The first class project from Tat Days is the Ring of Clovers.  The class was taught by Paige Deputy and was my first successful attempt at tatting over a plastic ring, aka "cabone".

I see that my tension isn't consistent since the rings and chains aren't mirrored exactly, even though there are the same number of stitches.  However, for a class project it turned out very well.  Usually the things I make while learning have more flaws.  Once I've made a pattern and have more confidence it turns out better.

The thread for this one is "Serendipity" by AlenAleaDesign.  You can find her on Etsy.  The colors are a bit brighter in real life than what my scanner captured.

Here's a closeup of a section of Morning Crocus.  Karey says she paints the colors on, rather than dip dyeing; it's more obvious when you can see a bit of the skein itself.

Last month I went to Palmetto Tat Days in Toccoa, GA, again.  This year I was able to get some HDT from Karey Solomon.  I had heard of her wonderful thread, but somehow missed it last year.  (How, I don't know, unless she had a much smaller supply then).  I'm still winding the new threads onto bobbins but wanted to share some of them first.  A couple, like Kilt, aren't as impressive on the bobbin as they were in the skein, unfortunately.  I bought 14 different colors; here are some of them.  The first one is bamboo, not cotton, and is really soft.  Karey says it's more absorbent, too, and makes great coasters.  I told her I live in the land of no humidity, so I rarely use coasters.  :-)

I'm not sure if I'm more enchanted by the colors or by the names.  In addition to the ones below, I also have Early Spring, Jellyfish, Spring Morning Lakeside, Toodles, and Verdigris.

Isn't it pretty?  I think/hope the colors show up fairly accurately.

Grape Hyacinth

Midnight Breeze

Morning Crocus

Kilt, view 1

Kilt, view 2 (the other side of the bobbin)

It Might Be Magic, view 1

It Might Be Magic, view 2

Ellie

Shepherd's Warning

My job involves handling a lot of paper, and combined with low humidity here (today it was a whopping 10%) my hands get really dry. I reached for the lotion in my tatting bag...and fortunately noticed this before I put it on my hands....

Minor Flying Norwegian Dragon

I've been working on a Minor Flying Norwegian Dragon, a free pattern by Anne Bruvold.  She says there are more dragons that haven't been discovered yet, and I think the one I've seen around here is the Desert Sunset Dragon.  Once I finish the green one I have the perfect Southwestern blend for a second one.

I only have the body done so far.  (Forgive the lint; the cat's been sleeping on my sweatpants when I'm not in them.)

The pattern calls for Single Shuttle Split Rings, but I don't have the patience for that just now.  Later on the pattern requires two shuttles, so that's what I started with and just made regular split rings.  I'm using size 10 Lizbeth 680, and the extra bulk of the SSSR was too noticeable in that size thread, too.  (That's my story and I'm sticking with it!)  ☺

The wing pattern was not making sense to me at first, but I think I have it now.  I'll keep you posted!

Rings, split rings and single shuttle split rings

If you're not a tatter, there's probably no way for me to effective describe the difference between rings, split rings and single shuttle split rings.  Rings are basic tatting elements; the shuttle thread makes a ring and comes back to the beginning to meet the ball of thread.  Fine, if you only want rings to the side of the piece.  If you want rings in line, like beads on a thread, you have to use both threads so they can both end at the same place.  This means working with two shuttles, stitching backwards, all sorts of fiddly bits.  If you only have one shuttle, it gets even more complicated.  I have a pattern that I want to make (a flying dragon), that requires single shuttle split rings.  After three tries, I think I have it down.  I can't show you the first one because the ring fell apart completely.  Here are the second and third tries.  The first one became a lower-case "e" because I forgot that the goal was to end at the other side of the ring, not back at the beginning.  The third one came out right.  It's going to take a bit more practice to feel comfortable with the process, but I've made a good start.

I used size 3 thread so I could clearly see what was going on.  The first ring was in size 20, in a solid color, and it was too small to compare with the instructions.

TIAS Day 3

Day 3 of the TIAS is up, and finished.  Today was all split chains, which I enjoy.  My other challenge for today is to learn Single Shuttle Split Chains, so I can move on to the dragon pattern that I want to make for the back of my denim shirt.

It's too soon to guess what it will be, although at this point it looks like a mask with a handle.

TIAS, 2017 edition

Jane Eborall's 2017 TIAS  is off to a grand start.  The instructions say to use size 20, and a variegated thread would work well.  I've chosen Lizbeth 128.  The second half of the project will require some size 11 beads.  My stash is primarily purples and leaf greens, neither of which goes with my thread.  I don't know what color beads will work best so I ordered 14 new colors in reds, blues, and yellows, as well as some iridescent blacks.


This is Day 1:  (sorry about the bad photo; it's only about an inch long at this point.)

And Day 2:

 Stay tuned!

TIAS starts tomorrow!

Jane Eborall's Tat It And See for 2017 starts tomorrow!  After looking at the introduction I'm really excited.  The "normal" skills are there, like rings and chains and split rings.  This year she's also including an alligator join (which I have done exactly one time already) and zig zag chains, which I've never heard of but they look like fun.  One of the best parts about Jane's tatting game is that she includes links to her instruction pages; they are so well-done with great instructions and very clear diagrams.  I always learn something from TIAS, and I'm sure this one will be the same.

More ornaments

Once again I tried the Lucky Penny pattern, only this time with beads.  It solved the problem of the picots not laying flat.  I made one with a 2016 penny for a wedding gift, with the bride's colors of silver and Tardis blue (or as close as I could get.)  Then I made one in red for a birthday gift.  Then I got to work on making some for Christmas ornaments.  I was really pleased with the results.  Even better, my nephew made comments about magic fingers and dark arts.

The mail arrived.  I have a top-secret project in mind for these, if I can just figure out the Japanese method of diagramming.  It looks fairly straightforward.  The main thing will be to settle on a pattern to start with instead of hopping from picture to picture.

I went to Santa Fe last weekend to see some friends and some fall color.  I didn't want to go empty-handed, so I made a little suncatcher with one of those glass blobs that they use to fill vases.  The thread is by Marilee Rockley; the name of it is Hello October so it seemed like the ideal choice for this project.  The glass has an iridescent sheen that didn't photograph well, but I think will show up in real life.

The pattern is from the Facebook Tatters files, and was designed by Carolyn Craig to be made with a sixpence.  The central round is made twice, than the second round connects the two pieces and sandwiches the glass.  Then there's a third round with triple picots.  It was easy enough that I'm thinking about making some for Christmas gifts.

One of the classes I took at Toccoa was the Broomstick Picot Star, designed by Martha Ess.  I didn't get very far with it during that weekend, but I've finished it now.  I'd never done broomstick picots before, but I really like the way they sweep across the negative space.  As with most new techniques, there are places that I'm not happy with, but I'm comfortable enough with the pattern now that I'm sure the next one will turn out better.

Tat Days

For a few years now I've been wanting to go to Tat Days sponsored by the Palmetto Tatters.   It's held on the weekend after Labor Day, and for five years I've been in Temple with the Society of American Miniaturists for the Wonderful Workshop Weekend.  Well, this year I'm no longer on the SAM board, and I got to go to Toccoa for Tat Days!  My sisters and I made a 10-day trip out of it, and went to Asheville, NC and Atlanta, GA after Tat Days.

I met some great people and got to be all "tatting fan girl" for a couple of days.  Jane Eborall, Marilee Rockley, Karey Solomon, Georgia Seitz, Sherry Pence - I got to meet them all!  I took six classes, each one was 90 minutes long so I didn't finish any of the projects (yet) but I learned a lot.  I overheard a conversation about split rings (where else does that happen??) and made jokes about thread size.  

The Georgia Baptist Convention Center is located in the middle of tree-covered mountains, with a lake just outside of the dining hall.  Since I don't have photos of my projects (yet!) I'll leave you with some scenery.

1I started this blog with such good intentions!

I finally get to  go to Palmetto Tatters' Tat Days  I've been wanting to for years, but had other obligations that weekend.  Now that's over, I can't wait to go immerse myself in a world of tatting for a couple of days.

Choosing the classes I wanted was a bit of a challenge.  As with miniatures, I went more for new techniques rather that interesting patterns.  I'll get the CD with all of the patterns anyway.  Okay, I admit, I did choose one class for the teacher more than the piece.  Jane Eborall's blog and website pages have been incredibly instrumental in my tatting abilities.  Of course I want to take her class!

I've picked out the threads I want to use for each class.  Now I need to choose beads for Jane's class and do all the prep work for the various classes, then get it all packed.  The hardest part may be choosing which of my many containers will be the most efficient for the weekend.

Toccoa, here I come!

Tree bracelet

Months and months ago I purchased a bracelet pattern. I've finally settled on three colors of thread for it, and now I'm looking for the right beads. In the process I've found beads that go with a lot of my other threads. I'm waiting for another bead order to arrive, so my plan is to take this pattern, add some of my autumn-toned beads and have something to go with the season. I'm not sure what I'll wear it with, but it might look okay with my deep reddish purple shirts. (I don't wear fall colors.) Fingers crossed!

Teaching tatting

I don't know if she got the tatting bug, but I did my best. She did like the motifs enough to hang one at work. Seeing that sign, you can tell we share the same priorities. :-)

Too long

I've been away from my shuttles for too long! So many things have happened and I just haven't had the necessary focus for tatting. In August I went to Santa Fe for Indian Market. I'd been invited by friends but turned them down at first; I wasn't sure I could cope with the crowds that were sure to be at Market. Then a dear friend died and I realized that I needed to get away, even if only for a weekend. The drive to Santa Fe is about five hours, counting stops at Santa Rosa and the Turquoise Trail. Tatting seemed like a good thing to pass the time. I happened to mention it to our hostess and she said she'd like to learn tatting. I gave her a brief lesson, not enough to really help, but enough to show her that the flip is the key to success. When we got home I made a couple of motifs to send to her as a thank you. The initial motif is #30 from Minitats, and the second one is adapted from that. I followed the pattern but didn't get the same result as the sample in the book so I added a few stitches to the chains and subtracted a few from the rings. Here's the result:

The bottom one is the original; I didn't like the way the two rings were so close together so I made the chains a bit longer on the second one. I also made the four rings a bit smaller. I chose this pattern because it reminds me of the Zia symbol. I used Lizbeth 125, Sea Scape, in size 10.

Goodbye, Max.

For a long time I've been reluctant to tat at home, especially a piece intended for someone else. See, I had this cat. Max. Max was furry. His white fur was just as fine and clingy as any spider web. I'd be tatting along and not notice until I was done that Max's white fur was tatted into the piece. It probably didn't help matters that Max liked to sit in my lap in the evening, so his fur was on my clothes, on the fleece throw, on the chair, in my eyes.... Always in my eyes. Since Max was getting older, I didn't want to deprive him of a warm lap in the evenings, so tatting was relegated to break time at work.

A few weeks ago Max's diabetes started to get out of control. The vet advised upping the dosage, then lowering, then increasing, but we couldn't keep his glucose steady no matter what. Last Tuesday he was lying on the bed, rubbing his face against the blanket and moving his legs back and forth. It was the same behavior as when his blood sugar crashed a few weeks ago. I grabbed the bottle of Karo syrup and gave him three different "shots" but he stayed the same. I took him to the vet and asked that they keep him for observation even though his glucose was reading 75. I checked back on him at dinner and was allowed to take him home. I opened the crate for him and left the room; when I came back a couple of minutes later he was in full seizure. I took him back to the vet and they decided to keep him overnight. I visited him about 9:30 pm and he was still swinging his head back and forth, but not so much. He didn't seem like he knew I was there, though. The vet said he may have had some cerebral edema, but she wasn't ready to give up on him yet. I stayed about 20 minutes, until the office closed. I called the next morning and they told me to check back later that evening. When I stopped by to see him I had hopes of taking him home, but I could tell he was worse instead of better. I made an appointment with the vet for 8 pm, and went to my sister's house to talk it through, but I knew what needed to be done.


Goodbye, my friend.

Day 11 of the TIAS project is complete. I had to do some studying to make sure I was using the right shuttle and even took out the last lock chain and re-did it, but I think I have it right now. And look! Scissors! I'm in love. What a cute pattern, and a sweet little learning process to boot. I still have trouble with the very small picots, but I don't usually work in size 20 thread. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.)

I didn't make as much progress on Sunday as I had hoped, and after working on it again today I'm really frustrated with the Sine Wave bookmark. I don't know if I have misread the pattern, or if my tension is too loose, but it's just not coming together right. I'm definitely going to redo that last chain, though. I've told myself that I need to finish it, if nothing else so I can figure out how to change it for next time. But honestly, this is a very frustrating project. It's a pretty simple design and should look a whole lot better than it does.

Sunday I wangled this heirloom from my sister. It's yards and yards of Grandma Deck's tatting. The colors didn't photograph quite right, but it's a lovely variegated yellow and purple thread. There are some places where she obviously ran out of thread, tied on a new piece and kept on tatting. I suspect this was something she did in the evenings and her fingers just tatted along without her brain having to be involved. I'm struck by the evenness of the picots, the consistent spacing between rings, and the sheer quantity of it. I really wish I could have seen her tatting, but she lived too far away and I hardly knew her.