I was the appreciative recipient recently of some vintage newsletters from the 1980's, sent out by a Wisconson group and titled KNOTS & NOTES, editor Kathryn J. Johns. Each one is only 3-4 letter size pages but it's a nice step back into history that seems like only yesterday.

The first one I picked up was dated March 1985 and on the next to last page, I found a name I recognized: Marilee Rockley! She donated a pattern of a simple butterfly. So I tatted it! However, it's not right...I got the wings upside down! Even so I think it's pretty. It's tatted in Lizbeth size 40 but don't remember the name of the colorway.

I haven't tatted much this week. On Tuesday night I bobbinlaced with my lace friend and when I got home, I started an embroidery project. I worked on that project a little bit last night but I also spent a lot of time going through some magazines I found in a closet. Most of them had pages marked with projects I want to do...some day. One of them had this page of letters from readers. THREE times TATTING is mentioned! They are marked with a red star.

If you click on it, it should enlarge and you might be able to click again and get it bigger and easier to read. Look at how tatters were generously sharing their ideas even back then! Oh, this is a Needlecraft magazine but I don't remember the year, either 1915 or 1916. I'm not sure I understand what the first reader is talking about in the "second thread". It sounds like she is making a ring but if it's a second thread, that would be the ball thread. Perhaps she is saying she weaves the thread through the fingers and holds it in a pinch but I really can't tell. Can you?

I'm going to be hosting a thread giveaway on the 4th. There will be more than one giveaway but they'll all be announced and running at the same time. Since so many people might be traveling for the US Fourth of July holiday weekend, I thought it prudent to start on the 4th and let it run until the following Sunday. So this is a heads up, in case YOU are traveling! One clue...all the thread is tiny thread, probably size 70 or 80.

I wasted a lot of time today one day surfing around but I'll show you the results of that in another post. I ended up checking my blog links because at the end of my list are several that do not have RSS feeds so they don't show up at the top when they're updated. There are also a few blogs that haven't been touched in nearly two years now so I guess I should delete them.

Amongst the live links but not showing updated is Bina Madden's website. I was delighted to see a butterfly pattern dedicated to Wilma Walker. So I printed it out and made a few notes on it to tat it tonight that night.

In the delightful synchronicity that I live in, when I got home, I found the latest issue of Tatting Times, a quarterly publication by Karey Solomon, and inside what did I find, but lo and behold ~ the very same pattern!

That meant I HAD to tat it, right?

Bina writes an excellent column in the I.O.L.I. Bulletin about tatting, btw. I think Bina is a brilliant designer. What I've noticed about Bina and a few other brilliant designers is that they seem to have engineering minds. They can't help it. They need to be challenged. They see every line, curve, angle and proportion of space. Their minds are always ticking and their fingers clicking (with shuttle sounds, of course).

I work from a different perspective. Not better or worse, just different. Not brilliant either, just different. I believe in the KISS principle. KEEP IT SUPREMELY SIMPLE! ( I don't use that other word.) So when Bina throws in larks head knots and front and back tatting and such, I just sort of zone out. Don't get me wrong - she does the same thing with my patterns. So what we each do is adapt the pattern to fit our personal tatting tastes. That's not a bad thing. I'd rather someone adapt my patterns to suit their way of tatting than to not tat it at all. Of course, it does take a certain amount of experience and skill to know how to do that - so keep learning everything you can.

That's why I made notes on the pattern when I printed it out. She was doing FS/BS tatting and a few other things. I just wanted to know how many stitches in each element. There weren't numbers on the diagram so I had to read the pattern and figure out the stitch count. If you've ever tatted Jan Stawasz's patterns, another brilliant designer, you know what I mean. I LOVE his designs but tat very few of them because I have to rewrite them in terms I can tat from.

So I tatted the butterfly.

Twice.


I was a little confused by the difference in numbers from top to bottom which I knew was the FS/BS notation but I didn't always interpret it right. It turned out pretty good except I made a join wrong at the very bottom. I also had to reverse the order of the half stitches of the ruffles depending on the direction I was going in to make sure they all turned the same way.

So I tatted it again. I really didn't like the ruffly effect on the last wing chain and I was going to change it to picots but I didn't. I got sidetracked just as I was beginning the wings on version 2 with some personal issues and didn't get back to it til last night. I'd lost my motivation by then. Other than that, it's pretty much the same, I think. I finally got around to blocking it a bit ago but I did fix those bottom rings.

Tatting Tea Tuesday 6-1-10

Okay, it's not Tatting Tea Tuesday, but Tea on Tuesday is popular with other bloggers too! Art in Red Wagons has a list of blogs that focus on tea on Tuesday!

And look at what else I found! Mary McCarthy used to publish KNOTS, a tatting newsletter, back in the mid 90's til the early 2000's. Looks like tatting and tea went together back then too!



In my advancing years, I wonder sometimes if it is possible to become ADD? I don't tolerate boredom as well. My mind goes in dozens of directions at once. Maybe I'm just more aware of it because I'm less constrained by obligations.

I was actually looking for the butterfly that Two Shuttles has been looking for information about. I know I've seen it - that inner diamond shape rings some strong bells, but I can't find it anywhere. I remember it because the one I saw originally, not the yellow one on flickr.com, was also in two colors and I remember thinking I didn't really like the way it worked in that case. I do like the yellow and white one so it's probably about color choices. I'm pretty sure it's an individual pattern, not one in a book, so I was looking through one of my binders of printouts. It wasn't there, but ..... something caught my eye.

I had this printout from a butterfly round robin that I took part in at the turn of the century. (heheheheh....that was fun to say!) It's one I made for someone, though I don't remember who now and the page showing all the round robins is long gone. Apparently I didn't get a scan so I printed out the one on the page. I didn't have a scanner then and had to go to my sister's to scan my tatting. I didn't always make it and my camera was not a good one for lace. Then again, it could be on some OLD disc hidden away somewhere. Anyway...this is my only record of it.

It was actually meant to be a handkerchief corner and was originally tatted in size 70 thread. If you have The Tatter's Treasure Chest, it is on page 73. The photograph in the book is not very clear at all.

By scanning the book photograph and making it bigger (click on the pic to see it bigger), you can see the details a little better. I didn't have that advantage the first time I made it. I always knew I'd done something wrong but couldn't quite figure it out. Now was the time to sort it out! (never mind all those other projects in the background!)

I remembered enough to know I wasn't willing to try it in anything smaller than size 40. I think this thread is actually size 30. Do you know there are SEVEN different pieces that must be tatted separately???? I came up with a few shortcuts but I still had seven different pieces to tat.

The directions say to start with the ring just below the head and then tat the head. Since you have to leave a space of thread for no really good reason except to jump to a picot, I changed the order of things and tatted the head ring first. Then I tatted the ring starting the body. This is where you end up leaving a space of thread. Instead, I made a split ring, splitting at the very last picot since that was where the thread space was going to. From there, you tat around making little loops. Now this is where I so wish I could have found a way to continue on with the body but since the next segment STARTS where the lower picots are, it just seemed like more trouble than it was worth. I also changed the bottom long picot to a double picot just for fun.

(I now see that I probably could have done a split chain where I first joined thread for the lower body and continued on with the lower body which tats down and then back up the other side, continuing around the upper body.)

Each upper wing and each lower wing was tatted and attached during the construction. The ending place was not able to be manipulated so that you could tat the other half of the wing on that side. That's because each segment started in the middle and worked outward. There was no way to work inward and achieve the same effect. If you tat this butterfly, keep in mind that you only need a yard or so on the ring shuttle for any given segment. I put on two yards but the only time I used most of that was in the body which had five rings. For the upper wings, no more than 1 1/2 yard per wing and for the lower wing, no more than 1 yard. Since I did the split ring on each segment to avoid the thread space and it was only TWO stitches, I just left the chain thread on the floss holder. The pic above is the upper wing completed. It reminds me of one of the Star Wars ships. LOL! It's really tight and curls up on itself. Might be a design element to keep in mind for a future project.

This is the completed butterfly waiting to be blocked. BTW, blocking is a nightmare! When I wet this thread, it gets kind of hard. It doesn't want to be manipulated very easily. I used a bigger crochet hook to help pull out each point after making it as flat as I could with my fingers. It used lots and lots and lots of pins!

Here is it on the blocking board, waiting to dry. I also used the shaft of my crochet hook to slide in between the pins and flatten out the chains that kept wanting to turn. This flutter has a wingspan of 4" and is 3 1/2" high counting the antenna.

And here it is! You might notice that the upper wings look a little different from the blue version. That's because I joined in the wrong place with the blue one. You're supposed to join at the 2nd free picot and I joined at the top one which turned it upside down. I also did something else wrong that I haven't discovered yet because the last chain joins in sequence to the whole while the blue one was just sort of hanging there. I don't know if I would dare to tackle this one with beads or not. While it was a challenge to tat, it wasn't all that much fun. I'm ready to move on to other patterns and other threads!

But ....you know....wouldn't this make a gorgeous "stained glass" flutter? I'll leave that to someone who's more accomplished at that than I am. (furtive glance at Marilee)

This is where I left off last time, getting ready to tat these beauties!

I took them to an Easter Dinner I was invited to and tatted one for each lady plus gave her a suction cup to hang it in the window.


You know how some of our creative bloggers in the tatting community build up the suspense by posting a photo of an unopened package they received in the mail?

Well...I'm not one of them.

I rip into the package (carefully....sort of) and take a gander at the contents without the least bit of thought for any of you. Within a few short hours, this is how my package looked:


Yep, I'd already gone through every page and post-it marked where I wanted to return to! It arrived on Friday, April 9th, my first day of vacation. I'd planned on leaving that day for Hector originally but as expenses piled up in February, March and into April, I withdrew my registration knowing I didn't need to incur more debt, no matter how much I wanted to see everyone. This was a nice consolation prize.

In her foreword, Angeline Crichlow starts off by saying, "It is the author's opinion that very few persons can successfully learn to tat from a book." Amen Sister! I did teach myself from a book but it was, as Angeline says in her second statement, "filled with a tremendous and shattering frustration."

And then, only a few paragraphs later, she is recommending Coats & Clark's SpeedCroSheen for beginners! I hope Angeline had the pleasure of tatting with a good 6 cord thread in her lifetime. I think she did from some other comments, but I was floored to read her early recommendation.

I was intrigued that she started off with Josephine Knots and finger tatting. Finger tatting is not an unusual way to start, but Josephine Knots? Then I realized that it was a good way to get used to the motion of tatting and actually making a ring without the complication immediately of going in the opposite direction for the 2nd half of the stitch. Good idea!

I won't tell you any more about the book - I'll leave that for future recipients, but I do want to thank Fox for this EXTREMELY GENEROUS gesture! The book is hardbound and stitched at the spine. It is also a signed copy:


I trust that all recipients of the book will handle it with respect and do their very best to get it back to Fox in the same condition it arrived in. It truly is a treasure and is now on its way to the Land of Leprechauns, where Tatskool resides.


Now, the same day the book arrived, I also got another treasure in the mail - my T.A.T. package! I am now a Tatting Artisan! I would love to get started on the last phase but due to the aforementioned unexpected expenses, I think it will be June before I can afford the fee.


So...what kind of tatting have I been up to?

Once again my lace guild is making lace ornaments for a small Christmas tree that we donate to a charitable organization to auction off as a fundraiser. There is so much happening this summer and we also have a big exhibit to get ready for (the tree is included) so I'm trying to get as much tatting done as I can. We make ornaments in sets of three because the tree is divided in thirds and the ornaments equally spaced. So here's my contribution:




The angels are a pattern by Birgit Phelps that was subsequently adapted by Martha Ess. I suppose we all add our own little twist. These are tatted in size 50 and I've used a variety of beads and charms for embellishment. The doves are actually a chick pattern by Karey Solomon that was featured in her February issue of Tatting Times. When I got it, I put it in my work bag thinking I would check it out on a lunch hour but somehow it got lost in all the other things in my bag and it wasn't until I cleaned it out over vacation that I found it! The chicks were actually meant for Easter but I'm using them as a Christmas symbol. There is also a very cute heart on a cabone ring pattern in there that I'll get around to tatting eventually. I did block the pieces but the organizer is stiffening them all so they will be uniform. I just wanted them to have a little shape before she gets them.


One night very late, I decided to take a break from all the ornament tatting and tat Jane's butterfly bookmark, except I don't use beads in bookmarks (unless I can figure out a way to keep the beaded part OUT of the book) so it's just a butterfly.

Timing was bad, I was tired and I didn't really read through the pattern and prepare other than getting thread and beads. I was ready to throw it across the room before I was done! I needed six hands to juggle beads, shuttles, crochet hook, glasses, and pattern!

It's really not that hard, but you need to prepare. Have some safety pins on hand and you need a very fine hook - I had to use my Lacis size 16 hook - to pick up the beads. When you go to make the long picot, put the beads on it and secure the thread loop with a safety pin until you are ready to join it to another element later on. Have your beads counted out and ready to pick up. It would probably be better to be sitting at a table instead of in a comfy easy chair. Read the pattern all the way through FIRST! And before you know it, you'll be done!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Okay, I'll admit it. This sabbatical is not working out all that well for me. There are things I want to blog about. There are things I want to show. Posting only once a month makes it a huge post to read. It's not really keeping me OFF the computer which was meant to push me to finish other non-computer related stuff. So I may be back sooner than I expected.


One night this past week, I got home to find an unexpected package in the mail. At first, I couldn't read the name but it was from Singapore!

I opened it up and found this pretty pink envelope with a sweet note to me. I opened the envelope and there was a pink tissue paper package tied with delicate looking novelty thread and I could feel that inside was a bubble wrapped item. I couldn't tell what it was though - too much padding!

Much to my delight, it was a pair of earrings from Wendy over at Umi & Tsuru! I had commented at one point that I loved those little shell bits hanging from the earrings she makes. They are so delicate and pearly looking. What a lovely surprise! You can see examples of her jewelry on the left side of the blog. They are certainly beautiful eye-candy! Thank you Wendy!


Speaking of eye-candy, earlier this month I paid a visit to Pat Winter from Pat Winter Gatherings. A few members of my lace group and I are taking a dye class with her in May and I needed to scout out the location and surroundings. Pat is such a gracious lady and her crazy quilt work is exquisite! I got to see the studio we will be working in - or out in the garden, weather permitting. I went to a few bead stores later that Pat told me about in the area and had hoped to visit some other places too but $$ were a little short so I decided to come home instead. As it turns out, we'll only have a short time after the class before we have to head back to Lafayette so we won't be able to go to anything too far away. I'll have to make a trip on my own later in the summer. I wanted to spend some time at the Dunes and that will be an additional luxury for me.

It seems like I've been on the computer all day today (4-25) but I've unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, made meatloaf to take in my lunch, washed some laundry (still in progress) caught up on email and blogs and added to this post. My son helped me move a heavy piece of furniture earlier so later I will clean up all the stuff around it.


One reason I'm so behind is that I've been tatting intensely all week to make some booties for my little Miss Smith who will be here in another month. Yeah, I gave up on the bonnet, at least for the shower which was the 24th. For the booties I used the pattern I've always used, an adaptation by Lenore English. Unfortunately my printout shows geocities.com as the host and it's shut down so I don't know if the pattern is available elsewhere or not.

Lenore came up with her own design using one from Anne Orr's baby shoes, something different for the toe, and an Aunt Ellen pattern for the edging. I used all of these elements but then added a motif I've used in many of my own patterns, a two-layer rossette that I placed on top of the original round motif. I put a tiny little button in the center. Now that I've finished it, I see a few more ways to tweak it but those notes will go into the next pair I make. I also would like it to come up a little higher on the ankle and that could be a major tweak.

(Originally I had 2 collages here but finally decided which one I liked better and removed the other)

I used size 20 thread. Lenore's pattern used size 30 but the only pink I liked and had was in size 20 so I used it instead. If memory serves me right, size 30 seemed just a tad small when completed. Fine for a newborn, but for someone using these for a christening, the baby is often 3-6 months old. The last pair I made had to be lengthened to fit the baby. I also tied the ribbon in the back instead of in the front. It was just a whim but the rosette takes up more room than the original motif and I think it would be too bulky to have the bow there. I finished the final tatting at 9:48 a.m. on the day of the shower. I had to block them and put the ribbon in, take pix, and then wrap them.

It was worth it. Look at 'em dance!

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