A Bookmark and a Necklace...almost

I seem to have a little bit of tatting ADHD recently...I can't seem to just stick to one thing for very long without bouncing to another.

I often do this when I'm tatting and reading both...I stop in the middle of a book or a project and start another, often very similar to what I've already begun (although sometimes totally opposite)...I always know when I'm doing it, and I can tell you the reason why if you ask...it's either because I'm really enjoying it, and I don't want it to end, or because I'm really not enjoying it, and I want to move on to something I enjoy more, but feel guilty about stopping in the middle. I almost always come back around to wanting to finish it, but sometimes it takes a lo-o-o-ong time. This time wasn't so bad, just a month.

The same day I finished the aforementioned two-day project I started a pretty bookmark using some pretty Lizbeth thread I picked up last fall...

I like long bookmarks that stick out both ends of the book...then you can actually see them!

Just a little perspective, on size, if you want it.

The pattern is Jon at Tat-A-Renda's Bookmark with Overlapping Chains

I really like projects with overlapping chains (see the big doily at the top of the blog...it has some twisted overlapping chains) because they add a challenge to a basic tatting skill. Also they're pretty.

Anyway, that half-finished bookmark sat half-finished for over a month because I felt like I should work on some motifs and probably more truthfully, the third round had the dreaded (for me) chain-chain-chain-chain-chain to eternity pattern...you see, I never feel like I do well without putting even a tiny ring between chains. They don't lay well, and they want to go the wrong direction, and it's just annoying sometimes.

There you go. It doesn't look too bad from afar...

But put on the marco lens and you can see the twisted chains...sigh.

Clearly this is a candidate to practice blocking on. Also, for anyone who was wondering, I decided to hold off trying my hand at blocking for a few weeks until I'm back in the States...it doesn't seem to make much sense to try to stiffen something that's just going to get thrown into a bag, box, or suitcase within a week...

Besides finishing the bookmark, I've been working on the black "thing" from the last post...which has turned into this:

Sorry the picture is a little blurry...the focus must not have been quite right

If you can't tell (and I won't feel bad if you can't) it's the beginnings of Marilee Rockley's Ripple Tatted Necklace pattern from her Yarnplayer blog. Hers is (not surprisingly) much nicer as pictured on her blog, but I really wanted to use the only black thread I have, which happens to be in gargantuan size 5. (I usually prefer Perle 8 myself).

I am not actually a huge fan of wearing tatted jewelry myself. I think it looks nice on other people, but I feel weird when I wear it. The above stumble is actually being made as a gift, if I can finish it to my satisfaction. Probably the reason I don't like to wear my own tatted jewelry is because I can see the flaws in it.

I very rarely give away my tatting (I figure I don't know what to do with it, how would anyone else know?) unless someone asks for it...and go figure, what most people ask for is the jewelry. Case in point: I entered a pair of earrings in the fair last year and one of my teaching colleagues saw the picture on my computer. She loved them so much I decided I'd give them to her, since I clearly wasn't doing anything with them.

My sister's family-in-law does hand-made gifts for Christmas each year, and she was practicing making beaded necklaces to see if that could be her gift. She decided to practice with me, and here is the result:

Pretty neat, right?!

 I decided that I'd better make her a necklace in tatting in return, so I did, as part of her Christmas gift last year.

It was kind of a disaster. I don't even have a picture I thought it was so bad.

I think she said she wears it as a headband, but I'm pretty sure she hid it so she'd never have to see it again, it was that bad. I decided to try again, same pattern, same thread, and I left out the part that had bugged me with her necklace. I liked it much better, but again, didn't have the chance to take a picture because, lo and behold, I wore it once and my best friend liked it so well I gave it to her just to be rid of the thing.

Why am I telling you this story? Because my friend actually wears that necklace sometimes, and when she was wearing it the other day it was seen by another colleague who has now been badgering me for weeks to make her a necklace! Sigh.

So here I am again, making tatted jewelry that I don't think is very good. I'm still on the fence as to whether I'll give it to her, or try again with something else...of course, I'd better decide quickly, as the last time I will see her will be Friday, and the mail from the US to Honduras is rather tricky. If I do decide to give it to her I'll have to figure out how to make the Cheshire Cat grin above into a necklace...the original pattern calls for o-rings but I don't have any here, and am not sure how I'll get them before the end of the week...oh well, I'm sure I'll get creative somehow! :)

No motifs this week...I've been pretty busy running around getting everything settled for the big move...hopefully once everything is packed out on Monday I'll have a little more tatting time...but who knows. :)

KF