I had 3 bad haircuts in a row but I didn't say that to the lady who cut my hair tonight. I just said they never cut enough off the back. I decided to get my ears cut out and the back shorter this time.

Well.....she cut around my ears and she cut in the back and it was looking like things were going well...then she pulled the hair out from the side and cut so close I thought she might as well of had the razor out. Yikes! I knew at that point it would be too short for me. I have a boy cut now. I feel naked and exposed....but the upside is that I won't have to get a haircut for probably 6 months now!

I just keep telling myself that it will grow out fast. In 2 weeks, I'll be okay with it. In another 2 weeks, it will be almost where I wanted it and in 6 weeks, it will be perfect!

The problem is, I gotta get my driver's license renewed within the next 10 days. You know what that means. The picture from hell. Actually, I like my last picture. I'd be happy if they could just use the same one.

Okay, enough of the pity party.

Wellllll...not really. Did I mention I told her I wanted it all the same length except for the cutout ears and shorter back? Did I mention that I told her I didn't want it any shorter in the front because I had already trimmed that part to where I wanted it? Did I mention that she stopped once and asked if that was enough or did I want more cut off and I said NO, this is good....and she still kept on cutting...and trimmed the front even shorter? But it's all even. She did do a good job on keeping it even.

Okay...done now.

I got home and Judith Connors latest book, Contemporary Tatting had arrived! There is a tatted teacup in there, with stated dimensions of approximately 2 1/2 inches each way in size 20 thread. I like this feature - the measurement of the sample and the size thread used. I don't buy that argument about how everyone's tension is different so you can't give measurements. If measurements were given more often, then each tatter would know if they habitually tatted tighter or looser and would be able to adjust accordingly. You have test swatches in knitting and crochet...why not in tatting? There are several advanced techniques which are also explained in text and diagrams at the beginning.

To be honest, I'm not enamored of advanced techniques these days. I like to tat for the pleasure of tatting. It's soothing and relaxing. When I want a challenge, then I go for the unusual techniques but the majority of the time, I want to make something pretty without standing on my head to figure out the directions. I find myself going more and more to the old books that kept it pretty simple. Split rings and split chains have a wonderful functional purpose but many of the techniques now are purely decorative or a new complicated way to achieve an old look. That said, I hope the designers that need that challenge keep at it because that's how the craft evolves. I'm just saying I'm happy with simple tatting for the most part.

Here's my play for the day. I was experimenting with different patterns of beads in purl tatting. I was considering layering rows of purl tatting for the hatband but I can't say I'm really happy with any of these for that particular purpose.

A big round of applause for Carol Amich who won the top prizes for most of her tatting at the Clinton County Fair! You can see her work here.

I meant to get Jane's flying pig done this weekend but forgot! It never fails...just as the weekend ends, I'm ready to do all kinds of stuff.

I've been sorting beads. I got these wonderful containers from Walmart. There are a dozen individual containers with pop up lids so you can pour the beads out if you want, or pull off the top and empty it completely. You can see the colors clearly as well as the size. It's taken me a few weeks to remember where I got the container. It wasn't at the Walmart I normally go to although I think that is where I originally bought it. I got 2 more at the WL Walmart and I'm thinking I should go back and get 3 more so I will have one for each primary color group. I've already filled up these 3 and have enough to fill yet another one. A 10 gram tube fills the little container up with room to spare. The 18 gram tubes are a little too much. I really don't need any more beads. I need to use the ones I have!

Today is the bobbinlace workshop for my lace guild with Holly VanSciver. While Holly likes newbies, I didn't want to part with the money for this one and there were enough already committed. I did pop out to Cathy's during the lunch break to see how everyone was doing and see if there was anything I wanted to buy. I could have spent some money there, but decided not to. There were some pretty silk threads that were tempting though.

I went to my granddaughter Katie's game this evening. She got a couple of hits and runs but they still lost. After that, I dropped her off at her dad's football team's game. I'm not into football so I came on home!

I got these mother-of-pearl heart buttons on clearance at Walmart. I'm thinking I might have to paint some flowers on the bigger hearts. They would certainly make some beautiful jewelry.

I think I'm going to try to finish the hatband I started while developing the class I taught at Hector. The flowers are made. I just need to do the band part, but because there were 3 flowers and a bigger hat, I wanted to make the band bigger or wider. I've also been considering beads in the hatband but I haven't quite thought it out.

There was a multicolored crochet pineapple runner on the free pattern of the day at Annie's Attic. I've seen a few people have been trying to use up threads lately in multicolored projects and it occurred to me that this might be a good one for me...only a tatted pineapple. We'll see if I still like the idea later.

I finished the bird last night. I considered entering it into the fair but I've already got enough tatting to enter. I emailed Leah and said it's ready so I'll probably pop it over there tomorrow if she isn't on vacation. There's quite a bit of cut & tie with this and I can't really figure out how to consolidate that. Part of it, a large part of it, is due to changing threads.


In the meantime, I've had this gold lamé thread on my computer desk for weeks now. I finally decided to start a macrame cord with it. It's been in the back of my mind to make an angel with it although I'm not sure what I'll use for filling. I do have some thread with a gold thread in it so that might work well. This gold is kind of crusty to work with.


The finished and fringed shawl on my new recliner! The sofa will come soon. It's a sage green although it looks grayish in the photo. I need to send in the money and registration for my fair entries....just gotta finalize in my head what I'm entering. BTW, the yarn in this shawl is some I bought on clearance at Hobby Lobby once. It makes me feel good to actually use up one of those "bargains" I'm such a sucker for!

Then back to tatting eagles and pigs.

If you want so see a stunning heart in tatting, check out this one in Martha Ess's new website. The heart is on page 65 of Elgiva Nicholls Tatting Technique and History. ISBN 0-486-24612-4. This is a Dover publication with a price of $5.95 on the back when I got it in the late 90's. The Queen Anne's Lace and Dragonfly in the back are what prompted me to buy the book, though I have yet to make it! There are several copies available here.

hmmmmmm.....wonder if I could drum up a little study group to work through books like this over a period of several weeks? That might motivate me to do something with these treasures instead of just thumbing through the pages!

I've been working madly on this shawl. Last night I was done except for the fringe and I decided to wash it before I added that part. The long edge, which isn't seen here, had a tendency to curve. When I finished the last row of "crab stitch" there, it seemed to lay flat and looked ...okay. Now freshly laundered, it is folded over and I'm not happy with it so I will take those last 2 rows out and do something different. I followed the pattern everywhere else, but this part isn't working out. Once I'm happy with the edge, I'll fringe this part. I love the rest of it! The pattern came from Magic Crochet, number 29, February 1984.

I've had this eagle done for over a week but forgot to post it. This one is done with grays and black. I intend to do one in browns also. I'm considering doing the body in solid brown and the wings in a brown/gold variegated. Maybe do one set of inner rings in gold to appear as talons.

Last night I remembered that I had promised to make a bluebird for a woman who had seen the robin I'd tatted from Ring of Tatters 2005. This one will be all blue. She has a friend who collects bluebirds. (I'll bet you thought I forgot!)







When I downloaded the photos from my camera, I found this one of my grandson Bailey when we went to Hunter's Pub a few weeks ago for his dad's birthday. Bailey is 10 going on 16. Need I say more?


Happy Fourth of July!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!!!

Mercy!

Now you can do your needlecrafts in the dark! No tatting shuttles there but I'm sure if the manufacturer were educated about tatting that there would be! There ARE crochet hooks and drop spindles as well. hmmm....something to consider when the power is out ...or those long camping weekends in the middle of nowhere. You can buy these luxury needlecraft tools at an Ebay store. Of course. You can get anything on Ebay. LOL!

I helped a friend in Greenfield pack in anticipation of moving this coming weekend and in addition to several other things, she gave me this wooden round thing. During my lunch hour, I happened to pop into Ding-a-Ling and saw an instruction booklet for a device that looked very much like this one, only those are plastic. Turned out to be like a Knifty Knitter. Giant spool knitting. Well....then I decided to google and explore the links. So much out there!

And now that I'm thinking about it, I think I have a straight one somewhere,which is called a knitting rake. Always wondered what that thing was!

Last night I crocheted on the shawl. It seems so slow-going. Wanted to tat but there were only a few empty shuttles do I tried to empty a few instead...which still involves tatting but only little bits of fluff. Maybe tonight.

I redesigned my RPL teapot. I like this one much better. It could still use some improvement, but I probably won't do anything further with it for now.

I've been sorting through my clothes today. During a heat wave, I got all of my summer clothes out, but we had a cold blast right after that so I still had some winter things upstairs. I also knew I had way too many clothes taking up space that I wasn't wearing so I went through everything in my drawers and closet. Changed my sheets, started laundry. I plan to paint the bathroom next weekend over the holiday so I'd like to get a lot of other stuff out of the way. I'm also pre-treating some clothes that had spots on them. Got a nice little pile for hemming......it never ends.

I helped a friend with her packing in Indy yesterday. She's moving from an already small efficiency size apartment to an even smaller one and watching her ruthlessly discard things she has had for years and years was motivating. I've lived here 29 years. I'm going to have to be more than ruthless. LOL! I don't need to get rid of that much stuff but it's made me very aware of all the things that I don't use and don't need so why do I still have them?

Well...in the interest of continung my momentum....that's it for now!

The tatting books I ordered from Toni Storer came last night! I've barely had time to look through them. I took them to tatting guild today for everyone to look over too. The first two books are $20 AUD and the smaller third one is $15 AUD. Contact Toni at tatters_rule at dodo.com.au (change "at" to @ and remove the extra spaces) to pay at Paypal and arrange for shipping. I can't say when I'll get to tat from them. I'm so far behind now that I don't even make a list! LOL! I love the bluebells and I'll probably try at least one Christmas ornament before Christmas.



Here's the fob we made today at Tatting Guild in Greenfield. No, Kaye's pattern is not yet available. It was a challenge. I've never done stacked rings before. I had to leave before I was completely done but as I waited in the car for my friend to show up for lunch at a restaurant, I finished off the ends which was way easy!

I've been steadily working on this shawl. Hot weather is not normally a good time to work with yarn, in my opinion, but it was very chilly when I started it. It's going along well but I have to pay attention to the rows. This is yarn I bought on clearance a long time ago. I think there is just enough. Maybe not enough for the fringe.


I took a break from crocheting last night and stitched the filling in this teapot. The teapot design arose from one of my cookie cutters. I used traditional colors this time. I'd like to do the teapot again but this time curve the braid so that the lid is separate from the pot and maybe round out the side with the handle. There are lots of variations I could do. I found the filling stitches in a book from the library, Starting Needlepoint Lace - A Course for Beginners, by Valerie Grimwood. (Donated by Lafayette Lacers, btw) The stitches all looked the same when I glanced through the book but I picked these two and they are delightfully different. I really like them!

So...what about tatting? Nancy from Be-Stitched.com has a new fan bookmark pattern today for subscribers. It says it is for a beginner, but I think it's probably meant for an experienced beginner. LOL! I notice lots of cuts and ties which can't be split rings and you have to pay attention to where to place the next segment.

There are 2 hatbands that are works in progress. I'd like to finish one of them for the fair. There is an art contest for the zoo. I'd like to tat animals and collage them within a painting but I don't think I have time to plan that well before August 1. I have a couple of designs I was playing with that I'd like to get back to. And lots of work to do outside now that it isn't raining anymore. One son has a birthday on Thursday and his wife on Monday......I have no clue what to do for them.

So....back to work.

I was determined to get some tatting done this weekend and more pointedly, this eagle! It's for a friend and I bought the pattern specifically for that purpose! It turned out to be a challenge. I think I started Wednesday night. Had to email Carol and find out what I was missing. I discarded my first try and started again Thursday night. No time Friday night or all day Saturday so about 10:30 Saturday night, I tried to finish the wings....finally accomplished my goal after midnight! I did take a break in there. LOL! I made this version out of size 20 AIDA thread that I bought in Australia. It measures about 3" x 3" but the wing span is slightly over 3" because of the picots.

I spent the majority of the day at a workshop led by local artist Lorie Amick. I started a painting but never got past the misket. I did play with some techniques with color that Lorie showed me. Mostly I just admired the other artists' work.

After that I came home, showered and headed into town to volunteer at the Taste of Tippecanoe. It was incredibly hot. I didn't stay long after my stint was over - just long enough to eat and gab a bit.

Guess I should get to bed. There is mowing and garden work to be done when I get up..........though I heard thunder awhile ago!

I bought a new purse at Walmart during my lunch hour. The one I bought in Australia and loved so much is disintegrating. I know it wasn't the best quality - but it had pockets in all the right places and held everything perfectly. I was considering sewing one with the same dimensions but I doubt that I'll get to it anytime soon. The summery beige number I bought today is BULGING. Clearly, I need to downsize somewhere.

No, there is NO tatting in there so it's not a question of making a decision on that. I carry a 15 x 20 inch canvas tote for my tatting. Everywhere.


I don't think I really need that clutch billfold. In the process of transferring stuff from one purse to another, I found an edging I started last week. Ooooops!

I'm crocheting a shawl now. RED! I'll wait until I get into the pattern stitch before I show it. This isn't the one I was doing before. That one is an official UFO waiting to be pulled back into a skein. I'll have to do some intensive study to figure out what I did wrong on that one before I'll try it again. This is also not for the Feast - which can be neither red nor crocheted to be period correct.

I crocheted a heart motif for a sachet last week and finished it Sunday night. As I finished up the LAST half of the LAST round, I could see where I messed up way back on round 3 or 4. I kept thinking something didn't lay right. Now I know. sigh.....it should have been obvious...guess I have too much on my mind. So now you know why I'm not tatting bunches and bunches! Crocheting or knitting is a breeze to rip out. I used to hate it, thinking of all that work going to waste. That was before I learned to tat and understood what sheer torture picking out tatting was. There is no RIP OUT in tatting. It's half stitch by half stitch. Most of the time it's easier to cut the offending part off and attach a new thread, but if it's not very far back OR you're running low on thread, you un-tat. I'm just a little reluctant to do anything special right now for that reason.

The County Fair is coming up. All I have is samples from classes to enter and I will definitely enter them just so there is something in that category.

Later...oh, well I HAVE to tat now. Carol Amich's celtic eagle pattern arrived today. I will try to get to it before the evening is over!

Want to learn Japanese Embroidery? This is quite fascinating! Or Armenian Embroidery? I was looking for specific ergonomic tools having to do with needlecrafts when I found these. Also lots of neat projects here at the Embroider's Guild online. And SHISHA!This is a beautiful form of folk embroidery embellishment from Russia and Central Asia.


Gourd art There are numerous gourd tutorials at this site. Check out her galleries - beautiful work there. I even found some teapot gourds! This particular piece is a candle holder but there are drums and vases and birdhouses. The site is one in a gourd webring so I imagine you could find all kinds of good information there. I still have a whole bunch of gourds that I grew ...ummmm...not sure how many years ago now...but I'm pretty sure I can still paint on them or better yet....add lace. My friend Bette showed me a gourd she bought somewhere with needlelace covering the outside of it. You can tat with anything so you could tat sinew or wire if you wanted to make sure it would hold up in the elements.




A hand quilting thread by Coates in a color I haven't seen before - I'm not sure which number is the color: Art. V62V Y L 887. Here's the butterfly edging I'm trying out with it! It's interesting to see that the tireder I got, the looser the middle of the butterfly became. It's turning into some vivid jewel-like colors.








Okay, I came up with a practice template for the Romanian Point Lace. One book said to use single count canvas and iron interfacing over it because the grid would still show beneath. I opted to use a plastic canvas and forget the interfacing. The problem with plastic canvas is that even permanent markers tend to wear off fairly soon.

Blogger kept having problems over the past few days so this is the first opportunity I've had to publish.

I spent all of Saturday in Chicago listening to inspirational speaker Esther Hicks. My views on religion and such are probably considered unconventional by some and uncomfortable by others. I have no interest in trying to pursuade anyone about anything but I've been studying this material or line of thinking for 40+ years. It's bound to come out now and then. Anyway, I had a great time and lots of food for thought. This was my 4th workshop.

My oldest son and a friend were out this morning way, way too early to cut up the Maple tree that fell in the last major storm. I'm getting driveway stone next week. Going out to set my tomato plants and plant the rest of the garden when I'm done here. I've spent 3 hours making up samples and a worksheet about tatting with beads for my new tatters. I even found a few methods I hadn't tried yet. I also have to work on my Romanian Point Lace project for next weekend.

On my way home I stopped at a convenience store yesterday that I was in a few weeks ago and got this Gypsy Doll. I fell in love with her then but wanted to check online and see if I could find something similar. No luck. This one has been there awhile, I think. The rubber bands holding the bubble wrap on were dried up or disintigrating. I'll definitely change her jewelry. It's all cheap plastic stuff. She needs real shoes. And I'd like her blouse to have handmade lace on it. So....here's yet another UFO but at least it looks good as is.


To my delight, when I got home yesterday, Martha's book had arrived! I wasn't expecting it until she returned from Palmettos. OH....hey, everyone's off having fun there, aren't they?

Well, I better get out in the garden so I can tat later!

Oh mercy, it's June already!Last night I finished my latest Romanian Point Lace piece. This is one I designed myself. Basically, I was trying a "doodle" because that's what we've done in lace guild and what we're encouraging members to try to develop their own piece from so of course, I had to have an example. I got sidetracked along the way and put away the threads I was using for filling and don't remember exactly where I put them away, so I pulled out a few new colors to finish up with. I didn't like the way they were working out anyway. LOL! I have another idea in mind using the same pattern though. My divider bars were an experiment that didn't work out. Well...they're okay, but not as okay as I visualized. But then, nothing is perfect first time around, is it?

And speaking of Romanian Point Lace, also known as Macrame Crochet Lace, the latest issue of Anna features this as the course of the month. There is a new filling stitch I've not seen before and I used it or a version of it on the piece above. I started out well but something went wrong along the way. It was too late and I was too tired to go back and correct it, but I'll work on it somewhere else.

I don't often go looking for craft magazines on ebay these days but I saw an Old Time Crochet recently that I didn't think I had. I won and it came quickly though I didn't really have time to look at it until last night. I don't always remember what I already have but I was rewarded - this isn't something I had and look at the unique tatted basket! I really can't quite figure it out but I haven't read the instructions yet. It says netted but some of it looks like mignonette. Okay, the 1st round after the center medallion is tatted but after that, it's a buttonhole stitch so it is netting. The border around the top edge is actually needle woven and then the handle is done with a knotting technique that is not tatting. Definitely a challenge. There is much I would change, to tell the truth. I would have a larger and sturdier center for one thing. I would have less netting, and more rings or something for the sides to make it more substantial. I like the handle though.

Well, I'm making a dedicated effort to spend less time on the computer and more time with household ......things. I bought some different fabric tonight for the kitchen curtains. I'm still not sure about them.

I returned Jazz to his owners today. Elena had Cold Soup for me when I arrived. It's a common Russian dish served on hot days. It's made up of finely cut radishes, cucumbers, boiled egg, and green onion. Separately, she makes a huge amount of beet juice. There is probably a formal name for it, but it's like a broth with a bit of garlic and onion flavoring in the cooking and also some citric acid to give it a bit of whang. The cold chopped veggies are placed into a bowl and then the cold beet juice spooned over it. She added some organic salt and some sour cream. There were hot boiled potaoes on the side, covered with dill...oh, and there is lots of dill in the veggie mixture too. You put the potatoes in last - a hot added to cold. some people add meat but she doesn't. It was quite tasty! She also added some lovely rolls, apologizing for not having the typical brown bread that is usually served with this soup. Then she plied me with hot strawberry green tea and some chocolate mint thingie.....I had no idea I was going to be fed!

I tried sewing the tatted inserts into a sample of the fabric. I need to find a neater way to do it but mostly I was looking to see how the thread looked with the fabric. The purple definitely looks better than the ecru but I don't think I will use either one. I think instead, that I will tat a hen and chicks edging and be done with it.






I couldn't believe how fast I got those placemats! They were here on Friday. There are 12 here and they look perfectly matched.








Here's a close-up so you can see the perfect tension. How do they do that? They look machine made but we know tatting has not been perfected on machine. There are embroidery programs for digital machines that mimic tatting but these are definitely tatted with crochet. I did notice the ends are simply tied and cut short. I think the separate elements are tatted individually and then joined together by a crocheted chain between each element. I brought them to my tatting guild on Saturday mornting. "made by machine" kept coming up, but we know that isn't so. I'm disappointed because it devalues tatting. Can you imagine the beautiful tatting that could be done by the maker if they had a free license to do so?

Last night I discovered that blogger.com has a search box on their home page where you can search for blogs by keywords. I've used google for that in the past. When I first started blogging - before I created my blogs actually - I searched for tatting blogs. There were one or two, which either weren't active or the focus was on knitting or another needlecraft. That's why I started blogging! I wasn't the very first, but darned near.

I've been pleased to see more and more developing. I enjoy the "fixed" websites too, and those are my reference points, but the changing day to day tats of others is also a special delight to me. It was a pleasant surprise to see blogger come up with 5,485 hits. Those aren't all tatting blogs - they are entries about tatting ON blogs, but that's still a decent number. I plodded through about 100 + before I gave up. A large number were knitting or crazy quilt focused blogs with tatting as a side interest from time to time. A couple were purely for advertisment. And before I quit, I noticed some were repeating, just using different dates. Mine was listed twice - both older entries, and I saw several of my group members in there too.

There were some entries that mentioned tatting in LiveJournal that appeared to be fiction writing but I didn't pursue those since only members can read them. I'm a member but my audience might not be. One entry that I did pursue however, is the poem below which is a blogger.com blog that everyone can access. I emailed Carol and asked if I could post it here and she generously gave permission.

Without

I could live in a hermitage
drawing windows tight with lace,
patterning the sun nervously on the wall,
tatting while fantasies shuttle quietly
between prayers.

I won't live in a hermitage
in neatly stitched lines and circles, alone,
without.
Joining the other minds beside opened windows,
we dance stormy patterns.

Carol at http://carolsbookblogs.blogspot.com/2006/04/without.html

Now....I should do some legitimate work related work.

I really like this motif. I tatted it in a tiny thread and framed it last year. I thought it might be nice for the curtain. This is size 60 Coates. Still not blocked. I was going to go to bed early last night but I was soooooooo close to finishing this...so I did. I did a better job on this one. In the last one, it looks like my chains are turned.

Since I started this entry, I've made the purple medallion too.





This is how it looks on the fabric. The space behind it will be cut out so it's still kind of hard for me to visualize. I'm going to try a round motif too, and also the purple color. Maybe I should actually sew a sample in to see how it will look?


Conductive steel thread Make your own wearable LED display clothing! LOL! I looked at the thread, wondering about tatting with it, but it requires lots of other stuff, like a battery, to light up. Ingriguing idea however....tatted Christmas ornaments that light up, for instance.

Square watermelon? This photo is from Purdue too! I'll have to pop over to the Hort department and see if they have any samples around. Apparently this is a specialty in Japan.

On Tuesday evenings after work, I've been meeting with some other ladies informally as a way to mentor tatting skills. One of the ladies got a book on needle tatting since last week and used it and the shuttle both to practice with. My guess is that she is hooked now. When you're that determined to "get it", then there's no stopping after that.

There are so many new tatting books out! Check Georgia's site for some book reviews but there are more that aren't on there yet. There are new books from Toni Storer and Judith Connors (Australia) and one from Martha Ess.

At The Calico Cat, there are some free instructions for tatted trim on a hanky baby bonnet or ring bearer pillow. I see a new name there too, with a few patterns, by Ramona Sturtevant.

I also found another craft blog, , Miss Alice Faye which features some tatting in the archives, but the knitted shawl in recent entries is beautiful!

Now here is some tatting with a strong GREEN presence. Nice work but I'm not fond of the color.

Elegant egg titled "Heidi's tatting". I'd say this was inspired by someone's tatting!

Another instructional video? Looks like this tatter has made one too.

I decided to buy these. I can't imagine these being sold for so little. I suspect the thread is a cheap cotton but we'll see.

Nefertatti Need I say more?

Looks like this was done in sewing thread! Notice how she attached tatting to placecards. Looks like a scrapbooking idea to me.

Guess who's come to visit?


This is Jazz, our secretary's cat. She brought him with her from Russia, so now I have an international....ummm....pet house. You thought I was gonna say something risque there, didn't you? I'm keeping him while she & her family visit the Smokies over the holiday weekend. My cats are outside for the summer so there's not a big conflict going on, although Jazz has been peeking out over the window of the storm door at my cat who is VERY curious about who this is in the house.

Okay, if I get up RIGHT NOW, I will almost make it to bed at a decent hour!

I got this video off Ebay and it arrived yesterday so I watched it last night. The teacher is Linda Driskell and she is talking with host Jean Farish Huls. This is part of a series of videos on needlearts. The instructor clearly knows what she is doing and moves at a pace fast enough that you don't fall asleep but not too fast to understand. The close-ups of the hand movement are clear. I like her suggestion to bring the left hand (or hand holding the ball thread) into a gentle fist when transferring the knot or making the flip. It releases the tension and gives you someplace to put those fingers. I've noticed saying to relax them doesn't really help. She starts off immediately with a simple ring edging, progresses into a ring and chain edging, and then a round motif of rings and chains. She shows how to wind a shuttle, including using a paddle-like shuttle winder, and gives lots of little tips along the way. One thing I learned that I hadn't heard before: in a ring only edging, when you close the ring and start the next ring, where do you begin the next ring so that it is far enough away to not pull the rings inward, yet not so far that you have little loops of bare thread hanging of all different lengths? She suggested pulling your shuttle thread to the right and then see where the picot on the last ring made ends on that line...then go a little more to the right and start your ring there. It worked well for me! So now I've got an extra video for beginners.


I was cleaning out some stuff in my bedroom last night when I found this piece of fabric in a bag. I bought it at a 2nd hand store - it's a yard long and 45" wide. I love the butterflys and I love the color combination. I'll have to make something really cool with this....and with only a yard, it'll be a challenge!

I bought a tiny lavender on cream print from Walmart to make some kitchen curtains. I started tatting the motif I'm going to insert in the valance part last night. The thread is also something vintage I picked up somewhere forgotten now but it's a size 60 Coats ecru. I love the way it is tatting up, so clean and crisp. Some threads make me feel like such a clumsy tatter, like I can't ever get my tension right. They are supposedly good threads but I'm beginning to think different. I also have some purple that matches nicely. I wasn't sure which color to use so I will make one of each color and then lay it on the fabric and see which feels best. I'd like to put a tatted edging on it too, but since this is an experiment, I don't think I'll invest the time in that for now. Besides, I don't have enough of either color for that and I think they are both discontinued or unavailable now.

Well...off to meet with my tatting newbies. We're doing a little crochet this evening too!

Heidi Holland sent me this post-it pen. Isn't it cool? Teensy little post-its fit right into the barrel (got 2 refills too) so you can write a note and post it on your work. It went straight into my tatting workbox! Heidi also sent me some wonderful organic teas. I haven't tried them yet but they sound sooo delicious - I know they have to be! Mint Melange, Chamomile Citrus and Green Tea Tropical. Also got a small tube of Nexcare hand cream which also went into my tatting workbox. Uhhhhh....I need a bigger workbox. LOL!

Tatters are the greatest! Nell sent me a few samples of the Turkish polyester thread she has. I have a few too, but they are a different brand. They look the same...but I wondered if they tatted the same? This is that shiny smooth delightful looking thread, Dantel.

I was disappointed in it as a tatting thread. Starting with the bookmark on the left:It's so slick I had trouble keeping a slipknot made to even wind my post shuttle with. The rings are very hard to close - it seems to grab against itself. Fortunately, it's an extremely strong thread so the extreme pulling I did to close the ring didn't snap the thread. It does look nice and shiny but I had trouble keeping my tension even because it slips a bit. I had to pinch nearly every stitch to keep it in place. The thread frays or comes apart easily if you have to untat it and catches on every little snag of dry skin or rough spots on anything. When I blocked it, it laid out on the board perfectly, but after it was dry and I removed it from the board, it seemed to take on a life of it's own. The heart curled up - you can't see it here because the cover of the scanner flattened it out and the tail curved to one side. Part of that curvature has to do with the nature of split rings, but usually when you block it, it stays the way it dries.

So then....I HAD to tat it in the thread I had and this is the middle bookmark in pink. I had all the same problems except it did seem to block better and the rings seemed a teensy bit easier to close. Maybe I got the knack of it better by this time. I wonder if I use a different color in the first thread if it will do the same thing. Sometimes it's the color dye that has an impact on how a thread behaves.

The whole time I'm tatting, I remembered the rayon floss I used to tat the Pam Palmer elephant. This thread is shiny and appears slick but it wasn't as bad as the Dantel. I used 2 strands of floss throughout the elephant. I wondered if I'd just forgotten that it was difficult to tat so I hunted down some floss that I still had separated and tatted the 3rd bookmark, shown on the right. It turned out larger but it was so much easier to tat! The rings closed easier and it blocked nicely. It does have a tendency to fray or split just like the other thread but the end result is shiny, just like the other 2 threads. It's not as convenient when you have to separate the floss strands and you are limited to 8 meters in length but I still like the actual tatting part much better.

I'm going to try the Dantel in some crochet cord and possibly as the filling stitches in some Romanian point lace and see how that works out. I'm a little concerned about it sliding out of the RPL as a filling stitch though.

BTW, the Butterfly Heart bookmark came from Dianna Stevens' Animal Bookmarks, A Tatted Zoo and this included design is by Bev Dillon. It's quick, obviously. I tatted all 3 in 2 evenings.