Author: wandasknottythoughts@gmail.com

More paperclips and a box of thread

It’s Tatting Tea Tuesday again! That day of the week when you make yourself a nice cup of tea, put your feet up, pick up your shuttles and take a little “me” time.

This week I did have a cup of tea instead of coffee. I picked up my shuttles and tried making one of my butterflies with two colors so I could maybe write down the pattern. It ended up being a little loosey-goosey from my stopping, checking what and where I was and chasing the cat off my lap, where she insisted she should be. Oh, well, I need bookmarks, too.

These paperclip bookmarks are some of what I accomplished this week. The handy thing about this kind of bookmark is they are small and don’t take long to make. I don’t do a lot with beads but I thought I’d give it a try on one, and will probably do a few more as well. I’m not sure about the hearts because they loose their shape pretty easily. Hmm, they need a little work. The horse heads are getting to be pretty easy though. I like them.

These bookmarks are great for taking out when you only have a few minutes to tat. In fact my husband needed new work shoes this week and I was tatting while he tried on shoes. The sales lady was very curious as to what I was doing – she’d never seen or heard of tatting before. She thought it was very pretty. Tatting in public, a great way to introduce people to a great art.

I received a package in the mail yesterday from Handy Hands. A few days ago I decided I needed more thread (who doesn’t??) And HH had sent out an email coupon so I had to buy something, right? I’ve noticed that I usually use solid threads, mostly blues, white and ecru, so I thought I would get some variegated threads. And a few in colors I don’t usually think of, expand my horizons so to speak. They are all Lizbeth size 20.

The colors, reading across from top left to top right, are:

Mocha Swirl, Black, Golden Yellow Med; 2nd row, Denim Whisper, Marble, Jewels, Jewels (I’ve seen a lot of people use this and just had to have some) ; 3rd row, Caribbean, Caribbean (I really like this color!), Sea Shell, Springtime; 4th row, Grape Pizzaz, Red Burst, Christmas Delight, and Country Side.

A color chart was included in the box, so now when I need a new color I have a great place to start. They have started making Lizbeth in size 40 but I am very comfortable with 20 so this is where I’ve started. Maybe next time it will be the smaller thread. Another good excuse to buy more thread don’t you think?

Tatting Tea Tuesday Aug 11, 2009


It’s Tatting Tea Tuesday again and I even have a cup of tea today!

I have actually gotten a few more paperclip bookmarks done. The purple one is from last week, and the green is using the same modified pattern from Debbie Arnold. It’s made from DMC Cebelia size 20, green #955. The two butterflies are my own pattern; the pink is DMC Perle cotton size 8, pink variegated #116 and the blue is Manuela size 20, light blue #008.

I was trying to write down the pattern for the butterflies and find I’m having trouble with it. When I’m tatting my own patterns, while I’m doing them for the first time, I decide I want this element to go that way, and another element to go this way – I don’t really pay attention to which shuttle I’m using, I just know which one it needs to be to go in the direction I want the pattern to go. The same way for reversing the work and keeping track of up/down (I’m very much a upside/downside tatter!), I know when to reverse and which side is up, but keeping track for writing down later..! This inattention makes writing down the patterns a bit of a challenge. I think I’m my own worst enemy!

You know, if I would make everything in two colors to start with, at least I’d know which shuttle I was using. Some things might end up looking a little strange, but I could keep those as my samples.

Or I could write down the patterns as I go along. Or not! Talk about tedious and losing the flow!

Or maybe I should figure out how to diagram tatting. So many others do that, and there are a lot of programs that can be used. I like following diagrammed patterns and I’d really like to learn how. Another something I should do that takes time, but I think would be well worth it.

Horse bookmark


I haven’t gotten a lot of tatting done this week. I did start several things that were relegated to the trash, though (this is what happens when you don’t pay attention to what you’re doing.)

I did finally get the horse head onto a paperclip. This had been in my mind since I first started looking for a horse pattern, which turned out to be a seahorse modified, found here on ds9designs by Debbie Arnold. This is a little bulkier than the butterflies and doodles I’ve put on paperclips before, so I made the attachment to the clip a bit more robust than usual. The horse now holds its head up pretty well.

This one is made from HH Lizbeth thread size 20 in purple. This is the best picture I could get – all the others were fuzzy (I think it’s me, not the camera). I’m planning on doing a few more of these in different colors, maybe even with a bead for the eye, okay, if I sit down long enough to try it. My sister and I are thinking of doing a local craft show this fall and I thought this type of thing might go over well, and they don’t take long to make, either. And I have a box of 100 large paperclips in different colors, so all I have to do now is the tatting.

Maybe this next week I’ll get a little more tatting done that’s even good enough to keep!

Tatting Tea Tuesday

Tatting Tea Tuesday is here again. I haven’t done a lot of tatting this week and one of the things I did make didn’t get it’s picture taken – oops.
Saturday my husband and I went to a wedding in Oklahoma. I didn’t think I’d get to go because of work. But, big surprise, we didn’t have to work so we headed south. As it’s about a three hour drive I decided to tat the wedding couple a cross bookmark, something I didn’t have time to make before. (And of the three choices of colors I had with me, I picked the wrong one. I had their wedding colors with me, I just didn’t know that was it! I’ll bet they’ll like it anyway.) I didn’t take a picture of it because I didn’t think about it. I had the camera, just not the thought.
Something I have been working on this week is a challenge from Sharon on her Design Challenge blog.

This came out looking like I imagined it would, but it is kind of a pain to make, with a lot of reversing work. On the second, two color one I tried the method for making chains of NOT reversing but also not flipping the stitch. It works (I did it, I did it!) and it’s not quite so persnickety a pattern this way. Of course, you have to pay attention and remember NOT to flip the stitch…
I like the look of this and I’m counting this as #23 on my 25 Motif Challenge. And though I don’t use beads much, I’m thinking of trying this with beads. This could be my snowflake for the Christmas season. I try to come up with a new one every year for friends and family. I may just have come up with it a little early this year.

Tatting Tea Tuesday

I’m back! but I have very little to show for the last week or so. Our daughter and grandson stayed a few extra days more than planned – which was wonderful by the way! I didn’t get much done tatting-wise, but that’s okay. Much better to visit with them while they’re here, I’ll have time to tat later.

I did get a little bit done, stress on the “little”. I finished this up this morning with a cup of *hmm* coffee while the grandson took a little nap.

This is supposed to be a horseshoe. To go along with the horse head I’ve made. Well, not quite with the one that’s already made as the colors don’t go together very well. But I’m thinking on a card or bookmark with a horse-y theme. This horseshoe isn’t quite right, but I was not exactly focused the whole time I was making it. It looks more like a “U” than a shoe, but I think I can fix that the next time around. And thought it’s not perfect I think I’ll have this as my #22 in the 25 Motif Challenge.

Well, that’s it, the entire extent of my tatting over the last week or so. Maybe I’ll have something more by next week.

Grandson is visiting!

No pictures today – too busy. My daughter from Omaha is here with the grandson! Woo-hoo!

Haven’t seen them since May and he has changed soooo much! He’s crawling and has two teeth.

They’re going to be here for a week, so I doubt I’ll get much tatting done. If I do accomplish anything with thread and shuttle I’ll try and post it. Maybe at breaks at work I can do a little…

Okay, he’s doing more cute stuff, gotta stop and watch. Everyone have a good week!

Coasters for Tatting Tea Tuesday

The coasters are done! Okay, a day late. But I wasn’t going to be able to give them to my daughter until later in the week, so I was safe!
I think they came out pretty good. They were made with Handy Hands Lizbeth thread size 20 in varigated green #144 and dark red # 670. I’m calling this #21 of my 25 Motif Challenge.

It’s amazing how the varied color combinations make them each look so different, don’t you think?

I was going to set my cup of tea on one for a visual of their use, but it didn’t work out. I ran out of time.

For anyone that’s interested, here’s the pattern. WARNING: there may be mistakes lurking. Tat at your own risk.

Shay’s Birthday Coasters

Round 1 2 shuttles Make all picots small, for joining only

Sht1 R 6-6. R 6-6. RW Ch 9 DNRW Sht2 R 6-6 DNRW Sht1 Ch 9 RW

*Sht1 6+6 to p of prev R. R 6-6. RW Ch 9 DNRW Sht2 R 6-6. DNRW Sht1 Ch 9 RW*

Repeat between * 8 times, last time join last R to first R. Cut, finish ends as desired.

Round 2 Shuttle and ball. Joining picots indicated as j, others longer as desired.

R 6+6 to any Sht2 R of prev round. RW. Ch 10 RW. R 2-2-2-2j-8 RW

Ch 6-2–2-2+ to 4th p of prev R Ch10 RW.

Repeat from beginning of round 2 all the way around, join to base of first R. Cut, finish ends as desired.

A castle, some big rocks and two shuttles

On the 4th of July my husband and I went on a little day trip, just the two of us. We left all the housework and home projects behind and headed off to have a day of fun.

First we visited Coronado Heights. This is a hill named after Francisco Vasquez de Coronado for his visit to Kansas in 1541 looking for gold. This is the castle at the top. It was built in the 30’s along with a freestanding fireplace and picnic tables around the summit.

The views from the top are spectacular. You can see for miles in all directions over the farm/ranch land that surround it. This picture is looking south from one of the picnic tables. The day was partly cloudy and breezy which made it an excellent day for a visit in July. We’d both been here before but not since we were kids.

Then we went a little farther north and visited Mushroom Rock State Park. This first picture is what it looks like as we drive up. If you can make it out in the center of the picture the top of one of the ‘mushroom’ rocks is visible. In the distance you can see what the area around the park looks like.

These pictures are of my husband and I with some of the large rocks that the place is named for. Who would have thought to find rocks like this in Kansas?

My husband took these pictures by setting the timer on the camera and then running to be with me by/on the rocks. (That was fun to watch!)
It’s has been wet so far this summer so it was very green. This made for a very pleasant visit. It can get pretty dry over the summer.

And then we drove to Salina to check out a few of the antique stores there. We’re not big into antiquing, but enjoy it once in awhile.
I found this box in one of the stores. I think it was a jewelry box, but it may have been a sewing box. I have decided it is a tatting project box. It is to sit next to my chair to hold shuttles and notions in the drawers and current threads and projects in the top. I’ve been looking for something of this nature for quite some time, so I couldn’t very well leave it there, could I?


And then, in a store across the street I actually found two shuttles. One of the owners mentioned that shuttles are usually snapped up almost as soon as they put them out. So I got lucky!

The white one has no markings on it that I could tell. The store owner had no information about either of them, other than they were tatting shuttles. She was quite surprised that I tatted and commented about it being a “lost art.” She didn’t even know how shuttles were used or what it signified if the ends were close together. Both shuttles have some thread on them, and they definitely “click”!
The black one has a trademark name on it. Can you make it out? I had a lot of trouble taking a picture where the name is readable.

The name on the black one is “Gloria” with ‘trade’ on one side and ‘mark’ on the other. I don’t think I’ve heard of that before. Anyone know when or where it was made?
They were both in the same display box, so were for sale by the same seller. The white one has definitely been used quite a bit – it’s just a little warped where the finger and thumb would be positioned. The black one also looks used but not to that extent. What a find!

All around it was a great day. We had fun hiking around two wonderful sites on a beautiful day and then found some treasures to take home with us. We finished off the day at home with our feet up, sipping on root beer floats.

I could do with a few more days as nice as this one!

Tatting Tea Tuesday July 7

It’s Tatting Tea Tuesday again and I’m still busy with my daughter’s birthday present of coasters. So I brewed a cup of tea and kicked back to tat.
Thanks to all of you that shared with me ideas of what colors you thought would look good for the coasters. Most liked the red. And I still was unsure. So I thunk and I thunk and…
this is what I came up with.

Obviously they haven’t had the ends clipped – in fact one still has to have the end connected to the beginning.

I finished the sixth one after I took the picture. Can you guess which one of these needs it’s opposite?

I’ll have to have them done before next week or else they’ll be late. I’ll post a picture of the finished coasters when they’re done. I think she’ll like them.

Butterflies

As I mentioned earlier, I was in a butterfly exchange through InTatters. This is the beautiful butterflies I got from my exchange partner, CindyK from Minnesota.

The large one is “Green Butterfly” designed by Martha Ess, found in the Intatters patterns. She made it with Lizbeth thread size 20 in “Jewels” and DMC Cebelia size 20 white. And she sent the little one to keep it company. Aren’t they wonderful?

CindyK considers herself a beginner as she’s only been tatting a few years. She just finished Phase one of the T.A.T. program. If you get the chance stop on over to congratulate her on a job well done! I think she did a great job on these butterflies. Now I just need to decide where I’m going to display them…

This butterfly is the one I sent to CindyK. This was a lot of fun making. I tried Lizbeth thread for the first time with it. I have seen that a lot of people are trying it and liking it so I bought some. And I really really like the Caribbean!

So I just had to do this butterfly in it. This is the Southwest Butterfly by Tatting Goddess made with Lizbeth size 20 thread, Dark Purple #633, Caribbean #122 & Black #604. (www.esnips.com/web/TattingGoddessPatterns). I’m calling this #20 of my 25 Motif Challenge.

I’ve been working on my daughter’s birthday coasters, which I’ll post another day. I think I’ve come up with a solution as to what color to make them.

Yesterday my husband and I went for a day trip, just the two of us. In the afternoon we stopped by a couple of antique stores and spent a few hours browsing through all of the neat – and not so neat- things in them. I have serveral things to share after I have the pictures uploaded. I’m pretty excited about all of my finds.

But that is for another day. We’ve been very busy this weekend – we had three days off from work! – with family and friends and just spending time together. I feel so much more relaxed than I have for weeks.

That’s all for today. My shuttles are calling to me. I better do something with them before they tie themselves in knots.