Yesterday was my lucky day!

I received a package of goodies from Gina! I was the winner of her January drawing, and I feel like the luckiest tatter in the world! I have a lovely little tatting pouch filled with tatted butterflies and dragonflies, a card holder (expect to see me with these on Lace Day, Gina!), a beautiful bookmark (every librarian needs at least one), dark chocolate (my favorite), samples of threads and amazing tape, findings, a Classy Glass bell to decorate, a lovely little note book and note pad, bangles, beads, a locket frame, and a lovely letter from Gina. Now I just want to stay home and play!

I'll post pictures of all my tatted goodies from Gina separately so that you can get a close look. Thank you Gina!

P.S. - I've been trying to post on a regular basis, but my Internet access has been spotty. I experienced the same kinds of problems last year... I think the weather is interfering with my dish. I'm still here and tatting!

Weathered Stone Spinning Wheel

I've finished another Spinning Wheel glass mat from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior! This one is in Yarnplayer's Weathered Stone, size 20. This one took me several weeks to finish, because I kept getting distracted by other projects. I have one more doily to make for my friend Shirlee, then I think I'll try something new!

This is #11 for the 25 Motif Challenge.

At last!

I finished "Springtime" from The Tatter's Treasure Chest, edited by Mary Carolyn Waldrep yesterday morning. I had to stretch and pin this one into place because it was not anywhere near being flat! The pattern says that using size 20Clark's O.N.T. or J. & P. Coats Best Six Cord Mercerized Crochet, the doily will measure 7". Mine's a whopping 8 1/2"!

On the last round, I made a mistake on one of the chains, and there are places where I got lazy and tatted over too many threads, making for extra thick rings. Still, I'm happy with this one. One of the best things I learned from tatting this doily, is that I can read and follow old patterns!

As you can see, I used my handy dandy little Clovers to tat this one, using Lizbeth size 20 thread from Handy Hands. This ball was from the original batch that was kind of twisty. I didn't notice it too much while I was tatting, but when I started blocking the doily, I noticed that an awful lot of my rings were not completely closed. I look forward to receiving my new Lizbeth threads so that I can tat this one again!

The is #10 for the 25 Motif Challenge.

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted! Yes, I have been tatting. I'm almost finished with another doily... pics this weekend... I hope!

But, that's not all that I've been up to. Dave's busy getting ready for the spring selling season, and I've been busy updating price sheets and developing print catalogs and online photo albums for the tropical plants he sells. It's been very time consuming! I'll be glad when I don't have to do any more computer work for him... I'll have more time for tatting!

We've also been learning how to use our new cell phones. We have until Feb. 24 to decide if we want to keep them or go with something different. I'm doing fine with mine, but Dave is struggling to keep up. He's just not into technology. I give him a lot of credit for trying! I'm sure that in a couple of months he'll wonder what he found so difficult. : )

Sometimes I just feel the need...

to crochet! This weekend was one of those times. I had some HDT from Bre-Aly that was just calling me (size 10 Aiden colorway). Blue is my favorite color. Green is my grandson Aidan's favorite color. I just had to make something! This is supposed to be Coaster 42 from Ondori Crochet Lace with Complete Diagrams, but in size 10 thread it's 8" across... a little too big for a coaster!

As I see the picture on the blog, I can tell I didn't pay close attention when blocking this last night. Some of the inward-facing points are not defined enough for me. I think I'll wait until it needs to be washed to fix it, though.

It's been a while since I've picked up a crochet hook, and boy can I feel it in my shoulders this morning! I guess I was exercising muscles that haven't been used in a while. I love being able to count crochet as a form of exercise! ; )

Partial Daffodil

I received an e-mail from American School of Needlework with an errata sheet for the Daffodil Doily from Learn to Tat by Janette Baker. I followed their corrections without question, because I know that I often read patterns incorrectly. My mistakes are usually operator errors! This is a picture of the doily through Round 3. The directions for Round 4 are still wrong. So, I'm going to tat another one using the corrections I listed in my Feb. 1 post. ASN is supposed to e-mail me with a new errata sheet once they finish reworking the whole pattern. I should have just trusted my instincts and done my own thing. I'd have another finished Daffodil Doily by now!

Still, I think this looks very pretty as it is, so I'm going to leave it be and count it as #9 of the 25 Motif Challenge. It's in size 20 Manuela and measures about 4" across.

Adapting

I really enjoyed tatting the last round of the Daffodil Doily from Learn to Tat by Janette Baker, so I decided to use it for one of the 4" round blanks that I've had sitting around waiting for the perfect edging. I made two slight changes to the pattern. First, I left 1/4" of thread between rings instead of 1/8". Second, I added 2 ds to each large ring. I just felt like it worked better. This is the same Altin Basak thread that I used for the Daffodil Doily. The finished piece is slightly over 6".

This makes #8 for the 25 Motif Challenge. I think I might have to work on a Spinning Wheel next. ; )

I just figured it out!

Sometimes I can be like a dog with a bone. Sometimes I just let things go. This Daffodil Doily had me stumped, and I just couldn't let it go. My friend Denise and I have talked about the pattern several times on the phone. She just started her doily, so she hadn't gotten to the final round to discover the "problem" that I had.

I did as some of my wonderful tatting friends suggested, and sent an e-mail to American School of Needlework. I couldn't find a tatting site for Janette Baker. I'll let you know what their response is.

That just wasn't enough, though. I pored over the picture and the diagram, and I finally saw what happened! On Round 3, all of the chains have 5 picots, except one which has 4. If you tat one chain with only 4 picots, then the edging without Ring A fits perfectly!

Now I think I'll look for some yellow thread, and maybe a touch of green to make a true Daffodil Doily!

Daffodil Doily

My goodness, it's been a long time since I've posted! I've been focused on tatting Daffodil Doily from Learn to Tat by Janette Baker. Isn't it pretty? It's in Altin Basak size 50, color #3004, and measures about 6" across. Hmmm... maybe I should have used a yellow and white combination so that it really looked like a daffodil!


Here it is in its new home, enhancing some of LadyShuttleMaker's beautiful ceramic shuttles!


I really do like this book and DVD. However, there are some notes that need to be made to this particular pattern, unless I've totally misread the pattern, which is completely possible!

First, I found the notation for joining a little confusing. One of the lines of the pattern reads:
R3 - 3 + 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 + (to 4th picot of PR).

I think it would make more sense if it read:
R3 - 3 + (to 4th picot of PR) 3 - 3 - 3 -3.

Second, in round 3, the chain directions are missing one picot and 4 ds to match the picture and diagram. In other words, the picture and diagram show 5 picots, but the directions only have 4.

Third, I could not make the doily edging (round 4) come out correctly. When I followed the written directions, I did not have enough room to complete the pattern. So, I cut off round 4 and started over again, deleting ring A. I could not find ring A in either the picture or the diagram. When I was hiding my ends, I realized that I had room for one ring A. If you look at the top of the picture, you can see a slight gap which is large enough for ring A. I left it as it is, although I could have added ring A at the end.

I hope that Janette Baker does not take offense if she ever finds my blog and reads my notes. As I said, I could be totally wrong, but since I've been saying how much I like this book and DVD, I felt an obligation to share what I have learned.

Has anyone else tried this doily? If so, did you reach the same conclusions I did? Please let me know!

P.S. - This is #7 for the 25 Motif Challenge!