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.