Tag: flowers

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.

How does your tatting grow?

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As I mentioned in my last post, the garden has been going nuts recently. We’ve had a ton of hot weather in the UK – and the occasional heavy rain shower – so everything has been growing like crazy. A few months ago I potted up some cheap bedding plants, kept my fingers crossed I’d find someone to water them when I was working away, and tried to ignore the fact that the rest of the garden looks terrible. Well, the rest of the garden still does look terrible, but the bedding plants looks amazing. They make me smile every day. I nipped out there just a minute ago to take a picture, and look what I found…

Tatted flower

If I’d known tatting was that easy to grow, I’d’ve done it earlier!

Tatted flowers 2

It is, of course, the centre of a Primrose Path doily, by Mary Konior. It’s the only bit of tatting I managed to do on my days off, which is a bit of a shame, but couldn’t be helped. It’s really pretty though, even if I do say so myself. I used the Shoe Lace Trick (SLT) on this a lot, because I wanted the centre rings to be the darker colour, and it worked really well. One of those things I’d read about before but wasn’t 100% sure I could see a use for.

I’ve earmarked this for someone as it is, because I think they might be able to make something quite nice out of it, and the full doily really is best left as a doily rather than a starting point for something else. (If that makes any sense?) I still intend to make the full thing though.

venus thread

I mentioned before I’d bought the Venus Thread in size 70 to try it out… and umm, I really don’t like it! I love the soft greys, but the thread produces rings that are really difficult to close – does anyone else find this? I abandoned the intended 2 colours, shown above, and thought I’d make my life (and my commute, which is where I tatt most) easier, by just using one ball and one shuttle. We’ll see if I make it through!

I also bought Jon’s Tatting with Rings book a little while ago. I purchased the PDF version (which arrived very promptly via email) and printed it all out asap. It looks wonderful – now I just need the time to start! Since having a few days off everything has become 10 times busier, which means… I’d better get back to it actually.

No rest for the wicked. (And clearly, I’ve been very wicked).