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.

WINNERS!!!!!!

Whoo Hoo! The Random Number Generator offered up three numbers in this order: 75, 27, 14

#75 is Tattin' Kat. Since there was no email available, Tattin' Kat has 3 days to send me her mailing address. If none is received, I'll get another number. This is why it is very important to have some means of contact when you leave a contact. I also left a comment on her blog so I really hope this new tatter gets her prize!.

#27 is Jane Eborall. I was tickled to see this as Jane has entered every one of my giveaways and always says, "I never win anything!". And she didn't....but this time, she didn't make that comment, and look what happened! I guess there is something to be said about not jinxing yourself. Not much else to say about Jane. You'd have to be living under a rock to not know about the 100+ patterns on her pattern page and her connection to her sister Sally, whose husband has been busy turning out new shuttles to satisfy the typical tatter's craving!

#14 is Singtatter, who is a very generous and creative tatter herself. You may remember all the paperclip designs she gifted to the online tatting class. Her blog is full of her other creative projects so take a look if you haven't been there before.

Congratulations to everyone!

I want to thank everyone who takes the time to read my blog. I hope it's helpful in some way. I will admit my blog is first and foremost for ME. It's a way to record what I do with tatting, which includes mistakes and what I learned from them. If I only put what was perfect on here, what would be the point besides eyecandy? I was isolated from most tatters when I began. To be honest, there still aren't all that many tatters who live locally and most of the new ones were taught by me, Kaye Judt, or Carolyn Regnier. I still have to go to Tat Days or Lace Days to meet up with other tatters in person for the most part. Carol Amich lives close but even so, we probably only see each other once a year. So that means list groups and blogs are the most common means of communication and I love it because it allows me to talk with tatters from ALL OVER THE WORLD!

It was this blog that led Jane Smith's daughter to find someone who tatted to give her mother's tatting supplies to. The internet has brought us together in wonderful ways and sometimes in common sadness. This is Memorial Day in the States, a day we set aside to honor those who have gone before us. This is everyone, not only those who served in the military, although we publicly honor those wonderful people too. I learned yesterday that Wilma Walker, a Cincinnati, Ohio tatter, passed away, so it seems only fitting that I include a tribute to her memory in this post. Ruth Perry often visited with Wilma and gave her a ride to events. Ruth has passed on this request from the family:

The family requests that no cards or flowers be sent, but that each one who wishes to do something in her memory: "Plant a tree, help someone in some way, or donate to your favorite charity."