjoying the challenges of bringing new life back into these older patterns.  

Before I forget - here's the link to Irene!

Moaning Monday

What am I moaning about today?  Well it is Facebook or rather Facebook users.  

Now you'll rarely see me on Facebook and any information 'up there' will give you very little facts about me.  Why?  Well I don't think anybody would be interested anyway.  I lead a quiet life.  Or try to!!!  The only information you may see there are my walks or occasional forays out of town.

I belong to a lot of groups - some I've deliberately joined and some I'm not quite sure how I 'got there'.  I have NO problems with that and particularly the tatting groups.  I love reading the questions and the answers given even though the answers sometimes make me cringe.   

How do I know what goes on if I don't like Facebook?  Well I have email notifications drop into my inbox regularly and I read those.  I do occasionally click on one and go take a better look and I sometimes put on a 'notify me' to a thread that may interest me or where I think I can eventually help out with the question asked.  I rarely jump in to answer a question immediately as there are those who seem to live on Facebook and are quite capable of answering such queries.  

What I REALLY HATE is those threads where a question has been adequately answered and others go and repeat and repeat the same thing without READING THE PREVIOUS POSTS.  That really makes my blood boil.  I'm seeing it more and more lately.  If you are interested or can help with an answer to a question PLEASE READ the other answers before pitching in.

Now for a picture to brighten up this post!!!

Marie's finished doily Irene

Marie very kindly offered to test tat Irene for me and this is her rendition which is SOOOOO pretty.

She used Lizbeth size 20 in coral pink (number 608) and shell pink (626).  Interestingly hers measures 10 3/4" whereas mine measures 11" when worked in size 40!!!  Isn't that interesting?  I'm a tight tatter and so is Marie!!!  Who knows.  

I'm hoping that I can get the pattern up over the weekend so keep your beady eyes open for it - probably on Monday if I don't have a moan!!!

Mrs Odum strikes again

Way back (almost three years ago) I decided to make a Mrs Odum’s daisy.  This is my first attempt.

A month or two back I decided to have another go at her daisy as I wasn’t very happy with my first attempt.  Oh, before I forget - here’s a link to find the original pattern on the internet..

I got talking to the person who knows SOOO much about tatting that it leaves me breathless - Judith Connors.  She showed me her version which certainly got the old juices flowing and she gave me some splendid advice after she’d seen my blue attempt below.

The glorious pink one is Judith's version of Mrs Odum - it's what made me have another attempt at it.  Do I feel another one coming on?  Yes I do!!!