Some Little Nothings

Sometimes I'm too busy to tat, to blog, or both...recently it's been kind of both, but (besides my birthday cupcake) I have been pegging away at a few projects:

This is an antique motif (Snowflake) from the most recent Handy Hands newsletter, tatted in size 20 and kind of fun to execute:

And here are my attempts to learn interlocking SCMR rings (a BIG thanks to all of you with online tutorials for these techniques!!!! SCMR: Jane E and the Shuttle Brothers; Interlocking Rings: Umi & Tsuru, Muskaan, Kathy and God's Kid) in anticipation of joining the challenge to make Jane McLellan's magnificent "Under an African Sky" doily...

Size 20 (ecru), then size 30 Cebelia

Here is my best so far (for the first time all the rings interlock correctly, but of course I ran out of thread on the VERY LAST RING!!!):

Oh well...more practice :)

I have also been plugging away at a flowery Jan Stawasz pattern, one which made the rounds of Facebook a few months ago (and unfortunately seems to be readily available online in illegal .jpgs...boo to that.) Buy the book, people, it's totally worth it!

I'm actually having a bit of trouble with this pattern--tension trouble. Le sigh. I thought I was past this!

So, what's a girl to do but wet the offending doily down and pin it into submission!?

Bad doily! Stop cupping!!!

So, we'll see...

I did double-check, and I'm pretty sure I executed the pattern correctly, so it's probably more of an "I tat too tightly" issue rather than a pattern problem...??

Two rows to go, and hopefully no more tension troubles. *Hopefully.*

Finally...here's a really cool tatting-esque shirt I saw the other day--I didn't buy it (but I kind of wish I had...it's really cool!) Maybe I can figure out the pattern and make myself something similar instead...maybe!

Eh, we'll see! :)

"Mastering" Split Chains and Single Shuttle Split Rings (SSSRs) and Motif #11!

Well, happy April :)

It's been a crazy last couple of weeks...since the last time I blogged:
-Chris got back from his training trip to the USA
-We moved (just within Vlad, not to a new country or anything)
-My sinuses exploded (or at least it felt like it for a couple days! Yikes!)

So you will forgive me for not having posted anything (or having had time to tat all that much) for the past few weeks. (Please.)

Progress on Reneluk's Spring Doily has been (temporarily) set aside in favor of learning and practicing new techniques as suggested by Ladytats and Grace Tyler (thank you!) and demonstrated by Linda Davies on her Toptattyhead YouTube page (thank you!).

After I posted this picture:

in my last blog post (it's the first few rounds of Karey Solomon's Plain and Fancy) Grace correctly pointed out that I had a lot of hanging threads and very diplomatically suggested that I could save myself a lot of bother, hassle and brain cells if I would learn how to do a split chain. Ladytats next gave an exceptionally good description of how to do said chain, and then Grace provided me with the knowledge of how to find Linda's YouTube video about split chains and SSSRs.

Oh Internet tatting people, how I love you and your helpful, giving ways!

So, thanks to this amazing combined effort, I give you my first split chain:

Followed shortly thereafter by my first ever Single Shuttle Split Ring:

The Hallelujah Chorus (as sung by the Simpson College Chorus in a 2011 flash mob at the Jordan Creek Towncenter) was loudly playing in the background when this was achieved, I assure you. :)

Hooray!

I was going to blog about this the very next day, but then we moved, a multi-day affair from which we are still recovering...

But Pip likes his backyard

And my comfy tatting chair has finally made it to the (4th floor!! of the) townhouse, so we're back in tatting business.

We moved a week ago Wednesday and Thursday, spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday at work and unpacking, and then on Monday my head exploded and I spent the rest of the week recovering from the worst sinus headache EVER. Yikes.

Anyway, with brain and nasal function fully restored I decided to finish up Plain and Fancy (with split chains abounding):

Can you spot the split chains??

 Here's a hint:

Motif 11!

Whoohoo!!! :)

Split chains, check. Single shuttle split rings, check.

Next up is tatting around a bead. Oh, and that spring doily. :)

Tatting Randomness...Motifs 6, 7 and 8

OK, before I get to the real post I have some exciting news...Chris and I were told where we will be heading after our two years in Vladivostok are done (early 2015)

We are totally looking forward to 2+ years in...Canberra, Australia!!!

So, does anybody have information on the tatting scene down under? :)

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Ook, February was not been a particularly prolific month of tatting...more just a little of this and that...

First of all, here (finally!) is my sailboat from Jane's TIAS:

Motif #6

My sister-in-law gave me the Ring of Tatters' "30th Anniversary Book of Patterns" for Christmas, and I have been mostly dabbling there for the past few weeks:

Motif 7: Buttercup by Hannah Crowle

If you compare this to the actual pattern you will find (on the outer round at least) there are a few differences...all due to user error, of course. Fox has been quite vocal about her alleged "Instructional Incompetence" and I have to admit that I, too, suffer from that disease. Oops. :)

Motif 8: The first motif of Adelheid Dangla's Doily

I've actually had to abandon this motif here--it's impossible to tell on this terrible picture, but apparently I tatted this with dirty fingers--the inner rings are new-snow white, but all those lovely chains are closer to snow after the first plowing. Oops.

Finally, another project from that same book that is just giving me fits...Jane has this adorable badger bookmark that I'd so love to tat...

 But I can't get the joins to work properly!!

The pattern calls for both up joins and down joins, techniques that I understand in theory, but have struggled to execute in reality:

The first ring does not require the down join...and the down join worked pretty well on the second ring...but WHY are there black marks on the third and fourth rings?!

 Here is the back side, which looks right(?)

Any suggestions? I literally worked on this for two days last weekend (this is the 4th or 5th attempt), and I'm stuck! :(

Also, I'm very sad because the Olympics are over, but being in the host country has some perks...like finding Sochi chocolate! Hooray! :)

Stealth Doily and Cluny Leaves

Bwahaha, I'm so sneaky. ;)

Here's my "Stealth Doily"...

Motif 2: Celtic Sugar and Spice Doily

 Look familiar? :)

Of course it does! It's (theoretically) the first thing you see every time you visit my blog...

Except, of course, it's not, because this is the new, shuttle tatted version!

I've actually been working on this for a L-O-N-G time, like, since August or something, but I FINALLY finished it over the weekend. (I kept not taking it with me when I traveled, so then I'd get involved in other projects and not work on this one...)

I call it the stealth doily because I purposely didn't put anything about it on the blog because I wanted to wait and unveil it just as I did above, as a visual comparison of needle and shuttle tatting. It's the same pattern, the same thread, just two different methods of tatting.

Discuss. :)

This doily was, in its own way, almost as much of a pain as the tulips...

Firstly, (well, kind of lastly) I ran out of shuttle thread TWO RINGS before I finished it...ugh!

 

So, I improvised a shuttle with some pre-wrapped travel thread:

And, of course, there were a few tension issues again...especially after completing the maroon split rings:

 and then again with the tan final round. Of course, that was nothing a few pins couldn't fix!

 This is a doily written for a needle tatting book...I wonder if any of the tension troubles were because I was shuttle tatting this pattern, or if I just really need to work on my tension control?

 After finishing the stealth doily I decided to try something new, something I've been wanting to try for a while: Cluny Tatting!

And here are my first attempts:

Motif 3: A Small Motif using Cluny Leaves

Clearly this is a skill I need to work on, but I do think I improved as I went around the circle (my first leaf of the motif was the small one with the long purple tail, and then continued around counter-clockwise to the last one right next to it.)

24 Tulips (so far) and TIAS Day 2

 It never fails...you get a few days off...and then you get sick!

Or, at least, it never fails for me...maybe it's a way of punishing idleness... :)

Anyway, we had a really nice, REALLY lazy 8-day New Year's holiday, and mine actually extended to 10 with two sick days this week (it's just a cold, but a particularly nasty one and not one I decided to share with my colleagues). Between the sniffling and coughing and chain-drinking tea I've managed to get myself pretty far along in "Forty Tulips" (warning...the tulips need some blocking!)

24 and Counting! :)

If you're not sure exactly what I'm talking about, here's a closer view of the tulips...

It's the blue things...ok, I don't know that I see tulips there either, but my husband said he did, so what do I know? :)

 This was the same doily I was having tension troubles with last time I blogged...thankfully a good dunking and some tough love with stretching and pinning made it lay flat as a pancake:

It's amazing how different the colors look when wet!

 I was a little concerned about how enlongated the rings of the variegated trefoils got in the last row above until I took a closer look at the picture of the doily in the book:

Totally elongated...so, nbd

I'm really enjoying this pattern, particularly because I think it is the most challenging pattern I've ever completed...the last row (the tulips) use two shuttles, and you have to constantly switch which shuttle you're using to make it turn out right. It's actually been a good pattern to work on while not feeling well because it hasn't gotten boring or mindless, and takes my mind off not feeling well. :)

I've also continued with Day 2 of Jane's TIAS:

Mine didn't turn right...

 I'm guessing it's the back end of a helicopter...I bet I'm wrong, though! :) I'm very proud, though, I've never joined on the second half of a split ring...but I got it right on the first try! :)

С Новым Годом! (Happy New Year!) Two Final Motifs of 2013!

Oh, come on, you knew the self-imposed tatting break wouldn't last long, right?! :) (Although I have read 2.5 books in the past two days!) :)

Plus it would have really bothered me to stop at 59 motifs...so, I did one more, plus one to grow on. :)

Motif 60

I didn't follow a pattern for this one, but nor can I claim it as my own design, as I've seen large mats made up of this kind of thing; it's simply small flowers made from thread leftover on shuttles...this is all 5's, but next time I think all 6's would be better, as this cupped really badly (you can tell it's all stretched out from trying to lay flat)

Not satisfied with this as my final motif of the year, (really, it's not worthy) I decided to try a pattern that has been catching my eye all month, "Ten-Pointed Snowflake" from Christmas Angels and Other Patterns by Monica Hahn.

I didn't tat this before now because I wasn't sure about the Josephine chains (spiral chains to some of you out there) in shuttle tatting.

I was actually quite fond of the Josephine back in my needle tatting days, so I was disappointed when I tried it with the shuttle--with the needle it was so nice an curly, but the way I originally saw to do it with the shuttle (make a number of the first half of the stitch, then an equal number of the second half of the stitch) looked like a wavy mess.

So, like so many other things I'm interested in learning...I Googled it...and gosh darn it if good old Lady ShuttleMaker didn't have an amazing tutorial right there on her blog!

And so, following her carefully written (and illustrated, thank you very much!) directions I was able to complete my FINAL MOTIF OF 2013!! :)

Motif 61-That's all, folks!

Yep, it's the last...it is currently 11:41 PM of December 31 here in Vladivostok.

(Funny, because it's only 4:41 PM in Moscow, 12:41 PM in London, and my parents in Iowa are still sleeping (at least I hope so, they're both on Christmas break!) at 6:41 AM...heck, it's just 2:41 AM in Honolulu!)

SO, I'm out of time for tatting in 2013...luckily 2014 is right around the corner and I have a lot to strive for improvement...2013 set the bar high!

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's celebration (ours was pretty low-key...Chris is actually already asleep and I'm writing this sitting in bed next to him...I'm going to wake him up at midnight, though) and an even better 2014!! I can't wait to see what we all achieve in the coming year!

Thanks for all the comments, compliments and encouragement this past year...it's been amazing! :) :)

Ugh. 21 done with 1 Tatting Day until Christmas!

I'm so close!

I have just two more motifs to show you, motifs that were actually completed on Sunday night (this being Tuesday the 24th, already)...I didn't get any tatting done at all yesterday because of work and the hubby's big 3-0 celebration :)

The Santa on the cake is a family tradition...since this was his first birthday celebrated away from his parents I decided to continue the tradition as well as I could... :)

Anyway, I have two more motifs done...and I'm still 4 away from 25! With just 7.5 hrs until midnight!!



The first is kind of a cheater motif, but I'm that desperate, and *technically* it is its own motif, the Large Loop-Stitch Snowflake...(it just also happens to be the Small Loop-Stitch Snowflake from the other day, with one final row added on.) Tee hee.

Motif #55 on the year and #20 on the way to 25 by the 25th

 Thanks to LadyTats for the idea to add another round!

I also attempted my first doodad tat, courtesy of the very talented Fox...This is supposed to be her Athalia pattern, but it's just all kinds of wrong...

Motif #55 on the year and #21 on the way to 25 by the 25th

 Well, the top part is right, but then I accidentally made the second large ring 5-5-5-5-5-5 instead of 3-3-3-3-3-3, and even worse, I forgot to use the short chains instead of the longer 3-3-3 chains after each ring. Sigh.

Friends should not let friends tat distracted. :)

Oh well. I can always cut it off and try, try again. :)

I am interested to know, however, if I did the attachment to the doodad correctly? (Here is the back, does that look right?)

So, I'm not totally giving up, but maybe I'll have to make 25 by the 25th...in Iowa, not in Vladivostok! :)

Scottish Thistle (Motif 46)

I decided it's too cold outside to make another snowflake, so I thought I would bring some summer to Vladivostok with the Thistle Coaster from "Mastering Tatting."

Fox sent me some of the Lizbeth "Scottish Thistle" thread, which is something I would never have bought for myself but really, really liked working with, especially with this pattern...it just goes to show you, it's fun to break out of usual color patterns.

Here is the pattern after I finished tatting:

Motif 46 (#13 on the way to 25 by the 25th)

Once you get to this point, the pattern says you can leave the large picots be or you can cut and fray them...

I was a little hesitant to try the fraying because I liked the way it looked with the big loops, but I decided worst case scenario I could always re-tat it...

Frayed - Cut - Original

This was the first time I've purposely cut and frayed tatted picots, but I really, really like the way it turned out!

So there you go, a little summer color in the dead of winter...

Now back to tatting, I have 12 more motifs to make before Christmas! :)

It's Snowing...Blue Snowflakes (Motifs 43-45)

Well, unless I basically quit tatting for the rest of 2013, I'm going to finish two 25 Motif Challenges this year!!! Amazing!

This has turned out to be one of those weeks where all I want to do is tat...consequently, my output has gone up. (Go figure) :)

And, since it's that time of year, my chosen subject has been the ever-popular snowflake...

Except that mine are blue, because I wanted to clear one of my shuttles and pink snowflakes just seemed weird.

Motif 43 (#10 on the way to 25 by the 25th)--It's a somewhat poorly executed rendition of the Unique Snowflake from the book "Tatted Snowflakes."

I say it's poorly done because all those spaces are supposed to be 1/4"...and they are clearly not...I did use the picot gauge, so I'm not 100% sure what happened...oh well, it's my husband's favorite of the three, so that counts for something, I guess... :)

So that one wasn't really good enough for the tree, in my opinion, but the next two were...

Motif 44 (#11 on the way to 25 by the 25th): Beaded Snowflake from "Tatted Snowflakes"

 

 

Here is where I went slightly awry in my plan to get the blue off the shuttle, because this pattern caught my eye and I actually had to add more thread to make the second round, which is made with one continuous chain...oops. :) Still, I think it turned out pretty well, and it was nice to work with beads on chains (another shuttle tatting first.)

So, once again I had a lot of blue thread on the shuttle (I always seem to be over-filling my shuttles) so, too bad, I had to make another ring-only pattern...

Motif 45 (#12 on the way to 25 by the 25th): 5-point snowflake based on Snowflake 3 from "Festive Snowflakes and Ornaments"

This was supposed to be a 6-point ring-only snowflake with lots of empty space in the middle, but I decided to add beads...and skip one of the points, partially because I didn't have enough thread to finish the last point, and partially because I didn't really have enough space to crowd in another point...I'm going to make the pattern again without the beads to see how it really looks, but I do like this a lot, too...it's kind of a star/snowflake hybrid, which is cool.

So that's that...there are 12 days to Christmas, and I have 13 motifs left to do to get to 25 by the 25th...that's just one motif/day...I can totally do that, right?! :)

One New Country, Two Tatting Classes, Three More Motifs and Four Sunlit Shuttles! (Motifs 40-42)

Well, we're back.

That was a very rough, very fast trip home, but I'm glad we went...

Partly because I picked up yet another country (Japan--my 5th new country in the past two months, phew!), but most especially because we got to see all our families and meet our newest niece, Gemma...

The pink bib worked! (And was HUGE on my 6 lb+ niece!)

 I did a little bit of tatting while I was home and in the air...as per usual...

Motif 40 (#7 on the way to 25 by the 25th...yikes!) This is Perfect Quilter and DMC 80 threads combined.

Ok, so it was a very little bit...to be honest, that's about all I achieved on the trip...I was mostly too exhausted to even lift a shuttle.

 Understandably (I hope) I was pretty down after returning (and jetlagged!!) but a small package from Canada perked me up considerably on my first day back at work...four Sunlit Shuttles from that amazing Fox! Thank you again! :)

And they are great! As a semi-converted needle tatter I don't have a ton of shuttles and all my Clovers are full, so it was a very, very timely arrival! :)

 Suitably cheered and fully rested I started on one of the Shuttlebirds Weekly Challenges (I've been getting the e-mails for months but this is the first one I've completed)...

And yes, the thread matches the shuttles...I like it that way. :) It's the Tatted Roman Cross in size 30 Cebélia, and is Motif #41 (and #8 on the way to 25 by the 25th).

 As a thank you (sorry if this spoils the fun, Fox) I decided to make a Thank You mignonette AND practice a new skill at the same time:

BEADS! (Motif 42 on the year, #9 on the way to 25 by the 25th)

It took a couple tries but I managed to add beads from the shuttle. Amazing.

 Finally, I taught my second tatting class (needles, not shuttles...it's easier, I think)--it was actually a reschedule class, originally we were going to have it the Sunday I left for the funeral, but my students were patient and we had a nice time making holiday motifs this past weekend.

 So that's that...just under two weeks until Christmas and I have 16 motifs to go to get to 25 by the 25th...it might take a Christmas miracle to pull it off, but stranger things have occurred! :)