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!

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!

Would this catch on?

Tigger (aka Tigger the TatCat) is just such an obliging lace model (as you can see from my profile pic.) Pardon the wonky bits in the lace, not all of it has been blocked yet.

Truth is, like most cats, if it's warm enough, still enough, and not too much effort to get to, it'll get sat on. Me tatting provides pretty much all of that. However, Tigger has trained himself to ignore shuttles. Unfortunately our other cat still gets an insane gleam in his eye if he's on my lap and one dangles within batting distance (or I'm two-shuttle tatting and one gets dropped on him).... I have to face him the other way and pat him 'til he forgets about it if I want to keep my lapwarmer. =)

This pattern looks so good on Tigger...would lacy cat coats catch on do you think? =)

I've probably messed it up for using for a show now, but it was worth to see that "I look GOOD in this" look on that furry little face. It had some accidental scorch marks on it from the initial blocking that I had to wash out (grumblemumblestupidstuffupgrumble), so it's not really show worthy anymore anyway (washing's a bit of a no-no for shows down here).

That's it for now.... Hopefully I'll have one of my other UFO hankies that I've been too lazy to stitch up done soon. =)

Happy tatting!

Cas.

What a weird day....

Hi all!

I'm afraid this post probably has a bare minimum of tatting content, so feel free to skip over.

My apologies in advance for the huge, rambling length of this, at least hopefully it'll be out of my head!

Tatting stuff first....Well, I've finished a UFO! Yay!!!! Here it is in all it's glory below. However, actually finishing something is not the weird bit.

For non-Aussies, today's the 1st anniversary of Black Saturday, i.e. the horrific bushfires that started on this day in Victoria last year. For a bit of a summary, wikipedia's probably good enough. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Saturday_bushfires

That day would have been memorable enough simply for being the hottest day in the state of Victoria in settled history (46C). I don't live in the bushfire zone, but getting through that day with a toddler and no aircon, too hot to open anything for a bit of fresh air (until things start burning).... Not fun. Other than that, my family and friends were thankfully not affected (or at least didn't suffer direct physical damage), but it's hard not to think of those that were today....

What's weird is the weather today as compared to last year - it's a very mild February so far, so there I was, sitting out in the back yard this morning with my tatting, beautiful blue sky all around, not a breath of a breeze, watching DT doing a bit of installation art on a rosebush with the clothes pegs.... Last year, I was hardly game to stick my nose out the door it was that hot, it hadn't even dropped below 30C the previous night....

Anyway, amongst other things, Feb the 7th was a meeting day for the local tatters guild. My car was so far out of service I wasn't game to drive the 40mins to get there, and I had no idea what 46C would do to the tyres on my poor little buzz box, so I bunkered down with my boys to wait for that cool change.

However we apparently had even MORE people turn up than usual! There were a few people from the at risk areas that found they couldn't get home at the end of the day due to road blocks.

My heart was in my mouth for about 48 hours when I realised I couldn't contact a friend in one of the affected areas - you can imagine my relief when she finally checked in.

Given that I had been told some time previous that I was essentially godparent to her shuttle collection, there were some pretty afwful images going through my head involving molten metal and plastic (and worse).....

When I finally did see her face to face at another meeting, found out that she had been safer than her collection, as she was out of harm's way, but the collection was at a friend's .....in Kinglake (i.e. ground zero). Friends, shuttles and all are well, but the skin still crawls...

Add to this, one of my work colleagues has been a CFA (country fire authority) volunteer for some years, so I knew there was a pretty good chance he would be out fighting fires. When the stories started coming out just how bad things were, I was not so much worried for his safety, as for what he would be dealing with.

He came through, but I haven't asked him anything about it. As it is, his crew had to rescue another crew that ran into trouble in Kinglake.

Some years previously, I had been on a pretty massive tatting kick at work, building up to getting married later in the year. Somehow I got diverted onto bookmarks. Andrew decided one of these was just the thing for his MIL's birthday, so I got my first commission. (Yay!)

MIL was suitably impressed, and asked "But how do I keep it flat??" Andrew: "Keep it in the book!"

I got roundly told off by same for not having had any tatting in the Royal Show that year, as he'd made an effort to go and look for it. I suspect my impending nuptials were seen as bit of a weak excuse. =)

To see what Andrew's crew got up to, there's a summary at http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/our-volunteers-are-there-with-a-helping-hand-whenever-it-is-needed.
The full version (in Andrew's words) is at http://www.wongaparkcfa.au.eu.org/KinglakeRescue.html

There are also pics of his crew.

Well, that's Feb the 7th out of my system for this year - let's hope we don't see its likes again for a long, looooooong time - never's probably too much to hope for.