In my previous post, I talked about a shuttle that was a gift to me by my brother-in-law. I also shared it on my blog FaceBook page where Sharon Tabor shared some history of Boye shuttles. She was gracious enough to allow me to share the information that she had about them. The following is her comment on the FB post.
“The tipped curve was made by a former user. I have a complete set of Boye metal shuttles from 1915-1992. The first Boye shuttles were pinched in the middle. The shuttle you were gifted is from about 1920. The shape was changed after the 1917 patent and was made in 2 sizes 3″ and 3 1/2”
Pre-WWII, the shuttles were nickel or zinc plated brass. The one your brother-in-law gifted you is a brass shuttle with a zinc coating (it is dull) During WWII all metal was diverted to the war effort and hence the invention of celluloid ( an early but flammable plastic). The 3 1/2″ shuttles were discontinued in 1947.
Since I documented my Boye collection, I have found the 1917 shuttle I was missing. The last Boye shuttles made in the USA were only printed on one side and the back was blank.
Your shuttle is circa 1920-1923.
A great reference book is Tatting Shuttles of American Collectors by Heidi Nakayama” Sharon Tabor
Shuttle collection by Sharon Tabor
Thank you, Sharon, for the wonderful information and for allowing me to share it on my blog. Isn’t this a great collection of shuttles?
On a different note, I am still working on the pattern for the Isla Snowflake. I’m hoping to have it done in a few days.
Today is Tuesday, 2/22/22 or 22/2/22, depending on how it’s written in your part of the world. Either way, it is a palindrome, meaning it reads the same backward as it does forward. This type of ‘Twosday’ is so special that it won’t happen again for another 400 years. I’ve heard that a lot of people have chosen today to get married. I guess you’d never forget your anniversary!
I meant to post much earlier in the day today but have met with ‘two’ many issues that I didn’t expect, which put me way behind on everything I did plan to do. So I better get on it while it is still Tuesday, I mean ‘Twosday’.
My sweet brother-in-law remembered me when he found a tatting shuttle at a flea market recently and bought it for me.
Boye shuttle with whistle
You can see this was a well-used shuttle by how the finish is worn off. There is still enough left to see it is a Boye shuttle. It still has a variegated pink thread on the bobbin, which looks to be size 80.
I’m not sure how old the shuttle is but looks to be from before 1923. I have another metal Boye shuttle I compared it to. Notice in the center of the top shuttle it says “PAT APR.17.’23”. The center of the bottom shuttle, the one I was just given, says “PAT APL’D FOR”
Two Boye shuttles
The older one (bottom) is longer and the body is wider than the newer one. You can see that the top shuttle has the bobbin peeking out on both sides of the body, while the bottom one is as wide as the bobbin. The pick at the tip is different, also.
Different tips on the shuttles
The older one (right) has the tip curving up compared to the body instead of to the side like the newer one (left). All the metal Boye shuttles I’ve seen before have the pick curved to the side. Maybe this was a change before the patten went through?
One of the things that delayed me writing my post today was an event I attended. Newton, Kansas, the town that I used to live in is celebrating the sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary of its incorporation. They threw a party where the mayor gave a proclamation and had local organizations put on the entertainment for the evening in the form of local music groups and a dance troupe. I stopped to check it out and stayed longer than expected.
The City was selling souvenirs at the party in the form of t-shirts and wooden train whistles, of which I had to indulge. Trains have been a major part of Newton from the beginning, when it was the trailhead of the Chisholm Trail. The railroad basically cuts the town in half. If you spend any time in Newton, Kansas, even today, you understand the t-shirt.
Newton t-shirt and whistleWhistle and shuttles
I didn’t really need the wooden train whistle (or the t-shirts!) but, hey, it’s cute.
I’m still working on the pattern for the Isla snowflake. I think I’ve got the stitch count down where I’m happy with it. Now I have to start diagramming it, the most un-fun part of sharing my patterns. I’ve also realized I should document the pattern for the doily I have in the background, one I made in 2014. I think I would like to make it again. That makes two patterns to work on. There’s that two again.
“Today is the day to celebrate Newton! 150 years ago on February 22, 1872, Newton, ‘the wickedest city in the West” made up of businessmen, gamblers and cowboys with 27 saloons and the AT& SF railroad tracks running right through the middle of it all, was incorporated as a city.” Harvey County Historical Society
Jane Eborall has given us the complete pattern now for her 2022 TIAS. It became a very cute critter, Doris the Dragon!
Here be dragons!
It’s always a surprise to what Jane’s TIAS will end up being, but never a surprise at how much fun it is. I love this little dragon! I did have a few issues with it, that’s why there are two instead of one. I don’t know if it was a bad ball of thread, if it was stored badly and developed a problem, or what, but the thread kept splitting and I broke it several times. I also wasn’t careful enough when following the pattern and made several mistakes of one sort or another on each of these. A couple of times I backed up, took out the stitches, and fixed the problem. There was one mistake where that wasn’t an option, which is why I made a second dragon. But they came out so cute in Lizbeth #130 Island Breeze in size 20, mistakes and all! If you are interested in making one yourself, check out Jane’s Tat It And See blog.
I love Doris so much I’m already trying to make up my mind what threads I want to use on my next one. The completed ones are going to be on one of my shirts, I just have to decide how to position them.
Dragons on my shirt
When not tatting the dragons I’ve been tatting the Isla Snowflake trying to decide on the stitch counts. Several elements on the original had one stitch count in one place and a different stitch count in others, and I need to figure out which ones work best before I write out the pattern. I also tried something a bit different on the spikes. Which do you like better, the original or the newer version?
Isla original
Isla with different points
Today we are experiencing some real snowflakes and lots of wind. We have been fortunate to not have as much ice or snow as places to the south and east of us have. We had to make an emergency run to get coffee this morning and just a few miles from us it was a lot worse. We can use the moisture but that doesn’t mean I like what comes with it. But it gives me a good excuse to stay inside and tat!
Do you have (or need) an excuse to tat?
“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.” J. R. R. Tolkien
I’ve been having fun this last week making heart earrings. I’ve even added beads to the January Hearts.
January Heart earrings
I have given several of these pairs away, to my daughters and a sister. I even kept a pair for myself! The little critter with the earrings is the Valentine my granddaughter made for me. She made these to give as Valentines to her classmates and I received one, too. Isn’t it cute?
While looking up hearts and heart patterns this week I reviewed how I posted about them since I started my blog. It’s amazing how many blog posts there have been in the last 10 years. If you are interested in the pattern, check out my Patterns page.
Thanks to all of you that have left comments about this pattern. I appreciate all of you! May you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!
“And now these three remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13
Valentine’s Day will be here in a week and like most years I think I have to re-invent the wheel, or in this case, the heart. Sometimes I do okay, sometimes I don’t. I think I did okay this time.
January Hearts
I like the proportion of these hearts, which I don’t always get. These are made with only one shuttle and ball thread, simple and quick to make. Amazingly, I didn’t get overly complicated, LOL! I made these in Lizbeth # 671 Christmas Red in size 20, which makes a nice earring, but they wouldn’t have to be earrings.
Something else amazing, I have the pattern done for these already! Imagine that! I’ve added it to My Patterns page.
Speaking of patterns, I am making a few changes to the pattern page. The Keep and Share site where I have the downloads have a limit on how many downloads they allow in a day. If I want to allow more, it costs more. As I don’t charge for my patterns I don’t want to do that. I am changing which patterns can be downloaded to more recent or popular patterns. All the patterns are still available but may have to be requested by email.
I’ve been seeing a lot of tatted hearts on Facebook, Instagram, and blog posts the last week or so. Are you planning to tat hearts this year for Valentine’s Day?
“I enjoy celebrating Valentine’s Day. It’s a nice way to say you’re thinking about your family, someone special, or dear friends.” Camila Alves
Remember the Jasper snowflake I put on the front of the Tree-topper angel?
Jasper snowflake
I’ve finished the pattern! I’ve added it to My Patterns page. I’ve looked it over but did not have a test-tatter so there may be mistakes lurking. Let me know if one finds you! I’d love to see how it works up for you if you make it.
“Life is all about sharing. If we are good at something, pass it on. That is the pleasure I get from teaching – whether it is television or books. We should all share.” Mary Berry
I’m still doing Jane Eborall’s TIAS, and it’s up to day 8. There have been a lot of guesses that it might be a seahorse, but after day eight’s installment, I don’t think so. Maybe a gecko? It’s fun guessing even if I don’t get it right.
TIAS day 8
I have actually gotten some other tatting done, too. I was in a bit of a funk with tatting, knowing I have several things I should be doing but not having the inspiration to do them. Doing small, simple things has gotten me back in the frame of mind to be creative.
I had some beads I picked up at Michael’s a week or so ago. I have been wanting to practice tatting with beads and these owl beads were an inspiration to do so.
Owl earrings
I used Lizbeth #122 Caribbean size 20 because I love the color. This is a simple use of beads, but you have to start somewhere, right? The owl beads were what I really wanted to do something with. There are several things I could do better and will do a bit differently with the next pair of these I make. I gave this pair to one of my daughters and want to give a pair to my other daughter as well.
I had plenty of the Caribbean on the shuttles to play with after the owl earrings. I want to review what I would fix/change before making another pair so thought I’d do something else. February and Valentine’s Day is coming up so hearts sprang to mind.
Doodle heart
This one was okay, but I could see it a bit differently shaped so I tried another heart with a bit of a change. I liked the change enough I made a pair of earrings.
heart earrings on music runner
Don’t they look good on this runner? My sister made this for me for my birthday. She told me about it while she was embroidering it because she thinks it will look good with tatted edgings. I think so, too. This is one of the things on my need-to-tat list.
While looking for shuttles I found a small piece of tatting I did some time ago. I can’t find a picture of it so I’m not sure how long ago I made it. I’m pretty sure I was just doodling again when I made it. Unless someone recognizes it?
Snowflake doodle
It looks kind of wonky, doesn’t it? I didn’t block it except for pulling it this way and that to make it lay nice. I decided I’d add another round, so found the thread I made it with and jumped right in.
Isla snowflake
This is made with Lizbeth #660 Country Turquoise Light in size 20. I like how it came out. I was fiddling with the chain length and the small rings as I was making it, so some are one size and some are another. But that is easy to fix. This is what happens when you don’t know what you’re doing when you start, LOL. I’ll have to try it again.
Today I’m working on another pair of heart earrings, this time in red as befits Valentine’s day. It was such a nice day the dog and I spent most of it outside. I did some tatting outside, too. I tried to get a picture of me with the dog, but she wouldn’t cooperate.
Tatting outside in January
Kansas has a wide range of winter weather, from mild to nasty. Today was mild and beautiful- sunny, light breeze, and 66 degrees F. How could I spend it indoors? But our nice weather is coming to an end tomorrow with nasty weather here by Wednesday.
Weather in Kansas January 31, 2022
Yep, it’s supposed to start snowing Tuesday night, keep snowing through Thursday morning, with wind chills in the -10 to -20 range. I could do without that. We are very blessed to usually not have as much bad, or cold, weather as other parts of the country, but it is winter. Six months from now I’ll be complaining of the heat, LOL!
“I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.” Vincent Van Gogh
I have found that my dog takes up a lot of my time. She likes to have my attention, and I like to watch her play and explore her world. This equals not as much tatting time or as much computer time. I need to pay attention to both of those activities that I am putting elsewhere – the dog! This leads to not much done on any of the patterns I’ve been working on, or much tatting at all.
I have been keeping up with Jane Eborall’s 2022 TIAS. She is up to day 6, and so am I. There has been a bit of drama getting there. I finished day 3 and started on day 4, where the bead would be added. I got the first ring of day 4 done when I noticed I had made a mistake on day 3. Instead of starting over, I decided to take out the previous two rings to where the mistake was. Things did not go as well as I expected.
Taking out a mistake from day 3
I don’t usually have much trouble opening rings. Not saying I always can, but more often than not I can. This time I broke the thread of shuttle one.
At that point, I decided I might as well go on to the previous ring where my mistake was and fix the thread when I got back to it.
Broken thread on shuttle 2 as well
Opening the next ring I broke the thread on shuttle two as well! It might have been faster to just start over at this point, but I added the thread back on and continued from there. Now I have a mess of thread ends that need to be cut off.
TIAS repaired and on to day 4
I’ll cut the ends off later. I usually leave them somewhat long so they don’t work their way loose before I’m done.
TIAS through day 6
The TIAS is now through day 6. I’m still not sure what it is, maybe a bird? Several people have guessed seahorses. But it is only day 6, it could still be a lot of things, and Jane isn’t saying!
One of the few other things I’ve been working on is a wishbone thimble holder for my sister. (My first ever blog post was about making one of these!) The one I had made for her years ago had been broken. She supplied a turkey wishbone with the request I make her another. I had prepped the wishbone by sanding it to make it smooth and then sprayed it with a clear sealer. I had the bone covered with thread but had not started the tatting yet when…
Wishbone mishap
One of the few things the dog has gotten into that she shouldn’t. I thought the sealer would disguise that it was a bone, but I guess not. And I didn’t have it far enough out of reach. Now I get to start over. Oh, boy.
“What’s so fascinating and frustrating and great about life is that you’re constantly starting over, all the time, and I love that.” Billy Crystal
I’ve been tatting the larger wings, checking if I’ve got the pattern correct. Good thing these wings were just practice and not planned for something. There was an incident with coffee yesterday…
Coffee on the wings on wandasknottythoughts
Coffee stains don’t come out well. I suppose I could just put these in coffee and stain them as if I meant to do it. But I haven’t made the facing wings yet, I’d want to do them all together so they come out looking the same. I’ll have to keep that in mind to use them somewhere in the future. It would be a shame to waste all that thread and the time tatting for something like this. The coffee stains will just make them look old, I can work with that.
As I mentioned last post I’ve joined Jane Eborall’s 2022 TIAS (Tat It And See). We are on Day 3. No surprise I have no idea what it will be. I’m thinking it will be an animal of some type as she has just said that a bead will be added soon. But that doesn’t really narrow it down much on what it could be. She has a great imagination and a lot of skill. If you haven’t seen her patterns yet check them out at http://www.janeeborall.freeservers.com/, there are all kinds! Her TIAS is at https://tatitandsee.blogspot.com/ if you’d like to join, or just follow along with how everyone else is doing it.
2022 TIAS day 3
This is my version of the 2022 TIAS through day 3. Jane has said that we only need one bead but I have a habit of losing beads all over the floor or just in the mess of my table. While I was getting one bead I thought I’d better get a spare or two, just in case. How’s the TIAS going for you?
I haven’t done much with writing out the pattern for the wings this week, just the tatting. I haven’t been on my computer much, too busy doing other things. I guess I need to buckle down and work on it, maybe with coffee. I’m not taking any bets on getting very far with it though, except on the coffee.
“I don’t need an inspirational quote. I need coffee.” OurMindfulLife.com
I’m currently working on the pattern for the larger wings. This means there’s nothing to share with that yet. I’ve got the written part down, but haven’t proofed it well yet. I’ve started the diagram but have a long way to go on it. Depending on how much time I get this week to work on it, maybe test tatting by next week.
I’ve done almost no tatting in the last week. I’ve had a cold (not the ‘Rona) which left me feeling very un-enthused about doing anything. I watched quite a bit of TV with idle hands, which is unusual for me.
Feel good or not I haven’t been completely idle – we got a new dog just before Christmas from a local animal shelter. We had been looking for a few weeks but there hadn’t been any small- to medium-sized dogs at any of them. We didn’t have a breed in mind, just one not too big or not too small, not a puppy but not real old, house trained preferred. We finally found a Corgi mix just shy of one year old that we both liked. Still with some puppy traits but with some adult traits. Now I have to get out and walk and be a little more active. Good things. She doesn’t mind the cold weather at all.
Our new dog
So far she chews her toys and leaves things on tables and such alone. No shoes have been chewed yet. I do have to be careful of my tatting, but only one slightly messed up coaster has been found. She hasn’t seen me do a lot of tatting yet, but the click-click of winding shuttles did catch her attention today.
The shuttles I was winding are for Jane Eborall’s 2022 Tat It And See, which started today, January 12. As it is completely unknown what it will be yet, any color of thread will do. I decided on Lizbeth #130 Island Breeze in size 20. As I wound my second shuttle out of the corner of my eye I see our dog reach up and very carefully take my ball of thread from the arm of my chair. She dropped it immediately when I told her to; I think she thought it was one of her balls. This is the first ball of thread she’s tried to take. Warning! Make sure there aren’t any lying around where she can get them!
2022 TIAS day 1
As usual with Jane’s TIAS I have absolutely no guess as to what this will be, but they are always fun. Anyone else joining in this year?
Success is following the pattern of life one enjoys most. Al Capp
