A history lesson

Aha, ya boo sucks - betcha thought this was going to be about the history of tatting, didn't you? Sorry but it isn't!!  To be honest the history of our craft is a mystery as is most history!!!!!

When I was at Palmetto Tat Days last September (registration for this year has opened here) a certain Pam Freck was in my (think it was the first) class.  She kindly presented me with a 'jiggly'.  Now I'm not sure what these little 'sillies' are really called but I'm calling them that!!!  They have a solar panel at the front which, when the sun's out, makes them dance.  So, Pam gave me the one on the right in the movie below - she even tatted a ladybug to sit on the middle daisy.  This got BC3 wanting more but sadly the local  dollar stores near Joanie had sold out while we were in the USA.  I came home with the one that Pam gave me in my carry on as I didn't want it getting squashed.  

Well, Nick asked why I didn't get more and I explained that they were selling as fast as the dollar stores could get them and bringing them home would be a problem anyway as my suitcase was so full!!!

Imagine my delight when I found a penguin and a snowman in Poundland at Christmas.  Since then there's been no sign of anymore.  Last Friday I was stumbling through the street market and found a stall with loads on.  That was my downfall!!!  I came home with two last week (inflation has set in big time!) and two this week.  In the movie you can see them dancing on the top of the sash windows in our front room (don't worry - the neighbours already know we're bonkers) and you can see the reflection of the houses opposite.

More decisions!

So this mat really, really needs another round.  I'm hoping it will be the last round as I'm beginning to tire of it!!!  

Today I'm showing what I think it may be.  I have to work a considerable amount to be sure that the stitch count will allow it to lie flat.  

I will NOT be using this pretty boring and faded green - I'll look for something better for the 'real deal'.

Again the photo is taken on the grass outside as the sun is still shining and it's quite warm.

One and a half curtains!

Here they are - just to prove I am on the second curtain!!!  I folded the completed one in half so I could get it in the picture!!!  The second one is over halfway now and I'm hoping to finish it by the end of the week.  Also (with a bit of luck) the Ferris Wheel mat may be completed too.  

Then what will I do with myself?  Who knows but something will spring to mind.  Perhaps a bit of test tatting for Martha?  I'm SOOOO excited about her new book that she's working on.  It's going to be a 'must have'.

What do you think?

This row of the mat is now finished but I think it needs another!!!  In fact I think this is worse than when it was naked!!!!  Do you like my background?  It's the grass in our garden.  I say 'grass'  as opposed to 'lawn' as we don't 'do' posh and it's a bit raggedy in places.  I'm fighting the dandelions at the moment too!!!

So, off to find another row somewhere inside my tiny brain!!!  I'll give it a whirl and then ask for opinions.

The weather has turned out really well at the moment so the filet crochet curtains are progressing at a good rate.  More on this another day.

Earrings page

It's finished at last.  The page for the earrings that I showed you here is finally 'up and running'. 

This is the link.

Bracelet orange and yellow

First of all - another pram has arrived.  Thank you, Kristen.  Here it is.  Number 118.  I'm trying to collect ideas together for TIAS 2014 and any suggestions are always welcome.  So far - two things on the list!!!!  That's a start!!!  Meanwhile I'm still working on the filet curtains during the day - and yes, twice I've been able to sit in the garden and do it which was the real reason for starting it!!! Long live the sun!!!!  In the evenings I'm plodding away at the Ferris Wheel mat too.  Would somebody add another 24 hours to the day, please?

This is another of the bracelets that I made and put in my Etsy shop.  I go through phases when I get addicted to making things (bit like the Ferris Wheel mat) and then I've no idea what to do with them!!!!  I've added this to the shop as I've only got one wrist (the other wears a watch!) and far too many bracelets!!!

Etsy shop

Here is another of the Starry Button Bracelets.  

I actually put three of them on Etsy yesterday along with some Pop a Bobbin shuttles.  I didn't tell anybody ahead of the listing for several reasons.  

First - I'd only got 12 shuttles and I didn't want people to be disappointed if they couldn't get them in the 'race to buy'.

Secondly I actually forgot that they were in my draft listings!!!  I'd done them on Monday and then totally forgot!!! DOH!!!

Thirdly - it's a bit easier for me when they go into the shop quietly and people just 'find out'.

Anyway, I was going to mention their presence today but they've all gone!!!  Just goes to prove that some people look at the shop from time to time!!!!

New technique page

I thought that as I was working on the Starry Button earrings I'd better put up a technique page on 'how to' add the beads on top of a button.  

Here's the link to that page.

I had a message from an online friend on Wednesday saying that she'd only got six balls of size 20 Lizbeth thread left in her online store.  She's closing down and retiring in a month or so.  By the way, this is NOT Lyn Morton's site at Tatting and Design but another supplier.  Lyn is trading as strongly as ever, bless her cotton socks, even though rumours have been going round to say otherwise!!  

Anyway, back to what I was talking about.  I looked in Karen's shop and thought that I'd better help a friend out - that's MY excuse!!!  Well, must admit they were half price too!!!  I bought the final six without checking if I'd got them.  When they arrived yesterday I realised that only one of the balls was a repeat.  I'm a very happy bunny!!!  

One Finished Curtain - with attitude!

So my plans to sit in the garden to make this curtain have proved a washout so far.  One afternoon is all I've managed.  Instead I've been sitting inside (avoiding the cold and/or the rain) watching iPlayer on the laptop in Tat Corner.

That's allowed - sitting in Tat Corner to crochet as I checked with BC3 first!!!

Now, it's really hard to know what the finished size will actually be when you're doing something like this.  Well, it is for me!!!!  I spent hours doing the maths on it and doing trial pieces but I find that hard so in the end just got on with it.

So when I'd started out, the curtain was meant to run from bottom to top (or, t'other way round!) as in the top picture below.  BUT when I laid it out on the floor I realised that the width was slightly too much.  It would give too much of a 'ruffle' effect.  I'm just SO lucky that it works t'other way round as in the bottom picture.  PLUS a big bonus is that I think the design looks better that way too!!!

Ferris Wheel motif mat - AGAIN!

Having finally come to a halt on the mat I now have to decide what sort of edging to put round it!!!  This is HARD!

Below you can see three attempts to make one and two of these failed dismally!!  I knew they were no good and thankfully Sally confirmed that for me when she stayed last weekend.  Here are the three attempts.  

The first one (excuse the colours but I used manky thread) seemed to be OK apart from the stitch count.  The second one was sort of OK but Sally thought it ought to be in just one plain colour which I agree with totally.  It also proved to be too 'wavy' even if I'd put on another round after.

The third one is what I'm working on at the moment - again a thread which is very old and which I'm just 'using up'.  This one MIGHT work but I really want to tat a bit longer on this just to be sure.

I've yet to decide but I will get round to it one day soon!!!

The bracelet has a name!!

Having made a bracelet for Ros I decided I really, really 'needed' one for myself!!!  

So off I trotted to my thread drawers and as so often happens to me, Rainbow Taffy smiled at me so I smiled back and hoiked him out of the drawer.

I'm (as regular readers will know) hopeless about naming patterns but this simple name has stuck with me throughout so it's going to be called the Starry Button Bracelet.  Least I SHOULD be able to remember that!!!!

I'll soon have the original earring pattern ready and will shortly start on the bracelet one.  Text is done but finding time to do the drawings seems to be the problem!!!

The end - nearly!!

So, 36 motifs finished of the Ferris Wheel motif.  The outer round motifs have no buttons in the centres - just because I wanted to make sure the pattern worked with and without!!!!  

Now I want/need to work out an outer round as it just doesn't look finished.  In fact it looks disastrously naked!!!  Naked tatting?  YIKES.  Send for the tatting police!

Sally was up here over the weekend - this is her blog.  She brought up a dozen pop a bobbin shuttles - all with hooks.  For those who have never met a pop a bobbin shuttle - please visit the tab at the top of this page for more information.

As there are so few of them I'm just going to list them when I have time.  It'll be a case of whoever sees them and wants them - gets them.  I did that a few weeks ago with the last batch and they went within a few days giving those in other time zones the opportunity to see them and me a lot more exercise trotting up and down to the Post Office.

No, that's wrong - in my case it's down and up to the Post Office as there's a slight incline down into the town!!!

My Weekly March 2003

I thought I'd finished with these but I was WRONG!!  I found another!!!

Now there's quite a story behind this article!!!!  Are you sitting comfortably?  Then I'll begin!!!

It all started with a phone call from the arts editor at the magazine (My Weekly).  We'd obviously become friends over the previous few years.  Elena asked if I could please do a seahorse pattern.  Well, of course I said 'yes' and asked what the deadline was.  'Tomorrow' she said.  Oh, she might've said next week but I know it was a very, very short time.  This must've been in 2001 that the call was made.  That's (duh, come on out BC3) 12 years ago when my life was megga busy.  So I made a seahorse.  This embarrasses me now as the tail is really the wrong way round!!!!  Neither I nor Elena noticed at the time!!!!  

So the pattern was completed against all the odds in just a few days, submitted and accepted.  I was as ever, dead chuffed.

Roll on a couple of YEARS and it was finally published!!!  

This seahorse  (although one of my favourites of all time) has caused me a lot of upset as a few years after publication somebody 'stole' it.  They changed it (NOT for the better) by putting in some picots and missing out a nose ring!!!  In fact I've put a picture of the 'damaged' seahorse below.  This was published in a tatting newsletter under another lady's name and the editor of the newsletter said it was 'fine to do that as it had been changed by more than 10% so the copyright now belonged to her'!!!  That's a myth as we all know!!!  I queried the amount of changes anyway!

I finally spoke to the 'designer' who was a very, very old lady who'd seen a picture of the seahorse and copied it from that.  She'd no concept of copyright issues.  I couldn't be cross with her but I was with the tatting newsletter people as, if they considered themselves 'experts in tatting', they should've checked and double checked the pattern.  By the time it was published it was already on my web site.  

Anyway it's all 'water under the bridge' now but it's worth a mention that by taking other people's work you can damage their health and temper!!!!!

A new bracelet for Ros

So, after the earrings that I showed you here I can now present the bracelet to match.  Well, not quite a match as I didn't have enough of the beads that I used on the earrings!!!!  

My stash of beads is quite considerable but finding the 'right' ones each time means I tend to use the same favourites!  This eventually leads to a dearth of the favourite colours - time for another look in Ebay, I think!!!

I'm going to start doing the drawings for this soon and once I've made a few of these bracelets (with adjustable clasps) I'll put some in my Etsy shop.  They'll have to be a tad more expensive than my usual 'stuff' as they take ages to make (nearly two evenings which is about 6 hours) and are (as you can see) 'bead hungry'!!!!

Question is - how much do you think I should price them at?  I find it SSSOOOOOO difficult as I rarely sell stuff - it gets given away or thrown in a box!!!!

Curtain at 22 inches

First of all - number 117 pram has arrived here on the TIAS blog.  Thank you, Ray.

I thought it was about time you all suffered an update on the filet crochet curtains.  Well, that should be curtain at the moment.  

This is still an interesting afternoon project and one which is still slowly progressing in spite of the 'grand tidy up' that is ongoing in the house.  Don't you just HATE having to do that?  The tidying up, I mean.  

Red Winsomes

So another look at my vast collection of tatted earrings and a thought about the only red pair I've got.  

Now this red pair are based on this pattern and when I made them I extended the long beaded picots on the side and bottom rings.  I thought they looked fine until people started commenting and calling them my 'cross' earrings.  That stopped me wearing them as I didn't want anybody to think I was in any way 'into' any religion!!!!  So this weekend I decided to make a new pair of red earrings.  This is the pattern - the ever useful Winsome Drop earrings.

I bought these lovely glass beads while I was in America last September.  I really love them.

Earrings Ros and compare

Having made the one pair of these earwigs for myself as an experiment I then decided that my friend Ros would probably like a pair too.  Now Ros is even shorter than me and a lot, lot slimmer so she doesn't like big earrings.  

I made her the pair that you can see at the top using the same pattern - which I WILL get onto my site once the manic tidying up has been completed here in the house!!!

The picture below shows the comparison between my pair and 'hers'.  Dying to give them to her now and hope to see her later today.  I've also made her a bracelet which I'll show you soon.

Earrings

I'm pretty sure that it was Joanie who gave me the earrings you can see in the top picture here when Sally and I were staying with her.  My apologies if it wasn't.  

Anyway I've looked and looked at them and finally the aged brain sort of decided what to do with them.  The bead is REALLY sparkly so I didn't want to hide it inside the tatting like my first thought would've done.  I was originally going to use this pattern.  It would've been fairly simple to construct this round the bead in situ.  

After some thought and a dash to the tatting cupboard to find my pliers I took it apart instead.  The bottom picture shows the finished pair.  

As you can see the beads in the chain are moved into position on the core thread.  BUT me, being me, I decided that this earring needed to be finished with no ends to sew in.  Thus the final chain is a split chain.  I had to work out how to do this with the beads still on the core thread - it's not hard but took me a few minutes to work out.  The pattern itself is really quite a generic one which has been 'designed' many times by many people so I don't really think I can call it my own.  Beads are added over the small shirt button in the centre.  Now the question is - do you think it's worth me putting a page together or not?

My Weekly February 2003

This is the last of the magazines - I think!!!  Bet you're glad about that!!!  

You'll see that this one was one of my first 'experiments' with buttons.  Well, buttons AND beads, of course!!!  The pattern is now on this link if you should want it.

Since this foray into buttons I've done several other button patterns too and am playing with them again at the moment.    

Curtain progress

I haven't given up the day job (crochet) and this is just a quick update on the first curtain.  The curtain is what I'm going to do while sitting in the garden this summer.  Main problem is that summer came and went.  It lasted two days which happened last week.  In fact we're now back to winter so I'm doing it inside on spare minutes in the afternoons.

The top picture is the original 'picture' one that's up there at the moment.  

The next picture is a 'long distance' one to show you progress.  At the moment I've done 11" of the 30" (ish) required so that's just over a third of the way - IF that's how it turns out.

Of course I have to keep reminding myself that there's another to do and MAYBE another pair (slightly smaller) for the bedroom but I'm not planning on that (the bedroom) at the moment!!!  Time and inclination comes into that equation!!!

The final picture is a closeup so you can see the pattern that's repeated.  Here's a link to find the pattern.  It's interesting enough to not get boring but not complicated like the picture one.  No rows and rows of 'just open filet' to work either.