Just like Topsy

Now do you remember this little snowflake thing that I designed many years ago?  Well it grew shortly after into it's 'big brother' which you can find here.

Weeeellll, it's going through another growth spurt but that's proving an interesting experience!!!

Here are two versions that I'm working on but  I'm having some problems.

As you know from experience (if you've ever ventured into my pattern site) I like my designs to lie flat when they're finished without the messing about with this 'new fangled' blocking which is talked about so much.  I rarely, rarely block anything and think it's a pain in the proverbial!!!  Anyway, I digress.  Here are the two recent versions (which will be fine once stiffened) which will go into my Christmas giveaway 'pot'.  Meanwhile I'll be working on another two or three to fathom out how to stop the twist I get in the spikes.  Keep your eyes on this space.  NOT the space between my two ears - that's full of knotted thread!!!!

Done, dusted and already worn

I’ve finally finished my top.  This is the pattern I used.

Now those with good eyesight will notice that there’s a big difference between the original and mine!!

Yes, mine has long sleeves.  Why?  Well it’s getting cold now over here and I had plenty of yarn so I decided to continue the sleeves.  Obviously I had to work out how to decrease the stitches on the sleeves and make a note of what I did on the first sleeve so that the second matched.  Not a problem as I work with my iPad on my lap when I’m designing tatting stuff!!

Sunshine for a friend

I have a friend who’s going through a bit of a bad patch.  It’s always difficult to know what to give somebody to cheer them up so this is something I thought might ‘do the trick’.  

Sunshine always cheers people up and it always reminds me of Morecambe and Wise.  They were two English comedians who were brillliantly funny and they used ‘Bring me Sunshine’ as their signature tune.  Christmas wasn’t Christmas without the Morecambe and Wise show.  

Oh, the pattern can be found here. 

For my tooth fairy

I had bad news last week as my lovely dentist (Sally) told me she was leaving to go to another job.  I'm really sad about this as not only is she a good dentist but she's also got a great sense of humour which is VERY important to me.  

I decided to make her this bookmark which is an amalgamation of this one and this one with another type of 'tail' bit in between.  In fact I used roll or spiral tatting which I'm quite comfortable with now I've learned a much better way of doing it from a very old source which you can find here.  

Row 6 Marmelo

Another round of Erika Tashiro’s lovely Tatted Garland.  BUT I need to tell you that this is definitely round 6.  Last time I told you a lie as that wasn’t round six but it was round 5.  I didn’t lie deliberately I promise.  Here’s the link to my previous post in which I messed up.

Now you’ve GOT to realise that us old gits (like wot I am) can get confused and especially when they’re going through a bad patch in their lives.  

The past couple of weeks have been a tad stressful but I’m hoping they’ll improve soon.  Well, that’s all you can do is hope!!!  

A second square

Now this time I decided to use the same idea as on this cushion.

It’s a crazy quilt idea that I picked up from YouTube - here’s the link.  This time I used REALLY tiny five sided shapes to start off with and did three separate ‘starts’.  I put those together and then fiddled around and added other patches to fill up the gaps.  Not easy but I think it looks crazy enough to submit!!

A square

Having said two days ago that I didn’t have a lot to show you I’ve remembered that I haven’t blogged this project!!!  Where DID I leave BC3?  

The group I go to on a Tuesday morning are doing another project to raffle at next year’s summer garden party.  We’ve each taken one (or two!) squares of fabric and we’re each doing random ‘things’ on them to form a crazy quilt.  When I say ‘crazy’ I really do mean ‘crazy’ as we can each do what we like!!!  Here’s my first square.

What I did here was to cut strips of fabric and then turned under a small hem and machined it down.  I then wove them and stitched round the edges attaching them to the base square we’d been given.

It was quite challenging to keep the strips in place at first but the more I wove the easier it got!!!  Here’s the finished square.  As you can see I added another challenge by NOT going from side to side (or top to bottom) and not even truly diagonally.  Sometimes I think I’m really STOOOOOOPID!!!

Marmello round 6

Back again on the Marmello doily and another two rounds added.  

I’ve not got a lot to show you this coming week as I’ve been working on two new designs.  One will become the January TIAS.  

I am wondering now if people scan or take photos of their TIAS as this may well prove interesting if I ever do a 3D one.  Would be pleased to know what people do.

Knitting progress

This is how far I’ve got with my short sleeved top which you can find here.

Now those who are awake while reading this will notice that the sleeves are rather long for a short sleeved top!!!!  Do you want to know why?  Well I bought the recommended number of balls of yarn but have realised that I’m going to finish up with leftovers!!!!  Leftovers are fine if you can eat them but I don’t fancy eating yarn!!!  So I’ve decided to make the top into a sweater!!!  

I’m not sure if I’ve got enough length on the body so have left that ball attached to it so I can go back and add more if I want to. 

Of course carrying on to make the sleeves longer means working out when and where to decrease towards the cuffs.  When I’m designing tatting I always write down the pattern on my iPad as I go so this is what I’ve done with this project.  

Marmelo - halfway through daisy row

I have made further progress with the Marmelo doily  in the evenings when I’m not working on the TIAS I need to be doing something so this (and another project) are my ‘go to’ ways of keeping myself awake and not falling asleep in front of the telly!!!.

Did you enjoy the break?

I simply didn’t have time to blog last week - everything seemed to decide to happen last week and the week before.  

BUT I did have time to get a good way into a TIAS for next January.  Autumn is heading our way so there’ll be less to do to the garden - although I don’t do a lot anyway!  I enjoy mowing the grass but do little else apart from pulling weeds.  I mow a neighbour’s grass for them too and get some really odd looks when taking my mower along the road to their house.  One person I met walking the mower stopped and made a funny comment so I pointed out that other people walk their dogs so why shouldn’t I take a mower out for a walk. 

Obviously I’ve not a lot to share due to the TIAS but I do have a few things this week.  

 

Memories on the day of the Queen’s funeral

The Queen and her staff were amazing.  When my oldest daughter was six (she’s a bit older now) I landed up (as a supply teacher) taking on her class for a week or two.  My youngest would’ve been four and not yet in school, I couldn’t drive, there was a cold spell and life was pretty tough as in those days my ex and I were pretty hard up.  

This is what Lucy wrote on her Facebook page a few days ago.

“1974. I was six years old when I drew a really crap Christmas card on a shitty bit of scrap paper in class. It was an orange and red scribble - very festive (not). My mum was supply teaching (the first and only time she taught me) and for some reason, I thrust my crap card into her hands on a whim and said ‘Send this to the Queen!’. My mum indulged me, or rather she told me yesterday: ‘Woe betide anyone who said no to you, even at 6’. Never in our dreams did we think we’d get a thank you. Well, thank you dear Queen, for making a 6-year old’s Christmas. And apologies for the crap card.”

Following up on this I found this about the Lady-in-Waiting (Susan Hussey) and am even more impressed.

Lucy is now a well known international journalist.

Straining the brain!!!!

This is the first part (and part of the second part) of the doily called ‘Tatted Garland’ from Erika’s book ‘Tatting Lace, Marmelo’.

I’m so glad I’ve got a few years experience with front/back side tatting as I feel this really needs to be made that way.  I’m not a ‘fan’ particularly of this way of tatting but it does make a big difference.  To do this round you really have to be ‘on your toes’!!!

Thoroughly enjoyable, though.

Bracelet talk

It always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when people actually understand and work my designs.  Never fails.  Here are a couple more of these bracelets that Kay Lynn has made.  This is what she said when she sent in the first photo.

“Just a quick note with a photo of a bracelet I just finished (using your pattern).  Fun to make so I want to make a couple more (as gifts) with different colors.  Thanks for sharing your designs.”

I then asked Kay Lynn if I could turn her message into a blog post and she thankfully said ‘yes’.  So here’s her second message and another bracelet!!!

“Of course you may make this into a blog post.  I'm glad you like the colours!  Here's a slightly different version that I made for myself (and I'm wearing it on the back side since I like that just as well as the front side).”

The last of the flowers

These tiny ones don’t have another colour in them but that’s what the pattern says!!! 

There’s something so relaxing about following a pattern.  No real ‘thinking’ needed - just sit and do as you’re told.  Wish that applied to the rest of life although that might be boring!!!

Monday’s ‘not a moan’!!!

That caught you out!!!  No, not a moan but something very interesting - well, to me!!!  

My BC3 started wondering when I saw Gail Weaver’s interpretation of a Piecework pattern which you can find here.

I was intrigued with it because to me it ‘grated’ on my poor brain cells.  I contacted Gail and she gave me the piecework link that she’d worked from and it was the same.  

Now why did it make my BC3 get agitated?  Simply because I’ve never seen chains which don’t all face the outside of the finished piece.  Gail did a SPLENDID job of drawing this pattern up but it doesn’t show that the chains vary in the directions the heads of the stitches face.  Her worked up piece follows the original precisely and I know that if I ever worked this pattern I’d ‘need’ to have all the chains facing the same way with the odd SS thrown in where needed.

It’s very difficult to explain with the attached pictures but I’ve tried to put red arrows to show you the chains which annoy my BC3.  Both pieces show that the chains are trying to turn on themselves too.  Now I wonder if the original designer just didn’t know how to get all the chains facing outwards or whether it was deliberate.  I also wonder if it was simply that designer or a ‘fashion’ of the time - or probably he/she just didn’t know about switching shuttles.  I’ve never seen this before but would love to know if anybody else has.  

It’s astonishing what my stupid little brain comes up with from time to time!!!  I hope this will generate a discussion and would like to thank Gail for tolerating my messages and letting me bring this to your attention.  

More little flowers

Another set of flowers from the Tatting Lace, Marmelo book.  I managed to get these done and am now working on another set.  More to come soon!!!

The knitted top

I have made some progress on the knitted top.  Last 'report' was here.

I've only been picking it up when I go to the knitting group on a Friday or when I'm at my 'crafty' group on a Tuesday.  Progress, because of that, is slow!!!  I'm really enjoying it and I think that shortly I'll be having a 'blitz' on it just to 'get it done'.  I know how my BC3 works!!!!

I needed something to stop the stitches falling off my needles and was looking to order something to use but couldn’t find anything really that appealed.  

In the end I was sorting through my sewing ‘stuff’ (the ‘recycling’ part of odds and ends) and came across one of those thingumygigs that you use on clothing to adjust the cords.  They’re ‘called cord string cord lock toggles’.  Took me ages to find out that bit of information!! Here’s what I mean.  

As you can see in the second picture - I found one (actually, two) in my recycling sewing box of bits.  This works a treat!!!

Monday moan - to do or not to do

That is the question.

Well I thought I was a tough old cookie - particularly having got through all life's trauma's, plus a few more, in the space of five years.  That was about thirty years ago.  But the stuff I have put up with from two tatters over the past few months has really knocked the BC3 out of me.

I'm beginning to bounce back slightly but I have stuff i really need to get on with but no energy to do.

First thing I need to do is decide whether to apply for a teaching position at Palmetto Tat Days next year.  The indecision is mainly about the probability of Covid rearing it's ugly head again.  Also finding the energy to organise myself.

Next problem is to do or not to do a TIAS in 2023.  I've got a possibility on the shuttles but have fallen out with it again.  To proceed or not to proceed - that is the  next question.   I have four 'incarnations' of it sitting glaring at me as I sit in Tat Corner and I've no desire to pick them up at the moment and work out whether to carry on or not.  

Finally - does anybody read blogs nowadays?  Should I give up blogging?  I think most people have emigrated to Facebook but I'm not comfortable there so rarely visit it for a 'look around'.  I pop in, put links to the blog or post walk pictures and then get out PDQ.  I apologise to those who expect me to see what they're doing but really I'm not a Facebook person.  I have enough of a problem keeping my own life on the level and certainly don't want to share the finer details of what it's like with 'all and sundry'.  

Sets of little flowers

This part of the Tatted Garland is going to take some time!!!  That should keep me busy!

These little flowers look straightforward but they aren’t!!  I doubt if you can see but the stitch count varies in some places and some rings have vsp’s (very small picots) and some don’t!!!  

This is the first of three ‘sets’ of flowers so I’ll be keeping each set together with a safety pin AND labelling them as I go.  If I don’t then I’ll get into a dreadful muddle!!!!