Par Avion For Mini-Boss

This is already in the mail. I sent it to NYC, for Mini-Boss-Maeve to put under a lamp in her room or to use for her family of dollies.

This Jan Stawasz doily has another section to the outer row, but I am so tired of the Finca #8 and so bored with the pattern that I did not follow my normal habit of finishing no matter what, but rather made the whole process as painless as possible and changed the outer row in order to finish it.

I figure that Mini-Boss will not care a whit about the pattern and I have had fun tatting the Jan Stawasz pattern with no mistakes, so I should just finish up and move on.

How’s that for a new attitude!

Photo For Size:

Monsieur Intuitive

When I went to get my camera to show you how much I have tatted on the Stawasz doily, I found this. Honestly, this cat can be positively spooky! Look at his expression; he knows exactly what he is doing!

I have only three rows to finish this, but the second row is a stop-start operation, as it is done in 32 individual sections. LOTS of sewing in and I do not like the Magic Loop thing...  : (

If you recall, I had ordered two Boye shuttles locally, with the thought they would hold more thread and thus be helpful in having fewer ends to sew in.

Well, they do hold more thread but I cannot bear using them! They are not my cup of tea. So, whoever wants to trade a skein of HDT in variegated pastel colours or one light-colour solid, leave me a comment and I will happily trade. First come, first serve. I would love to get rid of them!

Angles and Omissions

 

 Inspired by Jeff, I just had to tat this.

He has done something quite marvellous with the triangles. Go see.

The pattern is from Susanne Schwenke’s “Spitzen-Kreationen."

An apology to Rachael,

and many thanks.

I totally forget. I had taken a photo and then misfiled it and so forgot to post this for Rachael over at InTatters. Here is a photo of her amazing surprise package.

We had engaged in a swap and she was more than generous, even sending a wonderful shuttle she made herself, fashioned from wood of a mesquite tree on her property.

You can see there is a cornucopia of thread there, all #40, my favourite, Lizbeth and HDT. And a little silver spoon charm.

You must see her tatting.

This was tatted in #100. 

Yes, you read that right: #100!

Fabulous, perfect picots and double stitches.

Lastly, I have grappled with an Iris Niebach pattern and wasted far too much time and thread. I will return to this when I have more patience... Grrrrrr.

It wasn’t the clunies that stumped me, but the directional turns in the pattern. I kept getting lost and the fd/bs situation was abysmal.

Questions

Row eight completed and four left :

I do most of my tatting very late at night - or rather early in the morning! This causes very problematic situations, probably because of poor light and tired eyes, let alone fried brain.

Last night I noticed, just as I was about to pack it in, that I had completed row #8 and skipped a picot join WAY back near the beginning of the round. Horrors.

This time, I acted in a rather rational way - for me.  I thought hard about my options, cut out split ring at the missed spot and tatted in the extra three split rings - all the while holding my breath and chanting: you can do it, over and over again. You get the picture, I am certain!

Luckily, I can find the spot with some difficulty, but this time, rather than pondering the visual issue, I wonder how the piece will hold up over time (though it will probably go under one of The Boss’s bedroom lamps and I am not that concerned.)

Also, I realized at the end of the night that I tatted the three little flowery rows on the back side, even though I checked repeatedly to make sure that I was on the front - too late; too dark; too tired. I almost cut back the rows, but then would definitely have to have purchased two more balls of thread, so I just shrugged and carried on.

Funnily enough, the little side picots kind of stick up because they are on the “wrong” side and look very appropriate for this pattern! Good bad luck!

But, it is questions I have. Do you have vintage tatting where you can see breaks in the thread where there were repairs? Do folks repair old tatting as they do crochet or knitting? Though tatting is generally washed in a delicate manner, do the fixed bits stay put because of the general knot construction of the stitches or can they loosen over repeated use or cleaning?