Category: learning

Win some, lose some

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I’m a bit behind with updates – although really, I’ve not made anything major. I finished the primrose posy that was on the shuttle last time I posted – and it’s already been rehoused with a friend. She’d not seen tatting before, and was very complimentary, which was really sweet. My sewing leaves a lot to be desired, but she was nice enough not to notice that bit…

Lavender bag

This is the hand dyed thread from Yarnplayer – which is lovely actually. I have made another one, which I might put on black, if i can find something black to attach it to – really makes the colours stand out.

I decided it was time to make up my own design, so I’ve been doing that on the train recently. I thought it would be good to make an edging, so I’ve been sketching a bit – but with thread instead of a pencil:

sketch

I finally decided on a design I liked – very simple, and probably been done before, but actually, while it tats up nicely, it looks pretty terrible on the bag:

not very good

If you ignore the clash with the ribbon – which kind of goes without saying – it just looks terrible sewn straight into the fabric. It needs to be sewn into a border of some sort. What do people normally do with this kind of thing?

too long

It’s also too long I think. Getting edging the right length could well be an art in itself.

So that was all frustrating. I need a new project to work on. I’m making another broomstick lace scarf as a gift for someone, and I have another stashbuster crochet scarf knocking about, but nothing I’m that excited about. Time to get the books out maybe…

Doing something with my tatting

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So, last week (the week before?) I mentioned I’d been tatting and chatting a bit, making some Mary Konior posy designs. I’ve also finished the pieces I was doing on my commute, so I thought for once i should do something with them.

lavender bags

At the end of last year, I was given a 1930s Singer sewing machine. It’s hand cranked, very gentle, and to be honest, all you really need to do is turn the handle – it’ll guide the fabric through pretty straight on it’s own. I’m scared of sewing machines on the whole, but I do love this one. It was given to me on the death of a neighbour of mine – she’d been a neighbour for about 30 years. Also, my parents went to a great deal of trouble to get it all fixed up and working again, so I love it because it’s simple, beautiful and sentimental.

As you can see, I’m taking it pretty slowly! I decided to make some lavender bags…

Lavender 2

The top ones are smaller, so they have little hang tags to go on a hanger. The ones directly above are slightly larger and I finished these off with ‘piping’ – which is actually just a crocheted linen chain. I hand-stitched that and I think it was worth it – does finish them off quite nicely. I’m half tempted to tat a border for them, but they’re quite small, and I have a feeling a border might overwhelm them. They’re just to slip in a drawer to make your clothes smell nice.

How big are they? We’ll here’s a little helper for scale:

lavender_ scaled

And finally, the whole lot. They smell amazing – I bought the lavender, as it’s too early to pick in the uk. I have some left too, so I’ll get tatting and make some more.

All bags.

The good thing about these, is that at least they have a use… Even if you give them to people and they don’t really like the look of them, they can still chuck ’em in a drawer and they’ll do what they’re meant to (make things smell nice). Otherwise I have a terrible habit of just chucking the tatting in the drawer as it is, and that’s not a lot of use to anyone…

Now I just have to ween myself off the posy pattern. As I do most of my tatting in transit, it has to be *the* ideal pattern. I know I’ve said that before, but actually, the more I do it, the more I love it.

Tiny crochet flowers

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Hello – it’s been a wee while, but I am still here. I’ve managed to lose the charger for my camera, so have to wait until I can twist someone’s arm to take shots for me at the moment, and luckily, today was the day.

After making the charm I mentioned in my previous post, I got a bit addicted. I switched the pattern to one I found for crocheted coasters, and with a bit of adjustment, found they work really nicely as a little bracelet:

bracelet

I tried it with more than two flowers – but it gets a bit too much. One or two flowers works best I think.

bracelet_2

Only problem with that is that they are really addictive. If you’ve made one, before you know it you’ve made at least four. I was using DMC size 12 and size 80 thread – the blue variegated one is hand dyed thread, from Yarnplayers store. (I actually bought it for tatting but am in the middle of a project using an ecru thread, and was itching to try it!).

Aside from that, I’ve been wrestling with these baby moccasins. The pattern is great – but I’m having huge problems finding suitable wool, for some reason. I made one shoe with wool I thought would be ok, in the biggest size, on a bigger hook, and it was still a bit… flat. So ditched that, bought some new wool, which is lovely – but I still think it could do with being thicker. (The laces are also too long – ignore that for now).

shoe

I’m really in two minds about this. It’s ‘ok’ – but I hate the thought of giving people something ‘ok’ that they’re then forced to be enthusiastic over. Do you know what i mean? I’d rather not give people something that’s secretly a bit rubbish. We’ll see.

Aside from that, I’m making a bigger piece of tatting on my daily commute (a Mary Konior repeat pattern) and a crochet hook case, which I’m just about to block, before I attempt to sew the inside… It’s my first sewing machine project, and a chance to try out my reconditioned hand-cranked Singer, so wish me luck… (I’m scared of sewing machines). Oh! Also, I managed to get to April’s Ravelry meet, which was really nice. I really hope I can make a few more this year.

Trying out puncetto

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I haven’t posted in a while, not because I haven’t been doing anything, more because I haven’t been able to take pictures of the things I’ve been doing. My camera only functions when the light is 100% perfect, which in a UK winter is… never, actually.

I’ve been fiddling with stuff, to be honest. Having a go. So I don’t have anything spectacular to report, but I’ll report it anyway in bits and pieces.

First up, puncetto. Puncetto is a form of needle lace. I’ve mentioned needle lace before – but until recently, still not got round to having a go. There are of course loads of different types, but I someone mentioned using a puncetto technique to finish a tatted piece over on Flickr, and it piqued my interest. Also, the lovely lady who blogs at No Moose Today has been making leaps and bounds in progress herself, and so I thought I’d try it.

I do love this video:

You have to love a video that shows you the tiniest fraction and then PING! she’s done yards and yards of the stuff. It’s also gobsmackingly frustrating as you think you’ll be able to pick up how she does it, but it always cuts away just as you think you’re getting somewhere. To be fair though, it’s not meant to be an instructional video.

Anyway. I managed to pick up the general idea – the foundation chain is almost like embroidering chain stitch in mid air. I also found these tutorials, which are very helpful – although I make the foundation chain like the lady in the video, not as the tutorials suggest – personally, I found it much easier.

I don’t have a pattern, and so far I’ve only mucked about. I got this far:

puncetto

Tatters will spot that this is Lizbeth thread, size 20. I’m not sure it’s right for this, but it’s pretty chunky so made it very manageable. I wasn’t working to a pattern here, literally just thinking ‘Ill try this next’ – and I think I’ve got the stitching correct.

That is as far as I’ve got though – because it dawned on me that even if I got to be great at this – what would I *do* with it? I already tat for love, not the finished result, so thought maybe I should nip this in the bud… for now at least.

I posted about all this really so anyone looking for puncetto tutorials could follow the link and find them.

Hearts and clunys

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I’ve got back into the swing of commuter-tatting this week, but the light here’s not been great, so no photos of that as yet.

You may or may not’ve noticed that there’s a link at the top of the page now to tatting patterns and tutorials. I usually use the bookmarking site delicious to save my bookmarks, but there’s been chatter recently about it closing down, so I thought I’d post them here too. They’re in no way comprehensive, just things that I’ve found as I’ve needed them really. Hopefully I’ll add to them over the coming months, maybe they’ll be handy for someone else too.

While I gathered the links together, I decided it was time to tackle clunys again… I did have a bit of a go last year, in size 20 Lizbeth thread. Just as I thought I’d got the hang of it, I switched back to my normal size 80 only to find they were a bit of a disaster. (Thread kept twisting in on itself making it impossible to close them).

This time I tried size 16 finca, which I’ve had knocking about for some time..
cluny heart gre

Now, it’s in no way perfect, but I’m still rather pleased with it. The joins are wrong in the middle (temporary mind-wandering), and the leaves are in no way tidy, but hey! I’m gettin’ there. (I think?)

I still quite like the softness of the finca thread incidentally. I know it can get a bit fluffy, but it’s actually lovely to tat with.

The pattern is here, if you’d like a go. You might need a translator, but its relatively straightforward. Only thing i couldn’t seem to spot is how many cluny passes. For the record, 20 is too few, 30 seemed about right.

Split rings and cabone rings (a late revelation)

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In my last post I mentioned I was about to order Jon’s Tatted Snowflake patterns. Well, I did – and to my delight the PDF arrived super-speedily. (Thank you Jon)

As I’ll have to make these patterns up with out the aid of the internet (*panic*) I thought I’d have a bit of a browse on Jon’s site to read her excellent tutorials. Actually, I can already make mock rings and split rings – I just haven’t used them much as yet, but I thought I’d have a go at split chains.

All day I’ve been thinking about this. I sat down to follow the photos, and about 5 mins in, I thought ‘Hang on! This is like tatting around a ring!’

Shocked at the sheer brilliance of my revelation I popped over to Intatters… to find that everyone there knew that already 🙂

Still. It must mean I’m getting better slowly. At least I spotted it!

No pics – I’m using size 80 practise thread for some insane reason, which is a bit tricky to photograph in this light with my camera. You’ll just have to take my word for it!

Broomstick lace

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*****
EDIT

Hello, did you come here via a google search for Broomstick lace? If so, thanks for coming, it’s lovely to meet you. I have a feeling you might be looking for a tutorial video, in which case, I used this one, and found it very good. I must confess, I’ve only watched part one, as it was all I needed to get going. Few other things that are useful to know:

• Its very easy and looks complicated
• I find less ‘fluffy’ yarns are best, to make the most of the pattern. (Better stitch definition)
• After every row of broomstick lace I do a row of double crochet – you don’t have to, but I quite like the stripes it creates. Also it gives it a bit more structure, which is good for an ‘every day’ scarf.
• I also crochet around the edges of the whole thing at the end, because it stops me worrying about the edges snagging on something when its worn. I usually add a picot every 4 or 5 stitches too, just to liven it up a bit.
• I used a very fat knitting needle as my ‘broomstick’, but I’ve seen other people use a ruler.

And that’s it really. The rest of this page has my original post, but I thought the above might help you get the information you wanted a bit quicker. Enjoy your crochet!

******

So, I’ve been seeing odd pieces of broomstick lace cropping up for a while now. It’s not really lace as such, but crochet, made over a ‘broomstick’:

broomstick lace

I spotted a lovely scarf over on Ravelry (you’ll need to be logged in) recently, and thought I’d have a go. Can’t be impossible, right? Actually it’s not. It’s a bit fiddly, but easy to pick up – although I might take that back when I’ve finished it and it all turns out to be a disaster!

broomstick needle

Look! My first knitting needles! I had to get them yesterday, as I didn’t have anything else appropriate. From what I’ve seen, these scarves look better in a yarn with a slight sheen – you know, less wooly. Being pretty limited by the local shop, and the urge to start NOW I went with the best option I could find which is Sidar ‘Baby Bamboo’. It splits a bit, but it’s really soft actually. The softness of it makes it quite nice to work with.

loopy

At the end of each row, you slide all the loops off the broomstick. The you work double stitches over groups of 4, and it magically just all works out. It’s pretty clever, really. If you’d like to try, but don’t have a book to hand, there’s a bunch of tutorials on YouTube. I just went with the first one I could find, which is a… well, it’s a three parter, but I haven’t got past the beginning of the second one, as I don’t need to increase or decrease for this. If you *do*, I’d suggest watching the rest!

If I never mention this again, it’s because I’ve messed it up, or got bored! Hopefully neither though. We’ll see.

Edit: part 2  |  scarf 2

Tatted Cluny links

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This is a little bit for me, and a little bit for you. Some links on cluny’s that might be handy (in no particular order)
• a good photo tutorial
• a nice post on using a stitch marker to help close the cluny
• the video that helped me finally ‘get it’
• a cluny pattern that I *will* one day start with (when I stop practising)

I just posted this as I spotted the link to use a stitch marker this morning, and didn’t want to forget where I’d seen it. As i often see people searching for cluny info, thought it could be handy.

Let me know if you’ve found any other links that could be good, and I’ll add them to the list.

Finished elephant!

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Ever get that feeling that you’re always rushing about but never seem to get anywhere? That’s me I think, at the moment. Just posting this now, as this wee lady will be with her new owner before the day is out.

Elephant profile

The photo’s aren’t great (I really hate taking photos), but I should really be wrapping her up and heading off, so they’re better than nothing! I was very pleased with the way she turned out actually, even if I do say so myself. I used a bigger hook (3mm) and the stitches are much more even than ones I’ve made before. Despite the rush she came together really well – even sewing on her head wasn’t *too* painful for either of us.

finished elephant

I really hope she’s well received… I read this great post the other day which mentions the fact that after making a gift for someone, you get so excited at the thought of giving it to them, you’re kind of unprepared for the massively underwhelmed response. I know that feeling. It’s very sad. So all you can do is make the very best thing you can, put all the love into it you can, and know that you’ve done your best job. There’s no accounting for other people sometimes…

Which actually sounds like I’m expecting total disaster – I’m not at all, but y’know. I am pleased with how nicely she’s come out though. Makes me want to make another one!

Have a great weekend.

UPDATE: she got the best response *ever*. In fact, I’m still smiling now 🙂

Clunys! (Tatted, not George’s)

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It’s a busy (and rather long) week. I flew to the USA from the UK last weekend for a conference, and it was a long flight. Eight hours or so to Chicago, with no in-flight entertainment. Luckily, I’d already thought to take my own:


This is actually my second go at this pattern, by Mary Konior. It’s oddly hard to get into the rhythm of it, but it’s really pretty. I only made one visible mistake this time around, but I’m letting myself off the hook, as it’s not that noticeable, really – and the reason I made the mistake was because a very sweet lady started talking to me.

She spotted me tatting in the departure lounge as we were waiting for a connecting flight. I could see her looking out of the corner of my eye, and I knew she wanted to talk. Eventually she came over and said ‘Is that tatting?! My husband’s grandmother used to do it and I haven’t seen anyone do it since.’ She was so thrilled, it was really cute.

She also congratulated me for keeping a dying art alive. I pointed out that it was far from dying, she just needs to spend some time on google! As she was a knitter, I suggested tatting might be good to try for in-flight craft, as I know knitters are number 1 terrorists these days, with their oh-so-pointy, devilish needles. Tatting shuttles are less fiendish, at least according to airport security.

Poor little Ele, I’ve been using her to hang my smaller bits of tatting on. She had this on her nose for a while, but recently she’s been wearing three different coloured ones on her head. I’m trying not to lose them (my desk is a real mess). She’s doing a very good job of looking after everything.  These were also experiments in tatting with two colours – and joining the thread into a different coloured ring. I’ve kind of got it – it sort of depends on the day, how I’m feeling and whether or not the tatting gods are smiling on me 🙂

cluny

I’m back in the UK now, and jet-laggy. I’ve been thinking about tacking clunys since I spotted them again recently on Fox’s site. She’s been making a few different things with clunys and linked to a video by the Mistress of them all, Elisadusud. So last night, at around 12.45am I thought it might be a good time to start learning. Believe it or not, it wasn’t bad.

Tatting videos are so good, mainly because you can watch them frame… by…. frame… until…. you get what on earth is going on. I’ve got some size 20 Lizbeth thread, which is what I’m learning on – and at the moment, I cannot imagine how you’d do it on anything thinner – but I guess I’ll get there eventually? It’s the thread that makes the above photo look so nice – I can’t take credit for the colours. Also, it’s photographed surprisingly well – not sure it looks quite that good in real life!

So I’ll keep on practising for a bit, and if I ever manage to make a cluny in size 80 – which is my favourite thread – I’ll let you know!