State Fair Time -- Purple Might Be My New Favorite Color!

OK, so please forgive me for what may seem like bragging, but I'm just so pleased!

It's Fair time again and this year I finally achieved a long-held goal: BEST OF SHOW for tatting at the Iowa State Fair!! :)

The basic pattern is made in size 40 Lizbeth, and came from a pattern in "Workbasket" magazine. I added the flowers at the ends and middle of the necklace, and used the basic pattern to create the earrings and bracelet. The flower is actually a snowflake pattern from an Italian Christmas book, "Natale con il Chiacchierino Ad Ago" by Alicja Kwartnik.

This was my only blue ribbon this year, but I also received a 2nd place (red) on my bookmark,

my set of three Christmas Tree ornaments (far left)

and the small Rose and Thistle doily (far right)

I also got third place (white ribbon) for my stupid and frustrating handkerchief edging (I am SO excited to see the written feedback on that!) and fourth (pink) on that white collar.

All-in-all, happiness abounds. :)

Post 100, Book Review #1: "Tatting Patterns"

Hooray! My 100th post!

Yes, I know there are some of you amazing people who post 100 times over the course of weeks, rather than years, but, I will take my small victories when I can get them. :)

I really wanted to come up with something "spectacular" for my 100th post, which is why I haven't posted in the past 4 weeks--I just couldn't think of anything spectacular to talk about!

So, in lieu of something spectacular, I've decided to substitute something practical...a book review!

There are so many amazing tatting books floating around out there (and so many of them represented on my bookshelves!), but so few 1) easily found and 2) substantial book reviews about them (especially for the older books) available online.** 

In honor of my 100th post (and in an attempt to post more often) I have decided, in my own small way, to try to remedy that situation with a series of in-depth and hopefully helpful book reviews. :)

I'm going to start the series with the very first tatting book I ever owned, Lyn Morton's "Tatting Patterns"

I was given my copy of this book by my parents for my birthday in the early or mid-2000s. I was initially attracted by the beautiful colors and variety of patterns, but quickly found it was beyond my abilities at that point in time...but I'm getting ahead of myself. :)

One of two covers available (image via Amazon.com)

Title: "Tatting Patterns"
Author: Lyn Morton
ISBN: 978-1-86108-261-9
Number of pages: 106
Number of patterns: 44
Type of pattern notation: Long notation with abbreviations (ie: Ring of 5DS, P, 5DS close. RW chain of 6 DS.) and labeled diagrams
Types of patterns: The book is broken into three sections:
     1) Patterns/Motifs: flower edging, motifs (mostly flowers, crosses and a butterfly)
     2) Jewelry and Accessories: earrings, necklaces, collar, 3D flower corsage, wedding ring bearer pillow
     3) Greeting cards: a variety of 2 and 3-round motifs are displayed mounted on greeting cards
Illustrations: Full color photographs and black and white diagrams.
Notions: The patterns are shown tatted in both beautifully-colored Turkish cotton and shiny metallic threads. Some patterns call for beads, or are shown with beads added. At least one pattern makes use of a center doodad, a few others are displayed as ornaments within a metal ring, and of course the greeting card section includes other practical applications for the motifs
Other inclusions: The book starts with a one-page history of tatting and short list of abbreviations used in the book. There are no "How to Tat" directions given in this book.
Shuttle or needle? The patterns are written for the shuttle (most patterns start with a suggestion of how much thread to wind or how many turns of the shuttle to make) and were quite trying for me when I tried to tat them with the needle...but with perseverance (and more practice than I'd had when I started working with this book) most of the patterns can be executed with either needle or shuttle

Pattern "Peggy" needle tatted in Perle 8

Skill level: Intermediate As a beginning needle tatter I struggled with this book. The author points out several patterns she considers to be easier than the others, but it took me a while before I could execute some of the trickier joins. As a progressing shuttle tatter, I find the motifs slightly easier to make, and using split rings and chains to climb from row to row will greatly limit the cutting, tying and hiding that originally turned me off to this book.
Skills needed: Addition of beads, split rings, lock joins
Availability: This is one of the more available tatting books. I have seen it in craft stores (my mom bought this for me at a big-box store in Des Moines, Iowa!) and is readily online at Handy Hands, Amazon, Be-Stitched, Tatting and Design (UK), etc. I even have a copy of this book in Russian!

I wonder in Lyn Morton knows this book has been published in Russian?

Price range: This book is available used from around $7-$14 new, depending on where you get it. It is also a compilation of her first four books (conveniently called "Tatting Patterns Book 1, 2, 3 or 4"
Personal Notes: Full disclosure, I have a large amount of nostalgia for this book due to it's status as my "First Tatting Book," but it took me a while to actually like it, mostly due to many early failures to execute even those patterns suggested to be "easy" buy the author. After a few years of practice, I have it another chance, and this book is now my go-to motif book. I would recommend this book for an intermediate or above tatter interested in playing with small motifs, especially if you are looking for a chance to practice "climbing out" from round to round, or repeating motifs to make larger doilies, mats or other items. These patterns are quick and cute, and the book does a great job of promoting practical uses for tatting, something which I know I struggle with!

Pattern: "Five-Point Snowflake Motif" shuttle tatted in DMC size 80

So there you go, my first book review. :)

Was this helpful? Did I leave something important out? Is there something I should add on my next review?

**Note: Here are some notable exceptions to the lack of substantive (and easily-found) online reviews:

•Georgia Seitz's page of reviews, including lists of non-English books, artist spotlights and one-off book reviews

•Davina-Marie from Shuttlebird's review of Jon Yusoff's "Elegant Tatting Gems"

•Fiona (OneMadTatter) T's review of "New Tatting"

•Heather from Tatted Treasures' reviews of Lyn Morton's "Tatted Tatting and Design", Nancy Tracy's "Tat's Where I Stopped", and Jan Stawasz' "Tatting Theory and Patterns"

•Krystledawne's review of Teiko Fujito's works "Tatted Fashion" and "The Tatted Artistry of Teiko Fujito"

•Hugs are Fun's review of "New Tatting"

A Little Tatting at Home (but not much!)

So, I'm home!!!!

I've had a really wonderful week and a half at home so far, with 3 or so weeks to come!

Mostly I've been busy with these cool kids:

Yay nieces and nephews!! They are all sooooo fun!

I have managed to tat a little in-between snuggles and play:

This is another Nina Libin necklace (http://www.georgiaseitz.com/classes2/libin.html) with a pair of earrings that I made using the first few rounds of the pattern.

I'm interested if anyone else put there has made this pattern...if so, how did you finish it? The pattern really doesn't say exactly how to finish it, but it seems that you are supposed to just attach the final chain to the first ring?? But if you do that the necklace won't fit over your head!! So, I made the last chain into a ring and attached a jump ring and clasp instead, to make it easy to put on and off. 

I also made another bell, this one a Jane Eborall pattern (http://www.janeeborall.freeservers.com/Bell20043D.pdf):

I'm not sure why, but this looks MUCH better on Jane's site! :)

Oh well. :)

More Projects (Motifs 23-26!)

Well, once again you have Grace to thank for reminding me to update my blog.

Sigh. Sorry!

If I actually posted every time I thought about it, there would be multiple posts a day. I am just not good with time management, I guess...or maybe I just put more time into tatting (and working, and cooking, and...) and less into blogging?

Anyway, thanks for the prompt, Grace, and here is my update! :)

There have been some continuing trends in the past few weeks, and some wide divergences:

For example, in the quest to make an actually wear-able sized baby bootie (and no, in case any of you are wondering, I'm not trying to drop subtle hints, I am not expecting! but I do have an awfully cute niece who is still very small). I used Cathy Bryant's book "Tatting" to make this:

Motif 23

This is still quite small, but larger than the first option.

So, I kept looking via Google images and found a (Lenore English?) pattern on somebody's Pintrest (which I am now feeling guilty about, thanks to Jane's exceptionally accurate post today...thanks for continuing your crusade Jane, you are so right! If anyone recognizes the pattern as Lenore's (or anybody else's for that matter) and knows how to contact the author I'd be happy to send remuneration if they didn't make the pattern generally available...it doesn't look like it's been copied from a book, but it could be, I suppose...)

Motif 24

Again, I'm not a mother and I don't spend a lot of time around small children (I teach middle school and my nieces and nephews are all on another continent), but I think these are a slightly better size for baby feet?

For comparison (remember the one on the top right is about the length of a Clover shuttle):

Eh.

I've kind of met my tolerance for pink and baby stuff I'll never actually use...let's move on to something usable and blue! :)

Motif 25!!!! Peacock from "Animal Bookmarks: A Tatted Zoo"

Aren't these two cute?! Normally I do not like to make multiples of things, but this was a challenging pattern and I was trying to do a good job, so one is the "practice" and one is the "perfect."

Oh wait, hahaha. :)

Also, I need to point out:

It's not even June yet, and I made it to 25 Motifs!!

This is unprecedented. And a bit amazing. :) I'm so proud :)

Finally, I decided to branch out a bit and dip into the Beanile pool. Nina Libin has so many great things out there in tat-land, and was nice enough to send me a list of Russian tatting terms when I reached out to her shortly after moving to Russia and acquiring a bunch of Russian tatting books, so I thought the least I could do was try out her signature technique:

Motif 26: Beaded Necklace by Nina Libin, pattern found on the Online Tatting Class website

 I'm not sure if this makes any difference in the end, I realized about halfway through that I was using the Needle Tatting pattern to make this necklace, rather than the Shuttle Tatting pattern. After comparing and contrasting, the big difference is the use of one needle vs. two shuttles. I think I'll work this pattern again with 2 shuttles and see what difference (if any) there is...

Because, why not?!

So, there you go Grace, another post done. Thanks again... :)

I will try to be better about posting pictures soon(er) after I finish something, but no promises... I'm off on a 6-week circumnavigation of the world next week (Vlad-Iowa, Iowa-London, London-Vlad) so I will be quite busy, but how is that anything new?! :)

Aaaaaand, I'm back! [+ Motif #24!!]

Well hello there. Greetings from sunny Vladivostok...August went pretty quickly, didn't it? :)

It's funny how I never seem to have time to blog when I'm home on vacation...

I really was busy. If you want to read the details you can pop over to the other blog and read about it...or you can skip all that stuff and just read about the tatting parts here. :)

So, when last you heard from me I was sitting in the Incheon Airport outside of Seoul, South Korea, on my way back to Iowa. I decided to pass the 5+ hour layover practicing my shuttle tatting skills, and managed to make a couple small circle-y motifs practicing rings, chains and joins.

I need to pause and say that I was really excited to be tatting in Seoul because I had a whole bunch of goodies from that awesome Fox that had arrived the day before I left and were PERFECT for traveling with tatting:

Thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU FOX!! :)

Beings that I had a 5+ hour layover I was, naturally, one of the first to arrive at the departure gate, but after a few hours some fellow travelers started filling in the seats around me. Most of the seats were taken about an hour before departure when I realized that someone was approaching me. It was a small Korean woman, looking interested in what I was doing.

She came over and started making inquiring sounds...I say sounds because, of course, she was speaking Korean, and I didn't understand a word she was saying! I knew what she was asking, though, because she was pointing at the tatting. So, I pulled out my handy on-phone translator and showed her the word for tatting in Korean (태팅) and then showed her some of the hand movements.

She wrote it down and then pulled out a camera, miming that she wanted to take a picture of me in action...which was fine with me. She watched me for a little longer, then thanked me and went back to sit down. But every time I looked up she was watching...so I hope she went home, did some research, and is now a tatter! :)

But that is not my only tatting story of the trip...no indeed. When I got on the plane I looked across the aisle and saw a woman hand-hemming some white cloths that looked a lot like they might be handkerchiefs. So, being the friendly (nosy) Midwesterner that I am, I asked her if she was making handkerchiefs. The answer was no (they were linen cloths for her Altar Guild).

I explained that I'd asked because I wondered if they had been handkerchiefs if she was going to attach any lace to them, and she said that she did know how to tat...which was a great conversation starter for a tatting-based discussion that lasted for a good part of the following 13.5 hour flight! Good times! :) Amazing to find a fellow tatter across the aisle of a plane! :)

Anyway, I made it home needles and shuttles in tow, and having had time to make motif #24, Jon's Two By Two Bookmark:

 Actually, I made this a bit differently than the pattern called for, mostly because I stink at pre-reading and following directions...the pattern calls to use two shuttles for the inner rings, but I didn't read that part and just did lots of reverse working and came up with pretty much the same thing. I re-did the inner part later with two shuttles and really didn't see much of a difference...

 After three flights totaling over 17 hours in the air I made it back to the good old USA just in time for the Iowa State Fair...and this year I made it early enough to be able to attend the Fabrics and Threads preview the night before the fair opens. There is no real benefit to attending this event except to see how you did 12 or so hours earlier than anyone else...so my mom and I went to check out how it all came down... (spoiler: I won my first Iowa State Fair blue ribbon!!!!) :)

Tatted Bookmark: First place!!!! :)

Home Accessory over 12": Second Place!

Tatted Trim: Third Place! (Finally! A picture of the pillowcase trim!)

Needle Tatting: Fourth Place!

Tatted Accessory: Fourth Place!

 I also had two entries that didn't have a ribbon:

 Needless to say, I was pretty thrilled!!

 But the next day when I took my brother and sister-in-law up (the Fabrics and Threads are located on the second floor of the Varied Industries) to see my ribbons, there was something new to see:

Surprise! Tatted Jewelry: Second Place!

Even more random, the next time I want up to show my dad the ribbons, I noticed this sign:

 I won the Sweepstakes, too!

(Winning the sweepstakes basically means I won the most of all the people who entered tatting at the Fair!) So I got another surprise ribbon, this one big and maroon:

 What fun!! :)

A good year for ribbons! :)

 One of the things I really like about how the judging is done at the Iowa State Fair is that they seem to award strictly on merit--by which I mean that if they look at your work and think it's the best example in the class, but isn't blue ribbon worthy, they won't give you a blue, they will give you a red, even if it means that nobody gets a blue in that class.

Actually that happened to me a lot this year, if you look at the competition results...for example, if you look at my big doily, I earned the 2nd place red ribbon, but no blue was awarded in that category. It was the same with the tatted jewelry category, I earned 2nd place but no blue ribbon was given. In the tatted trim category a blue was given, but no red, and my pillowcase earned third (white). In the tatted accessory category there were only first and second awarded, and I got fourth place...

Which is all fine, I don't want to get a ribbon I don't earn, but it does make me wonder what I can do to improve enough to be good enough to get the "better" ribbon...and after discussions with some of the F&T leadership, I think I know...it pains me to say this, but...I think it's the needle tatting. I was mentioning to someone that all my tatting was needle tatting, and that I didn't think anyone could tell the difference. Her comment was, "Well, the judge can." (Are you smiling, Jane?)

SO. I'm going to keep working on that shuttle tatting thing and we'll see how next years' Fair goes. :)

Another thing I like about the Iowa State Fair judging (I think I may have mentioned this before, as well) is that they make comments on each piece, both positive and things to work on for next time. I really love getting that feedback, since nobody but me in my immediate world knows anything about tatting...

Also, I was surprised and amused to find this note stapled to the back of one of my Southern Iowa Fair entry tags when I got home...

Go figure, it was attached to the bookmark that ended up getting a blue ribbon! :) But really, what a great way to promote Fair participation! :)

Incidentally, after seeing all my entries and requesting and receiving a duplicate of the blue-ribbon bookmark, my newest sister-in-law Katie was interested enough in tatting that she agreed to a tatting lesson...and after trying both the needle and shuttle really picked up well on the shuttle tatting! We practiced all through the Cowgirl Queen contest and while resting by the camper, and I sent her home with a couple shuttles and links to some of my favorite blogs and tutorials for practice. It was really fun to share tatting with her, and I hope she is able to keep it up now that she is back home in Tennessee. It will be awesome to have someone to "chat tatting" with around home. :)

 I also got in a little bit of sewing practice on one of the last days of the Fair when my mom and took a needlework class (similar to the shuttle tatting class I took last year) where we learned to make a "Pillowcase in a Flash." Oh how I wish I'd taken this class before I made that pillowcase for the tatted trim! It would have been so much less frustrating! :)

My beautiful and awesome mommy making her "Pillowcase in a Flash"!

Finally, I will leave you with a picture of the mobile, finished and floating in the air:

 It turned out to be its last float, because shortly afterwards I dismantled the thing. I liked it, and it balanced well, but it would have been WAY too much trouble to bring back to Russia in good condition! It remains to be seen if it will be re-created now that all the pieces are here... :)

Practicing With False Plaits and First Fair Ribbons! :)

 Well hello!

 I finally got back on the tatting train this week, practicing the shuttle motions with false plaits. I'm pretty sure my chaining skills are pretty solid now...so I suppose I need to make a whole bunch of trefoils now to practice my ring skills! :)

 Anyway, here are my false plaits:

 The pattern is 8 ds of one color, rw, 8 ds of the other color, then holding both shuttles 1 ds, rw, 1 ds, then repeat until you have the length you desire. Then start all over and do it all again, until you have two strands of the same length.

Of course, I ended up with some tension troubles and funky twisting going on:

Eh, oh well. :)

 My strands of false plaits ended up really long, almost a yard each:

Next I weaved the strands together by laying one strand on top of the other (opposite colors together)

 and pull the top strand through the bottom strand, over and over and over to make a braided effect...

 Good times!

Of course, the tension troubles made some of the circles want to twist, so at a certain point I let the same side colors twist together, making one side all white and one side all blue:

(split colors on the left, braided on the right)

This seems like such a nice cord, I decided to make something usable; a new lanyard for my ID badge at work, which is why I made the strands so long!

Actually, as I went along I noticed that it kind of reminded me of the friendship bracelets I made when I was a kid--the ones where you make the 4 and slide the knots up...which now that I think about it, making those 4s was like making an un-flipped half of a double stitch...

Whoa. Mind blown! :)

Anyway, that's that. I have a couple of gifts I need to work this week, so hopefully I'll have something more interesting to show you soon!

I also had some good news from Iowa this week...I won some ribbons at the Southern Iowa Fair!

One of the joys of being with the State Department is that, while we live most of the year in other parts of the world, our official residency and address for all the important things (voting, taxes, and Fair entries) remains in Iowa!

So, I still get to enter my tatting in the Fairs! :)

I just have to get creative about how I get the work to the Fair...this year, since I'm still in Russia right now, I mailed it to my awesome mom and she took it to the judges!

Here are my ribbons!

Tatted jewelry: Blue (It's the brown bracelet I designed a few months ago)

 The colored bookmark in the corner is mine as well--and also won blue! (This was my motif #7--the opposite side is the same pattern tatted in cream to make a corner bookmark-the pattern is from Tatting by Cathy Bryant). Actually, I guess this was up for the overall best of show prize, but it didn't win. Eh, you can't win them all! :)

 The pillowcase edging (motif #14) showed up as well, and also won blue! Unfortunately you can't see it very well in the picture, but I will upload another picture of it in a few weeks...

Amazingly the baby bib also won a blue ribbon...I guess they really do judge the tatting and not the applique technique! :) Thanks again for the great TIAS pattern, Jane!

 And, of course, there's The Big Doily. Another blue, and again this year, I need to point out how AWESOME MY MOM IS!!!

 I sent her the doily folded into quarters, but she was told that this Fair prefers doilies to be mounted, so my mom cut out some cardboard and re-blocked the doily for competition...and unfortunately will have to un-do all that work before the next Fair!

She is so great!!! XOXO Mom!

The red ribbon was for the mobile, which was in an "other than mentioned" needlework category and lost to something I can't remember (mom told me) but I'm sure was really great. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that right now.

I was also really glad to see that someone else had entered some tatting this year!! The category was new at this fair last year because two years ago I wanted to enter some tatting but there was no tatting category...but then they created the category the following year! Last year I was the only entrant, but you can see that someone else entered in the first fair photo above (on the white plate.)

Yay! Tatting is picking up in Southern Iowa! :)