Post #1402, For YOU!

Done!

Alenalea Thread from Etsy, #50. Lovely to work with. I had just enough - 50 meters - to finish the border.

Beauty and The You Know What

Yes, I have managed to manoeuvre the puzzle of a Land of Laces piece into a couple of repeats, after about fifteen miserablely failed beginnings. Must be a holiday gift from my beneficent tatting Muse, to whom I offer sincere thanks. Isn't it soooo pretty?

The thread is Lea's #50. Superb.

If I'm fortunate, I shall be able to complete the six more needed repeats of the hankie border. Maybe I'll have enough of Lea's wonderful thread to finish. That's a big maybe, as there isn't much left in the bobbin.

Also 50 meters of #50 thread.

Dear Readers

Thank you so much for your comments, humour, suggestions and friendship. They mean so very much to me and are the reasons I carry on with tat-ology. Thanks for reading it.

Fox : )

The Usual Suspect

Jan Stawasz, I believe.

Tatted with Karey's #40HDT and DMC #60.

On Track

Seems I am on track with the “going with my gut,” decisions

So far I have completed about half the border for the hankie, in just a few days, as opposed to months  that the hedgehog was taking to tat.

Being very pleased with the thread, I have contacted Lea to buy 2 more skeins - both in #50 - that I used for the previous hankie and enjoyed immensely. Perhaps I will tat with slightly thicker thread for the next few projects.

On a Russian site, or maybe it was on Pinterest, about six months ago or more, I downloaded a pattern which looks suspiciously like a Jan Stawasz design sporting all those familiar fuzzy, incomplete ds numbers throughout!

However, I like the design and have filled in the numbers according to my understanding and after a few false starts I think I can proceed:

It is only two rows, not very big, but I suspected I run short of Karey’s #40 HDT.  I have no #40 white, but I do have DMC #60.

Its a bit tricky because there is a difference, obviously, in the size of the stitches, but I think it is going to be fine. I do like the white with this colourway.

Happiness is a Resurrected Handkerchief

And here it is.

I have tatted even more and am still pleased with it. The thread is terrific.

Now, while cleaning up a box of tatting gifts, cards and correspondence I found these tiny - one inch - pretties tatted by Ninetta a while back. I’ve put them on my table so that when I tat I am reminded of perfection!

And speaking of things perfect, while going through the box of saved treasures, I found these marvellous Venetian glass buttons, also sent to me by Ninetta. They appear with brand new ones, wonderful Eiffel Tower buttons, hailing from a town in Normandy. I just received them from my dear friend, Suneeti.

I'll have to find just the right projects to showcase all these beauties!

Only What Pleases

A New Years resolution will be to tat only what brings me satisfaction AND is pleasurable while in progress. If a thread feels bad I will not use it. If a pattern is not fun, off with its head!

As a practice run up to my new attitude, I jettisoned hedgehogs, which I was tatting around the hankie. I do not like the colour of the green thread, the pattern was very boring, and I was avoiding the chore of finishing; it was taking ages. So, last night...GONE!

The new border is now underway in Lea's lovely #70 thread using an unidentified Russian pattern from who-knows-where. I was wary of the variegated colours with the hankie, but I love it AND I am finally enjoying a tatting project once again.

Lesson learned.

In Spite of the Standstill

The muse is en vacance, but I have finished the Jan Stawasz doily regardless and like it a lot. That last row took a long time.

His patterns always amaze me in their complexity; they look so straightforward till you are lulled into complete complacency and then: wham! Out come the scissors!

This is tatted in Lizbeth- no problems this time - #80, and measures 8" across. It would be a good size tatted on a thicker thread.

My Muse is Mute

Not feeling it for the tatting these days...we all go through this occasionally, n'est pas?

In spite of any lack of enthusiasm, I have managed to almost complete this piece. Most of it was tatted in the USA.

Perfectly Perfetti

Robin's new Winter Frost design is lovely. I was one of the fortunate tatters who had the privilege of test-tatting her pattern. : )  Thanks Robin!

Here it is in #60 DMC Cordonnet Special:

I found it a bit of a fiddly pattern to tat and for some reason my stitches really are not consistent or nicely formed. Not sure what the problem is here, as the thread is DMC, which is generally great to work with. So, the uneven quality is all my doing, not the fault of the design.

A few days ago, I completed another of Robin's pretty snowflakes:

This one is tatted with much more consistency. Perhaps I was pulling the threads a bit more tightly.

Now, I must say I am glad the last Jan Stawasz didn't work out as I have decided to tat it in #80 Lizbeth instead and realize how much happier I am using #80 - even if it is Lizbeth! Actually, this coloured ball is very good: very smooth; consistent.  love the colour, whatever it is called.

Lastly, I'd like to thank all those tatters who must have voted for my Ben Fikkert doily. I see I have won an award over at Crafftree. Quelle surprise! THANK YOU!

Focussed on Flakes

Well, the first is actually a wreath - a brand new great pattern

from Renulek, which you can find here. 

Then Posy by Mary Konior.
White Thread: DMC Cordonnet Special #60

Then two pretty snowflakes by Robin Perfetti:

The thread is Karey Solomon’s HDT, #40.

For Scale

I am currently test-tatting Winter Frost for Robin. 

You are going to LOVE this one!

Not At All Impressed

Mr G may not be impressed with my tatting...

But I am certainly taken with his fine teeth! 

We brush!

Taking a Jan Stawasz break, 

I felt like a few small Mary Konior motifs, 

tatted with the remaining Karey Solomon HDT, #40.

Then another of Frivole’s - latest pattern Snowdrop,

this time tatted in DMC #60, a WONDERFUL thread.

This one is smaller than 

the DMC Cordonnet #30tatted previously:

The hankie edging - Hedgehogs - in #80 Lizbeth is a slow one to tat. 

Not hard, but very time-consuming. I really like this Mary Konior edging.

Miscalculation

There was a fatal flaw; I found it as I began the final two rows of the mat; a Jan Stawasz pattern. 

Something just felt off- it had since the middle of the tatting I had done, but I could not see an error. Finally, I counted repeats in the photo ( taxing enough as it is so small ) and then counted elements in my work.

Yup. There was one error that meant I had increased the elements by one and had kept tatting. There was another mistake as well, but it was not as critical. Both boo-boos were towards the beginning.

I had spent about half an hour looking for the problem; sometimes it is so very difficult to find mistakes.

At any rate, I do not have enough of Karey Solomon's #40 or the #50 DMC to tat a new one. So, I am going to re-tat it in #80 - gasp - Lizbeth, as I have a lovely colour to use. I like the pattern; I find it a pleasing design.

Redo

I was really not pleased with the first Starlight Doily, tatted totally with Lizbeth #80. It was a twisty mess and I had made a lot of stitch count errors.

So, I tried again, this time using DMC Cordonnett #80 and blue variegated Lizbeth, which I had in my thread box and knew it was a pretty good ball - smooth and non- twisty.

This one was so much easier to tat; I could see what I was doing; the tatting stayed flat and the threads had no slubs, twists; it did not break once.

The DMC is certainly a lovely thread to use.

Fortuitously Finessed

I was indeed lucky with this Hoop-la edging by Mary Konior.

I managed to finish quickly, and end up with the perfectly correct dimensions for the hankie. 

I couldn't be more pleased. It is a lovely pattern to tat and with Lea's HDT, the entire exercise was very enjoyable. No complaints!

(You see, I don't ALWAYS grumble!)

More Than Enough

I am so lucky! I have finished the Hoop-la border, with inches to spare. Whew! Now to sew it on, which is always a daunting task for the needle-and-thread-challenged.

Thank you, Tatters. for the interesting  and varied responses about how you sew on your hankie and tablecloth edgings.

I find that like Muskaan, I tat almost to the end, attach and then finish the last bit. This time however, I finished the border completely, as it was a perfect fit, not floppy or deep. 

While working on Hedgehogs and Hoop-la at the same time, I found I needed a break, as I kept getting the two edgings confused because they have similar stitch counts. Many mistakes ensued!

So, I chose to re-tat the Starlight Doily. Unattractive colour thread aside, there is something very wrong with my tatting of that piece.  Perhaps it was wrong stitch counts or bad tension, but whatever; I am very displeased with the end result, so am re-tatting it.