Autumn tatting

Here are some birthday presents I tatted back in November.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #684. Motif #18

For my sister, I tatted Frivole's Flowering Quatrain Bookmark. I quite like this pattern, and think that it would be fun to tat again. My sister liked it as well.

Done in size 10.

Next came the birthday of another cousin whose name begins with W. Since he likes blue, I used different shades of that color for each letter, with some added colors from the variegated threads. The letter patterns are from The Tatter's Paradise again. Can you tell that I like the style of these letters?

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #100. Motif #19.

I made a few leaves using  Frivole's La Feuille Frivole pattern to put on the front of letters that I was sending out. This pattern is really cute, and quick to tat!

Done in Lizbeth size 80, #601. Motif #20.

To begin this month, I tatted three of Robin Perfetti's First Snowfall pattern. They're so dainty  looking, and the diagram pattern is easy to follow. I enjoy using size 80 thread, although I'm usually hesitant to pull any from my stash.
Kind of silly, I know.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #638 and #671.

I  tatted part of one motif of Jane Eborall's Diamond Patchwork pattern in a Christmas red and green as a white elephant gift for a Christmas party I went to. The individual motifs were fun to tat, though I will admit that I began each with ring number two of the pattern instead of with a self closing mock ring. I really like how it turned out, and am interested in making the actual doily shown in the pattern's picture.
Well, it's another thing added to my list of future tatting projects.

With Christmas almost here, I have some more tatting projects already completed that will be posted afterward, and some that still need to be finished before the day arrives.


Best of luck with your own projects, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

The dragon of excess rises

I have another excess thread project to share today. Done in size 10, I started with this critter's legs and went on from there.

Basking her wings in the sunlight, Dragonthing fears nothing.

Standing about four inches tall at her snout, this dragon... thing has a wingspan of seven inches from wingtip to wingtip.

Despite having six horns and a keen sense of smell, Dragonthing secretly wishes she had eyes.

After making the legs, I began the body at the tail and worked my way up to the neck. Then I made the head and attached it. After that I made the framework for the wings, and lastly the membrane.

Dragonthing loves all the colors in her wings, and rides through the air like a kite.

I tried two different patterns for attaching the split ring wing membrane to the wing frame. With the wing on the left, I connected the split rings until reaching the elbow joint, then doubled back and forth until reaching the base of the frame, and then took each row in a straight line.
With the wing on the right, I took the split rings to the base of the frame on the first row, and had straight rows through the entire work.
Both methods work, though the first method is more time consuming.

Shifting her wings, Dragonthing hears the howling wind.

From the tip of the wing membrane to her head, Dragonthing is about eight inches long.
After I finished tatting the wing membrane, I attached it along her body by sewing. That way, I was able to position it exactly as I wanted.

I enjoy making excess thread projects. They are an opportunity to tat whatever I might feel inclined to make, while using up thread from other projects in a way that I don't need to worry as much about hiding the ends or running out of thread in the middle of the project ... okay, I still have to hide the ends in split rings when changing colors, but split rings are probably my favorite tatting technique. So they don't count as much.

Well, I hope you liked Dragonthing, the vaguely dragon-like creature made from excess thread.

Good luck with your own projects!

Knitting and motifs

Well, here are some things that I've been meaning to post for a while. To begin, here are the first two things I knitted!

Knitting is a bit easier then crocheting.

Kind of wobbly on the sides, but I find that keeping the tension for knitting is easier for me then keeping the tension for crocheting. The I-cord was my first piece of knitting, and took some time. The coaster took less time to make, and was enjoyable to make.

I look forward to knitting more things in the future, and perhaps adding tatting to my knitted projects.

Next up is a cupcake I made for my Aunt for her birthday last month.

Lovely purple cupcakes are not all grape flavored.

I quite like this cupcake pattern by Be-Stitched. It's easy to make, and looks nice in many different colors. This one was made in size 10 thread.

Done in size 10. Motif #14.

This Oval Medallion pattern from This 'n' Tat was enjoyable to tat. I like following diagram patterns on occasion, and this one was easy to follow.

Done in size 10. Motif #15.

This Pentawheel Medallion is also from This 'n' Tat. I thought it would be fun to do it in three colors. I always enjoy split rings, so that was a plus for this pattern.

Done in size 10. Motif #16.

This Spiral Medallion is another pattern from This 'n' Tat. I like how the picots on the long chains are only on one side. It's a pretty pattern, and I like how the two colors I used blend with each other.

Done in size 10. Motif #17.

Now, this black cat is from the Tat-man's Cat on a Broomstick pattern. I tatted broomsticks on their own last year, so I thought I would do some cats on their own this year. I like how it came out, and how the cut long picots transformed into whiskers.

Snails and letters

Well, I've been moving at about the same pace as these pretty snails from Tatting Animals, by Inga Madsen.

Guess what, we're going to be inside letters! Motif #13.

These lovely critters were done in Lizbeth size 20, #620 as the body, and #121, #124, #131, and #135 for the shells. The two on the left have a bead, while the two on the right do not.

While I was tatting these, I also noticed a difference between the diagram pattern and the example picture in the shell. A single chain that in the diagram is six double stitches long; while in the example picture it is three double stitches, picot, then three double stitches, and the picot is used to join a ring later on. That ring also is altered slightly, depending on if you need to use it for that join.

So the two snails on the left are tatted according to the diagram, while the two on the right follow the example picture.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #115 and #680.

This doily was for my Uncle's birthday, and is the Pinwheel doily pattern from Be-Stitched. At first I wasn't sure if he would like it, but when I gave it to him, he appeared to quite happy to receive it.

I did make the long chains of row four too loose at first, but I was able to manipulate the core thread so that I could spread the excess into nearby chains and rings. It took some extra time, but it made the final piece look so much better.

Look! I think it's trying to spell something in size 10 thread!

For my cousin's birthday, I tatted his nickname. He seemed to like it, which is what I always hope for when I give someone a piece of tatting.

The patterns came from The Tatters' Paradise, and other then accidentally tatting the second O in size 8 at first, everything went quite quickly.

Remember when I said that I was learning to knit? Well, I have a couple of knitted pieces to show once I take pictures of them.

Something pretty cool happened when I went to a craft store to get a pair of size 8 knitting needles. I was walking past an endcap in the yarn section, when something hanging underneath a clearance sign caught my eye.

Six balls of size 20 Lizbeth thread, for fifty cents each!

I was quite ecstatic with this find, and quickly collected them.

I'm not quite sure why they were on clearance, but they appear just fine and are all colors that I like (two balls of #100, one of #134, and three of #142, in case you were wondering).

Have you ever stumbled upon an amazing deal?

If so, please fill free to share your experience.

Bookmarks and a doily

Things are starting to finally slow down, so I'm taking this moment to show some of the things I've been tatting.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #671 and #119, #657 and #122, #618 and #124, #688 and #686. Motif  #12.

I did these back in June, when things were really busy. They were gifts for a get to know you activity with the other leaders up at Girls Camp. The pattern is LaRae Mikulecky's Lacy Bookmark. I enjoyed tatting these, although the one on the far right decided that it wanted to be curvy and longer then the others.
The leaders who were in my group for the activity really liked the bookmarks, and one of them knew what tatting was!

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #688 and #686.

This doily was done in July, during the last bit of camp business. The pattern is the Jasmine bread and butter plate doily from The Tatter's Treasure Chest by Mary Carolyn Waldrep. This was made for my Grandmother's birthday, and she was quite pleased when she received it.
I think that this is the best doily that I've tatted thus far, in terms of its ability to lie flat without much manipulation.
In addition, I also tatted four "Miss Caroline, the Crinoline Bell" by Martha Ess, but I forgot to take pictures of them before sending out the letters that they graced the front of. They were done in two colors of size 10, a light blue and a cream.

I've gotten pretty good at sewing in the ends with size 10 and size 20 threads.
I have some other projects that are completed or nearly completed that I need to take pictures of, so hopefully those will be put up soon.

So until next time, good luck with your own projects!

Birthdays and other stuff

Well, I've been busy tatting Martha's brain cell pattern for the past few months. I've tatting at least seventy-five the these for my ward's Young Women to put on their camp hats and shirts. Each brain cell was done in Lizbeth size 20, colors #620 and #621.

One of the shirts, the tatting filling in for the word nerve. Motif #9.

I enjoyed tatting these, and basically have the pattern memorized. My fellow leaders and I sewed one onto each shirt, and had each of the Young Women sew them onto their own hat.

The front of one of the hats, which we are calling our Thinking Caps.

For my own hat, I added a chain made from pink size 10 thread. I tightened the chain so that it would curl, then sewed it onto the hat.

Each Young Woman had the option of having six brain cell for their hat.

Camp has a medical theme this year, and my ward are the neurologists.

Fun fact: I don't really like sewing very much, but have done a lot of it while preparing for camp.

My hat has be split into a left hemisphere and a right hemisphere.

It took a while, but I was able to get all of the brain cells tatted before camp. The Young Women really liked them, so it was worth the time spent.

In addition, there were three birthdays since I last posted.

Done in size 10, and in five different colors. Motif #10.

The first birthday was one of my cousins. I wasn't sure what to make him, so I decided to tat the name he goes by. The patterns came from The Tatters' Paradise, and were easy to follow and quick to tat.

Done in size 10. 

Next was my Aunt's birthday. I really like this cupcake pattern by Be-stitched. This time, I did the frosting in two different blues, and quite like how it turned out.

Done in size 10, with sequin eyes. Motif #11

Then my father had a birthday! Again, I wasn't sure what to make him. Then I found Jane Eborall's 3D Octopus pattern. It was an adorable pattern that I wanted to try out, so it became his birthday present.


I have a few more projects in the works, but they're not quite ready to share.
I hope you enjoyed seeing what I've been up to, and good luck on your own projects!

What I've been up to

Well, here are some birthday presents and other pieces of tatting I've been working from late March till now.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #135 and #680

As I've stated before, I enjoy the Spiral Bookmark pattern by Gina. I think the two colors I used for this blended really well with each other. When I gave this to my cousin for her birthday, she commented that it could be used as a bracelet.

Done in Lizbeth size 80, #111 and #104

This pattern is from The Complete Book of Tatting, by Rebecca Jones. I enjoyed tatting this, though I did have a few instances where the thread snapped as I was closing a ring. It was a bit odd, but other then that the bookmark came along quite quickly.
Again the two colors I chose to use blended well together.
My sister liked it, and was able to put the bookmark straight to use in a new book she had gotten for her birthday.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #100. Motif #5.

This is another pattern that I've been waiting to tat. I liked how Jon Yusoff's Chinese Coin Bookmark could be constructed two different ways. I decided to use the single pass method this time, and enjoyed the split rings within the pattern.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #621 and #684. Motif #6.

This bookmark was a lot of fun. It's Jane Eborall's Flowery SCMR bookmark. I still find self closing mock rings to be enjoyable to tat, and I was able to do an over the top join (OTT) for the first time as well.

Done in size 10. Motif #7.

This cupcake was for my Grandma's birthday. The pattern is one of three from Be-Stitched that are in this post. It was a bit challenging to hide the ends in the stem of the cherry, but I eventually did it.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #131, #688, #142. Flame done in a yellow DMC Cébélia.

This cupcake was made for my friend's birthday. Out of the two Be-Stitched cupcake patterns, I think this one is my favorite. I replaced the cherry from the pattern with a candle made of split rings.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #100. Motif #8.

This Rose Star from Be-Stitched was tatted by Honey. She and I had fun tatting the flower motifs for the center. I made the chains a little too tight for the outer edging, but it doesn't distract from the piece too much. This is also the first piece of tatting that I tried scanning, instead of taking a picture of the tatting and uploading it later.
I kind of like how it turned out, but think I'll experiment with some more pieces before deciding which method I like best.

In other news, I've began learning how to knit. Thus far, I enjoy knitting more then crocheting.

Honey, you're home!

So earlier this week, I won a rattie shuttle from West Pine Creations. Well, today Honey arrived!

Having crawled out of her pouch, Honey begins her search for thread.

Honey is adorable. She's the first flat shuttle I've ever had an opportunity to use, and thus far she has been quite nice to tat with. The little pouch she came in is really cute, and will provide Honey with a soft place to rest when she's not tatting.

Having found some thread, Honey prepares to tat.

Winding Honey was quite interesting. I like how she holds the thread, and how she fits in my hand while tatting. Honey maneuvers around the working thread very well, and is able to work both halves of the double stitch with ease.
Now, what did my cat think of Honey? Well...

Undaunted by swishing tail, Honey greets the gray cat.

Though at first uncertain of the little rattie, my cat has decided to accept Honey into the family.
I'm thankful for the opportunity to give Honey a home, and hope that she will enjoy tatting with me!

Charming motifs

Today I have two pieces to show you.

Done in size 10. Motif #3. Done in a light blue and a mint green.

This pattern is from Tatting Patterns, by Julia E. Sanders. Called figure 13, this trimming was interesting to tat because the picture was not on the same page as the pattern. I like these two colors together, and the pattern was fun. In the picture, it looked like most of the chains were facing the same way, so that's what I tried to do.
Weaving in the ends was interesting. I'm slowly figuring out what works best for me with hiding the ends.

Done in size 20, size 80, and sewing thread. Motif #4.

This is one of those uncommon pieces that I set out to make for myself. It started off when I decided to tat Marilee Rockley's Compass Pendant (bottom center, done in Lizbeth size 20, #684 and #694), from her Tatted Jewelry book. After I made it, I thought to myself, what would you like to do with this? How about a charm bracelet!
So I grabbed some thread, and tatted a doodle that looks a little like an anchor (top right, done in Lizbeth size 20, #647).
After that, I decided that the bracelet needed a hat. Because I love hats. I haven't posted very many of them, but usually when I pick up a shuttle and begin tatting without a particular pattern in mind, I end up making either butterflies or hats. (Bottom right, done in Lizbeth size 20, #115).
Then, because I like video games, I decided to tat a pokeball and the Triforce (from Pokemon and the Legend of Zelda, respectively). For the Triforce, I used a cloverleaf from a motif in The Complete Book of Tatting, by Rebecca Jones. The pokeball was another doodle I made up. (Triforce: bottom left, done in gold sewing thread. Pokeball: left, done in Lizbeth size 80, #671 and #601).
The last charm is a key. Because I collect keys, and think that keys are cool. I just made it up as I went. The blade of the key ended up looking kind of like a R, which is kind of neat. (Right, done in Lizbeth size 20, #691).
I weaved in the ends with each charm, which was interesting. I had to change to a smaller needle for the pokeball and Triforce.
The chain that the charms are on was from my jewelry making supplies, along with the clasp. So it is just the right fit for my wrist!

The dragon and the roses

I meant to post these half a week ago, after my niece's birthday.
I suppose this does count as after, so let's get to the hair clips!

Done in size 10, in my niece's favorite colors.

These were a surprising amount of work. The pattern is Tatted Rose, by Linda S Davies.
Now, the main reason that these were on the more difficult side for me is that I decided to sew the petals together instead of gluing them. I thought that since they were going to an energetic little girl, the sturdier they were, the better.
Besides, it meant that I had to practice my sewing ability (which although not horrible, is incredibly slow and tiresome).
My niece seemed to like them, so that's what counts.


Another thing I've been meaning to post is motif number two for the the 25 Motif Challenge!

I am the jade dragon! Motif #2, done in size 10.

Now this fellow was interesting. The Chinese Dragon by Anne Bruvold is another pattern that I've had sitting in a file for quite some time. I'm not sure that I'll be tatting this particular pattern again for at least a few months; since I found it to be strangely monotonous. But I am pleased to have finished it, and enjoyed the self closing mock rings in the pattern.
This dragon was also my first attempt at hiding the ends by weaving them through the stitches. It took some time, but I like how the tatting looks without an obvious knot marking where I ended.
I think I'll continue hiding the ends using this method, despite the time it takes.
I'm going to try and have each motif for the challenge be something I haven't tatted before. It is an extra little challenge, but I think it will add to the fun!

Lovely gifts

Well, I have a bunch of pieces to show you today.
The first is a bookmark I made for my friend's birthday.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #657 and #603.

The pattern is an edging from A Tatter's Workbook by A. Tatter. I added two extra chains for the top and bottom, repeated the edging to make the second side, and joined the small chains in the center to hold it all together.
My friend liked it.

Next are some Valentine's day gifts that I tatted.

Done in size 10. My adorableness is unbearable!

This cute bear came from the book Tatted Animals by Inga Madsen. It was fun because it was my first real attempt at a diagram only pattern. I'm eager to tat some of the other critters from this book!

Done in size 10. Haven't you heard of a purple dolphin?

I've been meaning to tat Jane Eborall's Dolphin for for my sister ever since I first came across it. But the pattern ended up sitting in a folder for a couple of years.
But that ended up being a bit of a good thing, since this pattern had a technique in it that I wouldn't have really known how to do a couple of years ago.
Namely, split chains.
Now, I love split rings. Love them. But until very recently, split chains were terrifying.
I don't quite know why, but they were.
But I was determined to do the two split chains in this pattern.
And I did!
Another thing I learned from this pattern was down picots. What are down picots? A picot that faces down! They are really easy to do, and pretty cool. I like down picots.

Done in size 10. That's quite a hearty red, isn't it?

My tension was a bit off with this heart. The pattern is Heart Frame, from Tatting Hearts by Teri Dusenbury. I don't really have much to say about this piece, other then it was the only heart I tatted for Valentine's day.

Done in size 10. Don't we look cute?

If these look familiar, that's because they are. When I was tatting the bear from Tatted Animals, part of the belly piece looked a lot like a flower. So I decided to tat some as flowers. I like the overlapping picots.

Done in size 10. Still a little rough around the feathers...

This is a griffin. A tatted griffin. I looked all around the internet for a griffin tatting pattern, but couldn't fine one.
So, I decided to try and make one.
It took a few revisions, but I've gotten most of the kinks worked out. The hindquarter is almost entirely made of split rings, while the forequarter is a combination of rings, chains, split chains, split rings, and one thrown ring. With some josephine knots and down picots thrown in for fun.
It was a lot of fun coming up with my own pattern, though there are a few things that still need some tweaking.

As I was working on the griffin, I decided that I want to participate in the 25 Motif Challenge. This means that I'll be trying to tat twenty-five motifs within a year. Am I up to the challenge? I'm going to try!
So to start off the challenge, this griffin will be my first motif!

25 Motif Challenge status: 1/25.

Two birthdays

Just a little while back, two people in my family had their birthdays!
I thought  I would share what I made for them with you.

The first birthday was my grandfather's. For him, I tatted the Whip Cream Frill doily from Tatting Doilies & Edgings by Rita Weiss.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #134 Mountain Breeze.

He really liked it. This was a fun pattern to tat, though the center turned out a little more squished then I meant for it to.

The next birthday was for a cousin. I tatted her a Spiral Bookmark by Gina.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #633 Purple - Dk and #640 Antique Violet Med.

This bookmark is really easy to make, and quite fun as well. I like these two purples together.
I think my cousin liked this bookmark.

I've noticed recently that I tend to make fairly small picots, even when it is supposed to be a large picot. This is something I think I'll try working on with my next projects.
Speaking of upcoming projects, I recently worked with a pattern that called for self closing mock rings (SCMR). I'd never really looked into that particular technique before, but found as I tatted the five SCMRs that the pattern called for that I actually quite like making them. So I'll be on the lookout for any other patterns that use this technique.
Oh, and in case you are wondering, I'll be posting the results of that pattern around March first.

So until next time, good luck with your own projects!