Camera cleanout

Hi all!

Well, I'm glad I take photos of (most) of my finished stuff, as otherwise I'd forget what I've done! Especially the stuff that goes to good homes. =)

Not quite sure what I've been doing since my last post.... We had visitors for 3 weeks, bubs got his first cold (which he generously shared with the rest of us....), and he and I are now fighting off a new and more interesting virus.

Honestly, this blog seems turning into a virus diary more than a tatting blog. Probably shows that when I'm well I'd rather be tatting. =)

Speaking of which, I *have* actually done some tatting since my last post.

There would be a lot more tatting to show, but I got bitten by the knitting bug sometime in May. I'm not a very skillful knitter ( really only do basic stuff ), but if I'm ever going to get better I need to practice. However, I already have a lot of knitted children's stuff from generous others, so what to do? Saw an ad for a seasonal charity that gives donated knitted items to charity, so that's what I've been doing. I'm getting lots of tension practice making scarves and beanies, which don't look too bad, and will at least keep someone warm. 3 scarves, 1.5 beanies done so far. ( I should say 0.5 beanies, as DS#1 took a liking to and appropriated the first beanie. So can't have been too bad.)

See http://spotlight.com.au/community-support/2011-guardian-angel-knitting-program/ for more details.

Back to the tatting. I will try to go oldest to most recent, but the memory's a bit fuzzy.

1) Necklace and earring set.

This was for a friend's birthday. She'd gone through my Jan Stawasz book and dribbled over the jewellery, so I thought I'd have a go. The pendant is the "Christmas Ornament" from Jan's book (with an extra-long beaded picot added to thread it on the necklet), the earrings are a one-off from me. The beads are only plastic, but they look nice and irridescent.

2) This is "Lace No.12" from "Tatted Handkerchiefs by Kirstine and Inge Linse Nikolajsen.

This is a long-standing UFO that's finally been finished. Yay! The photography's not great unfortunately, but at least it's done!



3) This is the "Eternity Rings" edging from "Tatting with Visual Patterns" by Mary Konior.

This was a birthday present for a dear tatting friend who also doubles as our baby-sitter. (Earthly Sainthood ain't in it.)

I haven't made much progress on my french doily, the thread kept twisting on me, so I ditched it and started again. Maybe by Christmas (but which year??)

It's July, and I can hear the snowflake patterns starting to beckon..... And yes, I've entered Jon Yusoff's giveaway for her latest book. Love her snowflakes. =)

Happy tatting all!

Vale Tigger the TatCat

I've been meaning to do an update for a while, but unfortunately today I have to.

We lost Tigger (my TatCat) suddenly and unexpectedly today, and I've had to try and explain what's happened to an upset and mystified nearly 4yo.

As far as I can tell, Tigger just keeled over in the garden. Honestly, he looked like he just fell over sideways in the leaves. I'm mystified, as I didn't hear anything if something (snake?) attacked him (and I was probably less than 10 metres away at the time), and he hasn't been noticeably ill at all. He positively bounded out of the garden to greet me when I put the bins out last night.

Admittedly he has been more of a housecat than usual for the last couple of months, but it's been a pretty dismal summer (what summer?), and both cats have always preferred the indoors in cool weather.

Sad part is they're both due their yearly checkup at the moment, but I've been putting it off due to all us two legged types being sick for the last couple of weeks (and I feel like I'm coming down with bug#2 for the year)..... Whether anything would have been picked up (or in time even if I'd done it a fortnight ago) is debatable.... Now I'll never know.

So now he's pushing up daisies. No, really, we've buried him under the Black-eyed Susans just outside our back window - a nice sunny spot, just right for a seasoned sunbather like him.

I've grown so used to having to maneuver my feet around him in bed to rollover that I'm either not going to sleep, or be feeling a phantom weight on the bed for a while...

Goobye Tigger, sleep in peace.

Correction

Hi all!

Minor correction wrt the french tatting book....
The patterns are diagrammed, but the stitch counts are in the long hand instructions.
However so far I haven't had too much trouble putting two and two together, as the photographs of the finished products are pretty good.

Just thought I'd better clarify that!

I've created a brand new UFO for this year out of this book, lets' see if I can get it done by, oh, say Easter. =)

Happy tatting!

Happy 2011!

Hi all! Happy 2011! Have just looked at my 2010 posts, could've sworn I'd posted something since July, but apparently not.... Forget mobiles, where's the brain-computer interface when you need one?? =) Haven't finished much in the way of tatted UFOs, but the major one (DS#2) got done about 10 days ahead of schedule.... Bub turned up in a bit of a hurry. He gave us a bit of a fright by being completely the wrong way up at 38 weeks, and spinning back to wrong way up after being turned by the doc, prompting the doc to schedule him for delivery by cesarean in 3 days time. Bub didn't like the sound of that, and I went into labour the same night. Luckily for all concerned, he'd managed to get himself in the right position by then, so labour was kicked along with some drugs so as not to give him the chance to turn again! Anyway, here he is, the cause of all the concern:

Needless to say, not a lot of tatting has happened recently. =) I did however manage to get some Christmas related stuff done beforehand. I've been doing a few snowflakes in spare moments during the year to put in with Christmas cards. Of course, I've forgotten to take a pic of those sent, but the ones below are pretty indicative of which ones I've been doing this year. The enlarged pics are the ones I did the most of.

These are mostly from Jon Yusoff's book "Tatted Snowflake Collection". The left two in the middle row are from "Tatted Snowflakes" by Vida Sunderland. I've added the beads to sparkle them up a bit. The doily below is from Jan Stawasz's book "Tatting Theory and Patterns". It's just called "Doily" on page 65. A friend will be getting this for Christmas (rather belatedly), but she doesn't know that yet. =)

It's extra special, as it incorporates one-of-a-kind feline derived fibres.

Translation - the cat wouldn't budge, so it's full of cat hair. When you're being sat on by a 10ish kilo (20 pound) cat, you *stay* sat on. I swear he put on weight in the 4 days I was in hospital, so he's now on a diet! No, it's not Tigger (my usual svelte tatting companion), this is Greebo - the runt of the litter (no, really!).

He's just a (reeeeeaally big, and very soft!) softie. =)

In the Santa stakes, I asked for (and received) some size 80 Lizbeth thread to try out, and tatting book in French called "Frivolite dentelle au navettes" by Pascale Provost. (Pardon the lack of accent on the "e" of "Frivolite", can't figure that out at present.)

It's a hardcover book completely in French (which I don't speak, but can guess at bits and pieces of). The photos are good, and the patterns are diagrammed with stitch counts and different colours for different rounds, as well as being in longhand. Also has a lot of instructions (and photos) about basic techniques. I picked up a new thread joining in method I hadn't used before, so that was good.

I came across the book from following up Pascale's work from Snowy's blog. I really like geometric patterns, which this book has in spades.

Now how to force myself to finish some UFO's instead of just creating more from this and Jan's book??? I have plenty of will power - it's the won't power I'm lacking. =)

Have a good 2011!