Yippee! the Newsletter is done

I'm so excited to finally have this newsletter published. This edition has a lot of items I've been wanting to try for a while now. I decided that as a wee, "thinking of you" gift, that I wanted to make something for my sister in law. She wears a lot of yellow so I thought a yellow rose motif would be nice. I used the Coats machine embroidery thread in yellow with a matching variegated yellow/orange/brown for the outer border. I really like how this turned out, but it was hard doing all of the shuttle joins with this thread as it's not as strong as tatting thread and it's so fine I had to use a #14 hook to do the joins.

Then I did up a quick drawing to experiment with making a tatted angel. I didn't want wings that went straight out so I tried for a more uplifted version.

It looks OK but the bottom is too straight and although it can all be done in one piece from beginning to end I thought I'd try another variation. The first inner bit with the large rings was too small so I added another row and zigzagged back with a second row. At that point I ran out of thread on the shuttle and got side tracked from what I had originally intended. Usually if I'm tatting something for the newsletter and it isn't quite right I already have an idea of what I want to do to fix it. I just re-load the shuttles and start again, maybe from a different point or with a different technique. I set this one aside thinking it was done except for the bit I had to finish where I ran out of thread.

Whatever I was thinking of, when I went back to finish it off for the newsletter, I realized that there was no way this design could be worked in one pass. Sometimes a project just has to be done in pieces and I can deal with that, but I don't like designs that could be worked in one go if they were designed better. I tatted a bootie pattern once that had 5 or six little pieces and it drove me nuts so I really try to avoid piecemeal designs if I can. So for this angel I had to start over.

Here's the new version that's tatted all in one piece. The wings look more like wings ad less like arms. The skirt isn't a straight line across the bottom and the use of smaller rings gives it more all over shape.

One of the other things I wanted to try was making a beaded ball. I wanted some droopy bits along the bottom and some different sizes of beads for some texture. When I went through my stash of materials the only kind of bead I had with a hole at one end that would let it hang was an iridescent blue/purple/black bead that had matching seed beads. Not exactly my first choice, but then a friend of mine told me that black was the "in" Christmas colour this year and she's done her whole tree in black and gold. So I thought why not and started tatting my beaded ball. The first couple of rows went quickly but then I had to stop and think of a beading arrangement that would accent what I had already done and use the beads I had on hand. Several attempts were discarded because they called for more beads that I had and since I couldn't remember where I had picked up the iridescent beads I had some additional limitations to deal with.

I put the beaded ball aside to handle some more pressing issues and when I can back to it I decided to go with something simple. Some heavily beaded double picots finished this one off nicely. The colour of the beads just doesn't show up in the pictures and after several tries with different background colours, I just gave up trying to get a good image.

The piece that I'm really excited about is this one. I tried to tat it a couple of different ways, before I hit on this design, but I'm tickled pink with the results. Tatted Ice Skates. Aren't they adorable? My physiotherapist asked if I made them for sale. Her daughter has taken up skating and I think she'd love to have the skates for her. My initial reaction was "no way" but since I had to sit down and tat another skate to make sure I had the instructions right, I just might do her a pair. It's one of those things where you have to do it in pieces because you need 2 of them.

By the way, for anyone who doesn't already subscribe to the newsletter, it's published quarterly and has 4-5 designs in each issue. Usually there is one larger item and several smaller items although sometimes there are just a bunch of medium size projects like this one. The newsletter is published in PDF format and is sent out by email. The cost is $21 Canadian and can be purchased through PayPal. That means that you can order it and have it in time for Christmas even if you order it on Christmas day. Here's the link to the order form if you want it. And here is the link to the main page

Now that all this is done I can get back to other things like updating the 25 Motif Challenge. I know there is a lot of tatting going on that I haven't blogged about, but I have been busy.

Five years of creating newsletters

I have been doing the Tatted Lace Pattern Collection for that last 5 years. I've designed snowflakes, doilies, necklaces earrings, edgings, motives and a lot of 3D stuff like flowers, snowflakes, and Christmas angels. Here's a review of the designs from the past year:

There were 2 doilies, a snowflake, 2 pairs of earrings, a heart frame, 2 bookmarks, 3 3D flower designs, a motif turned into a V-neck collar, a chatelaine, an amulet bag, 2 edgings, a necklace, and a snowman family.

I can see my tatting progress each year because it's all recorded in the newsletter. I know how much I tatted, what kinds of things I've made and relatively how long they took. I know that none of them took more than 3 months because every 3 months there's another newsletter. I don't look back over the year and think, "What did I make this year?", I know what I made because it's all recorded in the newsletter. At least, most of it is. I tat more than what is represented here but this is a big chunk of it.

One of the benefits of the 25 Motif Challenge is that it give people an opportunity to keep a record of their own progress. A lot of people when they started out, didn't think that they could tat 25 motives in a year. Maybe for beginners it is a bit of a stretch, but piece by piece your skill and your speed improve and suddenly you realize that you are doing it, you are accomplishing that impossible goal of 25 Motives.

Over the last 5 years I have designed and executed an average of 19 patterns per Volume. It started out as a black and white publication that was mailed out 4 times a year. Now it is a colour publication emailed out 4 times a year. The subscription price when I started was $20 Canadian and 5 years later it's still $20 Canadian.

If you are interested in ordering the newsletter, or if you are interested in past volumes, click here for the order form. If you want past volumes, please specify. The pictures for the projects in each volume can be seen here.

Volume 1 Edition 1, Edition 2, Edition 3, Edition 4

Volume 2 Edition 1, Edition 2, Edition 3, Edition 4

Volume 3 Edition 1, Edition 2, Edition 3, Edition 4

Volume 4 Edition 1, Edition 2, Edition 3, Edition 4

Presenting...

The Snowman Family

Tatting for the Christmas season.

Teaser

Thankfully the car door didn't do any damage to my hand. Rob's first word after finding out that my hand still moved was to ask if I'd be able to tat. It's good to see we have our priorities straight :-) So I am still tatting. Here's another wee peek at a bit of something going into the newsletter.


I know the picture is blurry, it's from the web cam and I'm too busy to go get the digital camera, but you won't guess what it is anyway.

More Threads

I had a "fun" time yesterday. Hubby was diagnosed with Menieres and made a scheduled visit to the hospital for a check up. He way too dizzy to drive, (I don't drive) so we took a taxi. While waiting for the interminable tests to be done I had an opportunity to talk to a lady whose friend did lace of some sort, but she didn't know what kind. Then an older gentleman who had been watching us throughout our discussion walked over and introduced himself saying his wife was a tatter. It turns out his wife is Joyce Harper and I was in a round robin with her several years ago. We had a nice little chat before hubby and I had to change rooms for yet another test. I took my big craft bag full of a change of clothes for hubby and I and all my tatting supplies, but got very little tatting time in.

After we were done we called a cab to go home. When the cab came it was a van and hubby opened the door for me to get in. My bag got stuck of the armrest and I put my hand on the outside of the van to keep my balance while I twisted around to untangle an pull my bag in. Meanwhile the driver, finally figuring that he ought to do something other than sitting like a bump on a log decided to get out of the van. He opened the door which pushed my hand off the door and as I used my left hand to brace myself to pull all the stuff over my left shoulder my fingers went around the frame between the front and back door and the driver slammed the door shut. All four fingers inside. OUCH! After we got home I made a quick trip to the doctor's for x-rays. Nothing broken, just swollen and the important thing is, I can still tat.

You would think from the amount of blogging that I get done that I don't do anything. I'm actually online and blogging quite a bit, just not here. Most of my time is spent in the 25 Motif Challenge blog keeping it up to date. In between I try to keep on top of designing new things for the Tatted Lace Pattern Collection which I publish. I'm behind with getting it out, but in my defense I did manage to get the challenge kicked off for another year. At least I think I have, I'm still trying to get a couple of things going. Before I made any changes I wanted to write to the affected participants so they knew what was happening. It was an extra step and more work, but one I thought was necessary.

I'm still working on the goodies for the newsletter and part of the delay is that I wanted to add a few more flowers made with different threads to the bunch already pictured. I can't get the newsletter done until I can take these off my blocking board. So here is the same picture with a few more added at the bottom.

Manuela is a nice crisp 6 cord thread that's nice to work with that's a little less shiny that the Olympus, but shinier that the Flora. That means that in my opinion, the Olympus slides easier and the Flora less easy and the Manuela is right in the middle. They are all nice threads to work with, but if you are making a doily or any larger project, Manuela comes in a 50 gram ball, Flora in a 25 gram ball and Olympus in a 10 gram ball. That means that for an average size doily, (12 inches across) you could use 1 ball of Manuela, 2 balls of Flora or 5 balls of Olympus. I'm just throwing this information out there so that a beginner has some useful information on purchasing threads.

DMC Cebelia size 30 is a 3 strand thread slick, shiny and soft. Its a nice thread to work with that slides easily Cebelia and Coats Opera are comparable threads. they are both 3 strand soft threads that are nice to work with. The don't take well to a lot of retro tatting.

Coats Royale size 20 is another 3 strand soft thread much like Cebelia and Opera. It works up to the same size as the Flora size 20. and comes in large balls but only in white (and ecru?).

The last thread on the board is a Coats Button Craft thread Dual Duty Plus. It's a glace thread with lots of body and although there isn't a size on the spool it works up about the same size as the DMC Cebelia 30 or the Altin Basak 50.

And now that I've shown you all these threads I can pull the flowers off my blocking board and use them!

Chatelaine

Someone asked me if I had a pattern for a chatelaine and I didn't at the time. Traditionally a chatelaine would hold the keys to all of the valuables in the house and it would be worn either around the neck or on a belt at the waist.

I don't like the idea of something hanging around my neck, so I wanted a design that could be hung from a belt or a belt loop. I was also thinking that if you are sitting and tatting (not many of us stand to tat) that something at the waist would be closer to your work anyway.

I figured that if I was making a tatted chatelaine, it would probably be for a tatter to use. I suppose different fibre arts would use different tools, but I only included those things that I use all the time. I have a pair of scissors, a fine crochet hook and several needles for hiding ends. My scissors are the folding variety and quite heavy, so I wanted the tatting to be strong enough to hold the weight and not break.

I needed a base medallion to attach the various "ends" to so I came up with the idea of tatting onto a plastic curtain ring and attaching a spring clip like the kind on a dog leash, to the plastic ring. That way most of the weight is on the plastic ring, not the lace. The spring clip attaches easily to a belt loop or can be slid over a belt. I also wanted the design to be flexible enough that it would be easy to add more ends for more tools, like picot gauges or magnifying glasses, or whatever else people might need. The simplest way to attach these tools was a jump ring and lobster claw clasp. The lobster claw allows you to remove the tools when necessary.

One of the tools I use the most and always have to go look for, is a needle to hide my ends. I use several different needles, depending on the size of thread I am working with at the time. If I'm using size 80 thread I want a very fine needle that will let me hide the ends without pulling the tatting out of shape. Very fine needles don't have an eye big enough for threading size 10 thread into, so I need a larger needle for that. I want to be able to carry the needles around with me and not get stuck with them. My solution was to use a piece of felt the same colour as the tatting. The end with the felt sewn onto it folds up and secures with an invisible dome fastener. The needles are slid into the felt and the felt is folded over and snapped closed. Even tatting needles could be secured this way.

I did a sketch using beads and the sketch kind of reminded me of a flower with a light colour in the centre a darker colour outside and then green on the chains. Unfortunately I didn't have enough beads of the right colours to do the whole thing, so I made the one pictured without beads. I did the sample at right with beads to see what it would look like. I like the idea of beads on it and I may do another at some time with beads.

I don't didn't use a chatelaine until I was making the little beaded black amulet bag shown in a previous post. Every few stitches I needed to use a fine hook to make a bead join. I had a very fine size 16 hook and I lost it. Since I had just made the chatelaine it seemed like a very good idea to attach it to something big enough that it wouldn't get lost again. I asked Rob to cut it off at the flat bit and drill a hole in the end. Now it's on my new chatelaine and I'm not likely to lose it again. (just in case I bought 2 anyway LOL) When I started the amulet bag I used the chatelaine continually as I alternated using needles to thread on beads and the hook to make bead joins. Now it has become a standard part of my tatting stuff. I know that if I grab my shuttles thread and the chatelaine I'll have everything I need to work on any of my projects.

The pattern for this design is in the latest Tatted Lace Pattern Collection newsletter.

More FPs than WIPs

This little amulet bag is one of the designs from the latest TLPC newsletter. It was such a stinker to do mostly because I was working in black thread, doing split rings and adding in beads. I have no idea what someone would use one of these little bags for, but a while ago someone said they were interested in a pattern for one, so I designed one.

Actually, the bag itself wasn't that hard to do except for the first bottom row where the front and and back are joined together. The first time around I tatted all 4 rings of the first pattern repeat and then I couldn't climb up into the next row. The black thread was hard to see and doing the bead joins with a teeny tiny hook, I kept splitting the thread and having to carefully untangle it without shredding the thread.

I created it with a fold over closure and to keep it closed I added a see through dome fastener which doesn't show up in the picture. The pointed section could be omitted and it would just have an open top.

The fringe was added at the end. I simply took a long length of the thread, strung on the blue beads, added one black bead at the end and then ran the needle back through the beads. I played around with doing a design in the fringe and after drawing up a few possibilities I scrapped them all and went for simple.

I make an effort to create new and different things for the newsletter. Several people have said they really like doilies so I design some doilies, but other people have said they don't care for doilies at all so it becomes a challenge to come up with new interesting and different things for each issue. A number of people in the 25 Motif Challenge decided to join the challenge just to see if they could tat that many items in a year. Doing the newsletter, I know what I do each year as many of the articles find their way into the newsletter.

Some of the things I create are intended to be gifts, but other things, like the amulet bag I have no use for, they were created solely because it was a pattern someone requested. They go into my stash of completed items and when I find an appropriate person to gift it to, it's gone. Consequently I'm getting quite a collection of Finished Projects rather than Works in Progress. The only WIPs I have are the ones I am currently working on and as soon as a WIP becomes a FP I start another one.

By the way, if anyone has ideas for patterns they'd like created, let me know. As soon as my current WIP is done I need another idea!

Tatted Lace Pattern Collection for May is out

I finally got the May TLPC newsletter out, which means my work is done and now I can play. The 2 designs already shown are a hatband for a sun hat and some flowers to spiff it up. I bought the hat last year and didn't get around to doing anything with it. Here's the hat with the tatting attached. Unfortunately it was really hot out when hubby and I were doing this so we didn't stop to take another shot of it with the flowers in the sun. There's a different picture on the web page but you get the idea anyway.

Another Tease

This is another pattern that will be going into the newsletter. I initially did it in white but I thinl the variegated will look better. You can see the finished piece in the newsletter when it's up later on. The link to the newsletter is on the sidebar. I have some more diagrams to finish and some ends to sew in, pieces to block and photographs to take before I can get this baby put together and sent out.

Then I get to start all over again!

Dusty

This is me at the computer, can you tell? The face in the way is Dusty and like all pets she thinks she's human.

I've been tatting until my wrists are sore, but nothing much to show until it's done. I just decided today that I'm going to leave the square motif as it is, or at least if I do a finishing edge it will be something simple that can be worked up quickly. I'm coming up on my self imposed newsletter deadline and I need to publish rather than complete so things aren't going to look as spectacular as I'd hoped.

I posted about it previously under "Square Play". So do I cut off what I've done, or only cut out the offending part of 3 rows of tatting and piece in 3 alternate rows in 4 places. Let's see, that would mean for each cut out section, 2 ends at the beginning and 2 ends at the end of the old thread (4), 2 new ends of the new thread added in (2), for 3 rows (6x3=18) and there are 4 sections that need to be cut out (18x4=72) Do I want to hide 72 ends or just start from scratch? Which do you think would be faster? Re-design and re-tat 3 rows around a 5.5 inch square base, or re-design re-tat 4 sections and hide 72 ends. Hmmm, think I'll cut it off and start over as that's sure to be faster, especially since one of my other projects was done in size 10 thread and already has a bzillion ends to hide.

One is not enough

Motif, that is, especially when they are square. Designing a motif is fun because no matter what you thought you were making, sometimes the design just takes on a life of it's own and tells you what it wants to be.



I used to do a lot of crochet until tatting became my passion obsession and you can't do much crochet without being infected by the need to do granny squares, which will lead to all kinds of square things being done. Squares make afghans and tablecloths. Squares make vests and slippers. Squares make bags and...you get the idea. Squares are nifty things.


One of the really interesting things about squares, or any motif really is that they are pretty on their own or in groups. Like this one I designed a few years ago for the newsletter which you can see here
(By the way you can see all of the previous issues in the archives by just changing the Volume and Issue number at the end. So vol-1-4 here is changed to vol-3-1 or whatever volume you want to see. http://www.gagechek.com/slb/news/vol-1-4/ )

I think this one might be my favorite design. It's just pretty as it is. I did it in size 20 Opera thread. Which is about the same size as size 40 Olympus and a smidgen finer than size 20 Flora and it came out about 3 inches across or about coaster size.


But look at this.


That lovely little border edging around the rose becomes this gorgeous dainty lattice work.
Look at the intersecting corner. Isn't that just too cute for words? I love motif designs that work so well as a whole cloth that you have trouble telling whether the centre of the motif is the centre or the corner. This one is obvious, of course because of the coloured flower in the centre.
That's the trouble with a motif. One is never enough. you have to work enough of them to see what the intersecting corner is going to look like. Sometimes the intersection is better than the motif.

Just think of all of those old granny square designs that you could turn into elegant pieces by doing tatted squares.

One really isn't enough. I have received numerous e-mails from people asking for the pattern and many of them already have it. This motif was featured in the August 2003 newsletter but due to lack of space the cover page only shows a single motif. Often the true beauty of a motif doesn't show itself until it's part of a bigger whole. Then some of them truly are greater than the sum of their parts.

What was I thinking?

I tatted this cross and I swear that the colours on the thread spools looked good together. Here in it's pre-blocked glory it doesn't look too bad. Maybe it was the lighting in the room at the time but my orange rose looked good with the yellow and variegated threads, but now that it's done, I don't think I like it. I wanted to slip this one in with the card for my sister's birthday, but I think I'll have to re-do it. I could cut the orange out and re-tat the centre, or drop the whole thing in a cup of tea and see it that mellows things out, or.....Or maybe I should just chuck it.

The pattern is a simple one from my latest newsletter which you can access by clicking on the link at the right. Shall I call it a motif, just so that the work isn't a total waste?

For those who have asked, the cross from the previous post was in my Tatted Crosses book which is available from my website.

Tatting, what else?

Here's a picture of the shamrock bookmark I did for the newsletter. It isn't anything really special, but certainly appropriate for anyone you know who's Irish. It could be longer, but I started off thinking 5 repeats would be about right and only loaded that amount of thread onto my shuttle. About the time I thought it could do with being longer, I ran out of thread and just quit. I think it's kind of cute, others may disagree, but they're welcome to just move along and read another blog with something they do like

I've been doing a lot of tatting, but nothing to show yet. I'm working on a beaded design and for the zillionth time missed my lost crochet hook. I bought a #14 (.6mm) hook for doing bead joins. That sucker had such a sharp point it went through anything I stored it in, jeans, purse, sewing kit, you name it. I suspect that poking a hole through whatever I was carrying it in was how I lost it. Trying to find a replacement was a challenge as most stores only carry common sizes. You'll never guess where I found one, it was in the local dollar store, which means I not only found one, it was cheap to boot. (Note to self get back to the store and get another one before they're all gone.

Now that I have another teeny tiny hook I can get back to my beaded design and I don't mind that I need to start all over again because I have a hook now!

Yippee the Newsletter's out!

The February newsletter is finally out. I know it's March, but I almost made it for February, in spite of spending part of each day this last month soaking up water from soggy carpets and consequently doing a ton of laundry. I 'm getting closer to my target date with each issue so I'm a happy camper.

Remember that mess I showed you earlier, where my left side didn't match my right side and I had to cut it out several times to get it right?

Take a look at it now.

I not only designed a motif for the challenge, I tatted 9 of them, added a border and attached it to a T-shirt. Here's a shirt with some WOW factor.

Here's a close up of the motif. I knew it was going to be added to a garment and I didn't want to spend ages blocking it every time it was washed, so there are very few free picots. In fact there are just a few in strategic places so that the motives can be tacked down so they stay in place during laundering.

Designing the motif was the easy part, matching the border to it filling in the gaps between the points of the motives and making a wide enough straight edge to it that it covers up the band around the neck V was a bit more of a challenge. Which is why I had a lot of messes before I had something useful.

I am pleased with the way it turned out, especially since the border fits around the V-neck but it is actually a 90 degree turn so that it could be added to the edge of a hanky, used as a border on a shawl, mat, tablecloth or whatever you have that needs a square corner. I used a Coats thread size 30 for this one but you could use any size thread you want and just add or subtract motives to lengthen or shorten the border to fit the fabric.

Splish, Splash

Drip, drip, drip. It's the sound of snow melting in the sunshine, but why is it coming from the computer desk? And why is there that splashing sound coming from the bedroom? I'll tell you why, it's another ice dam on the roof.

Third time this year we have water leaking in, as the water from the melting snow expands as it freezes and gets forced up, the roof and under the shingles, then melts again and seeps down through every crevice it can find. Dripping water in the closet with all my tatting supplies, fortunately they're in a large plastic tub. Seeping water coming off the garage roof is once again soaking into the bedroom carpet and our latest incursion is leaking around the windows in the computer room and down onto the desk/scanner/printer/power supply battery back up and in the spare room dripping down onto the bed soaking the mattress.

If you've been wondering why there's been no blog lately, it's because I've been busy trying to dry everything out.

Just to show you what I've been up to when I haven't been doing laundry and mopping floors. Here's one of the items in the next newsletter, a hyacinth, just in time for spring.

Back to Blogging

I suppose it's typical of the season that people are busy doing lots of seasonal activities and consequently we don't have a lot of time for blogging. I've managed to keep the 25 motif challenge blog reasonably up to date and at long last the November newsletter has been sent out. That's right, here it is in the middle of December and I've only just sent out the newsletter. I usually put lots of Christmas-y patterns in the November newsletter, but I realize that a lot of people like the Christmas theme designs earlier so that they can actually tat them as Christmas gifts. Consequently some of the designs were in the August issue.

Here's a picture of the snowflake I sent out this year with my Christmas cards. Does it remind you of anything? It should, it's another variation of the same snowflake. More stitches on the inner rings and the chains, extra little rings in between the chains and some beads added in, but still the same general idea. Since my last posting I've done over a dozen of these flakes as well as re-tatting the pink doily and various other small snowflakes and earrings. The pattern for these are in the newsletter and those of you who subscribe to it will find it in your in-box.

Now, I'm going to take my aching thumbs and give them a rest, right after I update the challenge page.