Online Thread Exchange? What About It?

Tickled Pink

 #7 Motif Challenge

I cannot follow instructions. I cannot follow instructions. I cannot follow instructions.  There. I have finally admitted it.  Hopeless.  I repeat the same errors over and over.


It would be embarraassing to tell you how many re-tats I had to do here - BIG ones.  Lots and lots of un-tatting of rings.  Very frustrating to un-tat and then repeat the same blasted error! 


Call me stubborn, pig-headed or incorrigible, but I do have one excuse.  I am a Taurus.  The Bull.  Raging Bull...


But in the end they lived happily ever after.  I like the heart.  However, I am tired of that pattern now, so on to he next one.

Now;

I was thinking about all the threads that we all have that we will never use, for whatever reason.  Here is my idea.

We could agree upon a length and wind that length on those small while thread holders that come in plastic and are quite  inexpensive.  You seem to get a lot ina package.

Then we could post them online and people could trade them.  Like Baseball Cards, but so much better!  The cost would be in the postage - but thread is light and one or two couldn't cost that much... I don't think.  I am just brainstorming here.  What do you think?

An Online Thread Exchange?  With Standardized Packets of Thread??  

"It's so crazy, it just might work", she thought.

Anon,

An Ascetic Falters in Times of Austerity

 ...and buys this AMAZING book!

Book lust. I saw this at the Tat'n Chat and was instantly captivated.  "Come to me, precious, little book," I was heard to murmur. What's a girl to do?

This  book is absolutely a necessary addition to my tatting library, even though I promised I would be frugal. My loss is Deb's gain over at  DS9Designs! So much for promises.

Who has posted tatting from this book?  I would love to see some squares tatted up.

I have another confession. 

See that pretty blue shuttle.  It's new.  Right after the Tat'n Chat, after I watched Susan tat with her lovely plastic blue shuttle from Zeller's that cost just over $3.00, I figured I could detour on the way home; after all, the cost of the shuttle is less than a couple of cups of java! Ah, self-indulgence!

It is interesting to me, that I got so mesmerized by watching someone else tat.  Her hand motions and the way her thread was manipulated through the shuttle - I could not tear my eyes away!  Somehow there is the thought that if I had a shuttle like Susan's, I would be able to emulate her hand movements and would become as elegant a tatter as she!  What is THAT all about!

Often, when I have had only a book in my hands, I have been somewhere and watched a woman knitting.  At these times, my palms actually would begin to itch;  I could hardly wait to get home to break out the needles!

Anyway, I bought three of these little beauties and am enjoying them a lot - not as much as my Pop-a-Bobbins by a long-shot, but they are really nice to tat with!  I do not like Aeros one bit, but these cheapy bobbin shuttles  I love.  Go figure.

This is the mess I have created trying to tat like Gina.

This is GINA's  tatting, NOT MINE!

Is it not a thing of beauty?

This is my goal. Gina certainly was spot on when she said that this Iris pattern is a "bear" to tat.  It is. 

I am so afraid I will run out of these wonderful supplies - my favourite pink dollar-store beads that I cannot find anywhere, and the last of  Heather's pink and white HDT.

I am not a believer in tatting with thread you do not care about the first time you try a pattern.  If I use stuff I like a lot, I am apt to be more careful.  I just make sure there is enough for the second go that I know I ALWAYS  have to do!

When I advise customers about yarn for their knitting or crochet projects, I always suggest that they purchase yarn they love; otherwise one could get bored or fed up when things don't go as planned, which is all the time.

Using fibre one loves, I find keeps the soul nourished, and even though there are mistakes and the finished item may be less than anticipated, it is still cherished.  That's my story!

Gotta go and work on that heart...

Oh, almost forgot.... Head over to Sherry's blog for a terrific giveaway!  She must be feeling better!  Yahooo!

Anon,

Gina Made Me Do It

Yah - it's all Gina's fault.  In the past, she tatted the Iris heart in pale pink with masses of beads and is it ever pretty!  If she gives me permission to post the photo, I will show you that marvellous piece! Placed next to my heart, one would not know it is even the same pattern

So, with Gina's heart as challenge and also inspiration, I have begun the second Iris heart:

 That thread is Heathers hand-dyed.  Isn't it a great pink?

Fringe Element Tatters had fun today...

I had a great time today at a Tat'n Chat with members of the Fringe Element Tatters.  This was an unexpected treat. One of the women from this tatting group in Toronto  had about ten of us to her home for several entertaining hour - lots of talk, tatting, laughter and tempting food stuffs. 

Another of the women there is a lace tatter of the other kind- you know, with all those crazy, dangling bobbins. And pins, pins pins everywhere!  I do not know how she does it. Her work is astounding!

Elisadusud Homework...
coming along nicely....

(Growl,  GROWL,  those split chains.....)

Gotta go now; pink beads are beckoning!

Anon,

Bling!

Done.Whew. That was NOT a fun tat, but it was a terrific first attempt even though I had to un-tat a gazillion mistakes.  Had to cut out two huge sections; this heart almost broke mine!

Iris Niebach's Freebie

This is a beautiful pattern that needs to be tatted in non-variegated thread, I think.  Two colours?  Okay, but I think the design gets lost in the severe colour changes and contrast. This is another pattern I must do a second time.  I think the outcome will be much better.

If I weren't so stubborn about adding the beads to everything, life would be far simpler.  When on earth did this happen?  Me and beads - such an unlikely duo, and yet it is the love affair of the century!  No kidding!  I cannot seem to do anything these days with out adding the blasted bling.

Anon,