Merry Christmas 2011

 

Hi everyone!

To all my tatting friends out there

I have been absent way too long.

BUT

Life happens

and

sometimes you just need to take a break.

I am fine, still tatting.....just not reading blogs or writing them, or even dyeing thread!

I will try to get back to normal next year and be back to my old self.

 I have finished 23 out of the 24 Easter Eggs...will show you sometime.

BUT my latest tatting adventure has been with Ruth Perry's Sweet Little Christmas Edging.

I have made a couple of bookmarks in size 20 Flora, but my favourites right now are these Christmas

tree ornaments.

I just cant make enough to give to all my tatting friends , I wish that I could.

I shopped around looking for little bells and was delighted to find these tiny ones in several colors.

The tails without the bells fit better in an envelope tho!

they all add enough weight for it to hang nicely on a tree without stiffening.

They do match my Christmas table cloth to perfection.

I LOVE this pattern, thank you so much Ruth.

Happy Christmas, talk to you all next year.

Easter Eggstravaganza 15!

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

Onwards and upwards!

Easter Egg number 15 had left me a bit cold when I first saw it...like so many of the designs in this book! I don't know why these designs didn't appeal to me...must be the lack of colour.

Until I saw what others had done with it.....Barbara Gordon had tatted a white butterfly with a variegated surround. Umi and Tsuru had tatted a variegated pink butterfly with a pale green surround.

Ok then...on to the practice piece....I forgot to make the joining picot on the antennae so mine are a bit too short. the dimpled rings were difficult to close....I could have made them a different way but decided to stick to Kirtsen's pattern...for now!

The rings in the trefoils are not connected so tend not to lie very flat...really needed blocking to put on my tree.

For the next one I chose to tat the butterfly in my Blue Lagoon HDT with flowers round the outside in my Berry Burst HDT and chains in my  Daffodil Green HDT all in Lizbeth 40 and it looks lovely and very delicate.

I like this a lot. What a difference using different colours makes.

Easter Eggstravaganza 14!

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

 Easter Egg number 14 had a new challenge hidden up it's sleeve...

....Roll Tatting.....

something that I have never tried before.

Of course i went straight away to Google to see what I could find out about this technique.

I found instructions from Jennifer Williams and Jane Eborall and a very recent blog post by Jon entitled
Rolling! Rolling! Rolling off the Shuttle

followed by an even more interesting post 

Rolling a Stumpy

she points to a video by 

Karen Cabrera's video 

It was well worth a look but i did find her method rather overcomplicated. 

So Off i went armed with this knowledge and of course Kirsten's explanation in her book.

Well

it was really easy..once I held on tight to the roll stitches that I had made. 

Karen's video was great for showing how quickly they can unroll!

Time now for some fun!

I tatted the inner chain in My Daffodil Green  and the rings in my  Just Daffodils HDT.

 It looks so pretty, one of my favourite colour combinations.

This one was tatted in Coats Mercer size 30.

Here is a size comparison...

 Here is a close up of my roll tatting

I am dying to try it on something else now, Jon's idea of Kersti's  Stumpy sounds great. 

I have made that before.

The Mary Konior Lupins look great too. 

Easter Eggstravaganza 13!

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

Number 13 unlucky for some!

But it worked a treat for me!

Made in one round using a split ring, it finishes with three rows of chains.

Thought that this would look nice with the chains in a different colour

This one has them in Coats Floretta 20 in a deep raspberry variagation.

Don't like this thread much as it's a 3 cord thread, but the colours are pretty.

Next thought was to build another dessert!! using my own HDT.

I started with my Vanilla Ice Cream in the center.

The chains are in

my Raspberry Juice,

Blackberry Juice

and

Blueberry Juice.

All the solid colours from my Berry Burst thread.

Looks prettier in real life without the white background.

I didn't even get time to block these last two, but they came out pretty firm to start with.
Multicoloured ones really make the inner round stand out don't they?
I think this design would be lovely on the tree with a jewel hanging inside it.

Easter Eggstravaganza 12!

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

Number 12 has  bugged me for some time!

It wasn't the tatting that was the problem

it was finishing off the egg with a final round of crochet.

It's not even that I don't know how to crochet, I haven't done it for a long time,but I was sure I wouldn't have forgotten the basics.

I guess it was just that the instructions didn't make a lot of sense to me, even tho' they were perfectly correct.

I intended to scan the first round of the egg with it's fringe of picots round the edge...looked pretty.

I had measured the picots with a picot gauge to get this fringe even enough to crochet round. I used 9mm measured horizontally.

But I forgot!

When I saw that Barbara Gordon has succeeded then I was eager to pick up my discarded egg again!

My problem begins with.....do I need to use a extra thread to crochet with or is it really as simple as Kirsten says.....

well yes it seemed that it really was that simple....

so my next problem was...what do I do when I get to the end and have a final loop on my crochet hook????

anyone got the answer????

My final loop actually is just lying there not attached and not sew in and it hasn't come undone.....but that's not really good enough.

I contemplate putting in a magic thread to pull it thro'...but that wouldn't work with a loop!

Do I have to sew it in with matching fine thread.

Anyway at the moment I am not feeling like making another one!

Does look pretty tho'!

Another great lace trip!

Interrupting the Easter Egg saga on this blog to bring you........

Last week I had the pleasure to go along to Dingle in Co Kerry with my Lace Guild to take part in a 'working exhibition'!

This was the Festival

Representatives of all the Celtic nations were there...from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and The Isle Of Man.

During the week there was singing and dancing in the streets...not that we saw much of this...we were there to work!

Click on the photo to get a better view of the programme for the days we were there.

We settled in for the day in this beautiful venue do go and have a look especially if you are interested in stained glass windows.

During the morning a TV crew were there to film part of a programme featuring us.

Then in the afternoon it was open to the public to come and look at us and ask questions. There was a talk on Kenmare lace and the showing of an old TV programme....you can read about it in the photo above.

The room we were in was dedicated to Nano Nagle founder of the Presentation Sisters and was beautifully decorated with murals. You can see that on the website too.

Wowee....watched the TV programme last wed and I was actually on it.

Just  had to photograph the TV screen and also make a movie of it with my camera.

You will know which is me as I was the only one tatting!

We have quite a lot of interested members of the public asking questions.

One guy made me laugh

"I think you must be a rebel!" he said

"Why?"

"Because you are the only one using colour!

How true, I really am not traditional enough for the group!

This is my work area.

We had to take something to show and something we were working on. Sorry that I can show you what the others took or them at work.

You can see the easter egg that I was working on and also some bookmarks that I made....will show them another time.

I did have white tatting too...Marilee's Arches doiley.

You can also see my pieces of unfinished Carrickmacross lace, my favourite lace after tatting.

It was the day of the Royal Wedding and we were delighted to see the beautiful lace dress that she wore.

It made our day.

There was a craft sale going on outside with all sorts of lovely things including hand made furniture...all made locally.

That evening there was a parade, the Irish contingent were well represented by some young leprechauns!

Tatters keep asking about the whereabouts of Feargal, I honestly don't know!

Maybe he was here before me.....sign spotted in a local shop!

Lots of local fish was eaten and some handmade Ice Cream.

On our way home we stopped to look at the s bronze statue of Tom Crean the famous antarctic explorer.

Behind him you can just see the famous Inn (with the blue chimney).

A stay at a friend's holiday house by the sea and some garden centers and a few more seedling maples to make in to bonsai and it was a lovely weekend.

Easter Eggstravaganza 11!

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

On to number 11

This looked easy until I took a closer look at how it was made.....it was just a bit tricky to keep one stitch flipped...nuff said...!

Tatted in Flora 20 I used beads from my selection pack of silver lined size 8 beads.

I thought that I had chose all turquoise beads until i came to tat in the daylight last weekend...more about that later!...and found that there were two different greens also in the.....so I continued in the same vein to make it look natural!

Haven't got round to tatting this one again either...but it would look lovely in.....and.....and......

Easter Eggstravaganza 10!

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen
Number 10 looked STUNNING
but is it easy to tat?
This was my first time tatting with 2 shuttles and 2 balls.
The big problem was the ball threads getting tangled.
This needed a little help from some transparent tape sent to me by Tatting Goddess a few years ago, wind a piece round the ball and it sticks to itself and can be removed easily. I have no idea what it is called or where to get more.
It also needed a great deal of organisation to switch from one colour to the next placing the shuttle and ball out of the way......and a great deal of concentration at first to make sure that the chains lay on top of each other in the correct order. I got this wrong in the very first chain but think it's a great feature to make a specific top to the egg motif!!

The rings are joined through each other and by the time I got to the last two sets of rings to join I was stumped as to how to do this....I untatted these rings at least 4 times and then put the motif to one side in frustration.....was going to ask for your advice!
But last night I saw a comment that Barbara Gordon of Barbara's 25 motif challenge had left for me on my Egg No 1 post, saying that she was also tatting all the Easter Eggs in the book.
So I zoomed over to her blog and low and behold there were joys galore. If you like my egss then you will love hers too. She has got further than me and finished 15 already.
Thank you Barbara for your inspiration to keep going.

Thank you also for giving the answer to my problem. You have to tat both rings at the same time....not easy....going backwards and forwards to each ring to tat a bit more and get the joins interwoven thro' each ring.
I can assure you that it's every bit as difficult as it sounds.
But the result is stupendous.

can you see the error at the very top......makes a great hanger!
I can see this egg in many different colourways ....will i be doing it again....like Barbara not anytime soon!!

Easter Eggstravaganza 9!

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

If I was beginning to get a little jaded then Number 9 raised my spirits...

it's a little cracker.
I HAD to tat this in 2 colours at the very beginning.

Flora 20.

Second one is in Lizbeth 40 in my Berry Burst with white and lemon.

I am afraid we are back to food again!
It was meant to represent Berry Burst dessert with vanilla ice cream topped with custard!
Then of course I wondered what it would look like with the colours in a different order....
so here is dessert No 2.

 This one has the fruit in the middle in a solid block with the ice cream and custard round the outside.
I am hard pushed to say which of these I like the best. I like the solid block of Berries better in the middle but on the other hand I like the contrast on the outside of the one with the custard in the middle.mmm!
Funny how that contrast makes that one look bigger as your eyes are drawn to the outside.
These eggs have a natural tendency to curve upwards so I had to squash them on the scanner...and then photograph them to show this curve which is very pleasant.

With the center filled in this would make a cracking little hat pattern.

Easter Eggstravaganza 7!

mmm this was scheduled to be published before No 8...

oh well, better late than never!
Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

Number 7 tatted in plain Fora 20 looks like an egg to me.

Decided to tat it in three colours for my second attempt.

Really shows up the design and the silver lined largeish beads add that bit of bling.

Nice one!

Easter Eggstravaganza 8!

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

Egg number 8 ......

was a pain to tat! All those twisted chains.

By the time I had them finished I had had enough.
It's just the same as No 7 but twisted chains and another layer of them.

Sorry but I haven't repeated this one...yet...tho i do think it would look pretty in different colours.

This is in Flora 20 and the whole egg is a bit too big for me at 3.5inches top to bottom.

Looks pretty tho' now that I see it on the screen.

Easter Eggstravaganza 6!

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

Egg Number 6 looks pretty basic when tatted in one plain colour.....

.....but when tatted in a variegated thread it zings.

It's Lizbeth 20 in Caribbean and matching Turquoise. The toning silver lined turquoise beads really sparkle even tho they aren't faceted.

The pattern tatted in one colour takes about 3.6m on the shuttle and 2.5m on the ball.....unless you want bigger picots.

They measure about 3inches top to bottom and I think would be nicer in a finer thread for my tree.

Easter Eggstravaganza 5!

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

I must admit that when I first got this book I was not all that struck by it. A lot of patterns looked much the same as a lot of other motifs only blocked to be egg shaped!

But once I got into tatting the patterns numerically instead of cherry picking my favourites, they began to grow on me and I wanted to give it a fair go! I won't have time to tat every design several times as I would like to, but I will tat as many variations as time allows.

I hope it won't be quantity rather than quality!

No 5 looks pretty ordinary until I began to tat it and then its beauty hit me.

Even my trial is lovely.

I should have scanned this against a black background before I stiffened and shaped it.

I suppressed the desire to take it in reverse to see what it would look like!

Mmmmm! I thought what about making this look like an egg with the yolk in the center and the white on the outside.

I made the picots graduated to make the white a bit more fluffy.

But it's not egg like enough....thought process gets going....why not give it and eggshell.

Cool idea...so I got out an egg and compared it to my new selection of browns in my Gingerbread range.......and Cinnamon won.

Added some beads to fill in the yolky center a little.

Changed the stitch count of the yolk quite by accident...wondered why it had little peaks in the middle and added an outer round of cinnamon chains.

Now I need to know what it would have looked like if I had tatted the correct/original stitch count!

It looks so like a cream Easter Egg

I LOVE THIS BOOK!

This design has so much more potential to explore.

The outer round of chains finishes it off to perfection.

Stiffened and shaped....but not the third one

As as addendum to this....my lassies were tatting this design (from their books) when two of them shrieked 

'Oh No'

They had both joined the rings together in the inner round. One of them hadn't got very far, the other had several rings made and was blowed if she was going to untat!

We told her that it wasn't a mistake, rather a new pattern!

She went home having got this far...

.......and returned two weeks later with this little beauty.

Isn't that lovely and the mix of yellow and orange beads is beautiful.
the little Easter chicks were impressed too.

Easter Eggstravaganza 4!

Here comes Egg No 4 from Tatted Easter Eggs a great little book from Kirsten Wind Hansen.

Trial in Flora 20.

Second one in Lizbeth 20...Autumn Spice and Salmon with gold beads.

This one has one less repeat of rings and chains because I miscalculated my thread amount....looks nice tho'. Smaller that the first one as well because Lizbeth 20 tats up smaller.

Shaped and stiffened they look rather odd!

These are definitely going to be flattened!

Most of the eggs would look great in a finer thread.