New and improved

If you've been reading my blog, you know that I was not happy with the way my first Cubs Spinning Wheel turned out.

I'm much happier with this one! As I mentioned previously, it did mean that I had to use the shoelace trick after almost every ring and chain. It was worth the extra time and effort.

It might be difficult to see the differences between the two from a picture, but if you were looking at the two side by side, you would be able to easily tell which is the better Spinning Wheel.

I've been given a couple of other ideas that I'd like to try out. Eliz suggested using split rings for the center and then tatting the spokes in the normal way. If I ever manage to get those split rings going, I think it will work well. Muskaan suggested mock rings, something I never would have thought of doing. It's been a while since I've practiced mock rings, so I guess that's another technique I need to work on.

A different approach

I have been practicing split rings so that I can make a Cubs Spinning Wheel with a split ring center as suggested by Eliz. However, they're just not working for me. I'm determined. I think I just need to get together with my friend Carol and practice her technique, which has worked well for me in the past. Then, I need to practice split rings on a regular basis so that I don't lose what I learn!

Since the split rings aren't working for me, I decided to try using two shuttles wound with red and blue, keeping the red thread inside except for where I need red rings. This approach means that I need to use the shoelace trick after almost every ring and chain. Besides slowing me down a bit, the only problem I can see is little blips of red where I've used the shoelace trick, and I I'm willing to live with that for now!

My Ice Drop tree is almost half full!

I'm hoping to have it filled by Thanksgiving so that I can start sharing these little beauties with friends and family. I think this will be much more fun than Black Friday deals!

Not my best effort

My goodness! I can't believe that I forgot to post the last two days. Where does the time go?

I did spend a lot of time the past two days working on household chores, sifting through craft stuff, packing up beads, etc.

I did manage to tat two more Ice Drops, and I finally finished my Cubs Spinning Wheel.

It doesn't look too bad in the photo, but it is truly not my best work. The center is floppy, probably because each of the red rings was tatted individually. The center rings are an uneven size, and if you were to look at the back side, you would see the ends are not well hidden... truly a poor example of tatting.

However, I did learn a lot from this piece, and I will use what I learned to tat a better Cubs Spinning Wheel!

CUBS WIN!

For those of you who don't follow baseball, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time since 1908!

The Cleveland Indians won game 1 easily. Game 2 was won by the Cubs, followed by losses to the Indians in games 3 and 4. I didn't get to see games 3 or 4 because of the middle school production of Into the Woods. I did record them to watch later, but since I didn't want to see them lose, I deleted those two games from our DVR. Game 5 gave Cubs' fans hope that they could go all the way. Games 6 and 7 were the most exciting for me. Since it's a best of 7 series, it seemed that the Indians had a clear advantage, but the Cubbies came through!

I'm still trying to tweak my idea for a Cubs Spinning Wheel. I liked Eliz's idea of creating the center with split rings, and I did try. I just couldn't get the split ring to work with the picot on the second side. I decided to try switching colors just in the center. It doesn't look horrible, but the center does feel a bit loose, and I can't seem to get the rings a consistent size. I put it down for a bit last night (it's kind of hard to tat and cheer on your team at the same time), and I had an amazing thought... I don't need to have a picot on the inside!

I'm going to finish this one, because I have a friend who told me how much she admired the blue Spinning Wheel I posted with a red C sitting on top of it. She only sees my Facebook posts, so I know that this will be a surprise for her.

When I finish this one, I am going to try the split rings again. Just like the Cubs, I'm not ready to give up!

I forgot to post a picture of my October tatting. I'd say October was a fairly productive month!

My fascination with the Ice Drops continues.

I don't know if you can tell, but these really are two different shades of blue. The top one looks like Cubby blue when you see them all together in a dish. The bottom one is a pale blue, very watery looking.

I've made pretty good progress on my Poppy Red Spinning Wheel. I was subbing in the 5th grade today, and some of my favorite tatters asked me if I had any tatting with me. One of the girls even pulled out her tatting to show me her progress. It's nice to know that some of the kids are still interested in tatting!