Eccentric or Tatting Takes to the Road

While running errands over the weekend, I found myself photographing a lovely old car that sat in front of a well tended garden, in front of charming frame house in Toronto's Beach.

When I got into my car, I had an overwhelming urge to get out my tatting, as I was working on a fun piece that I had just started that morning and this was such a pretty location! So I did!

The Result

Anon,

The "Tease" is in ...

Matlese Ring!

Almost there. After much cutting and winding and hurling of shuttle against a wall. I have managed to squeeze out a few almost recognizable rings. There are a few glitches to be corrected yet. The end of the circle is not right, but I am working on it!

I have become as obsessive s a tatter as I am an obsessional organizer. This box that sits on my table where I always sit when I tat is a bird's-eye view of my personality. Scary, huh!

Insight: I am not a collector. I live in minimal space, have minimal possessions, am a bit spartan.

So, I ask you, how have I managed to collect over 40 books about tatting (and I just ordered Jon's, of course!) in one year. And why do I have to tat a replica of a gift piece, so that I can keep one for myself! I will NOT mention thread.

No sooner had I sent this heart off to my sick friend, than I was busy tatting its mate so that I would have one too! What is that about?

The ruffle is driving me round the bend. I can't count to save my life and the tension is abysmal!

EDGE UPDATE

The ongoing edging. There are 60 repeats to be done. I passed the halfway point, but try not to count every few stitches!

Anon,

Free Dirt : Pointing Out Mistakes

Sometime last week, I mentioned that I had something to say about how we all point out the flaws in a creation that we are pleased with and then everyone admonishes us for doing this, yadda, yadda.... You know the story. Right?

Well, this is my blog - Web Log... Purpose? Keep track of my stuff; write about some endeavor or other.

My opinion: this is an appropriate place to address flaws, so that emotions surrounding the mistake are acknowledged and accepted by the writer. Nothing is ever perfect; so to me, it makes perfect sense to address the mistakes and re-contextualize them as a new challenge. Then move on

I don't think it's negative or bad in any way to point out mistakes, if one is clear as to why this medium is being used to do so.

I am NOT going to point out the flaws in this one!
Pattern by Lyn Morton in Tatting Patterns


Nor will I show you the boo-boos here:
Pattern: Ruffled Heart by Vicki Clarke


I will say, however, that the ruffled edge nearly drove me mad!
This is going in a card to a friend who is not feeling well. I thought it was a happy looking heart.

Anon,

Speechless!

Anon,

I am NEVER going to fix it. So there.

I have become too intense about all this. Tatting is supposed to be fun and I am altogether too serious. A serious personality flaw. Much better to be jovial and sometimes even frivolous! I blame it on genetics.... or bad diet.

At any rate, here is the latest offering. An Iris Niebach freebie that I found and just had to tat - even though I promised myself I would stick to the border..... it IS halfway done, though......


The big flaw here isn't even in the tatting; it occurred because I was not paying attention while hiding the ends and I sewed them in at the wrong place! Invisibly. Impossible to undo. They are never coming out.

Sometimes it is just so hard to stay focused.

Now I am going to tat something for the fun of it. Just because I want to. So there.
Anon,

The Debate About Closing the Ring

Krystle asked to see samples of closing the ring tatted by other people, to determine which method produces the most uniform result.

My contribution follows.

I find it difficult to distinguish one method from the other, but like Suzanne, I find #2 to be the best. #4 is next , but I would never close that way!

From left to right:

1) shuttle not posted prior to closing

2) shuttle posted prior to closing

3) additional first half stitch and close

4) additional first half stitch, post and close

5) additional second half stitch and close

6) additional second half stitch, post and close

Well... ? Anyone else tried this?

Anon,

The Boss Has A Brother

He needs a hat, too. The Boss said so.

(She loved hers. In the sweltering heat, she would not take it off!)

Desperate Tatter posted a beautiful pair of baby bootees that she will be giving to a little boy, reasoning that the "boy" in bootee is all in the thread used.

So, I figured I could add a bit of tatting to my infant grandbaby's hat that his parents would find acceptably not girlish.

I began looking for a star pattern, which I felt would be perfect on the blue hat I had made on the weekend, that I had trimmed in yellow. I found one here:



In this pattern, each point motif is a cut and tie operation. Hmm. I am getting to be like a REAL tatter, looking for ways to do the pattern in one go!

I came up with this: all split rings and five SCMR's!! Wow! I cannot believe I did that!

SR's and SCMR's

IT WORKED!

The Final Result!
(unblocked!)

Now - back to that
neglected hanky border.....

Anon

TIME - How Do YOU Do It?

The time element... managing your time, balancing your priorities; at this, I must admit, I have never been stellar!

I have no clock control.

Today, no work, yet I sit here covered in thread, not prepared for the rest of the day, as I am reading a book, finishing some tatting and playing with the camera. All important aspects of my life, but SO time-consuming!

Demands on my time - minimal, and yet I never seem to have enough hours in a day.

Gotta go! But I will leave you with this morning's photos.

I could not stop thinking about this heart.

It was so WRONG!

I took it apart; re-tatted the edge.

Voilà!

Anon,

She's the Boss!

Though I had to bring out the hooks to oblige my three year old granddaughter's urgent request for a new hat - she LOVES hats - I did indeed use the opportunity to incorporate beading and tatting practice into fulfilling her wish! All in a mere few days!

I am off to her house now, with the finished item.
I hope Madame approves.

Anon,

Ye Olde Lampe and Tattings

REMEMBER THIS?
The Lamp. Where I put my completed projects. It is a constantly changing view. Sort of like a bulletin board for tatting.

Well, last month, when my daughter was in town, she suggested that my all white, spartan apartment could do with a wee bit of colour. Just a bit, she urged and suggested perhaps a few pillows would be perfect. Humouring her, I agreed, and we picked up two cushions that rather appealed to me.


I'm glad she spoke up; (Thanks, Jo!) - yes - the aesthetic of minimalism can sometimes do with an infusion of colour!

I like the pillows and am enjoying the happy effect they have in my space. Then I noticed an odd thing:

*****~*****

The pillows sit very near ye olde lampe:
see what I mean! LOL!

Anon,

Talent North of the 49th!

Jeff, at Bridge City Tatting, is a fellow Canuck, who has started up a chainmaille business on Etsy.... I love earrings and have gotten rid of practically all of mine in my ongoing attempt to simplify.

When I saw what Jeff was up to, and having a moment of consumeritis, I succumbed:

TITANIUM BYZANTINE EARRINGS

I love them!

And, BONUS, they are made by a CANADIAN TATTER!
Thanks, Jeff, I will enjoy wearing these!

One other thing:

I was reading a book I had not looked at for a while, ( "Oh My Stars!" by Kaye B. Judt) when I saw a small motif that looked as if it could be done with some remaining thread on two shuttles - even though they were of different colours and weights.

Just goofing around, I tatted this:


It is difficult getting the tension right with the beads, but if I continue to do these little motifs, I think it will become easier. This is a bit lumpy and uneven, but overall, I am pleased with the beading progress.

There are lots of techniques in this book and I think I had put it away because the skills were a bit ahead of where I was at the time. Perhaps it is now time to dust it off and tat with it for a bit.

Enough for today. It only rained once. It was a good day!

Anon,

Dodging the Endless Hankie Edging

It really did take me HOURS to figure out this quite simple pattern.....simple only after the fact!

Finally, I realized that in order to not cut the thread, and to use a split ring to "climb out" of the first round, ( NOW, I know what that 'climbing out' means!) I had to begin with a chain! Who knew! : ))

I am in the middle of the second round now and it is looking good. Using DMC Cordonnet - #50, ecru. This is a wonderful thread to work with. Smooth. I've never used it before.

I have to mention the crystal heart. I posted a few days ago how I mailed one of these with my membership application to the Fringe Element Tatters guild.

Well, I guessI had not fondled it enough; I needed to BOND with it a bit more and it was GONE!

So, I tatted another. : )

These projects are clever avoidance mechanisms to dodge the endless hankie edging!

Anon,

Maltese Ring = Maltese Falcon. Both in Hiding!

Thank you for your help. The suggestions were all good and valid, but, I have a peculiar learning style, and I am afraid I have not yet stumbled on the right instructions.

However,

I will keep looking; perhaps at the

The Fringe Element Tatters Guild
Tat Days 2009

I might find another tatter to demonstrate the technique.
In Person!

Yes!
I am going to a tatting event!!
ME, the , crowd-hating, antisocial,
claustrophobic curmudgeon - going to a Tatting Weekend!
Whooppeeee!

I got very excited thinking about the event, and blundered my way through this heart, unaware of bulbous developments, happily stitching away. Fumbles and all, here it is.

After this, EGO and PRIDE disrupted the weekend.

Here's why.

I sent in a membership application to The Fringe Tatters Guild. A small, tatted heart is requested every year, as an example of tatting, at events and so forth. No big deal, right?

Very wrong. I sent in the form and a heart I had been pleased with a few months back, but as I thought about that little piece being representative of my tatting now, my eyes narrowed into little slits, my mouth tightened, turning low at the corners, and I became obsessed with the idea that PEOPLE would JUDGE that little heart -BADLY .

WOW! Get a life, Fox!

The result of this self-absorbed idiocy: I tatted a new heart, using Birgit Phelps's pattern, (from the last post) not changing it, but adding beads and a pink Swarovski crystal.

The crystal? A timely brain wave; I remembered a pair of earrings, never worn, purchased just for the beads. I dismantled them, swiped the crystals, and Bob's your uncle!

I tatted the heart in a few hours and sent it off to the guild with an explanatory note! Heaven knows what I said! I was just so anxious to get it in the mail ASAP!

Lucky I find myself so downright ridiculous, or I would be insufferably overbearing!

Here is the heart. It is a demonstration to no one but me about not much of anything! But, I must admit, I like it!


Anon,

What are Maltese Rings or I Am in Trouble Again!

Yup. I just realized I do not have a clue about this. I was reading Suzanne's blog and saw something that looked difficult enough to catch my eye!

Hmmm. I have been looking around for instructions that jive with my dyslexic learning style and have not yet seen anything that works. Any suggestions, out there in Tat-land?

Now, recent endeavors. I haven't even got the hang of this yet:



However. I must say, it is looking a lot better than the first attempt - which isn't saying much!

All of this, I think, is to avoid having to get on with this:




There is such a long way to go and MC #80 is very, very thin and makes the going very veeeerrrrrryyyyy slow!

One little bright spot:




- a small thing, but I am happy with it. This is "Sweetheart", by Birgit Phelps. I am sorry Birgit, but for a few days I was calling it "Sweatheart" !

The reason? I was not pleased with the curve at the top, so I modified the pattern and added the pink border using two additional chains at the top. The heart-shape is now not really a heart, but I find the shape agreeable.

I just realized, it seems to have an oddly gynecologic shape to it. Could be the tatted logo for a new reproductive product... or maybe not...

I suppose that step is my first into the murky realm of ..... design! Oh boy....

Anon,