The snowman

Once there was a snowman, made from thread.
He had a red scarf and fancy hat.
Now this snowman was as curious as could be.
For he was made from tatting, you see!

I don't melt in the summer!

He's just a little guy, but I was happy with how he turned out. This snowman was part of the Christmas tatting I did for various family members last year.
I like tatting three dimensional things. They always look so interesting when they are complete. I think a three dimensional dragon would be really cool to tat.
What kinds of crafts do you like doing? Do you like to make your own patterns?

A Dreamcatcher

For my Grandmother's birthday, I wanted to tat her something nice. I thought about tatting a few different things before deciding to tat a dreamcatcher.

Lizbeth size 20, Mocha Swirl. Two feathers from the family chickens.

I began by tatting the pattern Meg from the book Tatting Patterns by Lyn Morton. Using that as the very center of the dreamcatcher, I added more rows of tatting until it was large enough to fit into the metal ring. I tried to keep the additional rows similar to the center motif, but basically made them up as I went along.

The light comes from within the center. The blue wall sends greetings as shadows gather.

I then tatted a simple loop for it to hang from. After that I added the smaller motif at the bottom of the dreamcatcher and two chicken feathers.

No chickens were harmed in the gathering of these feathers.

It was fun to make and my Grandmother really liked it. I think that it was a successful project, and I will probably do another dreamcatcher in the future.
Experimentation and adaption are wonderful tools. Remember to utilize them well to further the potential of your crafts.

A basket for my cousin

I really like split rings. They are a technique used in tatting that allows you to close a ring in any direction by using two shuttles. The split ring was one of the techniques I needed to learn in order to tat the Minor Norwegian Dragons pattern. I really like that pattern, but that's not what today's post is about. So last year for a cousin's birthday, I decided that I wanted to tat him something. But I wasn't sure what to make him. I wanted it to be something that he could use, not just a frilly piece that he would look at and hesitantly thank me for while thinking thoughts like: What do I do with this girly thing? Is this suppose to look like a bear, or an elephant?
Well, I had tatted myself a little pocket out of two sheets of split rings that was useful keeping things together in a bag or on a table, and it gave me an idea for a split ring basket. I thought that a basket, if I made it big enough, could be placed on a table and hold his keys, watch, or other objects.
I went with the idea, deciding that I had enough time to make it large enough.

Done in size 10 thread, left unstiffened so that the sides can stretch to hold things.

I was very happy with how it turned out. The variegated thread made it possible to see what way the pattern went, and the size worked for what I wanted.

I'm not slouching, doc!

Okay... Maybe I have put on a few pounds...

I was a fun piece. I tatted the bottom first. After I had that sheet the size I wanted, I began working on the sides. For the sides, I just went around and around, joining each ring to the one below it. When I reached the beginning, I just joined the ring to the one below and beside, that way the next row would begin above the previous one.
The entire piece was made with split rings, excluding the beginning and ending rings of the bottom and the sides. Those were just normal rings.
I've noticed that some tatters out there don't really like split rings. But if you give them a chance and experiment a little, they are a very useful and fun technique.

The ivory butterfly

I meant to post about this back in March, but didn't get around to it until now.
Ever since I learned to tat, I've tried to tat something whenever a family member has a birthday. I haven't succeeded with every birthday, for a number of reasons ranging from not knowing what to tat them to the stealthy sneakiness of birthdays. I've sat down to read a book or tat a excess thread project, only to have someone remind me that a birthday is that weekend.
If birthdays were people, they would belong to an elite clan of ninjas.
Birthday ninjas.
Moving on, I was able to tat something for my sister's birthday.

Lizbeth size 20, Mocha Swirl

"I tend to experiment with birthday presents. Like the key, this was a pendant I picked out because it way cool and looked like it would easily accept tatting. I wanted to keep the tatting simple for this piece, something that would shout for attention. That's why I chose this variegated color and stuck with chains, with the exception of that one brown ring at the very bottom of the pendant.
This is the second piece that I've added tatting to. I think I'll try using more rings in the next piece. Maybe have multiple rows of tatting.
Anyway, I've rambled enough for one post. Expect another post on Friday!