I started this yesterday and haven't had time to get back to it. I'm off within the hour to Hector - will have much to write about I hope) when I come back. Got both cameras.

Someone asked me about a pattern in the Lacis book, THE TATTED LACE DESIGNS OF EMMY LIEBERT so I was looking through it earlier this week. There are so many interesting motifs in there! I already have way too much planned this coming week or I would bring it along and attempt to figure out some of the patterns in the evenings.

Free hen & chicks pattern at the Yarnhaus. This is a wonderful rings only pattern for a beginner. I made this edging for cotton dishtowels one Christmas and as an edging on a drawstring bag another time. It goes fast once you're started and it's so lacy.

Only $4.50? This is a lovely guest towel with a tatted edging. I wonder if it is real tatting or machine made? Just about every other guest towel they have is more expensive. These are blank for embroidery but I still think the tatted edge towels are too cheap if that is real tatting.

Irish tatting? Don't think so.

And hand tatting unique to China? Don't think so here either!

Tatted yoke/collar on a wedding gown? I'm not sure about the sleeve trim. You can't really see it.

The heart on the right actually does have tatting on it but only $2.95.

An artist's statement?

This artist's piece has inspired some ideas in me!

And something else I saw also inspired another pattern....sigh.......

I'm still too busy to tat. I hope to get a few more hat linings in tonight. I started threading beads for a bigger hat a few nights ago. I won't have time tonight to do more but Friday night will be free. (started 2 days ago...it's Friday now)



Wednesday night Sally & I went to Bette's and worked a teneriffe motif. I finished it up during lunch today. I don't think my knots are right so now I feel driven to make another one so I can do them right. I also screwed up on the interlacing near the end. Bette pointed out where I skipped over a thread pair this morning.








It's that time of year! Tanya sent me this at Christmas .......will I get around to tatting something with it? I'm sure gonna try! And then I'll have to make a basket to go with it...and a bunny....and all those Easterly things. Oh wait! I have a lavander bunny - they will go together perfectly!






When I got home tonight, I had the County Fair booklet in the mail. I have a few things in mind to make to enter. It helps me to see the categories.










Here are the hats I'm making for Hector. I might not need any of them, in which case they will probably go on Ebay - with tatted trims, of course.







And what's this? Well....give me one minute of free time and I start a new project....like I have time to finish it in the next few days.

One of the most frequent tats of beginning tatters who are improving their skills is the bookmark. Once we move on to bigger and more challenging tats, we don't often tat bookmarks. My friend Gail Owens sent me this bookmark which is quite a beautiful example of block tatting. I immediately put it in a book I started reading and it is still there. I haven't had time to do much tatting on my own this week so it seemed a good time to showcase it. Thank you Gail!


I started this filet crochet edging a few weeks ago and finally got far enough to show something recognizable. Sometime back in the 70's when I first started quilting and there wasn't much available about quilting, I mail-ordered "700 Olde Time Needlecraft Designs & Patterns" which included 500 quilt designs, by House of White Birches. It has a bit of everything including tatting, crochet, knitting,hardanger, quilting, and so on. This filet crochet insertion is described as perfect for a child's pillowcase. It has the squirrel, then a tree, then a deer following. It is endearing and has been asking me to make it all these years. I haven't made up my mind yet what I will put it on. Do I really want to give it away? That's the big question! One friend just had a baby girl, another is due to have a boy in a few weeks and a coworker is due months from now. I have plenty of potential recipients. I think it's a squirrel - maybe it's a cat. What do you think?

From Beeton's Book of Needlework, this edging.

Can't you just see little posies in the center of those rings? The leaves are already there!

I spent most of my weekend sewing hats for my class in Hector. I may not need them if people bring their own, but if they don't, I'll have some...red, white, black, and one yellow. Maybe not the yellow - I didn't like the way it turned out.

I made this bookmark for my mother-in-law from my 1st marriage. Her 83rd birthday is Tuesday. The pattern came out of Tatting Special, a House of White Birches publication and was designed by Florence Anthony. I didn't realize this was a collection of patterns by different designers. I should look at these books closer! It was actually a "delicate edging" that I doubled back on itself and turned into a bookmark. The thread is Altin Basak, size 50, color 3053.

I tried to download it earlier today but blogger's upload feature was not working. This evening I managed to get the bookmark loaded but not the filet insert I'm working on. I have the squirrel motif done. Maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow night I've got 4 students. I didn't know until today that it would be tomorrow so I need to figure out what I'm going to prepare here shortly.

Memé Conzález C. has some lovely tatting on her MSN blog. I'll put her link to the side soon but not tonight. If you click on her "slide show" and then "full view" you'll see some eye candy.

Check out Jane Eborall's website for her latest pattern - an enchanting ballerina in two poses.

I was feeling a tad bit guilty about crocheting a shawl to wear for the Feast of the Hunter's Moon after someone reminded me that crochet was not period correct, so I was rummaging around for a knitted version in the Lionbrand yarn site and Knitty, where I stumbled into these Tit Bits, knitted boobies for those who have had a mascectomy. And here is a nosewarmer with tassels, a steering wheel cover, and several other strange things.

How's come I never see anything like that in tatting? LOL!
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Another busy week! I forgot I even started another entry. I have 3 projects going that I've barely been able to touch this week: a knitted shawl, a filet crochet edging, and a tatted bookmark. And Ebay.

LOL! I wanted to acquire some extra size 10 and 11 hooks to use in lace guild and bid on a group that also had some bone handled tools. It arrived today and I was so mad at the mail carrier! He/she stuffed the box into my mailbox - it JUST fit - but I couldn't pull it out. It was caught on the corners. I ended up tearing open the end and inching it out by pulling on the torn spot with one hand and pushing in the corners with the other hand. I'm certain it slid in there a whole lot easier than it came out.

I was really pleased with the contents. I was a little concerned that I had paid too much for them but these in particular are intriguing. The two hooks at the far right are double ended hooks. I've heard of these in much larger sizes for yarn, but not for thread. "Double-Ended - also known as Travel Hooks. One hook size on one end, and one hook size on the other. Saves carrying around too many hooks at once." I found this reference at Karp Styles. It doesn't tell me if they are talking about steel hooks or the bigger ones. This looks like a good question for a very knowledgeable crochet group I belong to.

The 2 hooks in the middle had interesting shafts. One looks like it is part of a set with one of the double ended hooks. I did email the seller to ask if he had any history on this auction item. The hook at the far left - when I made the scan, I was fascinated by the tiny shaft - like steel knitting needles, in 0000 size. After I scanned, I discovered there is an EYE at the other end. I've NEVER seen or heard of a hook like that! Another puzzling question.

As much as I would like to work some lace, I'm not sure I'll get much done tonight. I'm dog tired. My weekend will be spent sewing hats and if I get those done, I'm going furniture shopping. Sent in my taxes this evening!

Apparently, I've been busy. I thought I published this last Friday but I see I didn't - so I just added to it!

Japanese tatting. Scroll down and you'll see some of Inga Madsen's animals. All the tatting on this site is beautiful, but since I just tatted some of the animals, I thought the way she has done them all in the same thread quite nice to look at.

One of the doilies here uses a motif that reminds me that I have some from a coworker that I need to fashion into something for her. They are from a deceased aunt - in black.

It's been awhile since I visited many of these Japanese sites. I'm pleased to see there are some key English words so I know where to find the photos. Here are the records of one tatter's exchanges.

Click on the tiny pink box to the left where it says tatting elephant to see this tatter's version of Pam Palmer's elephant. I was just showing a friend last night the elephant I made for my daughter - who is today 2 years older than when I gave it to her. (Friday March 10)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURIE!!!

Now, at that same site, scroll down to where it says "shawl" and click on the little box below. Isn't that stunning? She also has some knit and crochet items further down the list.

The only tatting I did this weekend was wire tatting at our lace group. I only did a few tiny blossoms. Several members made quite a few florals and some leaves. A few even got little butterflies done! I think they all enjoyed it very much.

They're here!!!! I came home tonight before going to my sister's house for craft night...had to see if Carol's animal motifs arrived. As soon as I saw the package I thought one of them must be a 3D one! And then, before I even got into the house, I was wondering if it was a sock monkey! YES, YES, YES!!!!!

Not only a 3D monkey but a 3D lizard and a 3D owl! She really outdid herself on these. I told her I was taking them so my sister and daughter could see them tonight but I would probably have to handcuff them to me in a locked container if I wanted to be sure to come home with them. Aren't these just incredible?

Thanks so much to Carol Amich!

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I'm not really much of a statistics person but one statistic I do enjoy is looking at the location of visitors to this site. Besides US viewers in 17 states, the following countries had also visited this blog before 9:00 p.m. Wednesday. There was more than one location in many states and countries but I only listed the country once.

Australia
Austria
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Czech Republic
Denmark
Germany
Italy
Japan
Korea, Republic of
Netherlands
Peru
Poland
Portugal
Taiwan
United Kingdom
Venezuela


It gives me goose bumps knowing there are that many tatters AROUND THE WORLD! Don't tell me that tatting is a dying art. Clearly it's alive and well globally! While the names aren't on this day's listing, I've also seen visitors from Ireland, South Africa and Spain. I know there are more than I can think of right now.

One of the things I love about the internet is the way it connects us all. It spawns even greater creativity than we could have possibly dreamed of a decade ago. I know that at least half of the books in my tatting library did not exist 10 years ago - not even 5 years ago.

I started this part about the visitors last night. Not much more to say other than I'm thrilled to know there are tatters worldwide!

I signed up for a Round Robin Animal exchange on Maus's site a long long time ago. That site is now defunct I believe. Another person who signed up for it contacted me about a private exchange since we didn't get to follow through on the round robin and she already had hers tatted up! We agreed to exchange 3, so I was busy this weekend trying to catch up!

The dolphin is from Becky Dempsey's Bugs & Beasts! I couldn't find an online site for her book but I'm sure it's still available. I think you can buy it directly from Becky. The giraffe is from Tatted Animals by Inga Madsen. I've made him before....the block tatting is a challenge but fun. I remembered to put the eye bead on the thread before winding the shuttles! The (blue?)robin is from Tatting for 2005 by the Ring of Tatters. The design is by Anthea Rowley. I was quite intrigued by the photograph and was just looking for an excuse to make it. It came out a little larger than I first expected, about 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" tatted from both perle cotton size 12 and Finca size 16. I forgot to string my bead on that one and had to attach it later. It's not in the instructions to tat it in, but I had seen it was needed before I started and meant to add it while tatting instead of later. It did seem to involved hiding a lot of ends, but I think it's worth it, one of the best bird patterns I've seen to date.

I was holding off on publishing this entry until I knew Carol A. had received it. I rushed home after hearing she got it hoping to have hers in my mailbox because I knew she mailed on the same day - but it's not here yet. Sigh...... LOL!

I'm thinking of taking a nap right now, if I can keep it under an hour so I don't stay up until 2:00 a.m. I was drying my hair this morning and did one of those twist/turn things apparently in the wrong way and put a nice kink in my neck. I just used a heating pad on it, but I think a little snooze might be just the thing!

Romanian Point Lace.....I finally finished the strip I am practicing with. The mistakes are mostly at the beginning and the end. At the end, I forgot to connect the last 2 loops. The weaving is best in the middle when I was well into it. It's been a few weeks since I worked on it - forgot half of what I knew. It looks better off of the muslin than on it. I'm anxious now to make a real piece!

I scrunched it up too so it wouldn't make such a big scan.

March already! It was a busy week.

Two days at a safety conference where my ride picked me up at 6:45 a.m. I was grateful for that. Otherwise, I had to be in at campus to leave by 6:30 a.m.

Then 2 work days that were packed. Thursday night was craft night at my sister's and we also celebrated my granddaughter's 13th birthday. She liked loved the tulip bag!

On Friday, I visited a friend in Indy before I went to the tatting guild in Greenfield. It was her birthday the day before so I took her to a birthday lunch and gave her a CD and this kitty cat bookmark tatted from Dianna Stevens' Animal Bookmark book.



I met her at the Half-Price Bookstore, one of my favorite bookstores to shop in. There are none in Lafayette, so it's always a treat.

I browsed while waiting for her and almost immediately stumbled on this Tatting Book! A book I've never seen or heard of before! It's by Bernadett Baldelli and translated from French into English. It has about 20 patterns in it, skill level from * to *** which I assume is beginner, intermediate and advanced. It was published in 1999. I think it would be a good beginner book. It has drawings of several different stitches, diagrams and written directions and would give a beginner something to shoot for with some experience without being overwhelming. There are no split rings or split chains but there are beads in a few projects. I don't really see where any of the projects are advanced.

After leaving my friend, I headed over to Zig-Zag corner where Lily Morales and Ruth Perry were hanging out for the day. I met Lily last year at Palmetto's briefly, and of course, I've seen Ruth often in the past few years at more local tatting events. Lily was signing copies of her book, Labor of Love, and she taught a sort of mini-class, a motif that was a variation of one in her book. No, I'm not showing it here - I got my colors goofed up and didn't quite finish it but I got some practice doing the lark's head picot join and tatting in a button. I don't particularly like tatting in buttons myself, at least not this kind, but it was a fun diversion. Both she and Ruth had lots of beautiful and fascinating tatting for show and tell.

And for those who remember I had lost the motif from one of the earrings Bette C. tatted for me for Christmas, I found it in the car, in the cupholder of the console. How it got there, I have no idea. Must of been when I leaned down to pick up my bags from the passenger side.

Unfortunately, I left the house in such a hurry that I forgot my camera which I had specifically set out to take with me.

This evening and tomorrow I have to sew and tat. Oh Woe....I HAVE TO TAT....LOL! The sewing is for Hector and the tatting is for a private exchange I said YES to. So, here it is...evening already...and I've not started!