More of the 3D butterfly

Scream if you're fed up with hearing and seeing these.  I can't apologise because they've become an addiction and I now need counselling!!!  Or send for the men in white coats.  Over the past week I've made these.  The pattern is nearly ready too.

I've been doing a search round my computer and have found several patterns which need finishing off so they're going to be my priority over the next few weeks.  Watch this space!!!!

Small trinket box

Again this must be ancient.  Around forty years old, probably.

It was in the days when I craved colour but there were so few in the only available threads - Coats and Twilleys.  This was when I resorted to silk sewing thread.

I was quite pleased with this 'back then' but nowadays wouldn't give it a place outside a drawer or a box in the loft!!!!  Strange how your tastes change over the years!!!

Monday moan

Today's moan isn't so much a moan but a groan!!!  

Back in ancient history, when I learned to tat, the old Penelope and Coats booklets never told the tatter how much thread they needed to wind onto the shuttles to make the design.  In 'those' days they hedged their bets and often put 'two balls of ......' and left it at that.  

Remember that back in those days too you were never told to use two shuttles.  Why? Well because split rings hadn't come into general use so two shuttles weren't needed.  After all, what's wrong with a shuttle and a ball if that's all you actually need  Oh, one thing I might add here is that if you're going to keep dropping the ball and it keeps running away then perhaps the ball thread wound onto a shuttle will solve that problem!!!

I feel nowadays that I 'need' to put quantities on for each shuttle but I never would dream of doing that, unless asked, as I find adding in new threads is no problem AT ALL.  No knots needed either.  

So to work out how much thread is needed I usually tat a final motif (or whatever) having measured the thread onto the shuttles.  I note the quantity on the them and then make the item.  After I've finished I take the amount left over from the original quantity and that's it!!!  

BUT, of course, different tatters work at different tensions so I always allow extra for 'loose' tatters.  BUT I still don't think it always works!!  Now I'm moaning as I hate doing that last bit for a pattern!!!!

The leaves are from Ruth Scharf's design which is to be found here although there are slight modifications as suggested by Judith Connor.

The Coats leaflet

Do you remember this post from last week?  Well that was going to be my task for over Christmas - to make a good start on it.  

I’ve chosen a size 40 Lizbeth thread and the first centre motif is now done.  

I have started a second but then I got sidetracked.  I know, it’s tedious but that’s what happens in the land of BC3!!!  I’ll show you what’s done that to me tomorrow.

Please note - I do NOT use a picot gauge in case anybody thinks I do.  They’d not been invented when I started tatting except probably (and I do mean ‘probably’) they were occasionally used for the occasional very large ones.

This is a peapock

That's right I have it on good authority from 2 1/2 year old Abbi that these birds are called peapocks!!!

The pattern is from Pam Palmer's 'Tatting Treats' and I first made this little critter shortly after buying the book directly from Pam in 1994 (or maybe 5).  That time I worked the tail as the pattern stated but this time I used exactly the same stitch count but worked it without any cut and ties - well, until the end of course!!!  

The tail thread is from Tatskool and is called Coral Reef.  The body is worked in a Coats thread.

The guy underneath is a crocodile.  OK, I know the original was an alligator by Kate Plummer but Nathan wanted a crocodile.  I took liberties with this pattern as I was tired and so changed the bottom part.  My apologies to Kate who's work I SO admire.  If you're out there, Kate, I'd love to find you.

Deliberating diamonds

I decided that the pink wasn't 'quite right' so have started with two other colours instead. This time the variegated is Pink Cocoa and the plain is called a.n.other. Actually it's a very old Coats thread that I may have bought when I was a kid!!! Who knows - who cares?

Just thought I'd better let you know that we're now up to 109 pairs of scissors in this year's TIAS.  I've never had that many so early on.  Thank you so much to all who have kept this old git happy.

Day 4 - something different!

Now, just to confuse you and add to the tease I'm putting up the completed first part of this pattern.

This would be the first 'part' you would work if you chose to work it. BUT, here's the problem.

Have I shown this diagram the right way up?!?!? Of course it could be shown partly turned round or even upside down!!! That's the conundrum!!!

Yesterday Lynne said the following -

"A crinoline lady with tiered skirt, this is the bottom layer of the skirt and day 2 is the tier above it!!!! or shall I wait for the white coats!!!!!"

Lynne, I suggest you hold in there. Don't let them take you just yet!!!

I'm worried about Steph too. What sort of mind does she think I've got?! This is her suggestion:-

"I've got it!! It's a little naked man, isn't it? I just knew it!! ;)"

Well, well, well!!!

A month or so ago I bought a leaflet off Ebay and when it arrived I thumbed through it (as you do) and came across a very familiar pattern!!!

Familiar as I know I made it way back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth.  YES, I was/am a dinosaur in Tat Land as you know!!!  I knew I didn't work it from this leaflet as this one is all in Italian and I don't speak or understand that language!!

It's bothered me ever since I saw it so yesterday I donned my safari outfit and set out with courage by my side and fought my way to the bookshelves.  Why, oh why do we both 'dump' stuff in the back room and always in front of MY BOOKS?

Anyway, I arrived breathless and perspiring having fought off snakes, lions, elephants etc to find the folder with the odd loose sheets in - least I knew roughly where to look.  Now to my surprise - there it was.

This is just a loose sheet which I must have inherited when my gran died.  I've got quite a few but this one is a mystery as I've no idea which publication it came from.  Looking on the back of the sheet it wasn't a tatting book.  I'm wondering if it was from 'The Lady' as it's got an article about a National Trust property on the back.  When I have assembled an army of volunteers to accompany me again (well I'll ask the cat if she wants to help) I may take another trip to the bookshelves to see if I've got anymore that are from the same source but with more clues.  As it's suggesting that Coats thread is used I've a feeling they must have sold the pattern to the magazine.  

Bet you want to know the name of the Italian leaflet I bought?  It's Il Lavoro Chiacchierino 4.

No prizes for spotting that the Italian and English versions both have the very SAME photo!!!!  

There are other patterns in both my loose sheets and the Italian leaflet that are the same.  Does anybody know the history behind this?  Bet Georgia knows!!!

Well, it wasn't a PROMISE!!

I didn't actually PROMISE I wasn't going to post every day - it was just a sort of 'suggestion' to myself and you guys!!!  So as it wasn't a 'promise' I can break it, can't I?

I do have a very, very good reason to break my 'promise'.  

After a discussion with Natalie at the Yarnyard (here in the UK) and via another lass I met online, she kindly sent me some silk HDT thread to tat with.  This was silk she'd hand dyed herself (she's an expert at this - been doing it for years) for the embroidery and knitting 'market'.  I loved the colours which were grey to black but it was just a bit 'fuzzy' for me and I suggested that probably a good six core thread may be better for tatters.  You can see a picture of my tryout down below - just a quick 8 ring motif that I did to try something for somebody else!!!  I didn't start the two shuttles tied together so that's why it looks a bit 'odd' after the SR!!!  Anyway, off Natalie trundled and got some Lizbeth to try.  

Meanwhile she opened up an Etsy shop for the silk threads and by yesterday had some HDT Lizbeth for sale.  Well, you know me - I was like a 'rat up a drainpipe' and was in that shop at the drop of a hat!!!!  Good job too as the one called 'birthday' quickly sold out - I got a skein of that!!

Natalie is learning to tat too and her blog is here.  Fancy learning to tat with HDT (OK, she says this one didn't pass her quality control but it would've passed mine!).  When I learned all we had available was white Coats.  If you scroll down her blog you'll see all the colours she's doing in threads and I'm sure she'd help if there's anything you want.

This makes me happy

Two empty spools that used to have thread on! 

Why would that make me happy?  Simple answer - it gives me a good excuse to buy more or makes two less things my poor kids will have to dispose of when I die!!!!

The plastic one on the right held the Nakis Simi that I’ve recently managed to ‘replace’ thanks to this site I found in Estonia.  At least two of the readers of this blog have ordered from the same people.  

The other was an old Coats thread which I also had for many years.  Happy days.

Sidetracked from being sidetracked!

Yes it happens regularly to me.

While I was looking for the Coats book I came across this Dutch book.  Now the cover design doesn’t appeal to me at all but there are some very interesting designs inside.  I found one that I particularly like so that may be another ongoing task for me.  No, that’s not quite the truth!! It WILL be another project!!!  Maybe one I’ll get underway during the TIAS as the one I like is a doily.  I’ll show you that shortly.

The psychology of a large project!!

OR am I in need of a psychiatrist?  Send for the men in white coats!!!


Now the diamond mat isn't my first large project by any means!!!  If I remember rightly the sewing thread weight sleeveless jacket I made when the kids were little was probably the first.

Lately I've got sick of the quick to do projects as each time they're done I have to think of something new to do.  Then there's the problem of what to do with them all!!


Now the way I deal with these larger projects is quite simply down to self trickery.  


First of all I NEVER set myself an end target - that's fatal for me as the end would be too far away and totally unacheivable.  I therefore start to vaguely 'think' I'll start on something but never tell brain cell 3!!!

I start with smallness in mind.  The 'project' sets out (at the back of my mind) to be a small item.  The waistcoat was originally going to be a glassmat.  Then it's easy to make another small mat 'to match'!!  These can then be joined up with a third (if still in the mood) and sometimes a whole set can be made before joining them up and getting an 'instant' large project.  Another 'trick me' strategy I use too is to make lots of 'middles' and put them by.  Then when the outer edges are done and joined a 'large project' emerges.  Real brain trick is that!!!

The diamonds have been a lot more interesting as there are colours involved.  If it had been two plain colours I would probably have given up ages ago.  This time I have found another way (see Thursday's post) of keeping the excitement and anticipation going!!!   Again trickery is the answer and NEVER let brain cell 3 know!!


With this project I had decided it was going to be the size of the previous one before I started but then I thought I'd fill in the spaces between the points - just to see what it would look like!!!  


One day when most of the way through that last stage - which I called round two I had the brilliant idea of making a wall hanging for our bedroom.  I showed it to Nick who then said he thought it would be a bit small.  Eureka - another round (and a larger project!!!) was 'birthed' in my brain!!!  Problem is now - do I show him it again when this round is complete?!?!?

Thoughts on HDT

Not sure whether this post should also have been titled 'thoughts of a grumpy old woman' (AKA git!).

You see it's like this.  Or as my dad insists on saying 'the point about it is, Sally'.  Yes, I know my name's not Sally but in my 66 years he's not yet learnt my name!!!  Sorry, I digress.

I have never really liked variagated threads.  There, I've said it.  Why?  Well I think they're too fussy for me.  I grew up craving colours but the one or two vari ones that Coats did way back then weren't that appealing to a kid (I remember a cream to brown one which I now crave for animals!!).  Anyway, along came the dawn of HDT.  Old grumpy here has avoided it.  Grumped and groaned about it but saw the odd pattern worked in it which looked very pretty.  AH, perhaps this is part of my problem - it's the fact that most of the time it seems to destroy the pattern and the intricacies of the design get lost.  

Until Tatskool sent me some of her HDT.  That was pretty darn cool.  Then Sue Anna gifted me some of Yarnplayers HDT - that was stunning.  Then I won some from a giveaway by Krystledawn.  That's pretty darn cool too. 

It arrived the other day and it sort of looked - well, see the skein below - not that inspiring.  UNTIL, yes, UNTIL I started winding it onto an Ezybob.  WOWEEEEEE.  I love it and can't wait to use that too.  I've used some of the Yarnplayer HDT in the leaves AND for something else which I can't show yet.  Tatskool's has gone too.

The old git is slowly and steadily changing her mind.  Well, being a woman I am allowed to. 

Continuing with the doily!

Well the Valencia doily is progressing but I'm changing the final round so that it stands out a bit more than just a round of chains. Not totally sure it'll work but we'll see.  This is where I'd got to when I last showed you.  

The light creamy rounds had to be done in a different colour than the centre due to the ball of thread having an untimely meeting with a cup of coffee!!!!  Even though it dried out just fine I decided to ditch the rest of the ball.  Well, I'd had it hanging around for probably fifty years so I thought it didn't owe me anything!!!  It had gone quite hard too.  It was a Coats thread.

Here's the progress so far.

Launching butterfly 2

The page is up and ready to go - here's the link.  If you do ever get round to making it I'd love to see it.

Thank you to my valiant team of test tatters - without you I'd have given up the re-writing ages ago!!!  I've altered the text yet again to make it simpler, I hope!!!

Having always been a 'bright colours' person I'm trying to show here that I can do 'other' shades too!!!  The variegated pink is a Lizbeth one which I bought for making pigs!!  The brown is an ancient Coats.  As you probably know there is a new Lizbeth thread out in these colours - all on the same ball, though.  I can't wait to try it.


Well, upwards and onwards to the next project.  Should I return to the bell?  Probably!!!

Last ring of the season!

I just HAD to find an excuse to use the thread that Carol Lawecki sent me in the Secret Santa exchange so what better 'test' than to make a final finger ring. These need a firm thread and, like the Dual Duty that I showed t'other day, this one has that quality. It's a Coats quilting thread.

I had three colours to choose from. Green, pink and brown. Just lately two of my favourite combinations are pink and brown. I've tried photographs of these but they didn't work too well. These are scans and still don't give a true idea of this stunning colour combination.

The very last butterfly

The page is up and ready to go - here's the link.  If you do ever get round to making it I'd love to see it.

Thank you to my valiant team of test tatters - without you I'd have given up the re-writing ages ago!!!  I've altered the text yet again to make it simpler, I hope!!!

Having always been a 'bright colours' person I'm trying to show here that I can do 'other' shades too!!!  The variegated pink is a Lizbeth one which I bought for pigs!!  The brown is an ancient Coats.  As you probably know there is a new Lizbeth thread out in these colours - all on the same ball, though.  I can't wait to try it.


Well, upwards and onwards to the next project.  Should I return to the bell?  Probably!!!

A new thread

On Monday a small unexpected package arrived for me. I LOVE surprises and what was even better it was a ball of thread. Jenny Griffin sent it as a 'thank you' for doing the TIAS.

I'd never seen or heard of this thread - it's brand new from Coats in Germany. It's called Anchor Artiste and this particular ball is a number 20 and holds 20 grammes.
The colour is a very yummy variagated lilac. I worked up a bookmark using it alongside a Manuela thread. I would say that it is exactly the same as Flora and not as 'harsh' as Floretta. The only snag I can find is the price which I found it listed on one site.
I'm not giving the link to that site as I'm hoping that others will sell it a bit cheaper. Hint, hint to any thread suppliers that are reading this!!!
Here is the bookmark I made!!!

Am I boring you?!?!?

Sorry but if I am then I apologise but I must get these out of my system before I forget!!!! 

If anybody wants a pair of earrings to match then they can be made!!! I used a very subtly variegated Coats thread for this bracelet. I really like this one. No, Jane, you can't keep all you make. 

Now available in my Etsy shop here.

Hmmmm

There are some people living in tat land who think I've got a good sense of colour.  I'm now going to prove them wrong!!!!

I took these threads on holiday with me - roses (an HDT that I was given) and a plain thread which is probably a Coats.  Both  are size 80.  I made this hanky edging which I FORCED myself to sew onto the hanky yesterday.  

I love the threads (particularly roses) but I'm not sure they show up this pattern very well.  The plain pink is lovely with the HDT but it's tooooo close in colour.  The pattern?  Well it's not on my site yet but may eventually get there!!!

I reckon I'm going to keep this hanky for myself.  The first one in 53 years of tatting that I've ever made and have kept.  


Hang on - I've got probably two in my exhibition stuff but wouldn't dream of using those or giving them away.  This is going to be my treat to ME!!!  Happy UN-birthday, old git!