Twin Cities Tatters Retreat and THREAD!

Well, the Twin Cities Tatters very first (annual??) retreat is booked for the end of July with 8 tatters attending!  Michelle and I are hoping this will become an annual retreat - it will be so fun to spend a couple of days with other tatters and share our common addiction interest.  I am SOOOO looking forward to this!

Mom has some wonderful friends that always think of me when they come across certain fabric and / or thread.  They know I will use it, or make sure it gets into the hands of those that will.  I received a shoebox of thread with a pouch of crochet hooks at Christmastime from one of those friends, and decided to send her some tatting as a thank you.

The box has plenty of white thread - which is wonderful for snowflakes, or to mix with some Lizbeth variegated threads.  I added some variegated thread to make this coaster from the 'New Tatting' book by Tomoko Morimoto.  My intention was to make 2 coasters for the gifter, but it turned out a little small for a coaster in my opinion, so I'll send it as one pretty motif :)  I've also never tried a pattern with bare threads before - they are daunting to me because I'm afraid I will not get them even.  I need practice for sure, because they didn't come out the way I think they should be.  How the heck does one get them right so they are nice and taut? Ergh.

I also used some of the size 80 thread to make this little cross.  Uff da - that is some tiny thread for my eyes to work with!  But this pattern is perfect for the tiny thread - I've made it before, and as a bookmark it practically covers an 5 x 8.5 page with size 20 thread!  The pattern actually calls for size 40 thread - it's Mary Konior's Large Cross from her 'Tatting with Visual Patterns' book.  [Of course I've never tried it with the correct size thread - ha ha!]

And, in other news, I have ANOTHER new grandpuppy!  OMG, puppies are adorable.  But naughty, too!  You certainly forget about those days of chewing-and-biting-and-potty-training.  Those needle-sharp little teeth HURT.  Nelli is an ivory lab, like her big brother Rambo - who isn't particularly thrilled with his pouncing, annoying little sister!

She's pretty snuggly when she's sleepy, though!

Avoiding the Doily

Yes, I am avoiding work on the Spring Doily.  I have only the final round to go, but it's just like me to feel a 'need' to do something else.  Just like the birthday quilt that needs only the binding to finish, and the wedding dress straps that need a little top stitching. Ha!  

Mom gave me some handwork thread to try - Sulky Blendables.  It's actually more for embroidery and appliqué, but I know others have tried it for tatting too, and it comes in nice variegated colors.  I thought I should try it out, and have been thinking I need a stash of cross bookmarks anyway.  And Mom needs a few more bookmarks to have on hand too.  Perfect diversion from actually completing any of the larger projects in waiting . . .

First I tried this little cross - the Pearl Cross Bookmark by Dianna Stevens. It ended up a little smaller in size than I wanted, and I didn't plan ahead well and ended up with a too-short tail for my liking. Oops.  I guess it will still keep one's place in a book, though.  

The Blendables thread seems to compare to about size 40.  Much nicer size than the sewing thread I tried - my eyes were practically crossed trying that.  Honestly, I thought it would be quite a feat to tat with tiny thread.  Surely it must be an accomplishment to be proud of, right?  I don't think I like it enough to struggle with it again.  I am not sure why one would use such tiny thread, I can't see the beautiful stitches anyway!

Back to trying out more of the Blendables colors.  I love Jane's bookmark pattern, so I thought I'd try the cross variation by Grace Tan. 

I love the look of this cross, and it works into a very nice size bookmark with the Blendables.  I really didn't mind tatting with this thread as long as I didn't need to un-tat my stitches much.  I did some un-tatting that led to a break that led to some ranting.  But only once.  A good long rant that addressed many unrelated thoughts  :)

And, I started another book too.   There are just so many things I want to do, and not enough time to do them all.  And many times I find that completing a few smaller projects gives me the satisfaction of actually completing SOMETHING, and then it's easier to get back on track with the larger projects.  Weird? Nah. Just the way my crazy brain works I guess.  Besides, I can squeeze in some reading at lunchtime easier than I can accomplish much tatting.  Wouldn't want to waste any time, you know.

Back to the worst (but most necessary) deadly time-sucker tomorrow.  The job.  Takes up a lot of time, but I gotta pay for all these hobbies somehow :)  I'll get back to finishing the Spring Doily. Soon. 

WIOSNA 2015 Doily-Rounds 1 & 2

I didn't listen to me after all.  (I knew I wouldn't.)  I went and started Renulek's 2015 Spring Doily tat along - another beautiful doily!  I've seen her doily tat alongs in the past, and never caught one at the first couple of rounds, so I wasn't confident I could catch up. This one I happened to see just as it was announced, and thoroughly enjoyed digging in all my thread to choose some springy colors.  My best spring color choices were in Lizbeth Size 20 - which is probably too big - but it's what I'm using.  I may have a skirt when I'm done!

People usually ask how long something took me to make, and I never know just how much time I've put into a tatted item or a quilt. So this time I decided I'm going to keep track.  This may not be a great idea, as I am a   s  l  o  w   tatter!  But it will be interesting to see the number of hours it takes me to complete a doily.  And it will also be very clear why I struggle with finishing anything of size.

Round 1 took me 2 hours and 5 minutes. Each of 2 times.  (This is not a good sign.)  I made it a second time because I saw an error near the end of the round on the first one.  I didn't want to start out with a goof right off the bat and right in the center!  Don't tell me if you see any errors in the second one - I am feeling pretty confident at this point.

Round 2 took me a whopping 3 hours and 5 minutes.  Just once though - thankfully.  A little advice from Fox helped me get started, after having several conversations with myself as to the best way to start so the end of the round would come out correctly.  Maybe working on this doily will help me to 'see' some things on a diagram that always seem frustrating without written direction.

5 hours and 10 minutes to get this little bit done. And, I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't make the picots on the outer edge a little larger.  

I sure hope I can keep up as these rounds get bigger!

Ruby is unimpressed.

Tatting with sewing thread?

Seriously.  I never thought I'd be able to tat with sewing thread, but here's my first try.  Wow - is that tiny!  Now to attach the tassel to the top - where it should be.  In all my excitement I didn't realize my mistake until I was done.  Oops.

Michelle and I met yesterday for some tatting - finally!  We've both been so crazy busy that we couldn't come up with a free day to tat until then.  Michelle shared some beautiful Oliver Twist machine embroidery thread with me, and I couldn't wait to try it.  I was pretty sure I'd have too many tiny knots to actually complete anything, but it actually went pretty well.  Fortunately, I didn't have to pick out any rings (which seems like it would be impossible!) but sewing in the ends was tricky - even with bifocals  :)

Tat Along Progress

I've been working on the Blatt 2 leaves of the Tischband Tat Along. (See earlier posts for links to the Tat Along.)  For whatever reason, I was having a difficult time figuring out the pattern, and was feeling really dumb.  The "turn" had me bamboozled, and I was trying to "flip".  

 Four false starts in size 40 thread

 I feel so frustrated when I can't quite figure out a pattern that appears to be so simple. This is the point where I've given up on a pattern many times - but I really want to complete at least a repeat or two of this one.  AND, I know there are some other Tat Along participants out there that I will be able to compare with and learn from.

I had one of those "Aha!" moments, and decided to try using a larger thread to actually see the stitches.  It all finally made sense, and I got one leaf done (correctly, I think) in size 3 (yes, 3!)  Using a large thread to practice a pattern is helpful to me, but I sort of hate wasting taking the time to do it.

My vision isn't really that bad, but I have a very difficult time seeing my work when I use size 40 thread. (How in the heck will I be able to ever try the beautiful tiny threads?!)

I'm ready to go back and try my size 40 brown thread again.  Why brown?  Because it's the only size 40 thread I have that comes close to blending with my Kopper Patina HDT.  And I want to just use what I have without making an extra purchase.  I guess I should think about that when buying pretty HDTs :)

 

Which brings me to these questions: 

Is there a method to how you purchase thread? 

Do you buy coordinating HDTs, variegated and solid? 

Or do you buy thread after you choose your project?





Seeing Size 70 . . .

. . . is a real feat for me. I haven't tatted with such small thread before, but I really wanted to use this beautiful turquoise thread on this hanky because it matches so well.  I was thinking I really wanted to find a pretty edging that wasn't just a simple ring and chain.  Then I re-thought about that, and after considering my lack of experience with such small thread, I decided to go with a fairly simple edging from one of my favorite books - Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns.  This is the Clover edging on page 36. 

Size 70 thread is so dainty looking when tatted - but I don't know how I would ever pick out a mistake.  I can barely see the stitches, but I think I can tell that the more I tat with this size, the more comfortable it will be.  And it's even MORE portable than usual.

This edging is going to take me awhile . . .