wodentoad

Not that I'm having a break down, I just decided to give myself a bit of time to stretch my fingers and do something different for a bit. I've been working on the Tatted Tablecloth for nearly a year now, I'm still working on the ring petals of the outer row, but I felt as though I've been speaking Romanian for so long (tatting) that if I didn't speak a little French (Knitting) or Spanish (Crochet) that I'd forget how. I'm thinking I might also at some point take up a little side carving, but that ...

Found out yesterday that I made a joining mistake on my tea cloth, unfortunately, it was on the wrong side of the joins. I had a few options, the worst of which was to cut out and de-tat through all five rings of the row. Instead I worked what feels like a minor miracle. I carefully cut around the joins, put a thread loop through the broken join, and joined in new tatting to the correct picots, re-joining through the broken join, creating a sort of new join.

Work should proceed faster ...

Whatever you call it, it's the name of the game today. I have to go back through five and a half rings and three chains. Time was when I would just cut back and re-attach the thread, but no, I'm just too stubborn on this one.

Is there a threshold at which you cut? I haven't really chosen one for myself, I just sorta, play it by ear as it goes.

In the mean time, I'm watching movies online (mostly Leverage) and browsing the internet while I work, and the IOLI and bobbin ...

They should arrive on the 23rd, so I'm really excited! A weekend with my fancy new shuttles!

In other news, my shuttle thread ran out, so, being the genius that I am, I cut *both* ball and shuttle threads. Ah well, I needed to practice adding chain threads anyway. :)

So, I'm on the fourth set of mini-rings that attach to the caterpillars. They tat up pretty quick so I think I can make up some of the time I missed.

I'm losing a little of my love for the Susan Bates, which started with that lovely click, but having struggled to remove the bobbin a couple of times to load on more thread I have to wonder if I'm doing something wrong or if it's the shuttle which has lost almost all of its click.

For those of you waiting on the Aerlits, ...

My father always says: There's only one way to eat an elephant.

I feel the painful truth of that in this tablecloth.

So after my wrists recovered from vacation, I realized I had mislaid my work. After a frantic search yesterday, I managed to track down both the tea cloth and the smaller balls of the thread I had made and put, genius that I am, in a different project bag. And since all the project bags are the same but for the stickers from getglue.com, I had also promptly ...

My tea-cloth, for those of you following, was put on hold due to an accident at an amusement park. I have been resting my wrists without reducing their movement, and though there is still some extension pain, the rotational pain is gone. I can now tat again.

Of course, this week, my baby went to his first day of kindergarten. He did great, of course, but I'm thinking I need to introduce him to a craft of some sort. My sister suggested knitting. I'm not sure yet. I also have a couple ...

So I went with my family to an amusement park (the name of which I will not mention because I really do love the place) but due to an accident on one of the rides, I've ended up with whiplash and both wrists injured. Carpel Tunnel I can deal with. I'm a writer, and it doesn't really affect my tatting. But this is a soft tissue (I hope) injury that prevents quick and/or rotational movements of my wrists.

I am displeased, but I blame only the end-of-ride operator.

I also ...

So I just finished the little cloverleafs in the Tea Cloth, but the oblong motif that I did by the directions did NOT look like the one in the picture. And of course I picked the one that the original tatter had made a mistake on anyway. So I had to re-design the oblong motifs from the picture and a basic knowledge of tatting.

I'm still working on the test piece, but it's already looking better than the one I did by the directions. Writing it down is going to be a headache, I get ...

Not sure what possessed me to say "Two rings a day." Honestly, I think I had a brain gremlin! So as it stands I have completed the fourth row and done two of the half circles. I'm going to have to take lots of good close-up pictures and put it together as a PDF or something for those who want the awesome tablecloth without the brain-melting of translating that from old to modern tatting language. The original pattern was printed in 1917, and I am copying from the Sanders book reprint. ...

Okay, I realize I only got 1 2/3rds circles done yesterday. But today is laundry day. I'm hoping to have a few free minutes to finish up the fourth ring pattern and get myself back on track. My goal is to do at least two rings a day. This is because with 460 motifs, it would take me almost a year and a half to finish otherwise. So Here I go, soldiering on.

I WILL complete this.

Oh, and I have two projects promised as is. :)

So yesterday, as I was buying supplies for my crafting class, I had a little extra time before my hubby returned to pick me up so I wandered over into the sewing section. I found the fancy threads, some that are equivalent to size 30+ tatting thread all in very pretty colors. I've been tatting for a while now, and I've been hesitant about large or technically difficult projects, the reason behind this is because I normally dive right into the more advanced forms of a craft and I wanted to spend ...

So I was looking through the projects I have in the various mediums that are pending. I have two medallion carving projects, I would like to finish Springtime^3, a tatted doily, and I remembered today that I needed to make a couple of new shirts for my son's little stuffed monkey. (Monkey helps us learn things like "Getting Dressed" and "Holding Hands" so he has to have clothes.) That's besides some sewing projects. One had to be put on hold because the recipient is currently ...

So as I have noted before, my great grandmother tatted lace before me. A long time ago when my son was newborn I went to a fiber festival and saw many many things. I learned the start of continental and left handed American knitting. I poked about with felting and thought it was kinda fun and cute but all I could imagine was making fedoras and bowlers. And then I saw bobbin lace. The pins, the bejeweled bobbins, the complex patterns!

Now this is not to say that I don't love my tatting. ...

So last night, I had a strange dream where I was going off to the music store down the road to buy a saxophone on sale. (there really is a musical instrument store down the road from where I live.

While I was there, I saw a piece of vintage tatting that was unfinished and broken. I talked to the owner and apparently it was started in 1941. It was made with rings and threads, so apparently my brain dated it correctly. After some discussion with the owner, I ended up ready to repair ...