Tatting Fern

I got absolutely no tatting or reading done today... I took a field trip with my friend Pat and my sister-in-law Karen. We went to Becich's Perennials in Knox, Indiana. I think I have to figure out a tatted hosta pattern! I only bought three, but I could have bought hundreds! My sister-in-law bought a tatting fern, which I already have. It's too bad I'm so tired... I don't have enough brain power left to even think about designing! I'm sure I have a tatted leaf pattern... maybe I could adapt it to look like a hosta!

Happy feet!

Andrea sent me a picture of Lily's feet dressed in her purple socks. They look like happy feet to me!


I'm addicted to this lace edging. I figure if I make enough of it, I might some day have even picots! These are adult socks, and guess what? I need 42 daisies! I guess 42 must be the magic number for socks, no matter what size!

Lace-edged Socks

I mailed more socks off to Lily and Eva yesterday. I forgot to take a picture of Eva's socks. They're white socks edged in Altin Basak #3005, size 50. Maybe Alison will take a picture of Eva's socks and e-mail it to me so I can show them off!

I've been asked by a friend to post my way of making lace-edged socks. Remember, I'm a librarian, and I spend my time telling stories to children, so sometimes I get a little long-winded! Here goes...

I learned to tat from watching videos by Mildred Shire Clark and Bev Dillon. They're wonderful! I can stop and rewind to my heart's content. I just can't find them right now, because my sewing/knitting/crocheting/tatting/computer room is such a mess. In one of those two videos (since I can't put my fingers on them right now, I can't tell you which one), Mildred/Bev showed a pair of children's socks with tatted lace. I thought, "Hey, I can do that!" (I talk to myself a lot!) When my girls were little I used to crochet edgings on their socks, so why not tat? One of the videos showed daisy lace, which I sort of memorized (that means I think I remember how the pattern goes). It's a shuttle only pattern, so it's easy for me to carry around in my purse.

Each daisy is a ring of picots. The first ring is 2 ds, 6 picots separated by 1 ds, 2 ds, close. I'd guess that I leave about a 1/2 inch of thread before I start the next daisy. All of the following daisies are 2 ds, join to last picot of previous daisy ring, 5 picots separated by 1 ds, 2 ds, close. I follow this pattern until I have 42 daisies. I leave a very long tail, probably a yard... I'd rather waste a little thread than run short. Then, I simply thread my needle and attach the lace by the thread in between each daisy to each recessed rib. I stretch the ribbing as I sew on the lace so that there is still enough give.

How did I come up with 42 daisies? I counted the number of recessed ribs on the sock. I haven't tried this with adult socks yet. The ribs are wider than on children's socks, so I'll have to experiment. I'm very slow with any needlework I do, so one sock takes me about 2 to 2 1/2 hours to complete. Whenever I speed up I make lots of mistakes. Oh, who am I kidding? I make lots of mistakes anyway!

Am I violating copyright by sharing how I do this? I hope not! If I am... Mildred, Bev, please forgive me!

Lessons at last!

I had a wonderful visit with my oldest daughter, Alison, and her two children, Eva and Aidan. They only live about an hour and a half away, but it sure is hard to get together. They arrived yesterday morning and left this afternoon. While they were here, Alison gave me some much needed photography lessons. I was ready to go crazy taking pictures, but the batteries in the camera gave out. Before the batteries died, Alison took this photo of the lace edged socks I have completed for Lily... two pair to go! We bought socks for Eva yesterday, so I guess I'll be working on edgings for a while!

I'm a little exasperated with myself. I've completed at least a half dozen motifs that I wanted to post, but I was waiting for my photography lessons. I put them someplace safe... too safe! I can't find them. I'm sure they'll show up when I least expect it. I guess if I want to take pictures, I'd better go buy batteries!

Progress

I picked up my tatting again last night, and only had two minor problems... frogs and flies! I spent so much time taking out mistakes that if I had followed the directions the first time, I'm sure I would have finished my "Spinning Wheel Glass Mat" from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. I'm back on track now and can't wait to see the finished piece!

There's also a pesky fly in the house. I can only find him when I sit down to tat. As soon as I pick up the fly swatter, he disappears. As soon as I sit down, he's back. I know it's not my imagination... Dave saw him too. He offered to go after the fly, but I was not willing to be swatted in the process!

Alison and the kids are visiting today and spending the night. Maybe after the kids are asleep I can tat!

One more try...

There was something I just didn't like about the way the curtains hung... the little dips at the top. So I added more cafe curtain clips... there's now one clip at the top of each shell. I think I like it better this way. No, I think I like it the other way. This way's too formal (I got that from Alison... I didn't think of it on my own!). What do you think?

Up close and personal...

I always hated when sportscasters would use the phrase "up close and personal" when introducing interview segments with athletes, but somehow it has been burned into my memory!

Anyway... Alison wanted close-ups of the curtains, so I tried. She and the kids are coming to visit tomorrow, so maybe I'll be able to get some photography lessons!