Shuttle page!

Hi all!

I'm slowly (very slowly) getting the images from my old site up onto this one.  So now there's a shiny new "Shuttles" tab on this page.

Most of them you'll have seen before from the old one, but once the old stuff is up I can start putting up the new(er) stuff.  (It's been a few years since I've put any up).

Enjoy!

Happy 2014!

Hi all!

As you can see, my blog's had a slight makeover.  Apart from the colour scheme, there's also now a tab called "doilies", which is old stuff I've completed previously.

These are from my old homepage (http://home.vicnet.net.au/~castats/), which unfortunately will be defunct in a week or so, as vicnet is dropping their free webhosting for personal/hobby pages. (Waaaah!)

So I'll be adding a few new tabs here to hold all my old stuff.  Still got snowflakes, hankies and shuttles to go...... May take a while.

So what did I get finished in 2013?? Not a lot.  But here's a couple I forgot to show you.  These were my entries for the 2013 Royal Melbourne Show.  I got a "commended" for one of them, but can't remember which one.

"Doily XIV" from "Tatted Treasures" by Jan Stawasz

"Doily Set" from "Tatting Theory and Patterns" by Jan Stawasz

So sad that Jan has now passed away, his books will become tatting classics I'm sure.

So now to pick what to finish for this year's show...... =)

Have a great year!

~ Cas.

I Aten't Dead......

Hi all!  Seeing as it's been almost two years since my last post, I thought I'd better check in.  =)

I've been wracking my memory to try and figure out where the last two years have gone...

What I HAVE been doing...

- working
- toddler wrangling
- getting addicted to geneaology
- knitting (with not a lot to show for it)
- crocheting (with marginally more to show for it)
- starting more ufos

What I HAVEN'T been doing....
- sleeping
- winning any lotteries
- finishing UFOs

I'm starting to think I should  rename this blog "Unfinished Fibrous Objects" as I'm just as bad at finishing knitted and crocheted stuff as the tatting....
Anyway, if I only show you the finished stuff, this post would hardly be worth looking at.  So I've bitten the bullet and catalogued the true horrific volume of my unfinished stuff as well (at least the stuff that didn't get chopped off and chucked out anyway.)   I think some of it's going to be declared "as finished as it's ever going to get", because

(a) it's so old my tension is probably completely different by now
(b) I can't remember/find the pattern
(c) all of the above.

And of course I've done my usual trick of giving stuff away without taking pics.  Considering they were probably snowflakes, you're not missing much.  =)


So on to the quick stuff first - STUFF I'VE FINISHED!!!!!

Just a note on the photography - in the interests of getting this done in a night and not a week, I resorted  to blocking stuff on the ironing board and taking pics with my phone.  Hopefully I'll be able to fight my way through to the scanner for better pics when (if) they're actually finished.  (Except the ones that won't fit!)

This is a Jan Stawasz pattern, but can't remember if this is from his first or second book.....

I should get double brownie points for this one, as I made two of these - the first was larger (size 10 cotton), for a cousin's wedding gift.  Had to make another for me.  =)

This is my first ever crocheted baby blanket, made for my hubby's nephew.  The pattern is called "Tumbling Teddies" but by whom and from which magazine is lost in the mists of time and my Mum's memory.  ( I realllly wish all craft mags would put their name and edition in the footer of their pages!)

As you can see, Greebo approved.  =)

I've recently embarked on a second one ..... Nothing like a bit of creative procrastination to stop me from finishing off more UFOs.  =)

On the down side, in the last two years, we have become catless, with Greebo's kidneys giving up last year.  Waiting for DS#2 to grow up a bit before embarking on pet ownership again.

I can't help but think that although Greebo tolerated being crashtackled and treated as a pillow by DS#2 with incredibly good grace, (a) it wouldn't be kind to a kitten, and (b) it may not have done Greebo's kidneys much good!

.... And now on to the stuff I HAVEN'T finished, which is much more numerous and varied.  =)

I was going to order these, but I'll be all night, so I'll just go with the order they uploaded in..... Many of these are from Prehistory ( B.C. - before children. )

If you think reading this will completely depress you and convince you of my inability to finish things, go and have a look at the "Doilies" tab, it's got lots of finished stuff from my old site.  =)

1) Fairly sure this is from the last half decade.....So near and yet so far...... It looks like it could be finished just like that, but......

.... something went wrong on that last side...... I either stuffed up the stitch count, picked it up after a while with a different tension, or both...... Either way, the size of the tatting changed, and there's nothing for it but scissors somewhere back around the last corner.... Arrrrgh!

2) Memory fails me.  Possibly B.C.  It's a stalled attempt on a tatted waist coat.  Forget improved health, if there was less of me to get around this would have a greater chance of being finished..... The pattern's from "Tatting with Burda"... I think....

3) Another possible BC project.  From "Occhi".  As nights are peak tatting time now, alas night time and small thread don't go together as well for me as they once did.  ( Yep.  Admitted defeat and got reading glasses.  Struggling to read the back of a Panadol bottle at 2am convinced me. )

 4) Almost certainly BC.  Found out that this DMC colour had been discontinued, so I was going to blow it all in one go.  Then I accumulated quite a bit MORE of it, and ..... well.  I think this is "as finished as it's getting."  Out of Judith Connors first book.

5)  A Mary Konior pattern (Tatting with Visual Patterns).  Definitely BC.  I struggle a bit with this one, I love it in the book, but my versions never look as good.  Think it's stopping here.

      6) This is relatively recent.  Just requires me to find the pattern again.... Can't remember if it's an edging pattern, or a straight edge I just decided I could get to go around a corner.... Someday.

7)  Another waistcoat false start.  This might morph into a rectangular doiley........

8) Fairly recent (last year or two?)  Another Jan Stawasz pattern.

9)  I think it's BC, but not sure.... It's from a Coats pattern book, remember that much.  Think I was finding the onion rings a bit annoying.  It will be finished! One day.

10)  Not sure why this one stalled.  It's size 40 Coats (which is now unavailable) and I think I ratted the white for something else.... I'm sure I've still got some, just need to find it (and the pattern) .....

...

 11)  This is BC.  Can't quite remember which book, but it's one of the ones with reprinted early 1900s patterns.  This was in horribly hard to follow longhand, so I diagrammed it with a stitch count..... One more row to go (once I find where I stashed it).... will make a great collar/necklace..... Don't ask where I'll wear it though, bit over the top for work.  =)

12)  From a dover book.  Fairly recent, just felt like doing something that went round and round and round at the time.  I stall on motifs sometimes.

13)  A definite "Someday".  Pretty sure it's BC.  It's "A Tatted Charm" from the Tatter's Treasure Chest (Dover) - I think.  My one and only ball of size 200 cotton (that's not a typo)..... I wasn't too sure how far the ball would get me, so a hanky died to make the centre - it's about a quarter the size of the usual ladies hanky.  Hopefully if it ever sees the light of day, people will be looking at the tatting and not my imperfect hemstitching.

 Definitely a daytime project, hence not much progress lately! 

14) Another Dover pattern.  Either I'll track it down, or this will be designated a very ornate snowflake and stop here.  I think option B is the most likely.

15) Fairly recent. A "Tatting with Muriel" pattern from a 1970something "Old Time Needlework".  Some interesting things in those mags if you see them.  =)
This is a rather large project, and really needs a picot gauge to be sure of getting it right.  I've probably misplaced the one I started with. so might have to start again.....

.

16)  Last but definitely not least.... In fact my largest UFO.... Another Jan Stawasz pattern, doing it in size 10 so it's the size it's meant to be.  Still got a few more rows to go yet, and dwarfs the ironing board....

 Well, that's it for UFOs.  Next time a new pattern or crisp new ball of cotton tempts me, I must look at this page first!!

Any votes on what I should finish first?? =)

Happy Tatting!

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!