Twin dragons

This was a post I meant to do last week, but I left for the woods before getting it up.
I tatted two Minor Norwegian Dragons for two of my friends. Each dragon has a slight mistake, but neither friend was upset about it.

Twin dragons meet in flight. Wings nearly touching, they stretch out their heads in greeting.

These are the first dragons that I have made in size 10 thread. They are a pretty nice size, and I'm thinking of tatting another one to put onto a bag.

Size 10 black. This dragon suffered a terrible injury to the left wing which makes it difficult to fly.

It was fun tatting with black thread in a larger project. The black thread causes the double stitches to melt into each other, which makes it a little harder to tat if you forget where you are in the pattern.

Size 10 white. This dragon was born with a second spur at the base of its tail.

The white dragon was fun to tat. I prefer to do a dizzy picot for the ears instead of doing a twisted picot.

There was a third dragon, but I forgot to take a picture of it before giving it to a friend. The third dragon had a white body from head to tail, and wings that variegated between black and white.
Next up for dragons, a Chinese Dragon! I recently got this real pretty size 10 thread that I think will be great for the Chinese dragon pattern.

One hundred years

Today was a very special day.
My family and I were able to help this woman we know celebrate her one hundredth birthday.
Cool, right?
I was able to tat her a present. I took a doily pattern from the book A Tatter's Workbook and left it partially unfinished. In the unfinished section of the doily, I added in the number 100.

Done in size 10 pink and green. Placed in a frame with the woman's name.

It was a pretty cool day. Her family was at the party, along with other members of our ward.
Go build some memories. And be sure to notice the good things that happen every day.

Shrimp doodle

Time for another birthday!
Today is my father's birthday. It took a bit of time for me to figure out what I was going to make him. Then I remembered that he likes eating shrimp.

Done in size 10. The colors are white, pink, and red.

I couldn't find a pattern for a shrimp in my tatting books or online, so I experimented. It is a simple doodle, attached to a card that reads, "Happy birthday! Here is a little shrimp for your lunch."
My father got a laugh out of it.
I think if I try tatting a shrimp again, I'll make it more detailed.

Dreamcatcher Episode II: Attack of the Shuttles

Today is my aunt's birthday! To be specific, she is the aunt I mentioned in the Snowflake extravaganza.
For her birthday, I made another dreamcatcher!

Done in size 20 Lizbeth thread. The colors are Mocha Brown Med. and Ecru.

The center of the body is a pattern called the Cobweb doily, from the book Tatting Doilies & Edgings edited by Rita Weiss. I added two additional rows to make the doily fit within the metal ring properly.

I tried to make the additions similar to the doily pattern.

I chose these colors because my aunt seemed to really like them. I think that they go pretty well together.

No chickens were harmed in the collecting of these feathers.

Once again, I was able to get some pretty feathers from the family chickens. There are six beige feathers and two of the reddish brown feathers. They are really soft. I decided to connect the feather to the dreamcatcher using split rings and a bead.
My aunt really liked it, so I am calling this dreamcatcher a success!

Need a spare?

Today is my cousin's birthday!
I had some trouble deciding on what to make him. I'm not always sure that my male relatives would like a gift of tatting. You see, the ones that live near me are very outdoorsy. Not really the kind of guys who would like a frilly piece of lace.
So it took a while before I got the idea of tatting my cousin a tire.

The stitches are difficult to see due to the black thread. Done in size 10.

My cousin likes his car. So I tatted him a little spare tire to put with his keys. I made up the pattern myself, and used both the double stitches and some josephine knots in order to give the tire some texture. The rim gave me the most difficulty.
But in the end, it turned out well. My cousin seemed to like it when I gave it to him last night, so I would call this one a success.
Now to go tat four more so I can make a tatted car...

Congrats!

A friend of mine recently graduated collage. I was really excited for her, as she was the one who taught me how to tat. So to help my friend celebrate her graduation, I tatted a graduation cap for her.

Done in size 10, using the closest I had to her collage colors.

I like how it turned out, and my friend liked it as well. I really enjoy finding patterns online that I can follow to make gifts for others.

Snowflake extravaganza

It's about time I show you a little of what I've been working on this past month.

Eight little snowflakes, sitting on a tree...

Snowflakes! Each pattern and color was selected by my aunt, who is my biggest fan when it comes to my tatting. All of the patterns came from the book Tatted Snowflakes, by Vida Sunderman. This was my first time tatting each of these snowflakes, so it took a bit of trial and error.

Unique Snowflake. Done in size 10 gold.

The Unique Snowflake was interesting to tat because I had to leave space between each ring.

Flower Snowflake. Done in size 80 Lizbeth thread Christmas Green and Victorian Red.

The Flower Snowflake gave me some difficulty, do in part to my not being accustom to working with size 80.

Jingle Bell Snowflake. Done in size 20 Lizbeth thread  Mocha Brown Med.

The Jingle Bell Snowflake was fun, though I kind of wish that I had been able to find a smaller bell for it.

Ruffled Snowflake. Done in size 10 white.

The Ruffled Snowflake was interesting, because in the book it tells you to weave a ribbon through the outer rings. A red ribbon, to be exact.

Swirl Snowflake. Done in size 20 Lizbeth thread Mountain Breeze.

I think that the Swirl Snowflake pretty fun to tat. I like doing three picots right next to each other.

Ruffle-Edged Snowflake. Done in size 10 white.

This was probably one the the easiest to tat, since I've done other snowflakes similar to the Ruffled-Edged Snowflake.

Star-Shaped Snowflake. Done in size 10 white.

The Star-Shaped Snowflake was another easy one for me to tat. The first snowflake I ever tatted also had trefoils (the three rings that make up each point) as part of the pattern.

3-Dimensional Snowflake #1. Done in size 20 Lizbeth thread, Mocha Brown Med. and Ecru.

The 3-Dimensional Snowflake is actually made from three snowflakes combined.

Part of how you get it to be 3-dimensional is by folding two of the snowflakes into a V while they are stiffening.

The center snowflake is stiffened flat. I swapped the ring and chain colors for the center snowflake.

The 3-Dimensional Snowflake #1 was the main challenge. I had never tatted a 3-dimensional snowflake before, and wanted to make sure that it looked nice. The book said to use glue to connect the three snowflakes, but I decided to sew them together instead. I had also tatted a snowflake of this pattern that variegated between the two colors after every ring, but it was a bit too crazy to become part of the snowflake.
Well, that's the end of the snowflake extravaganza!
I hope you enjoyed it!