Category: ornament

An Ornament for Christmas

Did you all have a merry Christmas? We have had a wonderful Christmas season. We’ve seen a lot of family and friends and created wonderful memories. We even had a bit of snow!

I was able to make as many of my Christmas ornaments for this year as I needed and in plenty of time. Amazing! I didn’t even feel rushed this year. In fact, I got through most of December without feeling pressured, which is pretty amazing. I almost always leave things to the last minute and then feel stressed and anxious. This year I got the gifts purchased early and had the house in good shape for company before the day of the get-togethers. What a wonderful feeling!

My Christmas ornament for 2023 involved beads again. Some were even the same ones! I am very happy with these.

2023 Christmas ornament snowman on wandasknottythoughts
Christmas ornament 2023 with Snowman

These snowman beads were used in the original attempt for ornaments this year. This time the tatting was a bit quicker and the ornaments did not use the bangle bracelets or anything else under the tatting. This made them easier to tat on the go, which I did quite a bit.

I have a variety of beads that I used for these. I made ornaments specific to several family member’s likes. Cats, dogs, penguins, and owls.

2023 Christmas ornament with penguin on wandasknottythoughts
Christmas ornament 2023 with penguin

I went through several versions before I settled on my final ornament style. They all were given away – the people receiving them didn’t know I changed my mind! I even did a few that weren’t white.

2023 Christmas ornaments with owls on wandasknottythoughts
Christmas ornament 2023 with owls

I made all of the ornaments in size 10 thread so they were big enough and sturdy enough for the beads. I also used Balanced Double Stitches (BDS) for the chains. I had learned this stitch a long time ago but never incorporated it in my tatting before. Then I did a few patterns from Mike Lyon, the Shuttle Commander, and now I seem to use them a lot! Thanks, Mike, for showing me how well they can work in a pattern.

Speaking of patterns, I have finished the pattern for this year’s ornament. For any of you who are interested in trying it, I have added it to My Patterns page (Christmas Ornament 2023).

In a few more days we will say goodbye to the year 2023 and hello to 2024. Are you ready?

“The light of the Christmas star to you. The warmth of home and hearth to you. The cheer and goodwill of friends to you.” Sherryl Woods, An O’Brien Family Christmas

Angels and Ornaments

The pattern for the September Angel is finished! Thank you to my test tatters, Wally and Ada for checking the pattern out for oopsies. And thank you to all those who volunteered to test tat. I appreciate the offer.

September Angel on music on wandasknottythoughts
September Angel

This angel was done in size 20 Lizbeth thread, making it not very big. It looks good in size 10, but that’s not much bigger. I think a pair of these would make cute earrings, both in size 20 and in a smaller thread.

The pattern has been added to the My Patterns page. Funny story, while trying to put it on the page we lost power. Everything was off for about 15 minutes before coming back on. I was concerned about it going off again, so I delayed turning my computer back on until this morning. I suspect the high winds caused the outage, but I wasn’t sure.

I’ve been contacted by several people who have trouble reading the patterns from their location on Google Docs on their phones. It has something to do with the size of the page that Google Docs doesn’t like. I have not yet gotten it straight, though no one has had trouble seeing them on their computers. If you have trouble, please contact me and I’ll send you the pattern instead of what is on the Docs page.

I’ve been thinking of what my yearly Christmas ornament will be this year. I like the September Angel, but it’s small. I’ve come up with an idea, but it’s not yet ready. What I have tried so far is looking promising.

September Angel on glass ornament on wandasknottythoughts
September Angel on a glass ornament

I have these clear glass ornaments I picked up at Micheal’s a few weeks ago. I cut strips of music, curled them, and put them inside. The greenery at the top could maybe have a bit more, but I like the idea. The angel is in size 10 thread, which looks a bit big to me. I’m going to try it with an angel in size 20, and see if that looks better.

I have a list of things I would like to tat before any of our Christmas get-togethers – one of which is before the 25th – but time is getting tight. If I don’t get them done by then, I might have to hand deliver them when they are.

How are your plans for Christmas coming?

“Every gift which is given, even though it be small, is in reality great, if it is given with affection.” Pindar

Christmas 2020

Can you believe it is only three days to Christmas? The year has gone so fast and the last three weeks must faster (it seems to me!). I have been so busy I haven’t gotten as much tatting done as I would have liked, but, looking back, I’ve gotten more done than I thought.

Christmas 2020 tatting on wandasknottythoughts
Christmas tatting 2020

Looking back, there was more tatting done for Christmas than I thought. I’m not sure how many of the music ornaments I finished this year, but everyone I had planned to send cards to received one, so it was several lol! It’s amazing how much time can be spent on such small tatting!. The angel wings came out great, and the angels were well received by the few that got them. I didn’t give anyone the small angel, but that was designed and tatted as well. Not bad!

Speaking of the small angel, the pattern is done and available! Please email me a request.

Small angel Christmas tatting 2020 on wandasknottythoughts
Small angel Christmas tatting

Now I’m on to more Christmas things, namely getting the house cleaned up and decorated so it looks Christmas-y!

Merry Christmas to all of you.

“Christmas is the day that holds all time together.” Alexander Smith https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/alexander_smith_379476?src=t_christmas

And now that everything is back to normal I can finally post a picture of the goodies I got from Lorena, Rose Chic Friends, for the drawing on her blog. She sent lots of beautiful things – mostly in pink! There was a painted ball ornament and a paper one, a cozy, a journal, a lovely clay rose bouquet, a clay flower lapel pin and beaded earings, two spatulas (with pink hearts!), a post-it pad, and two Thanksgiving decorations that I put on the table for supper – I made it home in time to use them! My daughters oohed and awed over my winnings. They both like pink. Thank you, Lorena, for drawing my name! You do beautiful work. I was unable to wear the pin or earings this weekend because I held the baby (a lot) and didn’t want to hurt him or me. But I know just what they’ll go with on Sunday to church!

Small Christmas tree pattern

A few days ago I posted a picture of a small Christmas tree ornament. I was asked if I would share the pattern. Well, here it is! I’ve tried looking it over for mistakes and to make it understandable. Please give it a try, and let me know if you have any questions or if you find a problem.

Two Shuttles
Sht1
R 3-6—6-3. RW
CH 4-3—3-4. DNRW
Clover
Sht2
R 3-3-3-3. R 3 + to 3rd p of prev R 4 –2—2- 4-3. R 3+ to 3rd p of prev R 3-3-3. DNRW
Sht1
CH 4-3—3-4. RW
R 3-6+ to 2nd p of 1st R 6-3 RW
Sht2
R 3-6—6-3. DNRW
Sht1
CH 4-3—3-4. DNRW
Repeat from Clover 2 times except
Top Clover 2nd R 3+ 4 – 2 (very long p) 2- 2 + to very long p 4-3.
Last repeat join CH to base of 1st R. RW
Split R Sht2 9
Sht1 9 close. DNRW
Sht2
R 9-9.
Joint to base of previous R.

Bell pattern

Yesterday I posted the picture of the bell ornament. Today I’m going to add the pattern for it. I’ve not written out patterns that others have had to follow yet, so, please try it if you’d like and let me know if you find any mistakes. Refer to the picture from yesterday if you have any questions. I do make things that have a definate front and back so I don’t know how it will turn out if you don’t do that also. Happy tatting!

Bell Dec2007

2 shuttles

#

Sht1

R 5-5-5-5. RW

Ch 3-2-2-3. RW.

#

Repeat between # 3 times, joining 1st p of each R to 3rd p of prev R.

R 5+5-5-5 to 3rd p of prev R. DNRW

Sht2

Ch 3-2-2-3. RW

R 5+5-5-5 to 3rd p of prev Sht1 Ch. RW

Ch3-2-2-3.RW

R 5+5-5-5 to 3rd p of prev R. RW

Ch 3+2-2-3. DNRW

Sht1

R 5-5-5-5. DNRW

Sht2

Ch 3-2-2-3. RW

R 5+5-5-5 to 3rd p of prev Sht2 R. RW

Ch 3-2-2-3. RW

R 5+5-5-5 to 3rd p of prev R. RW

Ch 3-2-2-3. DNRW

Sht1

R 5-5-5-5. RW

Ch 3+2-2-3 to 3rd p of prev Sht2 R. RW

*

5+5-5-5 to 3rd p of prev R.RW

Ch 3-2-2-3. RW

*

Repeat between * 2 times

R 5+5-5-5. DNRW

Sht2

Ch 3-2-2-3. RW

R 5+ to 3rd p of prev Sht1 Ch 5-5+5 to 1st p of 1st Ch

Ch 3-2-2-3. join to base of 1st R.

Add hanger and jingle bell clapper if desired.

p.s. I’ve added the diagrammed pattern to my sidebar August 2011