Wednesday, February 15, 2012

One year ago today...

One year ago today, I started tatting.  I had been thinking a lot about how meaningful my Grandmother's tatting was for us to receive.  I ran across a shuttle at the local craft store and bought it.  It took me a week or so before I actually picked it up and loaded that little clover shuttle with some size 10 thread and gave it a try...and the magical flip happened!  Now, my first little set of rings that I put on a shirt for my Rosie was a mess...and all second half of the DS to boot.  I didn't remember about the two parts of the DS until the next day (I truely believe that Grandma visited my dreams that night to remind me).  But, it was a start...and I haven't stopped since!  Here is that first attempt...





It was a little over a month later that I started my blog...but it seems appropriate that what I have to post today happens to be tatted from the same pattern as my first blog post.  This is, once again, Kersti Anear's Stumpy bookmark...tatted in that same Royal Ocean thread that I did one of the bookmarks in that first post in, though this time I was using up thread I had on my shuttles left over from an edging I did for the shirt for my Rosie that I posted on a couple of days ago here...




What is really interesting to me, that I hadn't noticed before, is that this and the Mary Konior Large Cross pattern use the exact same pattern and stitch counts.  I hadn't tatted one of the "Stumpy" bookmarks for several months though it remained one of my favorite patterns.  Now I know why the "Large Cross" pattern felt so familiar and comfortable.  Interesting how the same count and alignment of rings and chains appears frequently in different patterns.  Somewhere I have seen the same thing in a snowflake too...

I also finished the "Large Cross" I was working on, here it is...it needs a quick press before I send it off tomorrow and I have already started another with the pretty blue thead you can see...



These are two of my favorite patterns.  I tatted many of the Stumpy bookmarks over the first few months of my tatting.  Now a days, I generally have one of the Large Cross in progress, usually in my purse.  The small thread makes it so nicely portable, and it is a pattern that I can tat easily while listening to a speaker (I am one of those that listens better if my hands are occupied) or to fill a few minutes while waiting somewhere for something.

At any rate, I think I've come a long way in a year and I am excited to start my second year of tatting...it will be fun to see what the year brings, there is so much I want to learn this year and so many patterns I want to try!!!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Hearts for Valentine's Day...

I sincerely hope that each of you has had a pleasant Valentine's Day with your loved ones...I enjoyed the time I spent today with my daughters and husband.  It is nice to bring a smile and a little extra joy to the faces of those you love.

Here are two hearts that I completed recently...I wanted to try so many lovely heart patterns, but this was as far as time allowed!  There is still time though...so we'll see!!!  I do have Irene Woo's butterfly heart underway as well...though I ran short on thread on one shuttle and set it aside, adding more thread is something of a bother sometimes on a small motif, I really don't know why I do that to myself (not winding sufficient threat at the start).

The first of these is Heart's Desire by Susan K. Fuller...the pattern is available here and the second page here on Georgia Seitz's site, as well as a very wonderful diagram done by Frivole posted with Susan's permission available here



This is a lovely pattern, the heart's I have seen tatted from this all turn out beautifully...but the diagram done by Frivole certainly makes it easier to follow the written pattern!  I played with slightly larger picots than I have seen on others, I like the effect but would likely go with more standard size picots if I were to tat it again.  It was a bit difficult to keep them all the same size as I'm not used to making that size picot, I kept reverting to my usual size.  The thread is size 20 LizBeth in Victorian Red.

The second heart is called Tatted Heart and is from Handy Hands.  The pattern for it is available on their website here.



This is a fun and quick little heart to tat...but don't count things too carefully as there is an extra picot on one side of the clover, I was tatting while listening to a speaker and wasn't as careful as I might otherwise have been.  Didn't notice the extra picot until coming up that last side joining the 4th to last of the outer rings.  It still looks lovely as that is really only apparent to a tatter's eye.  This one also is done in LizBeth size 20, Victorian Red.

These motifs will also serve as #s 24 and 25 in my 25 motif challenge, and so I am have completed my 1st round...but, of course, I'll start a second round of the challenge as it does help to keep one tatting and it is fun to share and see what everyone else is tatting as well! 

May your evening and 'morrow be happy and spent with those you love and in doing what you love as I hope your Valentines Day was!!!


Those who touch our lives...

Tat-Land lost a special lady last evening...the lovely and talented Tatting Goddess, Gina Brummet, of Threads of a Tatting Goddess.  Though my contact with her was limited to a few comments on her blog and 8 treasured comments of hers on mine, I will miss her.  She touched my life for just a little while, but it was a kind and encouraging touch.  Her comments always meant a kind or encouraging word, I was delighted each time I saw her name. 

Gina also did a series of posts (Her last 25 motif challenge) on D.M.C. Tatting by Therese de Dillmont, which my Grandmother considered one of the best tatting resources she had seen (Grandma would have loved some of the books I now have in my possesion).  We had a photocopied version of this book that my mother attempted to try a few things from (tatting books being hard to find pre internet and relatively rare finds in rural Montana) around the house for years, it sat always on the edge of the piano...very treasured.  This made Gina's series very exciting and inspiring to me, and I followed her posts with great anticipation and pleasure over this (nearly complete) first year of my tatting. 

My lovely elder daughter also shares her name, I don't know that I ever mentioned that to Gina, but my Gina loved that the "Tatting Goddess" was also named Gina.

Some touch our lives for longer than others, but each person who touches our lives does so for a reason.  I am very greatful for the small bit that Gina played in my life, though she may not have known what an inspiration she was to this relatively new tatter.  I respected her greatly, treasured her input, and am saddened by her loss.  May she find peace in the here after, and all the time to tat and create beautiful works of lace that her heart might desire...



Monday, February 13, 2012

Playing with Konior's Large Cross...

Hi, My Name is Julie and I like to play with other people's patterns...I think it's an addiction and maybe should be added to the tatter's 12 step program!  Tatting itself is addictive, but creating something new from something existing or even just tweaking something a little to make it your own is even more addictive. 

Here is the latest Mary Konior "Large Cross" from Tatting with Visual Patterns that I have been working on...


Working on this one in a size 70 variagated lavendar/purple star thread # 139.  It's nearly done, needs to be done so it can be mailed off to reach the recipient by her birthday later this week...but I keep getting distracted...This is my latest deviation from the pattern...


I was tatting along on the cross and the thought occured to me that just one side would make a lovely edging...so modified it slightly, adding an extra picot on the chain, an extra stitch (to even out the numbers) and picot on the large single ring, as well as a picot on the middle ring of the clover. So...there you have it, an edging adapted from Mary Konior's "Large Cross."  It is different enought that I think I will count this one as #23 in my 25 motif challenge.



I have fun playing with tatting little bits of different edgings to grace these little shirts for my Rosie Posie...and she loves them.  I have learned that the size 10 thread seems to me to look nicest on the knit fabric and produces a suitable length of edging with only a small bit of time commitment.  This thread is size 10 Coats Royal Classic Crochet Thread (mercerized cotton) in Ocean.  It contains a number of my Rosie's favorite colors and she loves it. 

The edging is attached to the fabric by both the chain and ring picots, to prevent excessive curling when washed.  Since this is for a toddler, it has to be wash and wear...and I've found that attaching both sides of the edging helps it to stay prettier for longer.

I do realize a lot of tatters don't enjoy larger size threads, feeling that after tatting with smaller thread the larger feels like rope.  However, I don't mind them at all and readily switch between sizes.  I believe this may be because I crochet quite a bit with a variety of yarns and threads so the size difference doesn't seem to bother me at all...and I have many pretty threads in these sizes.  I also like to fit the thread size to the projects I'm working on, the size 70 being perfect to make the "Large Cross" small enough for use in one's Bible and the size 10 terrific for a knit childs top that must be laundered regularly.

Oh...and, no, neither the shirt nor the edging was pressed in the above photos...someone insisted on wearing it right away and I'm lucky to have gotten those photos...




Here she is, in her shirt, playing a version of peek-a-boo with an apple and an orange!  She's a darling...very fun to have her in our lives, she is a blessing!

I continue to hope to post more...but cookie sales for my Girl Scout troop and the general business of the household and children who have been sick with colds and stomach ailments has been keeping me away.  I continue to tat, stitch, draw, and craft though...and to read and enjoy everyone's posts on their blogs!!!

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