I've finished something!..... Sort of....

Hi all!

First up, apologies if your comments have disappeared.... I had only saved this post, not published it (wasn't finished) but Blogger in its wisdom published it anyway.... D'oh!

I was having trouble formatting, and deleted the post out of frustration, but apparently it stayed visible long enough for comments, so if I accidentally orphaned your comment, I apologize!

Back to the actual blogging bit....

So much for a blog being easier to update than a website! Can't believe it's been 4 months....

Since Feb, I've been to my dad's 70th birthday, our house has turned into an experimental virus lab, and I've gone broody. Yup, bub#2 is due late Novemberish. (Apologies to those I haven't got the news to to personally - living in a virus lab is rather draining, and after hubby coughing himself silly last night, it's evident the the lurgies aren't 100% dead yet!!)

Hubby got the flu (probably the swine one). DS and I dodged that, but with the usual seasonal bugs going around my work, plus what comes in from daycare, the combinations seem endless.... We seem to just pass them around and around until well all end up resistant to roughly the same stuff. Seems to take FOREVER...We had 6 fairly bug-free months, and then this bunch hit us..... Joy oh joy. =)

Anyway, down to what I've actually finished. A note on the picture quality - I'd love to use my scanner, but it's a great behemoth of a thing (one of those printer/scanner all-in-one jobs), and I don't have anywhere to leave it set up anymore. So in the spirit of getting some pics before near terminal I'd-rather-be-tatting-ness sets in, I've been resorting to the camera. The digital macro mode doesn't do too bad a job for the occasional close up I think....

1) Bookmark for Dad's birthday. Deciding on a relatively masculine pattern was a challenge, but came up with something. Colour not such a big problem, due to extreme colour blindness on his part, but still a challenge. And until I recreate it for myself, you'll just have to take my word for it, as it seems I forgot to take a photo! D'oh!

2) The vase doily, AKA Mary Konior's "No, Nay, Never" from "A Pattern Book of Tatting"! Not sure if this is REALLLY finished, but it's as finished as it's getting for now. The photo doesn't do the vase justice, it's a deep royal blue at the bottom and emerald green at the top. The doiley could probably do with an extra round to look really speccy, but this is where I ran out of oomph. Any votes? Expand or not to expand, this is the question...

3) A hanky that's been in progress for 7 years (at least!) This is the kind of project clogging up my UFO basket that I'm trying to shift....

The actual tatting's been finished for at least a couple of years, it's the attaching that's been killing me.... Because it didn't have spokes or a proper rolled edge, I had to crochet around it to have something to attach to. I learnt something. Without spokes, I crochet WAY too tight!! It was sooooo difficult to get the needle under the double stitches that it got dumped in the "later" basket quite often...

However, it's such a pretty thing I just had to finish it. I can't take the credit for the colours, this is actually a "kit" I bought on ebay from Georgia Seitz...well, over 7 years ago. At that point, it was a hanky, cotton, decorated shuttle, and came in a cute little tub. I'm not generally an orange person, but I love this particular one (probably because some bits look crimson to me!)
The pattern is "Betsy's Downfall", from Mary Konior's "A Pattern Book of Tatting". I like this close kind of pattern for variegated cotton - the pattern's pretty in itself, but really shows the colour changes nicely (in my opinion anyway.) =)

4) An "every day" hanky, using Rosmarie Peel's split ring edging.

I've done this pattern before on a "display" hanky many years ago, but this one is for regular use. I like edgings with lots of joins for things that will go through the wash a lot, as I think it makes them stronger, and easier to block.

5) And this is my current UFO... If the pattern looks familiar, it's the same as the orange one! I just couldn't find anything else I felt like doing. Much as this might seem to be generating duplicate projects, the aim here is to stop my hanky stash blowing out any further.

The hanky is a recent acquisition, so thought I'd better get it in use sooner rather than later. This is my favourite variegated thread, but doesn't really lend itself to doilies. This hanky seemed like the perfect match for it.

Well, that's about it for now. I'm probably not going to get anything into a show this year. I've got enough things to achieve by November as it is!