60 inches and counting

After the 46 inches of tatting in size 40 thread for my mob cap  I've gone back to the same #16 variegated brown thread that I was using about 16 months ago and made 60 inches of tatting in a shorter time. 

I'd forgotten how fast tatting progresses with this size of thread although with a thicker thread you can't get as long a length on the shuttle so the joins come up faster -  I get 8 inches per bobbin using my silent tatter so that's usually at least one join per evening.

This is probably going to trim a Victorian-style skirt as I have another length in the same thread and pattern from when I was practicing consistency with the other piece from 16 months ago. The only problem is that back since then I found I had to reduce the tension in my tatting in order to get rings to close when using size 40 thread which means there's quite a difference in the widths of the old and new pieces. so I'll have to make some special sections where I deliberately change the tension over the space of a few inches to link the two pieces together, or tat enough this time to go all the way around the skirt and use the other piece somewhere else.

This thread is called Puppets Eldorado and is made by coats.

This weekend I've also tatted around 2 jewellery findings but I haven't finished off the loose threads yet so those still need to be photographed.

Tat It And See day 10

Day 10 of this year's first TIAS. So far we have 2 pieces but still no idea what it might be.

If you don't know what I'm talking about,  the Tat it and See blog is here: tatitandsee.blogspot.co.uk

Baby bonnet with tatting

Now that the gift has been given I can post a better picture...

The edging round the front of the bonnet is a pattern from Mary Konior's Tatting with visual patterns book.
The butterflies (one on each side) are from a Japanese book.

The baby is only about 3 weeks old and this bonnet is for 3-6 months so it'll be a while before I see it modeled properly.

New year of tatting

It's a new year, and for me just a few months into my second year of tatting.
I'm also going to try to blog a little more often :)

December/January I was working on some tatting for a baby bonnet. I need to take a better picture before giving it to the proud new parents next weekend.

Just as I was finishing the bonnet they announced the birth of their baby girl so I started making some pink butterflies and bits as well.  And then the start of the first T.I.A.S. of the year so here is a picture of both:

Today saw part 3 of the T.I.A.S. I've also started some trimming for a victorian style bob-cap

This picture also has my first attempt at Tattered Heart by Mary Konior but I had problems with the larger rings so it hasn't worked out very well :( 

1 year 1 and half months after starting tatting!

It's been just over a year since I started tatting...

Here's this week's little bits

three little things using Lizbeth Scottish Thistle size 20 and a few more inches added to my length of trim.

the tatting around the key is something I made up as I went along - it ended up being entirely chains of 8ds.

The two-layered flower is from the patterns page at www.cariad-tatting.co.uk.

Last weekend I went to the Makit Fenland Lace & Textile Craft Supplier Fair 2013 in St Ives and bought 2 more small books and quite a lot of thread - mostly Valdani - and a nice little wooden picot gauge.  I also had a really nice chat about tatting with the lady on the stall with the picot gauge - but I'm useless at names so I've forgotten what she trades as :(

An entire year of tatting over - and a new project

This week I realised that I have now been tatting for a year (plus a week or two).  To "celebrate" I'm thinking of digging out all the tatting I've done that I still have and taking a picture of it all together in one place.
Until I get that done, here is a pic from 11 months and 14 days ago which would be about a month after I started tatting...

I've started a new project today - but what it is going to be is a secret for now so that the friends for whom its a present don't find out too soon...
But at the moment you can't tell what it is yet so I'm safe for now :)

The motif on the left will become the middle and will have another 5 copies of the motif on the right.  I'm going to have a little think now about whether to follow the original instructions and cut and tie each one or to see if I can be clever with split rings and climbing out because I really don't like sewing in ends :)
Looking at this picture reminds me that I still struggle with larger rings ;)  With this piece I have the extra difficulty in that I'm trying to keep the tension lighter than normal because I want the finished item to be fairly soft so I'm going to have to be a lot more careful about how tightly I draw up the rings when I close them so that I can keep them a consistent size.  Not tatting too late into the evening will also help as my tension definitely gets worse the later I tat.

This is alongside the current TIAS and working on a long length of some simple tatted trimming.

I'm still here...

I'm not very good at keeping up with blogging it seems!

But I am still tatting and I've joined in with this autumn's Tat it and See (TIAS) which is hosted by Lady Shuttlemaker on her blog with a shared blog with  the results at http://tiaspence.blogspot.co.uk/.  Here's my latest TIAS post.

Last weekend was a long weekend with no tatting because I had this to distract me:

  and this:

and a LOT of this:

Yes I spent a long weekend dog-sitting so that my brothers could take Dad out for a big weekend treat.
Now that I'm back I need to get on with tatting more white trimmings for an Edwardian outfit.

(update) I just looked at the dates of my posts and I've realised my rate of posting drops off suddenly in May so I can blame most of it on getting distracted by the shiny new tablet I bought that month. I've never owned a smart phone so having a gadget like that is quite distracting...  but very handy for the TIAS.