Holidays Are Coming

At this time of the year, it seems to me that the holidays are coming very fast. It doesn’t help that stores don’t seem to know what holiday it is. You can find Halloween, Thanksgiving (if you’re lucky), and Christmas goods at the same time in any given store right now. As a crafter, that’s good, so you can get started on your holiday gifts and decorations if you haven’t already. But right now I’m having trouble deciding which holiday I want to work on! They are all so enticing! This is also a time of a lot of seasonal activities.

We celebrated Reformation Day this previous Sunday. The actual day is October 31, which doesn’t fall on a Sunday this year. All Saints’ Day is November 1, which we celebrate this coming Sunday. I took my framed Luther’s Rose to services this past Sunday and had a lot of people stop to look and read it. That made me happy.

Holding my framed Luther’s Rose below the banner.

Last Friday I attended Bingo at the Legion with my sister and niece. It was Halloween-themed, so people were encouraged to dress up. My niece went all out. (She also calls the games) I just wore what I had decorated for Palmetto‘s Tat Days a few years ago. I wasn’t a specific person, but I dressed up.

Dressed up for Bingo

Last week we attended the school play our grandson was in, ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ where he was Ichabod Crane. All the cast and crew did a great job, but he was outstanding, even if I say so myself. (☺) He is also the Costume Designer. It wasn’t put on for Halloween per se, just their fall production, but the timing and theme made it so.

Grandson as Ichabod Crane

I can’t say that I am crafting much for Thanksgiving, but I have already got a great start on Christmas. Besides tatted snowflakes and angels, I’m doing wine cork angels. I saw this idea online but added tatting to my version.

Wine cork angel

I got carried away with making wings. I have done three or four different versions so far. I think I’m going to stay with this version as it is the right size, doesn’t take much time, and is a one-pass pattern. I have a jar of various wine corks that we have collected over time. I might as well put them to good use!

I have another jar of corks from whiskey bottles we’ve collected. They are a bit shorter than wine corks so I made a different pattern for the wings to see how they would do as angels. What do you think?

Whiskey cork angel

This pattern is also one pass, meaning a lot less hiding ends. I am debating about adding closed eyes to the angels but leaving the rest of the face blank. I do not have a steady hand and do not want to mess up the faces! Do they need something for the faces?

I’m glad that my hobby does not have to be done outdoors. We’ve had record high temperatures here in the Midwest, USA and high winds. It doesn’t help that we are in a drought right now as well. Yesterday, it was so dusty and brown outside! You could also smell smoke from wildfires in Oklahoma. With this much wind and dry ground fires are easily started and hard to keep from spreading. Usually, I can see fields and a tree line way past what is seen here.

Blowing dust

My sister and I are planning to be at a craft show the first weekend of December. I’m hoping that the cork angels go over well. If they don’t, I guess I’ll have family ornaments done!

I’ve started on my holiday tatting, have you?

“Something strange happened long ago in a valley called “Sleepy Hollow.” “

Luther's Rose Pattern Done

It’s weeks later than what I had promised it would be, but the pattern for Luther’s Rose is done! I’m sharing today, before I’ve test-tatted it, because Reformation Day is celebrated this coming Sunday. I don’t believe it is a hard pattern to tat, so you may have time to do it before this Sunday. There are a lot of repeats, so once you get going it shouldn’t be too hard. It has taken me much longer to write out the pattern that it takes to tat it! I haven’t test tatted the entire thing yet, but I wanted to get it out there. Let me know if a problem gets you. (I updated the pattern to correct issues 11/01/2024)

Framed Luther’s Rose

I framed the Rose and added Luther’s description of it. This is an 8×10 frame, the Rose is 4 5/8″ (12 cm) across. I had to make the words of the description in 10 pt instead of 12 pt so it would fit in the space left. As I’m not giving this one away I can change that part later if I want.

I don’t remember the size of the original Rose that I made back in 2017. I think the frame I put that one in was slightly bigger, maybe 11×13 inches, so comparing them in the pictures isn’t really much help. I do like how this looks in the frame. I’m curious which one you like better, this one or the original.

I’ve also been tatting for Christmas already. Shocker, right? I usually don’t get started until December! I’ve been using shuttles that my husband, Jack, has made for me. I’m loving them! They are light and soooo smooth! I carry them with me in a mint tin so they don’t get damaged in my purse.

Christmas tatting, with shuttles by Jack

All of these are my patterns. The snowflakes are simple ones, almost doodles. There are a lot of snowflake patterns out there that may be similar, but I was only doing ones that came to me as I tatted. The little angel is ‘Small Angel’, which is found on My Patterns page. The larger angel is the first pattern I ever designed myself way back in the late eighties. This represents only a few of what I already have done, but I need quite a few more. But, hey, it’s still October, I might have time!

Miscellaneous Tatting and Update on Luther's Rose Pattern

I’ve done it again, haven’t I? It’s been several weeks since I last posted. It’s not that I don’t have things to post about, it’s just getting time and pictures to do it.

I’ll start with the Luther’s Rose pattern I promised. Do you know how much harder it is to diagram and write out a pattern than it is to just tat it? I’ve been working on it and it seems to keep getting longer and longer. I even took my computer with me on a trip just so I could work on this pattern. And it still isn’t done! It didn’t help that I had a bad attack of allergies while we were gone, making it hard to concentrate. Now that we are home again I’ve made a lot of progress but still have a bit to go. And I have not reviewed it to find mistakes! I have the cross, the heart, and the white rose parts diagrammed and, I think, tat-able. If anyone would like to get started on it to have it done by Reformation, and don’t mind taking a chance on the pattern, email me. (wandasknottythoughts (at) gmail.com) Update 10/24/2024: pattern can be found on the My Patters page.

We’ve been traveling quite a bit lately. My last post was right after we got back from Branson, Missouri. A week after we got home from there we went to Colorado to visit our daughter and take her dog back. They moved at the start of September and it was easier for us to keep her dog until they got into their house. After a month we took the dog to their new home and stayed a week with them. This is where I had the allergy attack. I am allergic to their male cat. I don’t have much trouble unless I pet him and then don’t wash my hands right away. The good news is that I had time to tat in the car on the drive, which is about nine hours each way, as well as the trip to and from Branson.

Bookmarks

My other daughter, who still lives close by, requested more bookmarks. These paperclip bookmarks are easy to do while riding in the car. I don’t have to try and keep track of where I am in a pattern, which is great. My daughter still wants more, but this was a great start.

I also started on snowflakes for Christmas while we were traveling. I’m not fond of tatting with white while not at home due to the chances of it getting dirty, but I did it anyway. I have plans for small snowflakes this year and need quite a few. I wasn’t following any patterns, just making easy ones.

On a more serious note, have you read Jane Eborall’s post of October 14, 2024, on her ‘Tatting and Not a Lot Else’ blog? She found several “tatting” books that are awful. I’ve been hearing about a lot of fakes out there that are possibly made with AI or people stealing other’s work. I highly recommend that you use caution when buying any new craft books of any kind.

Besides hoping to get the pattern finished, I hope to have pictures of some of the other tatting that I’ve been doing ready soon. And to post faster!

“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.” George Santayana