I've finished something!..... Sort of....

Hi all!

First up, apologies if your comments have disappeared.... I had only saved this post, not published it (wasn't finished) but Blogger in its wisdom published it anyway.... D'oh!

I was having trouble formatting, and deleted the post out of frustration, but apparently it stayed visible long enough for comments, so if I accidentally orphaned your comment, I apologize!

Back to the actual blogging bit....

So much for a blog being easier to update than a website! Can't believe it's been 4 months....

Since Feb, I've been to my dad's 70th birthday, our house has turned into an experimental virus lab, and I've gone broody. Yup, bub#2 is due late Novemberish. (Apologies to those I haven't got the news to to personally - living in a virus lab is rather draining, and after hubby coughing himself silly last night, it's evident the the lurgies aren't 100% dead yet!!)

Hubby got the flu (probably the swine one). DS and I dodged that, but with the usual seasonal bugs going around my work, plus what comes in from daycare, the combinations seem endless.... We seem to just pass them around and around until well all end up resistant to roughly the same stuff. Seems to take FOREVER...We had 6 fairly bug-free months, and then this bunch hit us..... Joy oh joy. =)

Anyway, down to what I've actually finished. A note on the picture quality - I'd love to use my scanner, but it's a great behemoth of a thing (one of those printer/scanner all-in-one jobs), and I don't have anywhere to leave it set up anymore. So in the spirit of getting some pics before near terminal I'd-rather-be-tatting-ness sets in, I've been resorting to the camera. The digital macro mode doesn't do too bad a job for the occasional close up I think....

1) Bookmark for Dad's birthday. Deciding on a relatively masculine pattern was a challenge, but came up with something. Colour not such a big problem, due to extreme colour blindness on his part, but still a challenge. And until I recreate it for myself, you'll just have to take my word for it, as it seems I forgot to take a photo! D'oh!

2) The vase doily, AKA Mary Konior's "No, Nay, Never" from "A Pattern Book of Tatting"! Not sure if this is REALLLY finished, but it's as finished as it's getting for now. The photo doesn't do the vase justice, it's a deep royal blue at the bottom and emerald green at the top. The doiley could probably do with an extra round to look really speccy, but this is where I ran out of oomph. Any votes? Expand or not to expand, this is the question...

3) A hanky that's been in progress for 7 years (at least!) This is the kind of project clogging up my UFO basket that I'm trying to shift....

The actual tatting's been finished for at least a couple of years, it's the attaching that's been killing me.... Because it didn't have spokes or a proper rolled edge, I had to crochet around it to have something to attach to. I learnt something. Without spokes, I crochet WAY too tight!! It was sooooo difficult to get the needle under the double stitches that it got dumped in the "later" basket quite often...

However, it's such a pretty thing I just had to finish it. I can't take the credit for the colours, this is actually a "kit" I bought on ebay from Georgia Seitz...well, over 7 years ago. At that point, it was a hanky, cotton, decorated shuttle, and came in a cute little tub. I'm not generally an orange person, but I love this particular one (probably because some bits look crimson to me!)
The pattern is "Betsy's Downfall", from Mary Konior's "A Pattern Book of Tatting". I like this close kind of pattern for variegated cotton - the pattern's pretty in itself, but really shows the colour changes nicely (in my opinion anyway.) =)

4) An "every day" hanky, using Rosmarie Peel's split ring edging.

I've done this pattern before on a "display" hanky many years ago, but this one is for regular use. I like edgings with lots of joins for things that will go through the wash a lot, as I think it makes them stronger, and easier to block.

5) And this is my current UFO... If the pattern looks familiar, it's the same as the orange one! I just couldn't find anything else I felt like doing. Much as this might seem to be generating duplicate projects, the aim here is to stop my hanky stash blowing out any further.

The hanky is a recent acquisition, so thought I'd better get it in use sooner rather than later. This is my favourite variegated thread, but doesn't really lend itself to doilies. This hanky seemed like the perfect match for it.

Well, that's about it for now. I'm probably not going to get anything into a show this year. I've got enough things to achieve by November as it is!

Would this catch on?

Tigger (aka Tigger the TatCat) is just such an obliging lace model (as you can see from my profile pic.) Pardon the wonky bits in the lace, not all of it has been blocked yet.

Truth is, like most cats, if it's warm enough, still enough, and not too much effort to get to, it'll get sat on. Me tatting provides pretty much all of that. However, Tigger has trained himself to ignore shuttles. Unfortunately our other cat still gets an insane gleam in his eye if he's on my lap and one dangles within batting distance (or I'm two-shuttle tatting and one gets dropped on him).... I have to face him the other way and pat him 'til he forgets about it if I want to keep my lapwarmer. =)

This pattern looks so good on Tigger...would lacy cat coats catch on do you think? =)

I've probably messed it up for using for a show now, but it was worth to see that "I look GOOD in this" look on that furry little face. It had some accidental scorch marks on it from the initial blocking that I had to wash out (grumblemumblestupidstuffupgrumble), so it's not really show worthy anymore anyway (washing's a bit of a no-no for shows down here).

That's it for now.... Hopefully I'll have one of my other UFO hankies that I've been too lazy to stitch up done soon. =)

Happy tatting!

Cas.

What a weird day....

Hi all!

I'm afraid this post probably has a bare minimum of tatting content, so feel free to skip over.

My apologies in advance for the huge, rambling length of this, at least hopefully it'll be out of my head!

Tatting stuff first....Well, I've finished a UFO! Yay!!!! Here it is in all it's glory below. However, actually finishing something is not the weird bit.

For non-Aussies, today's the 1st anniversary of Black Saturday, i.e. the horrific bushfires that started on this day in Victoria last year. For a bit of a summary, wikipedia's probably good enough. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Saturday_bushfires

That day would have been memorable enough simply for being the hottest day in the state of Victoria in settled history (46C). I don't live in the bushfire zone, but getting through that day with a toddler and no aircon, too hot to open anything for a bit of fresh air (until things start burning).... Not fun. Other than that, my family and friends were thankfully not affected (or at least didn't suffer direct physical damage), but it's hard not to think of those that were today....

What's weird is the weather today as compared to last year - it's a very mild February so far, so there I was, sitting out in the back yard this morning with my tatting, beautiful blue sky all around, not a breath of a breeze, watching DT doing a bit of installation art on a rosebush with the clothes pegs.... Last year, I was hardly game to stick my nose out the door it was that hot, it hadn't even dropped below 30C the previous night....

Anyway, amongst other things, Feb the 7th was a meeting day for the local tatters guild. My car was so far out of service I wasn't game to drive the 40mins to get there, and I had no idea what 46C would do to the tyres on my poor little buzz box, so I bunkered down with my boys to wait for that cool change.

However we apparently had even MORE people turn up than usual! There were a few people from the at risk areas that found they couldn't get home at the end of the day due to road blocks.

My heart was in my mouth for about 48 hours when I realised I couldn't contact a friend in one of the affected areas - you can imagine my relief when she finally checked in.

Given that I had been told some time previous that I was essentially godparent to her shuttle collection, there were some pretty afwful images going through my head involving molten metal and plastic (and worse).....

When I finally did see her face to face at another meeting, found out that she had been safer than her collection, as she was out of harm's way, but the collection was at a friend's .....in Kinglake (i.e. ground zero). Friends, shuttles and all are well, but the skin still crawls...

Add to this, one of my work colleagues has been a CFA (country fire authority) volunteer for some years, so I knew there was a pretty good chance he would be out fighting fires. When the stories started coming out just how bad things were, I was not so much worried for his safety, as for what he would be dealing with.

He came through, but I haven't asked him anything about it. As it is, his crew had to rescue another crew that ran into trouble in Kinglake.

Some years previously, I had been on a pretty massive tatting kick at work, building up to getting married later in the year. Somehow I got diverted onto bookmarks. Andrew decided one of these was just the thing for his MIL's birthday, so I got my first commission. (Yay!)

MIL was suitably impressed, and asked "But how do I keep it flat??" Andrew: "Keep it in the book!"

I got roundly told off by same for not having had any tatting in the Royal Show that year, as he'd made an effort to go and look for it. I suspect my impending nuptials were seen as bit of a weak excuse. =)

To see what Andrew's crew got up to, there's a summary at http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/our-volunteers-are-there-with-a-helping-hand-whenever-it-is-needed.
The full version (in Andrew's words) is at http://www.wongaparkcfa.au.eu.org/KinglakeRescue.html

There are also pics of his crew.

Well, that's Feb the 7th out of my system for this year - let's hope we don't see its likes again for a long, looooooong time - never's probably too much to hope for.

To inifinity and beyond!!

....Well, just over the edge of the table, really. =)

Hi All!

I've started cycling through UFOs..... I have an abundance of hankies that have stalled in the final stages.... The tatting's not the problem it's the attaching!

I know there's other ways than stitching, but it gives an effect I like. But I really hate doing it...
Anyway, here's first cab off the rank. It's a combination of black size 80 DMC special dentelles, and something that might be some pretty ancient J&P coats ( I can't remember and the cardboard doodad has fallen out.)The edging's hardly even a pattern, its meant to be plain and sturdy, as this will be an "everyday" hankie (i.e. must survive the washing machine every week.) I just like the match of colours between the hankie and the J&P thread. Only put the black chain in as I didn't want multicoloured picots attaching to the black cloth....

I'm also putting in a pic of my latest useful toy.... Not sure what it's really called, I got it in an chemist shop's pre-xmas cleanout.... I just call it the 'globe magnifier', and it's very useful when trying to pick up doing a piece from 6 months ago for which you didin't write down the stitch count (or can't relocate the pattern).... =)

Well, Tigger the tat cat has moved in for the evening, so I guess I'd better oblige him by doing some tatting. =)

Happy tatting!

The battle begins...

Hello, and welcome to my blog.

This is something I've been wanting to do for a while, but usually when it comes to the choice between updating a website and tatting, I'd rather be tatting (or depending on how the toddler-wrangling's been going, sleeping!)

Unfortunately, when it comes to tatting, I'm much better at starting than finishing. The UFO pile has hit critical mass, it's getting so I can't find things and I've forgotten what I've started, so I'm starting this up as a bit of an incentive to try and get me to finish a few things!

My ultimate aim is to be able to fit all of my UFOs into a lovely box my dad made for me a few years ago, as different from the multiple boxes, bags, coffee tables, and other random spots throughout my workshop (sorry, "house") they current reside in.

This could take a while.

Given I now have a toddler, it's not going to be too long before he's going to find it a bit rich for me to expect him to pack up and be neat when I obviously have trouble doing it myself. =)

DH is neater than me, but then computers don't (usually) explode and cover the entire house, unlike my UFO pile - to say nothing of DS's burgeoning in-house rail yard and jigsaw puzzle collection.

So, here we go - My first project is the "No, Nay, Never" out of "A Pattern Book of Tatting" my Mary Konior. I hope the title doesn't describe when it'll finally be finished.....











The plan is for it to be a table centre to go under a lovely blue and green vase I got for a birthday many moons ago.... It's in size 20 Lizbeth thread I got (bought) for my birthday last year. Have to say, I'm loving this thread!

If you want to see what I've actually managed to finish in the past, the link to my website is in my profile info. But I'm hoping updating this blog will be quicker. =)

So I'd better finish this and get on with some tatting!

Cas. =)