Archived books online & Tat Days

There is an online resource besides the Antique Pattern Library that offers several vintage books about Lacemaking. It's at The Internet Archive and is also where you can find "the Wayback Machine" to find websites and pages that no longer exist. There are other books and videos too,that are about other subjects entirely. I did find a few publications that I'd not seen in the Antique Pattern Library, so far anyway.

This link is all tatting and it uses lots of the decorative braid from the era.

This one is more crochet than tatting but still a nice assembly.

I was browsing the Interweave Magazine site when I found that corrections to Piecework Magazine projects can be found at this link!

There's been lots of talk lately about lace days, such as I.O.L.I. (International Old Lacers, Inc.) who held their annual convention in Portland last week. There are two more specifically tatting-related events coming up too! Both have "Fall Into Tatting" as their theme though I think the Fringe Element Group always uses that logo. The Palmetto Tat Days are being held in Toccoa, GA on August 27-28th this year.

For our tatting friends in the northern part of the hemisphere (a good location for those in the east too) there is a Tat Day in Cambridge, Ontario on September 24-25th hosted by the Fringe Element Tatters! Actually, I think it's really nice of them to space them out like that. Go to both!

hmmmm...did you know that if you hit "enter" when you are in the "title" box that it publishes your post????

And now for the tatting.

What do you mean this isn't tatting?

Oh, oh...this is crocheted? Irish crochet? Well, what do you know? LOL! Well, we've all had our share of explaining which lace is which, but what I'm really trying to do here is inspire you. Can you see this piece tatted? It's one side of a hexagon bag in a Leisure Arts publication. I was a bit bamboozled about which color to use for the outside, considering ecru, white or a solid to match one of the colors in the flower. Why oh why did I not think of black???? I will do the second half with black and then, of course, I will need to crochet yet another one. I suspect I will like the black better. The nice thing is I can simply pull a thread and all the ecru will unravel, ready for use again.

Oh...you want to know what I meant by "inspire you"? Okay, just think of how easy this would be to convert to tatting. The center rosette is already available in many different patterns. I'm thinking of #3 in Lene Bjorn's snowflake book. Now for the outside, it might take a bit of trial and error to get the stitch count right but it's practically all chains and picots. You can change the crocheted clusters to clunies or even rings if you prefer.

This is crocheted in Lizbeth size 20 in jellybean and ecru.

If you've been to a Tat Day, you know what the vendor tables look like - books, thread, beads, shuttles, tatting tools.....there's plenty to drool over! So I didn't take photos of that; I took photos of the some out-of-the-ordinary offerings. These hand-carved shuttles and woodworked pieces are by Murray Lincoln. For some reason, I can't find my program which lists his website in his contact information. Oh wait, I found it!

Note the tatting inserted in some of the open spaces. I love the celtic love spoons.

Here we have all kinds of beads from Brenda Franklin. Kits and beads and kits and beads.....so much to pick from!

This is the raffle table. It was ongoing and items were added periodically so you had to keep buying tickets just when you thought you were done. LOL! Very clever strategy.

These items were up for auction. Rita Cochrane acted as auctioneer, climbing up on a chair to be seen by everyone. The safety geek in me cringed but I remained silent. Rita's description of each item and enticement to bid was hilarious. The auction and raffle table raised a lot of money for next year's event.

I said yesterday you would get to see some of Ginny's exquisite tatting today. See that beautiful sunflower doily? The ornaments in the center are Ginny's too. There is some other tatting around it but I'm not sure you can see it well, even when you click on it to get the bigger picture.

Last year participants were given a metal napkin holder with the instuctions to decorate to the best of their ability in tatting. I think one is missing from this photo - cut off by the frame, but they were certainly creative!

The one in the very front was the winner by popular vote. It was so pretty and dainty looking. A good choice! Next year's challenge is a little heart box to decorate.

I don't think I've ever won anything at these raffles, not even at the ones my own lace guild hosts so I was pleased as punch to win this red cake stand! I love blue glass and red glass and well...just about any colored glass, but I have very little red glass in my possession.

Here's how it looks from the top. I can use it at Christmas and Valentine's Day especially but any time is a good time. I might have to bake a cake before the day is over!

Not only did I win the cake dish, I won these beautiful lemon-scented bark roses. They are currently in my bathroom.

I show this box only because they are the most delicious cookies! I've almost eaten all of them now. They are a cranberry, citrus and oat crunch blend. It's made by Kraft so I'll have to see if the equivalent is made in the States.

Next post I'll show the thread and shuttle I bought as well as an unexpected gift. Stay tuned!

Tatting Friends in Canada

I usually post under the photo but this time I'm posting about it above. In case you ever noticed. (SMILE!)

I did get to take one class while I was in Cambridge Ontario. Rita Cochrane's class, a beaded bracelet done in one pass. It's not done yet, but Rita will be pleased to know I'm on the last row. I was ready for a break and it dawned on me that I'd brought my camera but hadn't taken a single photo so I popped up and made the rounds. That empty space there between the two ladies is where I was sitting. Do you think they noticed I was gone? They look pretty engrossed in the bracelet! I'll show mine in another post, hopefully complete by then.


The woman on the right is Ruth MacEachern who kept me informed about when I was teaching, my hotel, and just about anything else I asked about!



And here is smiling Susan Johnston, the other organizer that I heard from. I'm not sure who all was involved, but the event went smoothly, as far as I could tell.



Oh look! Here is Ginny Weathers from the Hector group! At least you can tell she is smiling! You'll see some of Ginny's exquisite tatting in the next post which will be about "what was on the tables."



Here is Kaye Judt (standing in red top) teaching one of her classes. I think it was the Paisley class but I'm not sure - might have been the Woodland Critter.



I don't know which project this group was working on but they seem pretty involved!



This is the other side of Kaye's table in this class. The lady on the left in the lavender top is Heather, a dear woman who travels from the UK every year to visit family just in time to attend their event.



Oh, those busy ladies were working on Karey Solomon's Angel class. I should have gotten closer pictures of what each is working on.



If I remember the placement of the tables correctly, this group was part of Brenda Franklin's class which was either a beaded zinnia brooch or a beaded tassel. Brenda's classes are non-tatting. There was another non-tatting class by Wynn Reid, about crochet and knitting. It's nice to have alternatives to tatting - you can bring a non-tatting friend or learn a new skill.



Rita Cochrane is in the upper right helping a student. For the life of me, I don't know why (yes, I do, my camera battery died!) I didn't get photos of Rita playing auctioneer. It was quite the feat!



And last but not the least, by any means, the young lady in the bright green top is Rita's granddaughter who was teaching some needle tatting herself! Rita's vendor sales also went to a fund that is sending her granddaughter on a school project trip to Normandy. They've been studying the battle at Normandy and have the opportunity to go there in person.....but of course, you have to have money to do that. She's a sweetie, just 16 and very good at tatting.



The next post will be about "the stuff on the tables," what I bought, and maybe what I'm doing now. Whew!