Bridge City Tatting

Snowflakes and Tatted Trees

2009-12-20T22:32:00.000-06:00

I was kinda hoping to post a little earlier, but I guess I got a little busy. I have managed some tatting, which I will now show you. At least most of it. I have one piece that needs stiffening, and haven't done it yet. I will (hopefully) get pictures once it is finished.

The first tatted motif is a Jane Eborall original. It is, of course, Jane's Snowsettia,

This is a really cool pattern by our very own Jane Eborall. It isn't difficult, though there are a lot of split rings. And juggling four shuttles took some practice (and an extra arm or two would have been nice as well). I ended up placing the two unused shuttles in a small ziploc bag while tatting with the other two. I thought the colours I chose would look good, but the two "conjoined" snowflakes kinda blend together. I will be making this design again. I saw a really cool colour combo on another blog. This will be my 7th motif of my Third 25 Motif Challenge. Thread stats: I used Lizbeth size 20 in colour #116 (Christmas Delight) and DMC Cordonnet size 20 in white.

The next motif is one you should have seen on Pamela's blog. It is The Sixth Day of December from Lene Bjørn's book 24 Snowflakes in Tatting. I have had this book for a few years, but I have only made one snowflake from it. Like many others, Pamela has inspired me to try some of the patterns in the book. For this snowflake, I used Lizbeth size 20 in colour #656 Dark Wedgewood, one of the new colours of Lizbeth I recently bought. I love this colour! I bought it in both size 20 & 40. And its all mine! I'm not kidding. This is motif #8.

The last motif is another one that I'm quite certain you all have seen. It is Nancy Tracy's Tatted Tree:

I have made this pattern before, but I didn't get a decent photo of it. This is a really nice pattern to tat. It's not difficult, and easily deserves the beginner level Nancy has given it. I'm not sure you can tell, but I purposely made the picots somewhat uneven in length. Not dramatically, but enough that it should be noticeable. I thought the tree looks better with the picots uneven; its more realistic IMHO. For this motif, I used Flora size 20 thread in colour #230. This is motif #9 of my Third 25 Motif Challenge.

That's about all for now. I will be away from Dec. 23-26 for Christmas. I don't know if I will close my shop though. I think I will just put up an announcement on the front page. I will try to post again before I go. My parent don't have high speed yet. I hope to get a lot of tatting done, and I'll post about it when I get back. Till next time.

Mary Konior's Patchwork - Bookmark For TattingChic

2009-12-05T22:51:00.005-06:00

Before I begin the tatting portion of this blog post, I want to make a quick shop announcement. I'll make it short. I have decided to offer free shipping to Canada and the United States for the month of December. Overseas shipping has been reduced by the US shipping amount. OK, enough of that. Time for the tatting.

My previous post was about the bookmark I received from TattingChic. This time I will show off the bookmark I made TattingChic. After scanning through websites and pattern books, I decided to use a motif from Mary Konior's Tatting With Visual Patterns. I chose "Patchwork".

The above motif was actually the third motif I made for Tattingchic's bookmark. However, on the third repeat, just before I was going to join it with the first two, I made a mistake-sorry, design variation. I made one of the large chains (at the top in the above photo) smaller than the other. I didn't want to retro-tat to fix the mistake-er, design variation, and I couldn't join it to the completed two motifs. So I just finished the motif. I'm sure I find some use for it.

You're probably wonder what the finished bookmark looks like. Well, here it is:

I really like how it came out. Please note: I don't remember if I blocked the bookmark before or after scanning. So it probably looks better than the above photo. Anyway, here are some stats for the bookmark. I used Lizbeth size 40 thread in colour #120 Denim Whisper. TattingChic likes pink and other "girly" colours, and this was as close I could get. I have to admit, I can't say I have ever owned anything denim with pink in it. I usually think of denim as shades of blue. But, its still a nice colourway. This will be #6 of my Third 25 Motif Challenge.

Finally I decided to treat myself to some more Lizbeth thread. I love this stuff! I wanted to get a few of the new colours that had been recently added to the growing list of colours. I would like to mention that Handy Hands isn't the only place to buy Lizbeth thread. Both DS9Designs and Be-Stitched carry Lizbeth. I ordered from DS9Designs since they also carry Superior Threads products such as King Tut and Perfect Quilter threads. But Be-Stitched has cheaper shipping options, which is nice when you only want a few balls of thread.

That's all for now. I was hoping to have the pattern by Jane finished, but I've spent the last few days working on chainmaille stuff for my shop. Hopefully I can do some tatting after work tomorrow. Later.

Bookmark From TattingChic

2009-11-30T19:19:00.007-06:00

I mentioned a while back that I was involved with a tatting exchange. Well, the exchange is over. We tatted, mailed our bookmarks, and the bookmarks have been received. As the title indicates, TattingChic was my exchange partner. This was a private exchange, by the way. I'm only going to show the bookmark I received today. I'll show off what I sent TattingChic in my next post.

Here is the bookmark I received from TattingChic, first the back:

And then the front:

Isn't it pretty? This is LaRae Mikulecky's Celtic Bookmark. TattingChic mentioned in the card she sent that the site that the pattern was located on has gone down. However, I did find the pattern in the Internet Archive. If you've never been here before, you simply type or copy&paste the link you want to find into the box with the large "Wayback Machine" logo and click the "Take Me Back" button. Here is the link to the above pattern. For the bookmark, TattingChic used Lizbeth size 20 in Denim and Light Medium Blue as well as an unidentified green in size 20. TattingChic chose the colours and the pattern to be as "manly" as possible. I think she did an awesome job. Thank you TattingChic!!!

TattingChic also sent a really cool card, which was also chosen for being the mostly manly, or (as she put it) the least girly she had. I love it too.

I'm not sure if you can see, but the buildings at the bottom has a really cool 3D look. The 3D effect is much more pronounced in real life. Thanks again TattingChic.

In unrelated news, I am toying with the idea of offering free shipping for my chainmaille jewelery and accessories for the month of December. I'm thinking the free shipping offer would apply for North America, but world shipping could be reduced by half or so. We'll see. Yeah, I know. December starts tomorrow.

That's all for now. I'll post again in a few days, showing the bookmark I made for TattingChic, and hopefully the Jane Eborall design that I should finish tonight. Later.

Gina's Gingerbread Boy

2009-11-17T20:26:00.001-06:00

I love this pattern! Ever since I saw it, I wanted to tat it.

You'll probably want to click on the image to see it better. I'm not sure why, but I tend to get pretty funky scans when using a white background. I adjusted the image a bit to make it easier to see. The pattern is from our very own Gina B, The Tatting Goddess. There is a link on Gina's blog to get the pattern, you will need to click the esnips link at the top of Gina's "Patterns & Tutorials" list on her sidebar. The pattern isn't hard, but you do need to pay attention to it for the proper joins, and the outer round of chains and the frosting round are (kinda) free tatted (ie: Gina just gives approximate stitch counts, you will need to adjust them to your own tension). I should mention that I did make a few mistakes (I think, it still worked out). I joined the head to the wrong rings on the body. Gina mentioned that a join was needed on one beaded picot, but I didn't mark which one. This join caused the top beaded ring to become heart shaped. I also added the first eye between the wrong set of small and large rings, and my attempts at adding the second eye to match the first were wrong as well. However, I will be making this pattern again; I was going to give this one away, but I don't want to now. Some stats: I used Lizbeth size 20 thread in colour #692 brown and DMC Cordonnet size 20 white for the frosting. This will be #5 of my Third 25 Motif Challenge.

This is actually an important day for me. Two years ago, I contacted Gina for the first time about this pattern. I'm embarrassed to admit that it took me two years to finally tat the pattern. Though I only tried the pattern three times; the second time was right after I contacted Gina. Both previous attempts were not completed. I am glad I finally tatted the Gingerbread Boy. Thank you Gina for the pattern. Till next time.

New Chainmaille Project, and it Has Tatting

2009-11-12T20:34:00.000-06:00

If you've been to my shop recently you may have seen what I am talking about. I am talking about my Byzantine Scissor Fobs:

I did a fairly exhaustive search of Etsy, and couldn't find anything like this, so I am confident that I am the first person (on Etsy, anyway) to have come up with this idea. The scissor fobs are actually a scaled back version of another idea of mine. My initial idea was a chainmaille Chatelaine, but I scraped that idea since I was unsure of how practical it would be. And plus, I have no need for one. Anyway, the above scissor fobs are made of aluminum and anodized (coloured) aluminum. The byzantine section is about 3.5 inches long with about 2 inches of plain chain to facilitate attachment to the scissors.

Now, many of you may be wondering where the tatting comes in, well, you see the large split ring on the end of the fob? You can use that to attach beads, trinkets, etc. to it. That includes tatting:

See? This is one of Marilee's Carnival Earrings added to my prototype scissor fob. Isn't it pretty? Assuming they sell well, I hope to add other chainmaille weaves to my scissor fob line.

That's all for now. My next post should be completely tatting related. Later

Featherline Snowflake

2009-11-06T18:24:00.003-06:00

As usual, the title says it all. I finally managed to tat Jon's latest snowflake. Actually, I tatted it about a week ago, but am only now posting it. I won't keep you in suspense.

Actually, I will for a bit. I want to thank everyone who commented on my last post. I'm glad you all liked my costume, especially since I don't normally dress up (I really want to stress that). In case anyone is interested, the tutorial I used to make the horns can be found here. Not sure why anyone else would need to make horns but ......

Now for Featherline (click the name for the pattern). I might as well start with a photo:

I'll admit it up front; this is my second attempt at the pattern. And I didn't do it justice. I don't believe there is anything wrong with the pattern; it's me. I didn't follow the instructions. I followed the diagram. Now, I like diagrams; I prefer diagrams. And there isn't anything wrong with Jon's diagram, it's still me. You see, Jon made the snowflake, so that the centre is done using SCMRs and thrown off rings. You then tie and cut. Then the second round is tatted. I figured I could tat the snowflake continuously and jump from the centre to the second round with no tie and cut.

Well, you can. Was it worth it? Meh. You really can't tell where I split-ringed (there are three split rings) out of the centre to the next round. I can, but its my snowflake. I'm going to tat the snowflake again, probably in a different colour. Speaking of colour, the thread I used is Lizbeth size 20 in colour #605 Silver. Its not a metallic silver, though it would be totally cool if Lizbeth made a metallic thread. A guy can dream. I would think that this thread (and its gold counterpart, which I also have) would look awesome when used with a metallic filament thread. I'll have to try it sometime. In size 20 thread, the snowflake is about 3 inches from point to point. This will be #4 of my Third 25 Motif Challenge.

That's all for now. My next post probably won't be tatting related. I have been working on a new chainmaille product line. I won't give any details, except that its not jewelry. I want to get the pages for Etsy made first before posting here. I might be the first person to think of this idea. Till next time.

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-31T23:38:00.004-06:00

I figured I should do a quick post. As the title says:

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!

It still is Halloween (here anyways). To be honest with you, I really don't like Halloween. I know I can almost hear the screams of horror from those of you who like the holiday. I guess I outgrew the holiday many years ago. Until today.

My workplace encouraged those of us who had to work today to dress up. And, there was going to be a contest. After some thought I did dress up.

Subtle, isn't it? Dressing up made the day quite enjoyable. In case you're wondering, I made the tail and the horns. The horns were made using polymer clay (Fimo), and attached to my head with a black cord. A lot of people (customers and co-workers alike) wondered how the horns were attached. Unless you stood fairly close to me, you couldn't see the cord. The costume turned out better than I though, especially since I altered my original idea. I had wanted to get a red jacket to wear, with the horns growing out of a hat. But the used clothing store I visited didn't have red jackets or suitable hats, so a black jacket was chosen and I opted to not wear a hat. And oddly, a lot of people (mostly co-workers) commented how the costume was very appropriate. I just can't figure out why.

That's all for today. I do have some tatting to show, but its not Halloween related, so I'll make another post about it soon. Later.

Magic Moments & Jasmine

2009-10-18T17:41:00.006-06:00

I'm still here. And I have been tatting. Mostly. An early October snow brought on a bout of crochet; but that has mostly disappeared, along with the snow. For now. In case you're wondering, I started another sweater from the Crochet Dude's book, using an Alpaca/Acrylic blend bulky yarn that I have been hoarding all summer.

Onwards to the tatting. I have a number of projects in progress but I'm only going to show one right now. I made my mom a bunch of earrings for her birthday, but I'll make a separate post for them. Another project is a bookmark exchange, but I obviously can't show that yet. So I'll move on to the snowflake.

As the title suggests, I tatted another of Jon's Magic Moments snowflakes. Here it is:

Ain't it perdy? What was that? No, this isn't the same one I made before. See for yourself:

See? The new one is on the left, and the one I made before is on the right. I guess I should explain. The new snowflake (the one on the left) was made using Lizbeth size 40 thread while the one on the right was made with size 20 Lizbeth. Both were made using colour #116 Christmas Delight. I think I mentioned it before, but I'll say it again: I love this colourway! I guess its because I really like the traditional Christmas colours and that brings thoughts of a traditional Christmas. But its too early (in my mind anyways) to go into too much detail about Christmas right now (I'll save my rant of Christmas vs. Holiday for another time). Anyway, I noticed that Jon has another new snowflake pattern on her pattern blog and I want to make that one as well.

Finally, the title also suggests something about Jasmine. I am, of course, referring to the plant. About a month ago, I bought a Jasmine plant while I was at the Home Depot. The plant I bought wasn't in flower, though it did have a lot of dried out buds attached to the plant. Here is a photo of the plant a few days ago:

You can see quite a few developing buds on the plant. And several buds opened as well, see here:

As you might imagine, the fragrance is absolutely magnificent. I can't describe it. And it's strong; a single flower fills an entire room with its perfume. Since the plant was simply labeled 'Jasmine', I did some research on a proper ID for the plant. From what I can find out (and this is based mainly on the flowers), I believe this particular Jasmine is Jasminum sambac 'Maid of Orleans'. But, if I'm wrong about the ID, the plant's fragrance is still heavenly.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for the "Earring Post", coming soon. Later.

The Tatting Book Post - Finally

2009-10-02T21:39:00.001-06:00

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who sent their condolences and prayers. My Grandma was very proud of my tatting, and was easily my second biggest fan. She will be missed. I have made her many tatted items as well as an equal (or even greater) amount of crocheted items. Now that she's gone, I really want to get at least some of the larger items (particularly the tatting) back. Hopefully that doesn't make me insensitive or anything, but as far as I'm concerned they wouldn't mean anything to anyone else. I will have to design something in her memory. Since its getting colder out now, perhaps a snowflake would be ideal.

As I mentioned earlier, I purchased some new tatting books recently. The first book is one that I know some of you have already. Its one of Jon Yusoff's books.

Jon even included a cute little tatted snowflake:

There are lots of really pretty snowflakes in this book. So you will be seeing plenty of snowflakes in the coming weeks. Thank you Jon for writing this book.

My next two new books were purchased together. I found them on eBay. The first one is another book some of you may have.

I know. I mainly shuttle tat, but I thought it would be nice to have this book as a reference. I have done some needle tatting, but I wanted a good offline reference. This is the book I wanted in the auction, and in case you wondered, the cost of the two books plus shipping was cheaper than the above book is when new (and without shipping). I am quite pleased with this purchase.

The final book is one that I haven't heard of before.

This is basically a book of older tatting books. It contains such books as Priscilla Tatting Book No. 1, plus four other books. There are a number of cool designs I'll have to try sometime.

I haven't done much tatting since the funeral, but its more of a lack of time rather than a lack of desire. I had purchased some Lizbeth size 40 thread that I am currently using in several projects. Once they are done I'll show you.

One more thing before I go. You may remember the Tillandsia that I blogged about back in June. If not here is a refresher:

Well, a few weeks after this picture was taken, the plant turned completely green again and then went back to doing nothing. Or so I thought. (Insert dramatic music here.) I usually just spray the plant with water while misting the other plants and think nothing of it. A couple days ago, I thought the plant could use a good soaking so I went ahead and did so. Here is what I saw when I did:

I am so proud of the plant. I was kinda hoping for more than one offset, but one will do. I have several other bromeliads, enough to do a whole post on them. Heck, I can even make it tatting related. Hmmmm (stroking beard), that's not a bad idea. Look for that in the near future; though I'll have to get my butt in gear in order for that to work. That's all I have right now. Later.

No Tatting Post This Week

2009-09-20T00:59:00.003-06:00

Well, at least not for the next several days. Due to a death in the family, I will be away until Wednesday sometime. My paternal Grandmother lost her battle to cancer on Friday. I may try to do some tatting while I am away. Grandma would have wanted me too; she was very supportive of my tatting, and proudly shared this fact to her friends.

Later.

Chinese Dragon Invasion!!!!!!

2009-09-13T23:30:00.004-06:00

From the title, I'm sure you can guess what I tatted lately. Yup, you would be correct to assume it was the newest dragon pattern to enter Tatland.

Please click on the photo to enlarge it. This is Anne Bruvold's Chinese Dragon. See the blog post here for the pattern. This is a magnificent piece to tat. The instructions were easy to follow (my "guy" mind skipped over a few critical parts, but that's me and not the pattern). I stayed up late a couple nights in a row so I could keep working on the pattern. I loved watching the dragon take shape. I did make a few mistakes, er, design variations. I seemed to have skipped over the sentence in the pattern where it states where to begin joining onto the Sun. It should be rotated 90 degrees. But I like the way it is. I also skipped over the part of the pattern where the second leg was supposed to be tatted. I happily tatted a good 4 or 5 rings and chains past the point. I had to cut 4 or 5 rings and reattach the thread. I fortunately didn't have to cut the second shuttle thread. I used Lizbeth size 20 thread in colour # 142 (Turquoise Twist). In size 20 thread, the dragon is about 8 1/2 inches long from the nose to the tip of the tail, and about 4 inches tall. I plan on tatting the dragon again. I think it would look gorgeous if tatted with a metallic thread. I'm thinkin' Oren Bayan metallic thread in green, red or blue. I'll have to order some in one or more of those colours. This will be Motif #3 of my Third 25 Motif Challenge.

I know. I was going to post about the new tatting book I got, but it will have to wait until next time. On the plus side, I can also blog about the new thread I purchased recently, and about the two tatting books I found on ebay this weekend. Till next time.

Test-Tatting For Linda, Part 2

2009-09-04T21:30:00.000-06:00

Howdy. I finally got around to posting about the second flower that I test-tatted for Linda Davies. This time, the flower is a freesia. If you're not sure what a freesia is, here is a photo from Wikipedia:

As with the previous post, here are a few photos of the flowers in various stages of construction:

As always, Linda's sense of realism is impressive. She didn't make just one size of flower, but three plus an unopened bud. Many of Linda's patterns contain flowers of different sizes. When put together, the finished flowers look quite realistic. The finished freesia is no exception:

Here is the finished freesia flowers (posing with my young date palm seedlings). The individual flowers are quick to tat, and is simple enough for beginner tatters. While each flower is pretty on it's own, the beauty of the flower comes from the sum of its parts. Once put together, the freesia looks much more beautiful than the individual flowers and it looks far more complicated than it really is. The flowers were made with Flora size 20 thread in colour numbers 204 (yellow) and 221 (red). I am going to call this motif #2 of my Third(!) 25 Motif Challenge. The daffodils were number 1.

I'll leave you now with a pretty plant photo. It is a small variegated vine, and I have no idea what it is. If anyone knows, please let me know in the comments. Thanks. I should be able to post again early next week, since I have a new tatting book in my possession. Till next time.

Test-Tatting For Linda, Part 1

2009-08-28T00:04:00.005-06:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, Linda Davies asked me to do some test-tatting for her. Actually, I think I offered first, but anyhow, I have been working on tatting a couple of Linda's new flower patterns. These are, I believe, for a new book Linda is working on.

I started with Linda's very pretty Daffodil. Here are a couple of photos of the finished pieces. I have kept the images small to help protect Linda's pattern.

The top photo shows the individual parts of the flower. The second photo is, of course, the completed daffodil. I used some of the pearl cotton that my brother got for me. It worked very well, and the cream colour makes a very nice looking flower. I really like this pattern. Linda's methods for creating the different flower parts, and her construction methods (layering, usage of beads, etc) make for some realistic flowers. I liked the pattern so much, that I made a second flower:

This daffodil is made using a "modern" pearl cotton, ie: one that I bought a few months ago. The pattern is straight forward and many flowers could be made is a fairly short time. A whole bouquet would look awesome (I know what someone is getting for Mother's Day next year! Or for her birthday in a few months).

I am currently working on another of Linda's new patterns. I should be done tomorrow, and after I send her any errors or changes that I feel need to be corrected, or made (don't worry Linda, I haven't found anything major), I will post about it soon after. Well, that all for now, I'll leave you with a photo of the two daffodils together. Until next time.

I'm Back!!! Did you miss me?

2009-08-21T22:27:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm back from my short break. It was great, and was something I really needed. There's nothing like spending a long weekend in the country to refresh ones mind and body. But I should keep moving-this is a tatting post. I know, shocking, isn't it?

I did manage to do some tatting while away. Oddly enough, I ended up tatting snowflakes. The first snowflake is from Mary Konior's book, Tatting with Visual Patterns. This is, in my opinion, a must have book for all tatters, but I recommend you buy it from one of the tatting suppliers out there. You'll get it much cheaper than some of the online book stores (not naming names here!).

This is Ring A Ring 'O Roses Snowflake. I've never used Onion Rings in a pattern before (I'm not sure these are true Onion Rings, but they look like it, which is all I care about). The snowflake is quite pretty, though it did seem to take a while to tat. I used DMC Cordonnet size 30 thread to make this snowflake. It meaures about 3 1/2 inches tip to tip. This will be #24 of my second 25 Motif Challenge.

The next snowflake is one that you've all seen before. It comes from the creative mind of Jon Yusoff.

This is Magic Moments. I love this snowflake. I found the snowflake tatted up quite quickly (much faster than the previous snowflake). For this snowflake I used Lizbeth size 20 thread in colour # 116 Christmas Delight. In this thread size the snowflake is pretty large. It measures slightly over 4 1/2 inches across. I will be making this snowflake again. Thanks Jon! This will motif # 25 of my second 25 Motif Challenge. Oh man! I finished the challenge. I haven't finished all the UFOs that I wanted. I guess I'll have to do the challenge again!

Well that's all for now. I'm going to start some test tatting tonight for Linda Davies, so you should be hearing from me soon. Later.

Jeff is Not Home Right Now, Please Leave a Message After The Tone..

2009-08-15T15:30:00.003-06:00

This is a recording.

OK. Maybe not (it's a scheduled post), but like the title says, I am away right now. I decided to get away for a couple three days. And, as luck would have it, my supervisor approved my request for time off. I am going to run down to my parents house for these days ( I left Friday after work, and will be back home late Monday). Of course, my parents aren't here; they decided to take a week long trip traveling through Alberta and British Columbia (funny how I scheduled the wrong weekend off). But my brother is home, and there is a Heritage festival going on today (though will see if I go).

I'm hoping to get a lot of tatting done this weekend, but I'm not sure that will happen. I've brought a supply of threads, books, and shuttles, so hopefully they will combine into tatted lace. I am not taking my chainmaille stuff with me; its much too heavy to travel with. I will work on that when I get back. I started working on a chainmaille dragon that I am dying to show you.

Well that's it for now. If all goes well, I'll have some pictures to show, and a refreshed mind and body. Even if I don't get what I want done, or see people I want to see, I can take comfort in knowing, that I wasn't at work. Later.

PS: My Etsy shop will remain open all weekend. And I'll have some additional colours of Anodized Aluminum available.

The Etsy Store is Go! Plus a little bit of tatting.

2009-08-05T23:49:00.003-06:00

Well, my Etsy store has been created and most of the jewelry pieces have been listed. I won't go into any major details, but if you're interested, my store, Chainmaille by Redeye, can be reached here:

http://redeye.etsy.com

I am currently using my regular Etsy account. I may recreate the store using a new username if I feel it is necessary. I probably won't provide many updates about the store here, since this blog was created for tatting. I've had a lot of non-tatting posts lately.

Now for the tatting. Right after my last post, I tried out that Daisy thread I posted about. I decided to try an edging pattern from the vintage tatting book that I also blogged about earlier.

If you're wondering, this is edging No. 9075. As both Sharon and Ladytats said in the comments, the thread comes in a skein that is doubled onto itself several times. So I'll have to wind it onto something before it gets all tangled up. The thread is alright to tat with. It appears to be a 3-cord thread, and it is a bit fuzzy. As you can see in the above photo, my tension was terrible. I was afraid of snapping the thread. I didn't, but the thought stayed with me till I ran out of my "ball" thread. I wound a shuttle with the thread and simply pulled off a metre or so of thread and used it as my ball thread.

That's all for now. I really need to get back to some serious tatting. I haven't touched the Spinning Wheel doily for several weeks now. I also want to rewrite the above edging pattern in modern notation. I kept loosing my place. Till next time.

Quick Update

2009-07-29T20:53:00.005-06:00

Howdy! Remember me? I haven't done much tatting since my last post, but I thought that I should post anyway. Despite no tatting, I have been busy. I have been working on making bracelets to sell on Etsy. I currently have six bracelets made and ready to be listed. While browsing Etsy's Guides, I found that it is a good idea to have a number of items available at lower prices to accommodate customers at different budget levels. So, I made several pendants, and I'm currently working on some earrings.

I'm not going to show pictures since I haven't taken any yet. I have the shop created, and will hopeful get photos taken over the next few days. I'm hoping that early next week my shop will be open. I'll make a post (with the shop URL) once I'm ready.

I'll end this post on a tatting related note. My brother found me some thread at a garage sale recently. Most of it is your plain run-of-the-mill size 10 crochet cotton, in mainly white. This will be used for crochet. There is some ecru DMC pearl cotton in sizes 5 & 8 that will be used for tatting. The is also some size 30 thread that I haven't seen before. Here's a photo:

As you can see in the photo, this is Daisy Mercerized Crochet Cotton in size 30, made by Belding Lily Co.. The skein contains 500 yards (457 meters) of thread. There are several skeins of this thread. The thread seems quite strong, so I'll try tatting with it, maybe tonight. If it works, I'll use it for tatting. If not, I'll try to crochet with it.

That's it for now. If all goes well, you should hear from me within a week, if not earlier. Till next time.

Another Maple Leaf and More Maille

2009-07-13T18:15:00.006-06:00

Howdy. Looks likes I did it again. I said I would post soon, and I don't. Oh well. As I promised here is the second maple leaf that I made around Canada Day.

This leaf was made using Yarnplayer's Summer Trail HDT in size 30. As you can see I turned the motif into a bookmark by making a length of lock stitch chain where the stem is. I really like the way it turned out. I'm going to count this as Motif # 23 of my second 25 Motif Challenge.

I haven't done much tatting since I made the two maple leafs. I have done some crocheting however, and I plan on tackling some knitting-I would like to mention I really hate knitting. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to have all your stitches on one long needle, where you can drop them. Since you may ask, I knit due to necessity. I found a really cool looking sock/slipper pattern from Lion Brand, which is available in both knit and crochet version. I tried the crochet version, and found the result to be, well, ugly. I figured I could manage the knit version. Now that I have that off my chest, onward we go.

Well, I've been playing around with chainmaille some since my last post. While I was working on my belt (see here if you missed it), I ended up with a length of European 4-1 that I couldn't use for my belt. I wanted to make a belt using stainless steel rings. However the rings I chose were too weak to use in a belt. As it turns out, a number of other weaves can be made using narrow strips of Euro 4-1, by rolling them up and "stitching" the long ends together. So, that is what I did and created this:

This particular weave is called Box Chain. This is an easy chain to make. It is (apparently) the chain that Byzantine is based off of, and because of this it can be made almost like Byzantine instead of stitching Euro 4-1. I used Stainless Steel rings to make this, and, since you're probably wondering it weighs approximately 2 ounces (56 grams), and is about 1/4 inch in diameter (~6-7 mm). I think this will be mine.

Well, that's all for now. I am working on another weave right now. I had a Eureka moment last night while trying to learn a new weave. I am still toying with the idea with selling some Chainmaille items through Etsy. What I might do is, over the next few weeks, make a half a dozen or so bracelets and what not, and create a store. I'll let you all know what I decide to do when I've done it. OK? Till next time ....... which I hope won't be two weeks from now!

Canada Day Tatting

2009-07-01T19:00:00.006-06:00

Happy Canada Day!!!!!!

Well, the title says it all. I hope all my fellow Canadians had (or are still having) a great time celebrating the birthday of this great country of ours. I didn't have to work today, so I did some tatting. Now what would be more Canadian than this:

This is Tammy Rodgers modern adaptation of a maple leaf pattern she found in a Workbasket Magazine. You can find the pattern here. I used Flora size 20 thread in red, er, colour number 221. The leaf measures about 3 inches across. This is a fairly quick pattern to make. It took me about two hours to complete. And I made only one mistake, though it occurred early in the pattern, and was easy to fix. After joining the last chain to the first ring, I threaded a length of thread through the join and doubled it. I then encapsulated the doubled thread and the ball thread with the shuttle thread to make the stem somewhat thicker. I really like this pattern, so I started another leaf. I'm only about half done, but I should have it done later today. I'll show it next time. This is going to be Motif #22 of my Second 25 Motif Challenge.

That's all for now. I'll post again soon. Really. Till next time.

More Chainmaille, and Mystery Plant Revealed

2009-06-14T16:03:00.000-06:00

I'm not going to comment on why I'm not posting. I'm going to blame work. It's not that all I'm doing is working, it's just that work is all I think about lately. I've been seriously considering looking for a new job. It's not that I don't like my job, the reasons why I want a new one are just, complicated. On top of that (which I didn't really explain), the store that I work at is shutting down for 36 hours next weekend, starting Sunday, for renovations. This means that I may get thrown on a night shift or two during that time, which I'm just thrilled about. I have worked night shifts before, however, I am an insomniac on occasion and one of these night shifts could throw my sleeping cycle off for months. But anyway, back to the topic at hand.

Before I begin, this will be a tatting light post. I am still working on the full size "Spinning Wheel" doily. It is slowly coming along. I'll post a photo once it is done to keep you all in suspense. I also offered to test tat for Linda Davies again, which she has accepted. I'm looking forward to testing her newest flower designs when they are ready.

Now for the main feature. I have been working on a number of chainmaille projects over the last few weeks. I purchased some rings from The Ring Lord in a variety of metals and got started. A photo would be good here:

Now for some stats on the bracelets. They are made in the Byzantine weave. The bracelet at the top of the photo is made out of Stainless Steel, and is mine. The next two are made out of Aluminum with Anodized (coloured) aluminum. The fourth bracelet down is Aluminum and Jeweler's Brass. The fifth and final bracelet is made out of Bronze. I really like how the Bronze bracelet turned out. I used two different ring sizes for this one. I'll have to make one for myself. The last four bracelets are for my Mom. I promised her I'll make her a few more to add to her Mother's Day gift. It's kinda funny that Gina recently posted about how she considered starting an Etsy store but changed her mind about it. Ever since I started making chainmaille I have been toying with the idea about opening my own Etsy store. Like Gina, my work isn't more special than any of the other chainmailler's that are selling on Etsy. Though if I can get a hold of some fancy rare metal that no one else is using or I create a very unique weave of my own, I may have a chance. Of course if anyone is interested in owning a bracelet made by me, feel free to contact me at jwh4000ATgmailDOTcom. Replace the AT and DOT with the appropriate symbols.

The next project that I have been working on is a chainmaille belt for myself. Here is a photo of the belt in progress:

For this project I initially used Aluminum rings to make a long section of European 4 in 1 chainmaille. I edged the entire belt with Stainless Steel for some added strength. To finish the belt, I connected the chainmaille section to the ends of a leather belt for a more professional touch. Here are a couple of photos of the completed belt:

I'm quite proud of my belt. Though if/when I make another one, I'm going to use larger rings. The ones I used were too small for me. It took forever to make.

Finally, I'll reveal the identity of the mystery plant. The plant is called Tillandsia ionantha. Sometimes called Air Plants or Sky Plants. They are a type of Bromeliad. The plants are normally a grey-green colour. However, they turn a pink colour when they are about to flower. See?

I'm not too fond of the purple flowers but it's pretty anyway. I'm a little nervous about the plant flowering. Let me explain. Many Bromeliads die after flowering. That's a little too negative. Most Bromeliads will produce offsets either during or soon after they flower, so it's not a total loss. However, I seem to have bad luck with the offset production part. Few of the Bromeliads that I have owned have produced offsets after they flower. They usually just die after flowering. But I really like the plants as a group and wanted to give them a chance again.

That's all for now. Now that my chainmaille belt and the bracelets are finished, I'm going to try to get a bunch of tatting done. Until next time.

More Tatted Earrings and a New Book

2009-05-31T14:38:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to post for a few days now, but it has gotten so nice out, I have too busy to post. I guess I was getting a bit impatient last time. I can't confirm it, but I think Saskatoon was the national hot spot yesterday. The mornings aren't as cool as they were a few weeks ago. In fact it, has warmed up enough at night that I kicked out all the outdoor plants. This includes several cannas, calla lilies, and blueberries.

Anyhoo, I promised some tatted earring pictures. Here is the first one:

These are (of course) Marilee's Carnival earrings done in three strands of DMC embroidery floss with gold seed beads and round goldstone beads in the centres. The colours are somewhat washed out in the picture, but the earrings looked awesome (if I do say so myself) in person. The next pair is also a Yarnplayer design:

These are Marilee's Quidrille earrings; the pattern is available from her etsy shop. These were made using Lizbeth thread in size 20, colour #20-113 Jewels, along with some silver lined crystal seed beads for some sparkle. I didn't elaborate on my assessment of Lizbeth thread. It is a firm six cord thread that tats up beautifully. I find it to be similar to Flora, though in much nice colourways. If you love Flora, you will love Lizbeth. I'll add to my review if/when I find something wrong/exceptional to write about. Both these pairs of earring were given to my mom for Mother's Day, along with some other tatted/chain maille items. She loved them. I won't count this in the 25 Motif Challenge. I've made several Carnival earrings that I have counted already.

Finally, I mentioned a new book. Well, new to me. The book was published in 1946. Here is a photo of the cover:

I bought this booklet a few weeks ago at the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra Book Sale. There are a number of interesting patterns inside. As I mentioned, it was published in 1946, so I can't scan it to share yet. But don't worry, many of the doily patterns have been republished in other books, such as Traditional Tatting Patterns editted by Rita Weiss. If you have this book and perhaps some of the other Dover books, you have most of the patterns. I bought the book primarily for the edging patterns. No, really. I don't tat edgings, but I really liked some of them. I hope to turn some of them into bookmarks. When I have time.

That's it for now. I'll post again soon. I've made a few chain maille pieces lately that I would like to show. I'll leave you with a pretty plant picture. I'll tell you about it in the next post.

Spinning Wheel (The Start of)

2009-05-18T23:18:00.001-06:00

Again, I haven't felt like posting, but I don't think it is weather related. Actually, I don't even want to talk about the weather. I'm convinced (and I'm not alone here) that we are not going to have spring or summer. It kind of reminds me of fall right now. There are hardly any leaves on the trees right now, the grass has a greenish colour to it, but with brown undertones, and its pretty cool in the mornings still. It snowed last Thursday night, enough to make everything white for a few hours Friday morning. It may snow tonight and it is in the forecast again for Wednesday. It's wacky weather like this that makes me glad that I have many house plants (and outdoor plants masquerading as houseplants) to enjoy until the weather tuns nice permanently (well, till fall anyway).

Speaking of outdoor plants pretending to be houseplants, here is a quick photo of one that I am particularly fond of (I will get to the tatting, I promise!).

This is Ginkgo biloba, the Maidenhair Tree. While its not much to look at yet (I'm hoping it will produce a few branches), I love this tree. I'm also quite proud of the tree; it is starting to follow our seasons. Let me explain. I grew it from seed, that I planted November 2007. One seed germinated in December (same year). It grew (albeit slowly) for several months, then went dormant, only to begin growing again late fall. It lives on a window sill that get pretty cool in the winter, and last fall it went dormant, and began growing this spring. It's adapting to life in Saskatchewan. Now we can move on to the tatting.

You may remember in my last post, I mentioned that along with some Lizbeth thread, I purchased a round cloth doily so I could make the full size Spinning Wheel doily from Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns. You do? Good. Anyway, I started working on the doily, and thought I'd post a quick update. Here is my progress:

OK. It's not much, but thats not the point. I had planned on making the tatted edging then sewing it on. But, quite honestly, that seems like a lot of extra work. Now, I hope this decision won't come back to haunt me years from now. I know that some people don't like directly tatting edgings on things like hankies so they can save the lace if necessary, but I think this may be different. If anyone wants to provide reasons why this is a bad idea, by all means let me know. Now for a few stats on the doily. I am using Lizbeth thread (which is AWESOME!) in the Countryside colourway. The doily I'm using is 6 inches in diameter. It has 120 holes along the edge (yes, I counted them), there are a total of 24 repeats required for the tatting, which means that each repeat is "allowed" five holes (two for joining, and three unjoined). If anyone has done this pattern before, I'd love to see it and for anyone who hasn't attempted it yet, I urge you to try. It's actually pretty easy; the stitch counts are almost the same as the mat, each repeat is just longer.

That's all for now. I hope you like the tatting part. I might talk about the weather next time! This post ended up much longer than I planned. I'll try to post again soon. I have a few earrings to show that I made for my Mom on Mother's Day. Later.

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Now playing: Chateau Neuf - Hopparen (The Jumper)
via FoxyTunes

Handy Hands Purchases, Tatted Chainmaille, and a Pretty Picture

2009-05-06T21:35:00.006-06:00

It must be the warming weather, but I haven't felt like posting lately. In case you are wondering, my thumb has healed up nicely, and I'm able to tat again! I haven't done much tatting though, but I did manage a little.

First, I mentioned that I decided to order some Lizbeth thread from Handy Hands Tatting. I received it about a week ago. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I haven't tried it yet, but I will soon.

Here is a group shot of my purchases. As you can see I bought numerous balls of Lizbeth thread, as well as a ball of Omega thread (I love that colour!). There's also a "no point" Sew Mate shuttle, some replacement bobbins for Aero type shuttles (can't have enough of them!), a new (to me anyway) tatting book, and a round cotton doily. I bought the doily because I would like to attempt the full Spinning Wheel doily from Tatting with Visual Patterns; it requires a circle of fabric in the centre, and I am not skilled enough in the sewing department to make one myself.

The book that I bought can't be seen very well in the above picture. Here is a photo of the cover:

As you can see, the title of the book is "To Boldly Go Where No Shuttle Has Gone Before or Tatting Definitely Not For Beginners" by Anne Dyer. Despite the fact that the book was published in 1993, I hadn't heard of this book before. A quick Google searched provided only one relevant tatting link, located here. The rest are mainly Star Trek related. The book is full of very interesting tatting techniques including Square Rings (I have to try these!), and a variety of unusual chains. I'll show some samples of tatting that I make from this book once I find the time.

As you may remember, my last post was about my new interest, chainmaille. Well, Connie of I Tat Too mentioned that one of the classes held at the Palmetto Tat Days 2008 was about tatted chainmaille. I have the CD from Tat Days 2008 and I completely forgot about this. I had to give it a try:

This is a tatted Byzantine chain (actually, it's a Byzantine unit). Its a pretty cool technique, however I found it rather slow to make. Actually, the tatting was fast, but the threads have to be knotted and glued after each ring is tatted. I managed to tat six rings, then knot and glue all six to save some time. I'm not sure I would want to make a full size bracelet using this technique, but I think in smaller thread, a pair of earrings would be quite nice. The pattern calls for size 8 pearl cotton. I used Flora size 20 thread for my sample. You'll probably see this form of chainmaille again, as well some standard chainmaille designs.

Finally, I promised a pretty picture.

I think it is pretty anyway. This is a immature pitcher on my Tropical Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes x ventrata). I bought the plant about a year ago, and it finally decided to produce pitchers for me (well, for itself actually). The pitcher in the above photo is about a centimeter in length (perhaps a bit bigger, since this photo is a few weeks old). Perhaps once the pitchers are full size, I be able to create a tatted version. We'll see; I don't know how many tatters out there would want a tatted pitcher plant. I'll provide an update if anything comes to fruition with this idea. Till next time.

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Now playing: Karl Wolf - Africa (Radio Edit)
via FoxyTunes

A Mailling We Will Go (Off Topic)

2009-04-26T00:35:00.001-06:00

I mentioned in my last post that I "discovered" a new art. When I say discovered, I mean that I discovered its existence, but you knew that. Before I go any further, I'd like to mention that I won't be tatting for a week or two. I cut myself at work, again. This time on my thumb (left hand), which makes tatting very painful. Especially with the size 80 or so thread I was trying to use. The last time I cut myself, the cut healed in about a week, so I'll be back to tatting in no time (hopefully). Anyway, enjoy my new art!

It all started a couple weeks ago when I was browsing Etsy. I had just purchased the book and thread from Marilee and I was just browsing some of the other stores. Well, that's when I found these:

These are stitch markers, made by Etsy seller Faking Sanity. These are made using the technique of chainmaille (or chain maille, chainmail, chain mail, maille, whatever you want to call it). I was fascinated. For those of you who don't know what chainmaille is, chainmaille is the technique of weaving metal rings (jump rings, for the jewelery makers out there), to make sheets or chains of interlocking rings. By the time I received my stitch markers, I had a couple basic weaves (that what chainmaille patterns are called) down pat.

This is the first weave that I learned:

This is called Byzantine (make sure you click on the picture to see the weave better). This is a pretty easy weave to learn, and is the same as the stitch markers. I'm not sure what the metal is that the jump rings are made of. The signs at Michaels listed them as silver, but I think they may be silver plated at best. Probably silver coloured. Not sure how to tell though. I guess I'll be Googling later. Anyway, I plan on making this chain into a bracelet, perhaps for myself (I'm not sure about it yet). I don't think I want to give it away as a gift if I don't know what the metal is.

My next piece of chainmaille is one that is common in making the chainmaille armour that the knights of Medieval times would have worn.

This particular weave is called European 4 by 1 (European 4-1, Euro 4-1). This weave was a little harder to learn, but still one of the easier ones. I would love to make a belt and/or a watchband using this weave. I had been talking to Sharon about making a tatted belt and watchband (for myself) but I think I like the chainmaille approach better. Of course, I may try the tatted versions just for kicks though. I like the idea; I'm not sure about the execution. The belt and watchband aren't the only guy friendly chainmaille options for me. I bought a new wallet in January, which has a metal ring attached to it. I would love to make a chain for it, to clip to my pants' belt loop. There are many other guy friendly chainmaille uses out there.

I'm also fortunate that just a few kilometers out side of Saskatoon's city limits there is a major chainmaille supply company called The Ring Lord. I haven't ordered from them yet, since I wanted to see if I liked making chainmaille before order a bunch of rings. I should note, the TRL has the best prices among the various chainmaille suppliers out there. And I can arrange to pick up any orders I place with them, which is nice. I don't really want to pay $10-$20 for shipping within the same city. Well, that's it for now. Thanks for reading about my new art. Hopefully I haven't bored any of my tatting (and non-tatting) friends out there. I'm gonna try to make the next post tatting related, but we'll see how my thumb is. Till next time.

Spinning Wheel Mat Complete (It's about time!)

2009-04-21T22:43:00.003-06:00

I finally finished the Spinning Wheel Mat that I showed towards the beginning of April. I finished it last week, but I just haven't felt like posting. I did make one mistake on it, but it isn't important enough to say anything else.

This is a much better scan than the preview one I did earlier. I'm not sure if I mentioned it earlier but the thread I used is Valdani pearl cotton, size 12, colour #M13 (Americana). Like I said before, there a few intermediate colours in addition to the three main colours that are visible in this scan. I'm going to have to make more of these; I really want to make the pattern again in size 80 thread. Probably won't be HDT since the only HDT I have is Yarnplayer's Fern (I think), and I'm not a big fan of green unless it is on (or is it in?) a plant. Perhaps I will try some King Tut thread. Out of curiosity, does anyone know how big a Spinning Wheel mat would be made in size 80 thread?

I finally purchased Marilee's (AKA Yarnplayer) book, "Boutique Tatting". The designs are pretty awesome. I will have to make a few of them once I get a few other things finished. I also purchased a skein of her "Cobalt" thread from Marilee at the same time, and she sent a sample skein of "Soft Blues" thread. How did you know that I would like that thread! Thanks Marilee. Oh, and I finally bit the bullet and ordered some of that Lizbeth thread that everyone seems to be using lately. It had better be good thread; I ordered nine balls of it. To make the order worth while, I HAD to order other stuff! I'll maybe show what I got once it gets here, which hopefully will be at the end of the week. And finally, I "discovered" a new art that I just had to try, which has eaten up some of my tatting time. I tell you about it next time (and I'll show some photos as well). Till next time.