Saturday, May 24, 2008

While it annoys me when people refer to some other kind of lace as tatting, it really honks me off when people blatantly claim something is tatting when it is not - AND - I can't even find a place to contact them and let them know. All links seem to lead to more misrepresentation OR an ad to buy a CD of vintage tatting patterns ( that you can get free at the Antique Pattern Library). They couldn't even spell FREE right. (yes, this is a continuation of my soapbox rant about people scamming and taking advantage of others)

Last night I tatted another motif from Vida Sunderman's book, Tatting for Tomorrow, from page 44. This one is a triangular motif and I improvised on the tail again to turn it into a bookmark. I used split rings of increasing size and a lockstitch chain between the sets of split rings. I don't particularly care for the clover at the end and if I were to do it over, I would simply make a single ring or an onion ring, probably with picots. The clover is okay, but it seems a bit out of place as far as the character of the rest of the tail. But who knows? Maybe if I'd done the single ring, I wouldn't have absolutely loved it either.

I went to the Greenfield Tatting Guild today - the first time since last October, I think. As I mentioned in my Mother's Day post, their Tat Day is June 27th-28th.

Kaye went to an embroidery conference last month and brought back lots of funky threads to play with, as you can see sampled here. These are all bigger threads, largely for cross-stitch and embroidery, but when you're playing, that doesn't matter.

We used the same pattern to try each of these threads out but there were a few that we only tatted chains with so I used thread I commonly use for the rings and reduced the number of stitches for the chains since that thread was so much bigger. One at the bottom is a furry type of thread, a yarn almost like angora. Felt divine but I'm not sure what you could tat with it. I did try a ring with it and it got bound up even though I tatted loosely.

The second sample in the first column is a "velvet" thread that also felt somewhat like suede. It made a very nice neat chain but using it in a ring didn't work. It snapped the outer layer off, leaving the nylon core. It would make some beautiful embroidery though. I liked one of the really sparkly threads to look at the colors, but not to tat with. I probably wouldn't tat with any of them but it was a fun break!

Kaye has another book in draft form almost ready for the printer so watch for it.

I ended up buying some new thread - I don't think I have these colors, at least not in size 30. They are Omega threads, plus the deep purple is Handy Hands size 50 and the variegated is Olympus size 40.

There was this garage sale I passed on the way to tatting guild and I just had to stop on my way home. I wasn't there long but it didn't take me long to spot this box of goodies for $5.00. It has tons of acrylic paint and spools of ribbon besides the other odds and ends. That just sort of made my day complete...almost.

THIS is what made my day complete! I won't tell you what happened, but it's like all the others - action, humor, romance...

12 comments:

  1. I LOVE OMEGA THREAD. Ever since my sweetie brought me some from Puerto Rico. They come in HUGE balls for very decent prices in LOVELY colours. They're not the best in terms of quality to tat that I've tried in but all things considering, I think they're the BOMB! Have fun tatting in them!

    I watched Indie yesterday with the family. IT ROCKED. GO CATCH IT! It was so nostalgic!

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  2. Are you referring to the Google alert for tatting patterns this morning... the one that was obviously crochet? That one got me fired up too!

    Your bookmark is very pretty! I still haven't tried split rings yet. I promise I will... once school is out.

    I want to see Indy so much! I saw the first one a month before my oldest daughter was born. I went with my mom, and she was sure I was going to have the baby in the theater!

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  3. I saw that same link and got torked too! It is a bunch of rubbish ads.
    I am trying to avoid all things Indy right now. I won't get to watch it for another week or so and I don't want anything spoiled when I do finally get to see it.

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  4. Your post made me laugh. My pet peeve is when people refer to tatting as CROCHET...argh..
    Enough of that, though. I think it's totally cool that you got to go and try out all those cool fibers. Sounds fun. I think Elizabeth managed to make a beautiful pendant out of that velvet thread with rings and chains. It was in her etsy shop so I was going to say you could look at it there just to see it, but I have no idea if it sold or not.
    Nonetheless, Happy Tatting and enjoy your box of goodies you got at the garage sale.

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  5. I HATED that google link too.

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  6. Add my vote to the others about that google link! The bookmark is delicious, the thread is very pretty, the yard sale was a great find and I can't wait to see that movie!

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  7. Garage sales (in US that is) are like a treasure trove. You never know what you can get. And I love making bookmarks - not so big and small a project and it really makes great gifts.

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  8. I like the tail of your bookmark. The clover rather echoes the triangle of the beginning motif; that seems very suitable.
    We saw the new Indiana Jones last night -- it was great! When the release it on DVD it's going to be on our shelves!

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  9. We too saw it y-day evening. All was there - the laugh, his signature. His my fav hero.

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  10. I didn't have time to look into your blog until Laura pointed this out to me.

    The picture use in te link that you gave is a picture on MY snowflake. I designed it and posted in my Flickr album. Here is the link
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/imbasanrasa/2494842228/

    I uploaded it on May 15th and nobody had written to me asking for permission to use that photo. This is so bad.

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  11. Gotta admit Gina, I cringed when I read the bit here about people claiming something is tatting, and it isn't. I can recognise Tatting about 60% of the time, but if I'm not sure, I don't say outright that 'this is tatting'. I was so appreciative of you finding the photo of the crocheted cloth on my blog and letting me know that it is crochet, and not tatting. Now that I look at it, I can see that it isn't tatting. I found a lovely little hand stitched cloth today, and was so tempted to buy it, because I am 90% sure the edge is tatting! But I didn't buy it. If it is still there next time I go to that op-shop, I will get it.

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  12. Gine E - LOL! So sorry - you probably "felt" an earful here! We work hard at getting tatting recognized for what it is - and yes, many people call tatting crochet or knitting. I don't mind "educating" but the person in the website we are talking about is probably not interested in learning. Almost everyone I have ever contacted on ebay or etsy to let them know what their piece of lace really was has been very pleasant to talk with and happy to have the information.

    :-) Gina

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