I am working on items for a December 7, 2024 craft show. As I usually do for craft shows I’m doing small things instead of large items. This year it’s angels, specifically, wine cork angels. Of course, there had to be a new pattern for the wings.
A few weeks ago I shared my ideas of the wine cork angels. Over several weeks I worked on patterns to determine which was more appealing to me.
Wing variations
I started with the ones at the top, making changes here and there. The two second from the bottom are smaller and good for smaller corks, like whiskey corks. The two on the bottom are what I decided to go with, and specifically the one on the lower right.
Wine Cork Angel Wings v 2 Wine cork angel wings v 1
The difference between these two versions is one split ring after the tip of the wings. This shapes the wings slightly narrower. The second version is the one I wrote out the pattern for. It can be found on My Patterns page as Wine Cork Angel Wings v. 2.
Between a friend and my brother-in-law, who each gifted me with a large bag of wine corks, I have a lot of wings to make!
I hope that your seasonal tatting is going well. Snowflakes? Snowmen? Angels?
“The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.” Denis Waitley
It’s weeks later than what I had promised it would be, but the pattern for Luther’s Rose is done! I’m sharing today, before I’ve test-tatted it, because Reformation Day is celebrated this coming Sunday. I don’t believe it is a hard pattern to tat, so you may have time to do it before this Sunday. There are a lot of repeats, so once you get going it shouldn’t be too hard. It has taken me much longer to write out the pattern that it takes to tat it! I haven’t test tatted the entire thing yet, but I wanted to get it out there. Let me know if a problem gets you. (I updated the pattern to correct issues 11/01/2024)
Framed Luther’s Rose
I framed the Rose and added Luther’s description of it. This is an 8×10 frame, the Rose is 4 5/8″ (12 cm) across. I had to make the words of the description in 10 pt instead of 12 pt so it would fit in the space left. As I’m not giving this one away I can change that part later if I want.
I don’t remember the size of the original Rose that I made back in 2017. I think the frame I put that one in was slightly bigger, maybe 11×13 inches, so comparing them in the pictures isn’t really much help. I do like how this looks in the frame. I’m curious which one you like better, this one or the original.
I’ve also been tatting for Christmas already. Shocker, right? I usually don’t get started until December! I’ve been using shuttles that my husband, Jack, has made for me. I’m loving them! They are light and soooo smooth! I carry them with me in a mint tin so they don’t get damaged in my purse.
Christmas tatting, with shuttles by Jack
All of these are my patterns. The snowflakes are simple ones, almost doodles. There are a lot of snowflake patterns out there that may be similar, but I was only doing ones that came to me as I tatted. The little angel is ‘Small Angel’, which is found on My Patterns page. The larger angel is the first pattern I ever designed myself way back in the late eighties. This represents only a few of what I already have done, but I need quite a few more. But, hey, it’s still October, I might have time!
I’ve done it again, haven’t I? It’s been several weeks since I last posted. It’s not that I don’t have things to post about, it’s just getting time and pictures to do it.
I’ll start with the Luther’s Rose pattern I promised. Do you know how much harder it is to diagram and write out a pattern than it is to just tat it? I’ve been working on it and it seems to keep getting longer and longer. I even took my computer with me on a trip just so I could work on this pattern. And it still isn’t done! It didn’t help that I had a bad attack of allergies while we were gone, making it hard to concentrate. Now that we are home again I’ve made a lot of progress but still have a bit to go. And I have not reviewed it to find mistakes! I have the cross, the heart, and the white rose parts diagrammed and, I think, tat-able. If anyone would like to get started on it to have it done by Reformation, and don’t mind taking a chance on the pattern, email me. (wandasknottythoughts (at) gmail.com) Update 10/24/2024: pattern can be found on the My Patters page.
We’ve been traveling quite a bit lately. My last post was right after we got back from Branson, Missouri. A week after we got home from there we went to Colorado to visit our daughter and take her dog back. They moved at the start of September and it was easier for us to keep her dog until they got into their house. After a month we took the dog to their new home and stayed a week with them. This is where I had the allergy attack. I am allergic to their male cat. I don’t have much trouble unless I pet him and then don’t wash my hands right away. The good news is that I had time to tat in the car on the drive, which is about nine hours each way, as well as the trip to and from Branson.
Bookmarks
My other daughter, who still lives close by, requested more bookmarks. These paperclip bookmarks are easy to do while riding in the car. I don’t have to try and keep track of where I am in a pattern, which is great. My daughter still wants more, but this was a great start.
I also started on snowflakes for Christmas while we were traveling. I’m not fond of tatting with white while not at home due to the chances of it getting dirty, but I did it anyway. I have plans for small snowflakes this year and need quite a few. I wasn’t following any patterns, just making easy ones.
On a more serious note, have you read Jane Eborall’s post of October 14, 2024, on her ‘Tatting and Not a Lot Else’ blog? She found several “tatting” books that are awful. I’ve been hearing about a lot of fakes out there that are possibly made with AI or people stealing other’s work. I highly recommend that you use caution when buying any new craft books of any kind.
Besides hoping to get the pattern finished, I hope to have pictures of some of the other tatting that I’ve been doing ready soon. And to post faster!
Believe it or not, I finished the pattern! But I had to finish tatting the mat before I published it.
Jubilee mat tatting the edging
This is in Lizbeth thread HH20-601 white in size 20 and measures 5 1/2 inches across. I must have measured it wrong when I did it in 2018 because I got the same dimensions this time!
Jubilee mat 2018Jubilee mat 2024 with clover
The square mat that I did in 2018 measured 5 1/2 inches across (with the edging). The 2024 mat measures just over 5 1/2 inches. They are made with different thread brands, the 2018 in DMC size 30. You can see there is a bit of a size difference.
I’ve had fun working on this, in between doing a few other patterns. Two patterns are for Tatting Corner’s Tat Days this summer. You’ll have to come to see them – or wait until Tat Days are over. The pattern for Jubilee Square and Mat is up on My Patterns page. Thank you, Kristina Fry, for test-tatting it for me!
Enjoy the pattern!
“Procrastination gives you time to consider divergent ideas, to think in nonlinear ways, to make unexpected leaps.” Adam Grant
It’s hard to believe Christmas is less than two weeks away. It seems like Thanksgiving was just the other day! I have been busy tatting, but time seems so short! Will I get everything done in time?
Every year I try to make a special ornament for family and close friends. I don’t usually think what they will be until I pick up the shuttles to start. This year I had a vague idea several months ago. I had found some cute beads at JoAnn’s that I just knew would look good in a Christmas ornament, I just didn’t quite know how. I tried a few things.
2023 Christmas ornament 1 try
This ornament is on a bangle bracelet. It is made with size 10 white thread and size 6/0 clear beads. The snowman almost looks like it’s in a snow globe, don’t you think? I like the look, but it took longer to make than I was happy with. I gave it away in a gift exchange with our women’s group at church.
I tried again using a bangle bracelet. It is also made with size 10 white thread and 6/0 clear beads. Without the ribbons, I wasn’t that excited about it, with the ribbons I was much happier. I gave this one to my mom.
Bangle Christmas ornament for Mom
Neither of these has become this season’s ornament. I’ve been working on what I have decided to be the ornament of the year but I’m not sharing that until I have given them out. And I still have a few to go.
The other day before I went to the party for the ladies at church, I realized I didn’t have a pair of earrings that I wanted to wear. I decided to make a simple pair.
Christmas earrings
They are not elaborate but still festive and went with the clothes I was wearing. I just love that a few minutes with a shuttle, thread, and a few beads left me with a cute pair of earrings. These are made with size 20 white and little red beads, 10/0 (?). A lovely little gift I gave myself.
I am leaving a gift for you, too. The pattern for the Compass Rose has been added to the My Patterns page.
Will I get everything done in time? Maybe, maybe not. But I’m going to enjoy the doing and not worry about the time. It’s a self-imposed goal anyway. I think I’ll relish the season instead of stressing about it.
What are you tatting for Christmas?
“When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things, not the great occasions, give off the greatest glow of happiness.” — Bob Hope
I can’t believe it’s almost December! Or that my last post was in August!! What could have kept me away that long?!
Many things have been going on that have kept me busy. It started while I was still at Tatting Corner’s Tat Days in July, where I spoke to Lisa Adams about teaching a class on the tatting cruise, Knotical Adventures. I had already submitted one pattern and she told me I could submit another. On our way home from Tat Days, my husband and I brainstormed ideas about what I could try. By the time we got home, I had a good idea of another pattern.
Having an idea and making it real are two very different things! For the next several months I made and remade the same thing, changing a bit here, tweaking a bit there. After I thought I had it the way I wanted, I had to write out the pattern. This pattern wasn’t easy to translate to paper. After I wrote it down, I submitted it to a couple of wonderful test tatters, who pointed out all the places that didn’t work. Then I went back to writing out the corrections. I didn’t think I’d have it ready for the cruise, but I did! Thank you to Lora McClintock for testing it with a needle, and to Stephanie Wilson for testing it with a shuttle. Your suggestions and input were put to use and have been greatly appreciated! The result of all this hard work will be shared in another post.
What I will share today is the first item I submitted to teach on the cruise.
Compass Rose
The patterns for the cruise were to be of a nautical theme. I thought of this Compass Rose soon after Lisa started asking for teachers. It came together quickly. The hardest part was finding beads with the correct letters for the four directions. I finally decided that it would be best to just write them on. This came out just as I envisioned it.
My sister and I on the Knotical Adventures cruise 2023
Then there was the cruise! My sister went with me on Tatting Corner’s Knotical Adventure. We both had a blast! We didn’t tat ALL the time, we enjoyed a few shore excursions as well. Thanks, Lisa, for putting this cruise together! Can’t wait for the next one!
I have a lot of things to share, but now it’s the Christmas season. I have so many things to do, including tat, in the next few weeks. But I plan to post a few more times before the end of the year. Let’s see how well I do!
A few days ago I received an email asking if I had written out the pattern for an edging I made years ago. I hadn’t yet, but it seemed totally doable. It is a simple edging so it wouldn’t take long to write it out.
Kamryn Edging
This edging is Kamryn, which I designed and made in 2015. When I made it back then, I had material picked out to go with it for a table runner. That changed by the time it was finished and ready to be sewn on, which you can read about in the blog post of December 4, 2015. This time I didn’t have colors picked out to make it in so I used thread I had conveniently close by. This was Lizbeth #671 Christmas Red and #650 Denim Blue Lt, both are size 20.
Thank you to Dana Morse for liking it and asking about the pattern. She also test-tatted it for me when I finished it, which was a great help. Thanks, Dana! For those that are interested in the pattern, the link is on the My Patterns page.
In the middle of May, Muskaan of T.I.P.S. Around the Home started a Design Along (DAL) for a Celtic snowflake. She made the first two rounds and furnished the pattern for them. The idea is to design rounds three, and four if you want, to finish it. I decided to join her challenge.
DAL Celtic Snowflake
You can find the pattern for the first two rounds on Muskaan’s blog and her Facebook page. My pattern is jotted down on the pictures I put on Facebook. I’ll be writing my two rounds out better – eventually. She shared the snowflakes of everyone that joined the DAL on her blog. It’s amazing a different all the snowflakes came out when they all started with the same two first rounds.
This was a lot of fun to do. My rounds were not exactly Celtic, but round four did overlap with round three. This is going to make writing out the pattern a bit challenging. As Muskaan started this with just a shuttle and ball I kept to that, even though I usually tat with two shuttles so I can go in any direction the pattern takes me. In this snowflake, I utilized SCMRs (self-closing mock rings) to make the pattern do what I wanted. I used two colors so the different elements of the pattern can be seen. I used Lizbeth #650 Denim Blue Lt and #628 Salmon Med, both are size 20.
Now that I have a simple pattern done, I’m hoping to get back to writing out more of my patterns. Looking back at my blog I see that I am way behind on getting them written out. It’s amazing how time flies when you’re having fun.
Something new I’m trying is a YouTube channel. I’ve been thinking about it for a while but have been hesitant to start. Where to start? What do you talk about? Then I saw The ShuttleSmith, Karen Bovard-Sayer, introducing her channel on YouTube, and the idea of TattingTube. I think the idea of an easy way to keep tatting channels together is a good one. So I’ve started my channel, Wanda’s Knotty Thoughts, and joined her idea of TattingTube. I invite you to check it out.
I’ve been working on the ‘Iris’ cross bookmark I shared last week. I made a few tweaks as I worked on writing the pattern and tatted it again.
I tatted the original in size 10 thread, bigger than I usually work in. I saw the color and just knew I wanted to use it, and it was in size 10, so that was it. The cross came out the first time with minimal trouble. It ended up being six inches tall by six inches across, much larger than I think of as fitting in a normal book. I decided to make it in a smaller thread as I verified the stitch count.
Iris Cross bookmark in size 10
I usually tat in size 20 thread, which would make this cross smaller, but I thought that it might not make it small enough, so I made it in size 40. Which I don’t tat in much, either, so it took longer to tat it. But the end result is about what I was hoping for.
Iris v 2 in size 40
The center of the cross has a wonderful pattern, but I was concerned that handling it as a bookmark would be too floppy. I added a picot to the corner chains to make it less floppy. While tatting in the small thread the ends of the arms didn’t come out looking the same as the original so I changed up the stitch count a bit there as well.
Iris v 3 in size 40
On the next cross, I changed the stitch count at the ends of the arms again and they came out better, but I still wasn’t happy with them. The shuttle 2 clovers at the tips twisted a lot. This would be a problem if it were handled much.
Iris cross bookmark version 4
The fourth cross came out much better. The tips of the arms are more secure and less able to twist. I am also happier with the look of the ends. I’m wondering if I should leave off the picots I added to hold the center firmer. In the small thread will it be okay without them? I like the look better without that picot.
It is amazing how different the cross looks making it the two different size threads. What are your thoughts? Which one do you like best?
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.“Alan Watts
It’s March, that time of year I see hints of spring and green things. It makes me think of Leprechauns and clovers. I’ve had shades of green on my shuttles for several weeks now, making clovers.
Playing with clovers
I’ve been having fun making these clovers. I haven’t quite decided what I’m going to do with them, which is why they still have their tails. I might need them to sew them down to something.
Clovers on paperclips
I put some clovers on paperclips. I think I like them like this, but I’m not sure enough to cut off their tails.
A field of clovers
I’ve made clovers in several shades of green. I think they look good in both, though I’m partial to the brighter shade.
Clover lapel pin
I even made a clover lapel pin using a large, springless safety pin. I received some very nice compliments on it at church Sunday. I’m very happy with how it turned out.
Clover colors
The clovers are all in Lizbeth thread: the lapel pin in size 3 #684, Leaf Green Med; the paper clips in size 20 # 676, Leaf Green Dk; and the loose clovers in size 20 #713, Kelly Green.
I made a few clovers a couple of years ago from the same pattern, including a pair of earrings. Maybe I need another pair in a different shade of green. Here’s my pattern for them if you are interested. They don’t take long to make.
Simple clover pattern
Having green on my shuttles for clovers and bookmarks was one of the reasons the doily I’ve been playing with was in green. I like how it looks without the button in the center.
Two green doilies
The centers definitely change the look of the doily. I also changed the outside round stitch count to have it lay flatter. I’m liking this doily!
“To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few.” Emily Dickinson
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
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 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
