More Tatting I Found in a Drawer

 I mentioned last week I found several tatted things in a draw. It is a drawer where I put miscellaneous tatted items I make, either to put away for later, or because I'm done with them and I don't know what else to do with them. Sometimes I put tatting in the drawer just to get it out of the way when I 'clean house'.  Most of the time I forget to go back to the drawer except to put more in it. When I do check it, it's kind of like Christmas, I'm never sure what I will find. 

This piece looks like I was trying something, then didn't know what to do next. At least, I'm pretty sure this was me playing around.  

Found small doily

I've been think I should add on to this a bit. If I do, I'll try a different color thread. That way I don't have to try and match this thread, or worry about any aging related discoloration with the old thread not matching the new. 

Way back in the early eighties in my part of Kansas, I had a hard time finding colorful thread to tat with. I could find white, ecru, and maybe, black, though not all were conducive to tatting. I could find DMC size 8 in quite a few colors. This is a very soft thread, and splits easily if you try and fix any mistake. But they were in COLOR! I did quite a bit of tatting in these before I discovered other threads.

DMC color chart

I made this helpful little card to keep track of the colors. Later it came in handy when I found DMC Cordonnet Special, back when you could find them in an assortment of colors. There was a store in Wichita, Kansas, that had most of the colors in sizes 10 and 30. It was wonderful! It even had a section of tatting patterns - whoa! What made DMC threads even more wonderful, you could match the Condonnet with their embroidery floss. My sister and I made several projects together with her embroidery and my tatting using DMC threads. 

You can still find DMC size 8 and size 5 in lots of colors, but I don't tat in it any more. There are much better threads out there that I have access to now. It is sad that you can only get the Cordonnet in neutral colors now. At least that's how it is around here.

Easter is just around the corner. I am doing a little tatting for the season, but not as much as I might have. The last week I've been spending a lot of time in hospital rooms with my mother. She is getting better, but still not home. I've only been taking small things to tat, that I don't have to worry about losing or making mistakes. 

The weather has been unseasonably warm almost all winter. Now we're going from hot to cold, cool to warm, up and down. The flowers and animals are somewhat confused, and allergies are here with a vengeance. Enjoy the outdoors, but be prepare for changes in the weather and pollen.

What are you making this spring?

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine."  Anthony J. D'Angelo

Color of the day is Lavender

I decided to make myself a lanyard for Tat Days.  It should be in a color that looks good with shirts I may be taking with me.  It’s amazing how that one requirement limits color choices for me.  I have a lot of thread, most of which are colors that I like – who wants to tat with colors they don’t like?? – but inevitably a lot of my clothes are those colors, too.  But not always the same shade.

With much comparing and mind changing I finally settled on DMC Cebelia Lavender.  For some reason I’ve had a ball of this in size 10 for quite some time.  A lanyard made of size 10 would tat up fast and be quite durable.   So far, so good.

In the beginning, I planned to make Patti Duff’s Beaded Lanyard (you can find it on Craftree).  I got a bit ahead of myself while trying to find beads that would work with the thread. I started playing without having Patti’s pattern printed.

Hatband instead of lanyard

I went for a while before admitting I didn’t like the looks of my efforts for the lanyard.  Not one to throw tatting out just because it didn’t turn out as expected, I put it on my hat as a hatband.  I like it better as a hatband than as a lanyard.

I started again, and again I was impatient.  This time I didn’t want to string the beads.  The black beads weren’t the right size anyway.  With no pattern but an idea, I started once more, this time without beads as well.   I know I’ve seen something akin to this out there on the Internet but I made it without referring to a pattern.

Lanyard in DMC Cebelia size 10 Lavender

I like it this version much better.  It went fast and was easy to do while a passenger in the car.  I did get a bit carried away – it’s a bit long.  Oh, well!  Better than too short.  I added a couple of clips to the ends that can be clipped together or to a name tag or some such.  Done!

Tatted hatband and lanyard in DMC Cebelia Lavender size 10

I’m ecstatic about going to Tat Days.  I’m counting down the days!  I keep checking the Palmetto Tatters Guild page for updates.   I’m planning what clothes to pack and what to wear.  I’ve traveled before but not anywhere like this, not with tatting as the destination.  **happy dance**  Anyone else getting excited about going?

“Over prepare, then go with the flow” – found in a fortune cookie

Doily with an Antique Motif

I mentioned last week that I have been working on a doily based on an old pattern. I'm finally done! There was a lot of mind changing and retro tatting due to mistakes as well, but finally, finally it's done! I'm calling this #12 in my 25 Motif Challenge - I did make 13 of the medallions for it!
This doily is 8 x 8 inches (about 20 cm) made with DMC Cebelia size 30 in ecru. The large medallion is a pattern from Priscilla Tatting Book No. 1, copyright 1909. The way patterns were written back then makes it a lot harder for me to decipher than the way many patterns are written today, so at first I just used the picture as a pattern, then I read through the written text. And, yes, this pattern uses two shuttles ("For convenience' sake call one shuttle A and the other B" page 5, Pris. Tatting Book No. 1). I didn't follow it quite like it was written as I climbed out of the center by a picot and went on to the next round without a cut and tie and used size 30 thread instead of the specified size 50. As this medallion has long picots and I was going to be making quite a few of them I made myself a set of picot gauges from a plastic lid, which helped a lot after I got used to using them.

Another way I didn't follow the pattern was not using the size 150 thread to go around each of the medallions. According to the pattern you should make all your medallions and go around each of them with the small thread, not joining them to each other yet. You then place them all on a piece of material in the order you want them, THEN you stitch them together. You also use 'simple rings' (which are the same as the center of the medallions) between the medallions, which you stitch in at this time, too. Okay, I wanted an old fashioned looking doily, but I didn't really want to go to all this trouble. So I did it my way, joining them together as I went, and the simple rings became small medallions made of the center two rounds of the big medallion, just with slightly shorter picots, to fit in the spaces between medallions. The outside rounds of the doily were not part of the 1909 pattern at all, they are something I came up with. Both rounds were started and restarted several times. I'm still not real sure about them, but for the moment I'll leave it like this. The question is, did I succeed in making an old fashioned looking doily?

It's funny, I thought I did a pretty good job of blocking this - twice - but looking at the picture now I see where I didn't do as good a job as I thought. I made this with the Cebelia thread because I have several balls of it as I used to tat with it a lot. After tatting with Lizbeth and Manuela threads this seems to be soft and fuzzy. I know that when I was retro tatting I had more trouble doing it without messing up the thread that I've become used to lately.

I was inspired to make an old fashioned-looking doily by the Ice Palace Bed and Breakfast that we stayed at while in Leadville, Co. According to the owner, the B & B was built using some of the lumber from the original Ice Palace, which was built in Leadville in 1895. The B & B is furnished with a lot of period pieces and I enjoyed the Victorian look of the whole house. On the way home I got to thinking about a doily that would fit into that decor. So when I got home I started looking through my vintage pattern books as well as on-line, including the Knots pattern page, which has a lot of vintage patterns. I chose the one I did for several reasons: 1) I liked the look (obviously) and 2) the picture was good enough that if I couldn't figure out the written text I was pretty sure I could figure it out with just the picture. As I mentioned, I did a little of both. I actually have an idea for another doily using the same medallion. Except that I have a couple of other pieces that I need to do first, I'd already be working on it!

For today's Tatting Tea Tuesday I displayed part of a miniature tea set I had as a little girl on the doily. I think it adds a little bit to the old-fashioned flavor of the doily. The shuttle is a wooden one from The Shuttle Shop my husband bought me. And to really set the mood, I'm enjoying a little mint tea with my tatting today, another old-fashioned flavor.

Thinking on the age of things, I looked back at my old posts and realized that I will have been blogging for two years in a couple of weeks, which got me thinking of having a giveaway. If anyone is interested please leave a comment on this post to be entered in the drawing. I'll announce the winner on October 26th in my Tatting Tea Tuesday post.

Now on to newer things: I did finally get my homework done for the Design-Tat class and I'm working on a bookmark for The Tatting Forums bookmark-a-month challenge. That's coming out a little different than planned (again!) but it has a nice fall look to it. I'm almost done and ran out of thread (!) and now have to add some, but it should be done soon.

I did say I would post the pattern for the previous bookmark/bracelet, so here it is. I've gone through it for errors but a few might still be lurking. (I'm so hoping that when I'm done with the Design-Tat class that I can diagram patterns!)

Vacation Bookmark/Bracelet Sept. 2010
p = picot += join RW = reverse work DNRW = do not reverse work
prev = previous CL = clover leaf
1 Shuttle and ball. If wanting chain color for center
ring of cloverleaf, 2 shuttles.
All picots on clover leaves are for joining only,
make as small as possible.
CL R 6-3-3. R 3+6-3-3-6-3. R 3+3-6. RW
*Ch 9-9. RW
CL R 6+ (to 2nd p of prev R)3-3.R 3+6-3-3-6-3.R 3+3-6. RW*
Repeat between * for desired length, then
Ch 9-12 RW
R 6+(to 2nd p of prev R) 6. R 6-6. RW
Ch 20 join to base of last two rings DNRW
Ch 12-9 RW
R 6+ (to p of prev R)3+(to 4th p of facing R) 3.
+ (to 3rd p of facing R. R 3+(to 2nd p of facing R)3-6.RW
*Ch 9-9. RW
R 6+ (to 2nd p of prev. R) 3+(to 4th p of facing R) 3.
+ (to 3rd p of facing R). R 3+(to 2nd p of facing R)3-6.RW*
Repeat between * for length, then
Ch 9-12 RW
R 6+(to 2nd p of prev R) 6. R 6+ (to 1st p of starting R)6. RW
Ch 20 join to base of prev two rings DNRW
Ch 12-9 Cut and tie, finish off the ends.
For bracelet:
Put the thread through the chain at one end before wrapping
it around your hand for a ring.
*R 15 ++ to toggle clasp 15. Cut and tie, finish off ends.*
Repeat for the other end.

Tatting Tea Tuesday with Sophie and giveaways

Who is Sophie, you ask? 'Sophie' is the pattern I chose to make for the InTatters October Tatting Challenge. This example of Sophie, here with my pink ribbon mug - for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month - is not my entry to the challenge. I made this with a thread that I like very much, thank you, but I was having trouble with my project, so made it first in this. It's DMC Perle Cotton, color 115, size 8.

Below is my entry for the challenge. It is made with Knit-Cro-Sheen size 10 in Deep Coral. The Challenge is to use a thread you don't like or don't use and I don't use this kind of thread any more. There are too many threads out there that are much nicer for tatting with (anyone heard of Lizbeth?). This thread is something I must have picked up some time ago. I don't know why I have this thread - it's not my color really - or why two balls of it. I must have had something in mind when I bought it but I have no idea what it was.

The problem I was having was actually with the pattern. It's by Lyn Morton of Tatting & Design, which I found a link to in the pattern library on InTatters. The problem? It's written in long form with lots of words. I found it a little hard to follow. Of course, if anyone has noticed, I make a lot of things with my own patterns, which means I just have to figure out what I meant and not what someone else might mean.

So I took a few minutes and wrote it out in shorter form then made it with a thread I like working with so I could concentrate more on the pattern than the thread. I thought it came out great! (I won't mention that I forgot the last chain of 10 ds - good thing I cut my tails long - but I didn't mention it, shhh!)

I have no idea what I'll do with these, but they came out looking pretty good, even the one in Coral.

Did everyone see that LadyShuttleMaker is having a giveaway? If you haven't seen it yet, or haven't posted a comment yet this week check her blog out here.

And Wickedtats is also having a giveaway! Check out her blog here.

Good luck to everyone in the giveaways. I think they're contagious, because I'll be having one this month, too! Check back for more details.

More Bookmarks

I'm still working on bookmarks. I've made several for the InTatters bookmark exchange, looking for just the right one for my exchange partner.

I like this one but it's kinda dark. It's made with DMC Pearle Cotton size 8 in color #115. The pattern is mine from several years ago. The top tassel is new. I just wasn't happy enough with it to want to send it for the exchange.

So I tried another one.

This blue bookmark is new, something I came up with in my search for the perfect bookmark. It is also made with DMC Pearle Cotton size 8 in a variegated blue. I really like this one but I messed up on the tassel and it has a kink in it. Aggravation!

But my daughter really likes it so I gave it to her. I'm definitely going to do this one again.

I'm working on what I hope to be the bookmark I'm going to send to Australia to my exchange partner. So far, so good. Which ever one I end up choosing I'll post after she receives it.

Things are finally settling down on the home front with the family but my husband and I were informed at work to not expect any weekends off until August!!!! We may get Memorial Day off, not sure of the weekend, but 4th of July is in question.

I'm glad I have a job but I'd also like a life! It is going to be a long summer.

Picking up the shuttle again

I've finally picked up my shuttle again after a few weeks of recouping from being very busy.

This is just something I was doodling with, nothing really planned. The threads are all size 30 DMC, in pink green and blue. I had shuttles already wound with these colors, so that's what colors I used. It just kinda grew by itself without a lot of conscious thought on my part. The only part I really gave much time to was the interweaving of the pink and green rows. It kinda works.

Starting Monday I finally go back to regular hours at work, so maybe I'll finally get back to my regular schedule. And then maybe I'll have more energy for tatting!