Safe!!!

IsDihara is one of my best tatting buddies, and I have been in cohoots with her as she hatched her plan for Palmetto tat days.

You can read all about it here.

This is then gist of it.....

......she has been responsible for the discovery of a cure for that dastardly bacterium/virus/microbe....

that causes Necrotizing filitis.

Ok so big deal !

Well you wouldn't think that if it statred eating your precious thread!

This thing takes no prisoners!

So what did she do

but

sent it over to me (not on purpose I can assure you!)

Was I scared??

You bet I was!

Is that scary or what!

My stash is HUGE.

So as soon as I got home from the wedding, I had to tat the cure as fast as my shuttles would go.

Which is pretty fast!

My first Thyme Leaf is in my favourite varg' Flora 20,

BUT WAS ONE LEAF ENOUGH?

Maybe if I tatted it with a stem......a long one.....I could hang it up near my stash!

Good thinking!

This one is much prettier in real life. It has the added protection of dew drops.....

.......bet you didn't know that!

I tatted this one from the bottom up...so my ends could make the stem....

.....another magic trick!

It's hanging near my stash

Think maybe I should tat some more .....

...just to be on the safe side!

More on Autumn!

I was surprised how many tatters also owned a Lucet, a lot had never used it and were not sure how it was done. I am glad that I was able to stimulate you to give it another go...similarly with the French Knitting/Corking.

So how am I doing...I was away in UK for the weekend...buying even more stuff!! I did my luceting while waiting at the airport, using a large skein of a twisted pink thread..polyester I think. I would make several inches of cord ...then I would suddenly find that I had lost the plot...had one loop short!! and didn't know if I had turned or not. Un-lucetting proves again impossible...so unravel and start again!

We have had so many gales and torrential rain...enough rain for the whole month already...that the beautiful autumn leaves just reaching their peak are being blasted off the trees.

A while ago I tatted more Autumn leaves but didn't have chance to show them to you.
I had downloaded the pattern by LadyShuttleMaker a long time ago...but it looked difficult and was put on one side.....it's not difficult at all! It's in the patterns section on the right on her blog.
It was just a question of not being frightened by having to use 3 ball threads and 1 shuttle...the ball threads are only used one at a time in different rounds.

I started off using colours similar to Sherry's all in Flora 20, just so that I could get the rounds right!



A darker red this time....



...and two in different colours....





It looks great in any colour mix.

I left the tails long...no ends to bother about and added beads to make bookmarks.



The design takes in 20
...on the shuttle 2m
Ball 1...1st round 1m
Ball 2....2nd round 1.25m
Ball 3....3rd round 1.5m

Meet ChocoLime's Cousin Rusty!

If you follow my blog you will know that I can't just tat one of a pattern...I always think...what would it look like in another colour! and another and another!

Well it's getting to be just the same with threads.

With the Hot Chocolate Family I have been working with only two colours and all the intermediate shades between them, knowing that the results will be harmonious.
ChocoLime really grew on me...but as I looked at more and more leaves...I began to wonder what it would look like if I changed the chocolate to a more rusty red colour.

This is the result....



...yet another trusty Hearts Desire...this looks beautiful in every thread.

Lets see ChocoLime and it's cousin Rusty side by side for comparison....



....not a lot of difference you say. Well it's SUBTLE!!

Do I like ChocoLime's cousin Rusty....I love it!.....like ChocoLime has beautiful intermediate shades that gave rise to Antique Bronze I can see that I will have to experiment with the new fellas intermediates in another 'mousse' cos I see some lovely ginger shades in there....more work!

Well as the usefulness of these threads seems to be particularly in tatting leaves, (tho it would look nice in lots of other things) the question is does the new fella look like a leaf.

I have looked at so many leaves and photographed so many, here are a few....







Looking good...a bit of yellow in there wouldn't go amiss but that's for another day.

Time to tat some maple leaves.....



...this one uses KeyLime for the veins...



...this one uses RustyRed for the veins.


BUT I can't keep on calling it ChocoLime's cousin Rusty...it needs a name of it's own...but what does it really look like.

When we were up in the north west of Ireland a couple of weeks ago for my birthday, the answer shouted out at me. We were driving along for miles and miles with fields and hedgerows of.....on either side and I suddenly thought..that looks so familiar... the colour combo was exactly spot on.

That's it...one of those EUREKA moments....

I should have shouted STOP I want to take a photograph.

So what was it that I saw.

It was Bracken, loads and loads of ferny fronds of Bracken in all the colours from fresh lime green to the dried up rusty red fronds.

Do you remember how it feels to walk on dried Bracken, the crunch that it makes under your feet?

So ChocoLime's cousin got his name BRACKEN CRUNCH...do you think it suits him??

Back home I spotted Bracken near my house, not nearly as dramatic but worth a photo with my phone (ain't phones marvellous!).









Pretty cool resemblance don't you think.






This is what Bracken Crunch looks like en masse.



...and it's it's own little family group.



I LOVE to see what you have made with my threads.
Viv of Viv's Tatting Quest made these little motifs for earrings with a sample of ChocoLime that I sent her. She has such nice things to say about it.....makes my heart sing!



So what have YOU made?

Tatting with ChocoLime

It's looking a lot like Autumn in my part of the world! We always hate the words 'Autumn Chill' uttered by the weather forecast people on TV...usually in August!!

We have had beautiful Indian summer weather for most of September but I seem to have missed it all...who wants to travel in September!!

So my thoughts have turned to tatting leaves...something that I have never done before.

The pattern that I have been intending to tat for a long time is the Maple Leaf from the February 1975 Workbasket which has been adapted by Tammy Rodgers to include a stem.

I tatted it first in a deep lime green Coats 20 thread...the one I used for the heart with the blue beads that everyone liked! It's quite a dull green. The leaf took a total of 8.5 metres, 6m on the shuttle and 2.25m on the ball. It measures 8.5cm (3.5in) across.



Next I tried a fawn colour also Coats 20....



...another dull colour. Not a lot of life in these leaves, now what shall I tat them in next to add a bit of life.....Now I know that it seems obvious now, knowing what you know.....but it suddenly hit me...ChocoLime of course...I had been wondering what the role of this thread was going to me...silly me it was obvious even to a nit wit!!


Now this was the point when I fell in love with ChocoLime...for certain!



In size 30 this took 7.25m, 5.25 on the shuttle and 2m on the ball and measures 7.5cm(3in).

Tried another leaf..this one is a five point Canadian Sugar Leaf Maple designed by Gale Marshall. Another great and easy pattern.



In size 30 this took a total of 13m, 9m on the shuttle and 4m on the ball. It measures 8.5cm(3.25in). I have only tatted this once so far but i should go back and make different versions.

It was at this point that I went to Germany armed with thread and shuttles!

I couldn't stop looking up at the trees. So many of the streets were lined with Plane trees...Platanus..so very like Maples.









It's not an urban tree that we see a lot of.
If I wasn't looking up at the trees, then I was looking at the ground...more about that next time.

So did they look like my leaves...the answer was ..not a lot!

So maybe I should try tatting with a solid colour for the veins.



This is ChocoLime with Key Lime for the veins, isn't that gorgeous.



They make beautiful bookmarks, I left a long tail and added deep brown silver lined beads to each thread. One of the great things about this pattern is that you don't need to hide the ends. Adding an extra doubled thread at the end and tatting it into the tail,will give a tail with 6 threads.

I have yet to try using Chocolate Sauce for the veins...just not enough time.

When I got home I tried another different version along the ChocoLime theme. Dyeing as come to a halt while I wait for the disruption of installing a new fridge/freezer and tumble dryer in my 'Dyeing Studio'. I think keeping my dyes cold helps as when I got home and my fridge has died! I used up some dye from the week before (couldn't bear to throw it away) to make solid key lime and it washed out to a beautiful unrepeatable apple green!!!

Had the most fabulous trip to County Sligo for my birthday...(not with good weather!), if I ever get time I will blog about it.