Doodling

I can't help myself. I love playing with my Doodle Ice Drop pattern. Today I tatted with a donut.

Then, I moved on to a green button. I think it's a pretty good color match!

Finally, I finished with a cream colored button. That's the end of that ball of green. I truly have way too much thread. I think using it to tat ornaments is a great way of using up partial balls. I don't have to worry about dye lots, and I have something pretty to show for my efforts. Besides, I need to work through my stash of buttons, glass gems, and donuts!

Look what arrived in the mail today! I've been eagerly awaiting this book. No, I don't speak a word of Italian, but I am thrilled to have Edda Guastalla's new book to browse through. I'm a big fan of visual patterns, so I'm pretty sure I'll be able to work on these designs. Let the fun begin!

Lazy day

I really was pretty lazy today. We didn't take down any Christmas decorations. I did do one load of laundry, but the rest of the day was spent sitting in my chair tatting, knitting, and reading.

I played with Edda Guastalla's design again, combining it with my Doodle Ice Drop pattern.

The sides did not wrap around the glass gem as nicely as the last one did.

I think that may be because of the rings I added to the back side. I sure am having fun playing!

Today was blocking day for the cowls I've finished knitting. These two are out of Wool-Ease that I purchased nearly 13 years ago. I guess it was about time I got around to using this yarn!

These two are out of Caron x Pantone, a lovely bamboo. Daughter Joanne has claimed the one on the right. The other three cowls are up for adoption!

My current cowl is going to be a scrap buster. I used all I had left of the medium rose and the blue, and I'm hoping to have enough of the burgundy color to finish it off. If not, I have some light rose that I can use. Now that I'm on a roll, all I have to do is make room for a gift closet just like Aunt Helen's!

Combining ideas

Today I played with Edda Guastalla's tutorial and followed her directions for increasing the ring size for the domed shape of the Ice Drop. It was such a simple change, and it worked well!

The dome of the glass gem is covered nicely.

The back worked really well. I decided to add another round of chains with picots to make the back a little more decorative.

I really like the way the sides look using Edda's technique. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do to finish the Ice Drop, so I decided to go with something simple... I doodled!

Playing with the Ice Drop took much longer than I anticipated, and I did need to do a few chores around the house. Still, I managed to knit a few rounds on my cowl. Maybe it will wind up being a carry-along project!

Happy New Year!

I can hardly believe that we are in a new year. The time just flies by!

Opening the mail after returning from a trip is one of my favorite things to do, especially when the mail includes new shuttles! These beauties are from Veronica of TattingShuttles on Etsy. I just can't resist a pretty shuttle.

I also received some beautiful new hand-dyed threads from Karey Solomon of Graceful Arts Studio. If you've never tatted with hand-dyed thread, you are really missing out. The colors are unique, and there's something about the hand-dying process that makes the threads a joy to use.

I finished up another Frivolity Ice Drop today. I do enjoy tatting this pattern, but I'm ready to move on to something else.

So, I practiced Edda Guastalla's tecnhique for encasing cabochons. Her tutorial is available on Etsy. It's been a while since I've tried Edda's method, and I can tell I need to pay attention to the instructions instead of doing my own thing. I should have followed Edda's instructions for working with a cabochon with a higher dome. So, I will try again!

Front,

side,

and back look okay, but I'm afraid the glass gem will pop out since I didn't follow the instructions. I will do better next time!

I'm also working on another cowl. I'm using the mock rib pattern from page 222 of Sequence Knitting by Cecelia Campchiaro. After doing some simple math, I cast on 114 stitches and started knitting. This would be a great carry-along project, but I'm pretty sure I'll finish before heading back to school next week, so there will be no need to carry it anywhere!

Success!

Snowflakes, as you know, have six (or multiples of six) points. The Ice Drops I've been making with Liz Metallic can be ornaments, but they can't be snowflakes. Christmas will be here before long, and I need snowflakes!

After quite a bit of fiddling around, I finally figured out a stitch count that works for me. My rings are 5-4-5, and my chains are 5-5. With that stitch count as the basis for the first round, I can now move on and design snowflake Ice Drops!

Two Ice Drop Addicts have been very instrumental in influencing me to move beyond the basic Ice Drop pattern I started with about two years ago... Sarah Wood and Shelley Perreault.

Sarah posted instructions for a one pass Ice Drop in our Facebook group. I had tatted an Ice Drop the way she described, but I didn't like the look as much so I never posted any ideas. However, many tatters in the group did, so I started doing a little experimenting. The method still didn't grab me.

Soon Shelley posted her Peacock Coins pattern. I printed it out, but since it was a one pass Ice Drop I didn't try it out until Shelley asked me to test tat it for her. She wanted to make sure her instructions were clear. They were! Again, even though I liked the pattern, the idea of the one pass method just didn't do it for me.

Then I discovered bottle caps. Lisa Adams had some bottle cap needle minders at Tatting Corner Tat Days this summer. I bought one and decided to try making some for myself. What a mess! Magnets, glue, and bottle caps require a level of coordination that is beyond me. Of course I had purchased enough bottle caps to supply all of my tatting friends. I guess I heard the saying, "Go big or go home!" too many times. 😁

As you may know, I then became intrigued with flattening bottle caps with a tortilla press. Trust me... you don't want to get started doing this. It can become another addiction! The flattened bottle caps just had to be decorated with beautiful designs and tatting. Don't you agree? My basic Ice Drop pattern needed too much tweaking to work with bottle caps, so following Sarah's and Shelley's lead I started using the one pass method.

The nice thing about using the one pass method is that you can make adjustments as you go so that your cabochon fits snugly inside the tatting, no matter what size cabochon or thread you use. That doesn't work with my method. Now I think it's time for me to revisit Edda Guastalla's patterns and do some more experimenting!

Just one

I had planned on finishing two Ice Drops tonight, but I'm just too tired.

I give a lot of credit to all the p.e. teachers out there. Don't get me wrong. The kids were great! They were well behaved for the most part, and it was obvious that their regular teacher has established a routine that made it very easy for me to carry on. However, the noise in a gym is unbelievable wearing. I was so tired at the end of the day!

Although I enjoyed myself, I'm really hoping no one needs a sub tomorrow. I think I will sleep like someone hit me over the head with a brick. Good night!