Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Tatting Tea Tuesday in Kansas City

Monday I took my mother to Kansas City for surgery that was scheduled for this morning. There was a lot of time spent in waiting rooms today. During which time I was mostly tatting.  I'm probably going to regret it tomorrow as I didn't take very many breaks. But I did get a lot done. And had a couple of cups of tea while I was at it.


What I spent my time on was a technique that was  mentioned on InTatters the other day. I saw a thread about using the Larks Head Picot Join as described by Lily Morales. Patty D had some great pictures she shared about when to use it and put up a link to the directions. 

Now I have been using a lot of variageted thread lately which leads to joins that either look wrong or have a spec of the wrong color showing.  Not liking the look much, I definitely had to try this out.

For my practice piece I chose to do the heart in "The Gentle Art of Tatting Pattern Book 1" by Patricia A. Rizzo.  It's a book of easy pieces, but I thought this would be a great pattern, not having to think too much about the pattern so I could concentrate on the technique.  I made it in "Falling Leaves" Lizbeth thread in size 20.  Isn't it a pretty color?

I did get the idea of the LHPJ pretty quickly, but doing it consistantly was not so easy.  One time I would get it, the next time I'd pull the wrong threads and just tie a hard-to-get-out knot.  I think I'm getting better - at least until the next time I try it!

I'm going to count this heart as the first motif of my second round of the 25 Motif Challenge, because it definately was a challenge!

7 comments:

  1. Congrats on working with that join! It looks great once you get comfortable with it.

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  2. Good for you! The heart looks wonderful. I CANNOT get that blasted LHPJ! I wrote to PattyD and asked her to explain it in more detail - she is so wonderful with her explanations. She left me a long note, in detail, and I feel like such a dummy - I can't do this knot. So frustrating!

    I think I may have done it once, but I am probably making that up. I spent literally HOURS trying before contacting Patty and hours after her reply! Sigh.......
    Fox : (

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  3. PS - Hope your mom is doing okay! See, the tatting really takes over!
    Fox : )

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  4. P.S. - and I hope your Mom is doing great and able to enjoy some tea too.

    I didn't get the word verification on my first comment - did you get it?

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  5. OK, that LHPJ is something I should learn too -your heart looks really nice and neat. I have that 'consistency' issue too. I love that Falling Leaves thread - very pretty colors!

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  6. Thanks, Krystle, it does look good in those awkward places.

    Good luck on the join, Fox. Patty D is great with explanations, using words to describe hard-to-describe concepts. And, yes, Mother is doing better.

    That join is great when it works, Cindy. Definately give it a try. Thanks about the heart - I like the look of the thread, too, though it really doesn't really look that pinkish in normal light. My mom is doing better. She was glad to get home to sleep in her own bed!

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  7. That is another lovely heart! How could I miss all these fabulous posts??? What is up with that? LOL!

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