Crocheted Baskets...

I had planned to tat another cross today, but my Mother-In-Law was coming into town and I wanted to finish this up to give to her today...so this is how I spent my morning...

This crochet basket pattern is from Crochet in Color and the pattern for this "Chunky Crocheted Basket" is one of several great patterns she offers for free on her blog.  This is the fourth one I have completed and I really enjoy working this pattern.

I have added a rose to the baskets for embellishement, I used this pattern for the rose from Pom Pom Emporium.  It makes a nice large bloom and is quick to work up. 

On this bloom, I added a row of single crochet in the oatmeal colored yarn on the last 6 petals or so, to accent the flower.  I like the effect of that a lot...really makes the flower pop.

This is the larger of the two basket sizes given in the pattern.  When crocheted with 4 strands of yarn, as I have done here, it is large enough to hold a stack of magazines...so it is an ample basket. 

The yarn I used today was 3 strands of worsted weight and 1 strand of sport weight yarn.  The type of yarn you select really makes a difference in the size of the basket...I have simply been creating these from yarns I have in my stash, so the sizes of my baskets vary quite a bit.  It's also been fun to select colors to blend together, the effect is lovely and really different depending on what you choose to use.  Here I've used an oatmeal, forest green, and olive green yarn in varying combinations.

Each basket uses up a good 4 skeins of yarn...it's been a great way to use up some of the acrylic yarns in my stash.  I really like the washability and durability of that fiber for this purpose...and I find that I use acrylic yarns less and less for other things as there are so many nice cotton, bamboo, wool blend, and other lovely yarns available these days.

This was what I chose to make each of the mothers on my list this year (as well as one for myself)...I think it makes a nice gift and is not only beautiful but a functional item, and they can be thrown in the wash if needed as well.  Hopefully they will all enjoy these baskets!  My Mother-In-Law seemed to like hers today...so I am hopeful that they will be appreciated, one does wonder sometimes.

I'll try to photograph and show the other baskets to you all before I mail them off in the next day or so.  Still finishing up one for my sister, about half done on that one.  It takes me just over 3 hours to complete a basket with the rose embellishement.  I'm off to work on that last basket now...

Tatting and Tea on Tuesday...

The girls and I had a little tea on Mother's Day...just for the fun of it!  These are pictures from Sunday's tea...

We shared a nice pot of lemon tea, some chicken salad on heart shaped home made bread, fruit, and some tea biscuits. We used some of our pretty tea things...

A lovely teapot my Mother gave me years ago, a set of luncheon dishes from my Grandmother, some silver "tea" spoons and cream and sugar set we found this past summer. It was a fun time with my two girls.

Today, I had tea again with my littlest one...this time a pot of golden monkey black tea...and I tatted while she nibbled her tea biscuits and fruit...so of course I was too busy to take pictures today!  It truely takes a concerted effort to tat with a three year old who feels she must be a part of everything.  One must keep her supplied in tea and munchies, coloring pages, stickers, bits of thread to "tat" with, or what ever else it takes...and fit in 2 or 3 rings or chains in between each request.  I am learning to manage it though...

Here is what I tatted today...

This is Mary Konior's Small Cross from Tatting with Visual Patterns.  The thread is vintage size 70ish Star Tatting thread in shades 129 (the Red) and 122 (the Blue). 

The colors are the recipient-to-be's favorites, blue and red (KU colors ~ she comes from a family of dedicated KU fans). I think they combine to make a very pretty cross that I hope she will treasure.  She had her first communion Sunday before last, so I am a little late with this, but she is the daughter of a good friend and I really wanted to send her a cross to celebrate the occasion.

I've tatted the pattern before as written, so as is my usual, I played a bit with it this time, fiddling around with the outside round a bit, joining the center picot of each ring...I think it gives it a somewhat crown like effect on the edge.  I rather like it, though I like the original version as well. 

The photos are imperfect, having been taken this evening after the girls were put to bed and I had time to sew in the ends and give it a quick tweak with the steam iron.  The first photo shows the colors more precisely...but the flash hides the stitches, so the second one shows the stitches to somewhat better effect. 

This goes in the mail in the morning, I wanted to share it before it traveled to other hands.  There is much I have wanted to share, but it seems the limitations of time require that I have to choose between doing the tatting and other handwork or blogging about it...so I have been doing it but not sharing about it!  The school year is winding down, so I hope that will change with the advent of summer.

I have another cross to tat in the next few days as well...this one for my older daughter's teacher.  An end of school year gift...entirely acceptable and very appropriate as she attends a Catholic school.  I want to get started on that while I still have a bit of time...so I will leave you until the next time (hopefully sooner than the last!!!)

Earrings and Blossoms...

Spring is on it's way here in Southern Colorado...the Crocuses have been blooming for a while and the buds on the Rose Tree of China are opening today, I am sitting outside and enjoying the sound of the mourning doves and little sparrows as I write this...

I've been enjoying the warmth and the sunshine after all of the cold weather over the past few months.  I have been tatting a little, though not nearly so much as I would like to have been over the last month.  These are some earrings that I tatted a couple of weeks ago, but just managed to photograph to share with all of you today...

 

This first set is simply a larger clover over a smaller clover, I think the design works and is quite pretty...but the second design is the one I like the most...

This set uses elements from the large cross (Mary Konior) / stumpy bookmark (Kersti Anear) tatting patterns again...just the clover from the end and the large ring, with extra stitches added for balance as needed.  I really like this set and will more than likely tat more like these. 

Here are the two sets of earrings together...very pretty, both of them.  I will count them as #s 1 & 2 in my second 25 motif challenge.  These are the first bits of tatted jewelry I have attempted, they are very light to wear and fun to create.  In seeing all of the beautiful jewelry out there that people create with tatting, the possibilities seem endless.

The thread I used is something a little different...

I found this in a box of old sewing things that I picked up at one of the local thrift stores just because I wanted the sewing box they came in, but there were some nice suprises inside.  This was one of them...it looked interesting to tat with.  I have heard of the American Thread Company, but had never seen this Geneva Cotton Glace Finish thread.  It's quite nice.  It is a bit stiff to work with at first, the glace finish gives it a very different texture and it is slightly flat.  After one gets used to it, it is quite nice to work with and has a lovely sheen to it.  I thought it quite nice for tatted jewelry.

I suppose that I should now post this and then get on with household things again and stop playing on the computer...then perhaps I will have time to play with my tatting a little later and have something more to share in the morning...

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!!!

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...



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!!!