Challenges...

"Tat 25 motifs within the next year. A motif can be a medallion, snowflake, heart, bookmark, butterfly, earrings or any small piece of tatting. These articles may be tatted from published patterns and it's always nice to know where the pattern came from, or they may be designs that you have created. "

This is, of course, from the intro at  The 25 Motif Challenge

 I have been feeling that I SHOULD belong to this group.  Then I feel - get this - GUILTY!  Go figure.  I think it is part of that O/C thing I live with!

When  I re-read the above,  I realized that in the past year I have done way more than 25 motifs. I must stop taking myself so seriously and need to LIGHTEN UP! 

This I say before even opening the package from Tatters Across Time! (T.A.T.)

Yup, it has been sitting on my desk for the past three days and I cannot bring myself to even open the envelope!

I have been tatting, however.  The bootees, I have started. For the FIFTH time. Nothing much to show right now, just a wonky- looking sole.  I am using a Mary Konior pattern instead of  the one I started and started and started with that was from Tatting With Anne Orr.

 

Also, my books now have a new home.  My tatting library, which had taken over my table, now has its very own position of prominence.  My mom gave me a little table that she no longer wants.  My dad used to keep some of his art supplies on it, so it has a very sentimental meaning for me.

Will you look at that: TWO binders for patterns I have saved or copied!  Yikes!  Scarier than Hallowe'en!

Heather has asked for support for her friend Tracy - check it out - and two of these hearts are for her and one is for my 94 year-old Aunt, who supports my tatting addiction.

She is always full of good things to say about ANY of my endeavours, no matter how arcane or esoteric! She is my biggest champion.

Anon,

Pumpkin for The Boss

 The Boss tells me she is gong to be a witch for All Hallow's Eve.  But witches like pretty clothes, too, right?

Well, I'll have to ask her that when I give her this little number later this week, just before the big day, so she can still get some mileage out of the motif I added to Old Navy's artistry  for the  three-year-old set!
Anon,

Too Much of a Good Thing...

 Arrived to-day in the mail.  A real bargain, too!  I have become a super sleuth on tatting sites - the more obscure, the better it seems! These books are in fantastic condition.

The irony is that the T.A.T. bundle, the Master Course -  #3, arrived at my place one hour ago!  Same day, different messages.  It's all tatting, and that's good, but where will I find the time?

Anon,

Orange

Anon,

Just a Little One for My Boys

 The Boss is easy.  A young girl child and tatting seem well matched.  Little boys - and I have three little grandbaby "YY"s -  are a whole different tale.  Tatting - not so good! Though, the four-year-old was delighted with the motif I gave him, I do not think he (or his folks)  would relish a heart on his t-shirt, snuggled up to SpiderMan!

This little pumpkin got pasted
into a "Happy Hallowe'en" card
for The Boys

I followed the pattern exactly, but maybe
mock rings would have been better?

Now, here is a project I am not sure about at all.  I took my cue Angie , with whom I had a discussion about baby bootees  for boys AND girls.  Hers came out very well, and her pattern looks sturdier than mine, which is one of the old ones - from Tatting with Anne Orr. The thread is a free sample from Roseground Supplies: Lizbeth #20.


My daughter is expecting and my mom wants a baby gift for a friend .  So, I must decide where this pair will go.  Here is the first sole:

Anon,

Trying To be Fancy - Big Mistake!

 Slow down, Fox!  Haste is detrimental to your tatting.

Why don't I heed my own words?  I thought I'd try to improve on the lamentable job I did with Lattice Heart by Birgit Phelps a few days ago by doing it again and adding, say, 45 beads, or so.  Not a good idea.

After hours of tatting one evening I managed to salvage only this:

So, another go, with no detours, beads or meanders, with one colour of Lizbeth #20, and this time I think I have done it with no mistakes - or at least none I can see at the moment...

I have discovered that I really do not want to follow directions and I try to psyche myself into being a renegade tatter at the slightest opportunity - behind my own back so to speak:  frontside, backside, wherever I can get away with it! The surprise is that I CAN understand and follow a pattern, but so often take the bend in the road, just for the hell of it.  Just like in real life.

Alas, there is no escaping from ones true nature, even quietly sitting in a chair, while performing the innocent act of tatting!

 ~*~

The hearts were done while trying to finish the pumpkin for The Boss (who LOVED the socks, BTW!):

Anon,

BooBoos and Blunders

Got this thread (Bamboo Crochet Thread) at the Fringe Element Tatters event - a free sample - and thought I'd try one of Birgit Phelps's patterns.  The thread is heavy and loosely twisted, but it has a luxurious texture and  shine; looks quite lovely tatted up. Alas, it was not meant to be:

However, I finished The Boss's socks:

Anon,

New Orders from The Boss

She wants new 'pink socks'.

This is amazing thread to work with.  I received a sample of the new Lisbeth, #40  from the generous Pamela, at  Roseground Supplies, and I love working with it. I think this will look very good on the cotton socks and will please Her Highness.

Her Cousin, Yet-To-Be-Born's blanket is finished.   Cute, huh!

Now, on a less positive note:  I am again disappointed in my attempts to stay focussed while tatting.  The mind constantly wanders. I am always checking lists in my head or thinking about the next project or daydreaming about who knows what.  I do not understand why I cannot seem to concentrate for very long on an activity I really enjoy!  This baffles me.
EXAMPLE:

 Here is the ruffled heart, done AGAIN with the thread I dyed, but this time, dome correctly, or at least I think, correctly.  The last one had glaring errors that I only recognized when I re-read my blog while answering some comments.

I was dismayed that I had not seen the mistakes, so obvious, one being a missed picot.

Maybe yoga is the answer.  Maybe not, on second thought.

Once, I tried a meditation class. I actually ran out of the classroom - full of meditating Buddhists, led by a calm and lovely Buddhist monk.

It was awful!  I was sweating and breathless because of the sudden claustrophobia I experienced in that peaceful, serene environment!

Ah, walking in my shoes is always interesting, if always a bit disruptive!
Anon,

A Dying Art? Depends...

With a laugh, someone said to me the other day that tatting was a dying art.  I thought you guys were exaggerating  when you said that folks actually said that!  My apologies!  I have now heard it first hand!

As for dying.....  hmmmmm.. Look at these heritage carrots that my son bought for me.  They are beautiful to look at, tasty to eat, and the water that you boil the reddish one in turns a fabulous purple/magenta colour - a  gorgeous saturated shade.  I couln't throw it out and wondered if perhaps I could....

I have never dyed anything in my life!

I plunked it in the hot water and left it for a couple of hours and when I  looked at it , the thread was a subtle shade of what I call French blue. Pale but definitely there!  I then rinsed it and let it sit in cold water with salt added - Why? I have no idea!  It just seemed as I was supposed to do that.

 

I let it dry and then used it for the ball thread in this!

Anon,

Finished!

Kind Hearts and Coronets,

from Karey Solomon's booklet Tatting for the Tree,

using Yarnplayer's gorgeous 'Roses' in size #30.

 I'm pleased.
Anon,

Progress at Thirteen Months!

So far, this is all I have.  I am really trying to not rush, to overcome my basic ADD personality type and to not ignore the obvious stitches that need to be re-tatted.  It is slow going.

It is also rewarding.   This is probablly the best tatting I have done to date. It doesn't look as fancy as other pieces I have done, or as eye-catching, but stitch-per-stitch, I see progress here.

This is also the fourth try.... you were right, Suzanne!

~*~

Baby blanket is edged, washed and awaiting two strawberries!


Anon,

Striving...

With a salute to Suzanne, a tatter who continues to inspire me with her own striving for perfection, I started this piece: Kind Hearts and Coronets, from Karey Solomon's booklet Tatting for the Tree, using Yarnplayer's gorgeous 'Roses' in size #30.

After so much Cebelia in my shuttle, I had forgotten how marvelleous the HDT really is!

I am trying so hard to do each stitch perfectly, with all the bases covered: no colour showing through, no gaps, even picots - you know the drill.

At first, when I posted this, I thought - this is better! - and then on closer inspection, no cigar! I can see such glaring errors; though, overall, I can definitely admit that I have progressed, even since the Fringe event.

I think with tatting, as with all endeavours that one cares about, it is mostly a two steps forward, one back, kind of progression.  At least, in my life , that is the case.

 ~*~

I am taking a break from the strawberries for a day or so, as I finished the crochet work ( yuck!) last night, and have just two more berries to do and the border, which MUST be white.  Miranda, you were right: if the reds don't match, don't do it!
Anon,

More Berries? More Merry!

Two strawberries down, two to go.

I also found the perfect yarn for the border - I think.  OR, do you think it will be too much and the border should be white, so as not to compete with the berries?  I can't decide...

 

Either way, I am NOT going to put myself through another hanky delirium, so I will crochet the border.

Anon,

Heirloom for The Boss

Just to clear up any misunderstanding; the Boss is my 3 year old grandbaby.

This hanky was a gift to my mom when she was a young bride in the 1940's.  My granddaughter's initial is the same.  Thus, this tatted gift!
Anon,

No Quitter Here - Stay Tuned!

Anon,

Berry Nice!

 Cat food tins can be hazardous to your digits!  The Peter Pointer that is über-important for shuttle tatting took a beating this weekend - or should I say a big slice?

Doing the right thing - washing the tins before putting them in the recycling container - I felt a paper-cut kind of feeling...  you don't want to hear the rest! 

Marty and the heamostat (sounds like a medicinal rock band-ade!) sprung to mind, but I think I fared a wee bit better than she did!

In spite of the first aid pits stop, the strawberry is done.  Am not sure if there will be only one or one in each corner.
Would four be over the top? 
Anon,

Drama Dyslexic

 Wow -  I have had some problems with this pattern!  I know it's me, not the instructions.  After a slow starts,  I got the idea, and I like the shape a lot.

At the moment I am adding the green overlay, and am considering adding the finished piece to the corner of a white crocheted blanket (not yet completed) that I am making for grandbaby- on-the-way - #......FIVE!

What do you think?

Strawberry Heart  with a Celtic Style Top by Birgit Phelps      

It is going to be cute, if not a wee bit kitchy, I think. Nothing exactly wrong with a bit of kitch, here and there.....(Just look at that lovely little Aero, made in England, sitting proudly, holding the thread....sigh.......)

Anon,