Miranda's Challenge, round 2

I just finished round two of Miranda's Challenge, and I am thoroughly enjoying myself! If I tat this doily again, I think I'll play around with the stitch count. I did have to steam this round to get it to lie flat, but it wasn't too bad.

I love this thread! It's size 20 Lizbeth, color #163, Blue Ice. It is so smooth! I really do think the different color dyes make a difference in the feel of the thread.

Dave did take me to JoAnn's to look for the fabric yesterday. Unfortunately, they did not stock it. However, this morning when I checked my email, I had a coupon for $2.95 shipping. You guessed it... I ordered the fabric online, along with a few others that were calling my name! I might have to make some more Origami pouches. ; )

Note: I just read on Miranda's blog that this doily is actually the first three rounds of Mom's Doily by Nancy Tracy. Thank you, Nancy, for sharing your wonderful designs! I hope I've represented your pattern in a way that pleases you.

Miranda's Challenge, round 1

Miranda found some fabric at JoAnn's that looks like tatted doilies! She took some close-ups and challenged readers to tat the design. So...

I put the picture on my desktop and started tatting!

I really think the center of the doily is supposed to have 8 rings, but I like the number 5 and I wanted the doily to lie flat without a lot of pulling and pinning and steaming, so I tatted 10 rings. :-)

I'm using size 20 Lizbeth, color #163, Blue Ice. Dave and I are going to Kankakee later this afternoon. He wants to go to Menards for wood. Maybe I can talk him into taking me to JoAnn's for fabric!

Note: I just read on Miranda's blog that this doily is actually the first three rounds of Mom's Doily by Nancy Tracy. Thank you, Nancy, for sharing your wonderful designs! I hope I've represented your pattern in a way that pleases you.

Olympic tatting

Last night I sat and tatted as I watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympic games. I think I've only ever watched the opening ceremonies once before, and the only reason I watched last night was the hope of catching a glimpse of Jane's daughter... very silly, really... until I saw Jane's post this morning, I had no idea what her daughter looked like or her name!

I went to bed with three rings left to tat and this morning my troubles began...

I finished the three rings, looked at the tatting, and realized I'd missed a join. I carefully untatted five rings and one length of chain, and then I retatted.

I looked at my finished piece, and realized I'd joined in the wrong place. I carefully untatted five rings and one length of chain, and then I retatted.


I looked at my finished piece, and realized that once again I'd joined in the wrong place. I examined my tatting carefully to make sure I knew what needed to be done and realized that I had tatted it correctly before untatting the first time! This time I did not carefully untat... I pulled out the scissors and snipped... with a vengeance!


I retatted one last time, and then I blocked my new doily. Despite the fact that I could have been finished by 8 a.m. instead of 3:30 p.m., I'm very happy with the finished product! 


"Flowerpiece" from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior is in size 40 Lizbeth, color #155, Ocean Sunset.. It's 7 1/2" in diameter.


Oh, and the Olympic tatting title for this post... I had the Olympics on all day as I worked on this doily. I watched cycling, swimming, women's volleyball, and beach volleyball. That's more Olympics than I've watched in my entire life!

Where has the week gone?

I knew that I hadn't blogged in a while, but I was completely surprised to see that it's been a week! I guess I've been busy...

I re-started Mary Konior's Flowerpiece doily from Tatting with Visual Patterns. The last time I picked this up to work on it, I discovered that I had left out one section of chain on the very first motif. So, I did the only logical thing... I started over!

This is the first section of chain trails. I've finished the second section of chain trails, but forgot to take a picture of it. I'm working on the last round now, and I hope to finish it this weekend.

I dropped my favorite tatting tool one time too many this week. When I tried to fix it, I only made it worse. I've had this crochet hook from Grizzly Mountain Arts for about two and a half years, so I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of it. Still, I'm sad to have damaged it so badly.

I made Alison and Eva Origami pouches with matching shuttles. They chose the fabric the last time they were down visiting. I figured that since the bags are out of the same fabric, they needed a little bling to keep them from getting mixed up!

This pretty green fabric was calling out to me, so I made more Origami pouches. I do get carried away when I find something I enjoy making!

Oval Doily ~ Complete!

I finished! Although it looks pretty, if I make this doily again I will change the last round so that it lies flat as I tat it. Following the directions as written in Tatting Doilies & Edgings edited by Rita Weiss was easy, but that tatting did not not lie flat. I didn't have enough thread left to cut out sections and rework them, otherwise I would have made changes as I went, just as I did in previous rounds.

On to my next challenge!

Butterfly bookmarks

Daughter Alison has found a use for her butterflies... bookmarks for her small group! What a great way to share the joy of tatting!

In the meantime, I'm still working on the last round of the oval doily. I've been making a mess of it. I had to re-tat one section three times... different mistake each time! I guess I've lost my ability to count to ten. ;-) 

While I've been tatting...

round 7 of my Oval Doily, daughter Alison has been practicing her tatting skills...

joins,

flowers,

and butterflies. 

I'm so proud of her! I have a feeling she might be able to tat split rings soon... Aidan requested a dragonfly! : )

Oval Doily Round 7

I had so many things I should have done today, but instead I spent the whole day working on round 7... only one round to go!

Oval Doily Round 6

Here it is with round 6 completed... only two more rounds to go!

Oval Doily Round 5

I finished round 5. Don't look too closely... you might be able to spot the two chains where my stitch count is different. Hopefully it won't be real obvious once I tat the next round!

Yesterday was a great day! I didn't get much tatting done because of the humidity, but I did receive my beautiful new Lace-Lovin' shuttle by La Cossette in the mail! Thank you very much, secret friend! I wish I could convey how much your kind gesture means to me. I am truly honored by your gift!


I also had a fantastic day at the dentist! Look Mom, no cavities! Even better than that, I learned that my hygienist learned to tat from her grandmother years ago! It's a little difficult to carry on a conversation with dental instruments in the mouth, but we did manage to carry on a wonderful conversation. Susan has some of her grandmother's shuttles as well as some of her handkerchiefs with tatted edgings and other pieces. If I remember correctly, Susan's grandmother was from Lithuania and spoke German. She did not read patterns, so her tatting was all of her own design. Isn't that fantastic? 


I gave Susan my blog information, and I invited her to our next Tollway Tatters meeting on August 15. I sure hope she can come, and I hope she takes up tatting again!

Thank you!

You made my day!

Tollway Tatters meet again!

We all had a wonderful time!

There was sharing,

and tatting,

and chatting.

Eva showed us her shuttle collection. I wonder how she got started with that? ;-)

Denise managed to tat five earrings following one of Marilee's patterns.

Tatting friends are the best... Denise, Sue Anna, Barb, Carol, Marilee, Diane, Eva.

A special thank you goes out to my favorite photographer, Alison. All in all, we had a fantastic day! 

Capt. Dennis Eilers

While watching the news tonight, I heard the name Capt. Dennis Eilers, a name I have been familiar with since I was in college in the early 1970s.

When I was in college, I chose to purchase a bracelet engraved with the name of a missing-in-action member of the military. The idea was to raise awareness of the sacrifices being made by both the troops and their families, and to support efforts to find out the fates of those reported missing. Support of the military was not popular on college campuses back then; many college students were busy protesting the Viet Nam War. I never quite understood the U.S.  involvement in Viet Nam, but I also never understood vilifying military personnel. I caught quite a bit of flack from other college students for wearing this bracelet.

I've kept the bracelet for about 40 years now, every once in a while trying to find something out about Capt. Dennis Eilers. Now I know what happened. Rest in peace Capt. Eilers.

Oval Doily Round 4

Another member of InTatters, Bruce, noticed that I was missing some rings on each end of round 3... oops! That's why I couldn't get it to lie flat! However, my solution of making longer chains worked, and now that I've finished round 4, I think I like my round 3 better! ; )

Oval Doily Round 3

This was a very simple round to tat. I did have to add extra picots to the three chains at each end to make it lie flat. It's not perfect, but I'm sure it will look better with each round. At least that's what I keep telling myself! ; )

Oval Doily Round 2

I'm much happier with round 2 of the Oval Doily than I was with the version I started back in March. The small rings are 3+3, joining to the second picot of the ring on the previous round. The chains are 3-2-2-3. There was still a slight ripple, but not nearly as bad as the last one!

On to round 3!

Bling party!

Alison and the kids came down to visit for the day. While Aidan went off to help Grandpa water plants, the girls and I blinged!

After the first layer of ModPodge and paper dried, the girls trimmed their paper.

After the second layer of ModPodge dried, I showed them how to make their shuttles sparkle with glitter nail polish... bling!

Here are the results of an afternoon of blinging...

Alison's shuttles

Eva's shuttles

Grandma's shuttles. 

We sure had a lot of fun!

After dinner, the girls showed me their tatting progress.

Eva's chain

Alison's chain

Hmmm... it appears that there are two more shuttles in need of blinging!

Oval Doily revisited

Back in March, I started this Oval Doily from A New Twist on Tatting by Catherine Austin. I lost interest in the pattern for two reasons: the directions are not clearly written, at least for me, and the stitch count caused extreme rippling.

Well, the discussion of this doily has come up again over at InTatters, so I decided to give it another try. Rachael noted that the pattern can also be found in Tatting Doilies & Edgings by Rita Weiss, with a different stitch count. Guess what? My version has an even different stitch count!

Here's what I came up with...

Oops! For those of you who want to know the stitch count for the rings...


Small ring: 3-3-3-3; Large ring: 3-2-2-2-2-3


Wind two shuttles CTM. I started with a small ring; do not reverse work; chain 5; reverse work; large ring; reverse work; chain 5; do not reverse work; small ring. Repeat the pattern until you have 13 small rings and 13 large rings. Ch 5, join to side picot of small ring. Tat 3 large rings to form clover end. Ch 5, join to same side picot as last ch 5. On the second side, large ring; reverse work; ch 5, join to free picot of small ring, ch 5; reverse work; large ring. Continue in this manner to finish the second side.


Have you tried this doily? What's your experience? Inquiring minds want to know!

Playing with HWT

When I posted about my latest Spinning Wheel the other day, Jane suggested I try one in HWT... great idea! However, I didn't want to commit to that large a piece without doing a trial first. So... Stumpy to the rescue! I used three strands of Sulky Blendables, so smooth and easy to tat.

It's really very pretty in person, but it just doesn't show up well under the Ott Lite...

or in daylight. Oh, well... the test run was a success, and I think I will try a Spinning Wheel in HWT. Thanks for the idea, Jane!

Hmmm... can you tell it's a little bit humid outside? Just look at the way that Stumpy is curling. Looks like a trip to the blocking board is in order!