An Old Find

I was cleaning our mantel yesterday. I picked up a candlestick and found an old small doily I made probably 25 years ago. I don't know what the pattern is, but most likely it is from Workbasket magazine. I have a collection of those back through 1942.

It was really dusty, dirty, so I decided to try something. I have a little Orvus around here so I got out a glass pie plate, the Orvus, and some hot water and let it soak a couple of times. It didn't turn pure white, but then I didn't expect it to. I probably made it from something off white, like eggshell. Still, it came back pretty good and now I know I did not make it in brown. (I also spotted a mistake.)

Update: Seems it was from a book Learn To Tat (Janette Baker) about 2008. I don't remember making it this century, but maybe so. I do have pieces around the house from way back. I just cannot remember when. Of course, it is possible she used it from an earlier publication. I just don't remember. I hate getting old.

Yardwork

    I really have not been slack. I have been working on the TAT program for the artisan phase. I am afraid I cannot tat any more today, though. Started working on the yard and now my shoulder is killing me. It's probably the arthritis or the bursitis. Possibly tendonitis. Whatever "itis" it is, (notice the word play there), I would rather be holding a shuttle. (I have another Pop-A-Bobbin coming in the mail, too!)

    Instead, today I have been holding a chain saw. I hired a few friends to help me with some of it and I still have a ways to go, but at least now we have room for me to replace the old shed that was destroyed in the hurricane. There was a big pile of logs. Now it is gone.

Top Hat

    NO! Not the movie. It was a good one though. I finished the top hat. Here are 4 photos of it, one flat, then I put a glass under the form to try to shape it. I think I like this. I also have a close shot of the edge, if you can see anything in black thread. I did Catherine Wheel Joins to keep the edge even as I could.

    I still need to shape and starch lightly. I had discussed using Stiffy, or something like that, but I think a little Niagara spray will work fine.

On The Form

   

Well, Mandatory guessed it. The object is a form for the top hat. Here are a couple photos of the hat mounted on the form. I have a couple of rounds to go on the brim.
    Since I have been modifying the pattern anyway, I am thinking on ending it this way:
    1. Make one round of chains around, one picot at the beginning of each and one in the middle.
    2. Make one more round of chains slightly longer, like onion rings, and do the Catherine join so I get a smooth outer edge. I think the chains might help stiffen the brim.

 

 Lastly I want to try to put a little curl to the sides for effect.

What's This Thing?

    I've been at the 3D printer again. This time I have made - well - a cup. Sort of. Now, the question is, what is it for? Clue - tatting. (Of course) This will have a couple of uses probably. But what did I do it for primarily. It did take 11 hours to print. I started it and went to bed. When I got up it was almost done. It costs about 39 cents in plastic. But it is to a size I wanted. So far it works.

     I will show you what I am doing with it in a day or two.

Tea Is For Tatting

    In my parcel, I also got some books, 6 of them. One is Tea is for Tatting by Martha Ess. You remember I am making the Top Hat for the Top Hat Tea House. I was also thinking of doing a framed collection of tatted "tea items", non-3D. I don't know if there is a word for that. Diorama is not right. I have a good vocabulary, I just cannot recall. Just getting old. Perhaps I could borrow BC3 from Jane!

    Terrible photo. I just now noticed the reflection from the lamp. And the lighting was bad anyway. The book does have a clear plastic cover to protect it. There is a lot in this book and of course, it is all beautiful work.

More Toys

     It seems I am always the last to know about or get to anything. A few years ago, one of our engineers was expecting. I was in and out of her office a lot, but I didn't know until the week before she had her baby. I guess I am just not observant.
    This time I think I am just late for the party. I finally got a set of the new clover shuttles in. Thanks to Lisa at Tatting Corner for bearing with me. I placed the order and she happened to have just run out of the shuttles, so we had to wait for a new shipment from Japan. These things are going fast. I think everyone else had them before me. Now I do have them and I want to try them out. But, like the previous post said, I have too much going at the moment, so they will have to wait. With Carollyn's rabbit shuttle. It gets tried first.

    I got some books too. More on that later.

Sidetracked Again!

    I really have a major problem with staying on task. I need to work on the carousel. I need to redo the star Jane Eborall created. (Mine was way too loose.) I REALLY need to get back to the TAT program and get it done. (Artisan level).
    Right now I am working on this. It will be a top hat. If you saw it on Craftree, then you already know. I was taken for lunch to a local tea house called Top Hat. I saw a crocheted doily on the wall in a frame and asked why no tatting? The lady that owns the place was interested. I decided she needed a tatted top hat. No, she does not know. Only my friend that took me there knows.
    This is a pattern I found on Craftree. I have made modifications to it. The original has the outer rounds and the "chimney" part all pulled out of shape, so I "adjusted" it by adding rings between the ones that are in the pattern. Now it looks better. At least to me it does. I have not shaped it much yet since I still have to manhandle it to tat it. I am making it in size 3 Lizbeth. It feels like rope and it is stiff and waxy.

    It is coming along. I think she will like it when I get it done.