Valentine's Day Is coming up!

Well I've never ever had a Valentine card or present from what I can remember.  I may have when I was a heck of a sight younger but I think I'd have remembered!!!

I was fiddling around a week or two back looking through my stash of doodads.  I felt an urge to make new earrings even though I’ve got quite a collection of them!!!  I found these little heart shaped doodads so decided to play around with them.  This is what ‘happened’.  

Constant wet weather has kept me in and walks would’ve become paddles if I’d tried to get out and about.  My umbrella is grumbling about doing ‘overtime without pay’!!!

Finally managed it!!!

What, you may well ask!!!  I’ve finally uploaded one of the patterns I taught at Tat Days (Palmetto’s wonderful event) back in 2024.  If you look under ‘Motifs’ it’s the This Way and That Way Motif.  You’ll see that I’ve split up the original page that had motifs, snowflakes and ‘something else’ into three separate pages.  I hope it’ll be easier to find things.

It must be about eighteen months since I last uploaded anything on the site and, to be totally honest, I’d almost forgotten how!!!

I pay for the site and I like to get my money’s worth out of it so I started a week or so ago trying to re-learn how to do it.  First of all I use SeaMonkey to make the html page for the index.  That’s the first page you come to.  That’s not easy at all when you’ve got a geriatric computer and a brain like a leaky bucket.  I’ve now decided CATEGORICALLY that I’m truly OLD.  People tell me I should slow down but nobody’s told me how to!!!

I’m still working on the site but hope to get it finished soon.  I’ve managed to lose the ‘search’ facility and I am struggling to work out how to put it back!!!  I’ll have to leave it until another day as I’m totally flummoxed!!!

For those who don’t know where to find the site - Here it is!!!

How to display your shuttles

When I moved into my new place I decided not to put my nice and important shuttles in to the printer’s tray I’d had for years.  Mainly because they kept falling out and I wasn’t prepared to stick them in place in case I damaged them.

I pondered for several months on what to do with them and in the end ‘scrounged’ a rod from my friend Tim and he helped me put it up.  I love the way I can see them all (well, I think I’ve got more but haven’t located them yet) and that I can easily rearrange them if I want to.  

From a student at my last Tat Days in 2024

For the life of me I have no idea whose work this is but I recognise the mouse as ‘one of mine’!!!  It’s my dear friend Ann who can be found here.  She was a participant at Tat Days too!!  I’ve no idea what the face is about but isn’t it fun?  I simply HAD to leave it there as it makes me smile.  Hopefully the ‘owner or owners’ of these two items will jump up and tell me!!

This is the last of the posts that have been sitting in my drafts for well over a year so now I’ll be updating you all on the other projects I’ve been working on during my absence!!

WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!

Katie’s snowflake thingy

I’m now exploring some draft posts that I’d done and not published back in 2024!!!  This is one of the patterns which I taught at Palmetto Tat Days back then.

I’ve a feeling this must be Katie Verna’s snowflake but I’m not sure.  It’s one of my designs but again I’ve ‘lost track’ of whether I’ve posted it on my site or not.  I’m sure somebody will let me know!!!  

You’re NEVER going to believe this but ….

I’m BACK.  

I’ve let my blogging slide over the past year or more due to ‘circumstances’ back in the old git’s life.  Several situations I found myself in caused me to be rather busy and blogging is one of the things that’s suffered.  I’m not going to tell you all about the circumstances as I’ll probably bore y’all to death but I’ll try and start from my return from Palmetto Tat Days last autumn.  No, sorry, the autumn before (2024).  That’s if my poor old BC3 can remember back that far!!!

Just to tease you I’ll add a picture that was part of the reason I’ve been so busy.  I’ll leave you to guess what I was ‘up to’.  

Oh, you can blame Diane (Lacelovin Librarian) for my return as she’s started blogging again!!  I may change the title of my blog to ‘Tatting and Crafting’ as knitting, sewing and crochet have also been part of my life.  I do have at least two new patterns to share soon, I hope.  

A bit of my history!

It was waaaayyyy back when I was raising kids and working full-time that this article was published in the local newspaper.  I hope you can read it!!!  

Well, that's if you want to, of course!!!!

Monday Moan - beads

No I'm not complaining about beads at all but I do have a gripe about how they're used by some people in their tatting designs.

I test tatted a design for a new designer a while back and was gobsmacked to find that she was telling people to sew beads onto the work.  WHAT?  I could scarcely believe it.  Why would you tell people to sew on beads unless you're a new designer who doesn't know the craft from the inside out.

As it turned out this particular lass really didn't know the craft of tatted lace at all.  She'd only been tatting a short while and had then decided she'd become a designer.  Great idea but ..........  

Back to beads.  I think (do tell me if I'm wrong) there is only one situation when a bead MAY need to be 'sewn on' after the piece is finished (I'm talking about the traditional way of tatting with a shuttle) and that's when it's a very large bead that is required to sit in a ring.  Sometimes called a focal bead.  Even THAT can be avoided in many cases by including it in the tatting like this or this.  You can also add the focal bead to the centre of a split ring too.  

For those who sell on Etsy with some of these wonderful tatted jewellery pieces I do hope you're including ALL beads in the actual work and not sewing on afterwards.  I'd hate to be a customer who's glorious piece of jewellery fell apart when the sewing came undone.

So my advice (whether asked for or not - and NONE of you did!!!!) is please, please, please don't sew beads onto tatting - include them safely while you're working.  

As you know I don't 'do' videos as I feel they're making people lazy about reading patterns but in this case (techniques) I think they're valuable.  I do have a bead technique section here on my pattern site.  Free patterns are available here too.

May I add that none of the beads (except when added to a picot) were added to the thread before starting the work - see the Fantasy Flower here.

The new cardigan - progress report

I told you about the new cardigan project back here.    It’s time to report on my progress!!!  OR lack of!!!

I really haven’t read through the pattern to the end!  Although I knew it was knitted from the bottom up I didn’t realise quite how many stitches would be needed for the rows!!!!  There are 245 stitches.  Those include the button band.  It takes considerable time to knit a row but it does get more interesting as you get further up the body.  Least I hope it does!!!

IF you look very closely at the sides you’ll see where I’ve started the patterning.  Well I did a few more rows (well, quite a few more!) and then decided I’d made a mistake so ripped it all back to where you see it now!!!!  Ah, well it’ll mean I’ll be kept out of trouble for a while longer!!!!

New FREE pattern

This is the final pattern from my Palmetto teaching trip.  If you want all the patterns taught by the designers/teachers then please take a look here where they can be found on the Palmetto Tatters site.

This is the pattern that I taught and this is where you can find it.  

A Monday moan to make you laugh?

As you all know there are many, many books ‘out there’ on tatting and the new books now hitting the shelves are ones that really are hilarious.  I think they’re a joke.  I DO NOT recommend you to buy them.

They’re generated from other people’s work and often include sections of text ‘lifted’ from older books/web sites.  But what makes me laugh is this new generation of books.  You don’t even have to look very closely to see that in the first picture for needle tatting the cover has bobbin lace on it

The second ‘author’ appears to have ‘stolen’ her cover photo from the first person which is amusing.

Now when we come to the third picture “Mastering Shuttle Tatting” you’ll notice that the book cover has some type of lace which I can’t identify but it certainly isn’t shuttle tatted!!!  

Finally the last book says it’s an advance guide to beautiful lace and also needle tatting essentials!!!  I’m sure the producers of these books have never seen any tatted lace as none of the covers show any.  I feel sad for those who waste their money buying these misleading books.

Another new FREE pattern - snowflake

Well here's another of the Palmetto patterns that I taught at Tat Days about six weeks ago.  

This has become another of my favourite little tatting projects and I hope you like it.  

For all the patterns that were taught this year please go here where you can buy them. 

Well I guess you want to know where this little snowflake can be found?  Well, shall I tell you or shall I keep it a secret?

Hmmmmm - I guess it won't be a secret for very long so I may as well tell you!!!  Here's the link.

Needle tatting 2

Well I did warn you that you wouldn’t like this post!!!  If you read this post you can see what I said!!!  

I think this was the worst tatting I ever made.  I can remember making this not long after I bought the Ed and Selma Morin book on needle tatting.  I actually made this up myself (designed!!??) and it’s needle tatted with double knitting yarn (which is what was available cheaply and locally) back in the 1970’s. 

I never wore it and I think the reason was because it’s a ‘nasty’ shade of pink!!!!  I like pink but not this shade!!!  Also back ‘in the day’ it wasn’t fashionable, I don’t believe, to layer your clothes.  Well, whatever the reason it never got worn and last week it took its final trip to the charity shop.  Even though I never liked it I’m now wondering if it went into the ragman bag or was put for sale in the shop.  Whatever/wherever it is all I can say is that I’m glad to be rid of it1!!

I did keep the giraffes, though!!!!

Rings a Bell?

This is another of the patterns I taught at Palmetto Tat Days.  I wanted a relatively simple design and one that could probably be finished during the lesson.

Over the years I’ve tried to offer designs that can be worked during the given time but also found that that isn’t possible for most of us.  I know that I personally couldn’t get a design done during a lesson as I find it hard not to talk to other fellow students!!!  It’s called ‘gossiping!!!!

Anyway the bell is now on my website here but don’t forget that you can buy ALL the Tat Days patterns as downloads from here.  

Starting the cardigan

Before I left for Tat Days I'd decided to knit another cardigan.  I wanted something with fine yarn - not bulky.  I know, I know, it's a huge task I'd set myself!!!  

Well I got to Joanie's house and a few days into my visit she gave me this yarn.  It's Sport weight and it's really, really lovely.  The colour is actually a dark grey and it’s content is Alpaca, wool and acrylic.

I found this free pattern although I wasn’t looking for a free one this came up and I fell in love with it. 

What I didn’t realise until I started it two weeks ago is that it’s worked from the bottom up and that the whole of the back and two sides (plus button bands) are knitted together.  Makes for a LOT of stitches on the very long circular needle!!!

Needle tatting part 1

A bit of history!!!

Back in the 70's I used to belong to a newsletter group here in the UK.  They were my only way into the world of tatting outside of the UK.  Although it was a fairly good source of patterns it also ran some interesting adverts too for shuttles and books.  There was no such thing as needle tatting back before that time.

I saw a book advertised (selling in America) for needle tatting.  It was by Ed and Selma Morin.  I bought a copy and had a 'go'.  

This was made using double knitting yarn.  I'll show you another of my needle tatting pieces another day but you WON'T like it!!!!  

Gloria's angel

This is one gorgeous little angel that Gloria gave me while on my travels.  

In fact she gave two of us little baggies full of angels for us to give away.  Joanie and I did that for her and now this little one is hanging on the side of my monitor keeping an eye on me!!!!

Please don't ask me for the pattern as I didn't think to ask!!  I'm sure somebody will recognise it and comment.

An early Christmas present!

As you know (if you read my rather boring blog) I've been to Palmetto Tat Days.  I'm slowly starting to upload the patterns onto my web site and the first one can be found here.

I really would like to point out, though, that all of the patterns taught over the Palmetto Tat Days weekend can be found here.

A twisted Monday moan

If there's anybody 'out there' who reads my blog be warned that today is going to be a BIG moan!!!  

I do read what's going on on Facebook but rarely take part except when I think I can help,  

On Saturday I popped into an interesting discussion on one of the groups about twisted picots.  One person claimed the copyright on this TECHNIQUE which is, as I understand it, not possible.  Techniques aren't copyrightable.  What the person doesn't seem to realise is that I used it MANY years ago in two patterns and I'm darn sure that it would've been done before me.   Anyway I couldn't find her page about this technique so I abandoned that!!!

Along comes another person who then decides that this technique is, in HER opinion, liable to having a name and two names at that!!!  The second 'name' comes because (as I did in the past) there's a double stitch between twisting the picot and joining back.  FOR GOODNESS SAKE - all we're doing is complicating matters - can't we just have one name and point out on a pattern to read carefully.

On another 'topic', which I read on a blog post, another tatter has renamed that old idea of posting the shuttle through the ring before tightening it.  She\s calling it after the name of the tatter she learned it from.  I can see why she did it as it is a good 'self reminder' but the problem here is that other people may adopt it too and thus the future history of tatting becomes a MESS.  Just saying - popping back to my knitting.

These are two patterns that have the twisted picot in and one has an additional double before joining back.  

Bonnie's baskets

Bonnie was another friend who we visited when we were in South Carolina.  

Bonnie is an amazing craftswoman who sadly got sidelined away from tatting a few years ago.  I'm hoping she'll come back as her work is impeccable.  

Her main addiction nowadays is basket making.  Her house is FILLED with baskets of all shapes and sizes.  Again each one is perfect.  

She kindly gave me the corn stalk you can see below and the lovely little basket below.  THANK YOU, Bonnie.  

Please thank Jo for finding batteries for Hilarious if you read this!!  We have such fun at your house.