Splitting the Self Closing Mock RIng

    Sometimes things just turn out easy. Not often enough, for sure. I am working on a design and got to a place that I needed to throw a ring from a ring. The easy answer is the SCMR (Self Closing Mock Ring.) The problem was, I also needed to exit from a location other than where I started, which usually means a split ring. So, can I combine the two?

    I searched online for this to see if I could do it. Better than having to undo a bunch of stitches, right? All I could find was how to make an SCMR. No mention of splitting at all. That did it. Now I have to try. And it was SOOOO easy. I posted the video in the experiments page I have here. All it really entails is make the scmr as usual for the first side, so I needed to do (5 TR 5-5/5). I made the first part then closed the scmr. This pulls the loop out of the way. Now just pull the core thread back a little, RW and make a split chain using Marie Smith's method. Not a problem in the world now. On with the rest of the design.

Papa's Got a Brand New Bag.

     A couple of years ago I won a wonderful tatting bag at Tat Days. I have carried it to work and everywhere else for the last couple of years and I need to wash it. I decided to get another one instead. Ok, I am going to wash the older one. I will probably use them both. But you have to see the new one. The material is just beautiful.

     The bag is from a material that has an autumn feel to it. The leaves look great on the yellow background. I always did like earth tones. Inside it is double lined in yellow. Wow, I can see what is there now, it is so light and bright. The bottom has a CD sewn in for a stable, flat bottom. The cord goes through metal grommets. This bag is just so well made.
    Now, if you want one of these, first of all, they do not cost what a Dooney and Burke purse costs. (Wife has those.) These are only $22. You can get them from DS9 Designs, by Debbie Arnold. I ordered mine on  Wednesday morning and it was in the mail on Friday so she does really fast shipping. I think the shipping is a flat rate, about $7.99. She does make beautiful bags.

A Smaller Teapot

    Challenge met. I used that center to make the smaller teapot. It actually went quite well. I wanted brown tea, white steam and a silver pot and that is how it came out. Tatting with the King Tut thread is no harder than tatting with larger sizes except if you have to undo a knot. Then I will sometimes use a magnifier to help me see how it is twisted. Doing the actual tatting is the same motion and feel though.

    I did a second photo so you can see the size difference in the outcome of how much smaller the King Tut tats up.

A Challenge

    So, now for a challenge. I like challenges. They keep you sharp and test you in ability, patience, tenacity and other ways. This one is going to be a little bit of a challenge. If you look at the photo it should be familiar. If not, scroll down a couple of posts. This will be another broomstick teapot. I had an idea at Tat Days. Since I did the little turtle in King Tut thread, why not the teapot? So now I have the center done. Like the colors? There is brown tea and white-ish steam in the pot. My pot (the rest of the pattern) will be silver, of course. I like silver. I even have some sterling shuttles. I don't think the rest will be as much challenge as the center, though. Those long picots are always in the way!

Now, on another note, a few weeks ago, Jane Eborall tatted a(n?) opossum. (The o is silent so I am not sure if it is a or an.) She said something about not having seen one and I replied I had hit one that ran out in front of me. This morning, another one tried to commit suicide. I was able to stop in time so I did not hit it. You can see that in this 5 second video clip from my dash cam.

Christmas is Early

    Christmas already? Hardly. But at Tat Days my last class was called Leezil's Ornament. I do not know who Leezil is. It is a design by Erin Holloway Moseley. I really like taking her classes. She puts out chocolate. Lots of chocolate. And her classes are interesting and fun too. And CHOCOLATE.

    This was the class project, as I said, Leezil's Ornament. Pretty, isn't it. This the the first time I ever laced an ornament but it really wasn't hard at all. I got it fairly even, too. I did the "middle" round 3 times. The thread wasn't right. It felt like a zipper when I pulled it through and I kept finding places where some of the plies were cut. I finally pulled another ball from my drawer and had no further problems.

    I wish the photo was better. I still don't really like cameras in cell phones, but I could not get to my DSLR and it would not work on a scanner, so this what I got. I hung this over my monitor and turned off the screen. The flash caused too much reflection even though I set the sensitivity down. Oh, well. It will do for now.

Another Picture of the Broomstick Teapot

    I am off today, waiting for the storm this evening, so I am playing with getting better photos. I think I may have hit on the solution. One thing that really bothers me is finding a way to get the reflections of the light off the photo so the stitches show more clearly. The photo below has accomplished that. I had gone to WalMart and found some 9x12 (I think) sheets of black felt. I put the teapot on my scanner and covered it with the black felt because the lid is white inside. This is how it looks after the scan.

 

    I think this is the way to go. It is clearer than using my phone camera and no reflections to deal with. I do need to clean off the lint specks, though.

    Now that I have that sorted, I am going to try to figure out how to use the GR-8 shuttle I bought at Tat Days and try to finish my last project.

Tat Days 3

    I wanted to get this posted before the storm arrives tomorrow. I will probably be out of power for a few days, but I do have a generator. If the phone goes out, though, I will have almost no internet, just what I can get on the phone. If you have not heard, I live in Florence, SC and Hurricane Florence is coming in tomorrow. It has our name on it.

    My third of 4 classes was with the wonderful Martha Ess. She has more design talent in her little finger than I do all over. The photo is the teapot she designed that was taught at the class. She calls it a Broomstick Teapot. If you look at the center, the long picots resemble broomstick crochet. I think this came out well.It is about 3 inches or so across in size 20. I intend to try it in the King Tut thread, but it may be a while. I have one more project from a Tat Days class to finish, then some miscellaneous things.

Tat Days 2

     When choosing classes for Tat Days I like to try to find something with a bit of a challenge to it so I look over the schedule and choose those first. Then I will find something to fill the empty slots if I can. I often will do a class because I like the teacher. I like Sharren Morgan. She is such a nice person to talk to, soft spoken and very easy to get along with. This year she was doing a class called Myrtle the Turtle. I jumped on it. Now, the objective of the class was to get the hang of Catherine Wheel Joins (CWJ). I have only made a few hundred of these lately but the class was interesting anyway. Actually, I ended up helping a couple other tatters learn the join the easy way.

    Anyway, I made the turtle pretty handily out of size 20 thread. That evening was the auction. During the auction (yes I did bid and make a purchase) I decided to tat another turtle. I did it in King Tut thread this time. (I am told that is about a size 130.) In the photo you can see the result. Yes, I did the CWJ joins, just as in the larger one. I don't think it looks too bad at all, even if the tail did get a bit loose.

Depressed

    I am now in depression. Why? I just got back from Tat Days. Well that should have you pretty well on the up and up. No, I had to leave the company of a lot of great friends and acquaintances. The biggest thrill about Tat Days is really not the thread work, it is the people you meet and talk and tat with. Sure, the classes are great. I learned some good technique, made some nice things, saw other nice things. But the people are the main event. For instance, where else would I have ever met Randy Houtz? Or Georgia Seitz? Or Jane Eborall? (OK, Jane was not here this time, but I met her at Tat Days) Or any of the many other people that are so wonderful to spend time with. I would only meet them at Tat Days, probably. So now I am home and already missing everyone. Let me say thanks to all of you I did get to meet and talk with. You made my Tat Days.

    Now, about the classes. I took 4 classes. The first one was Randy Houtz's alternating thread technique. I already had the book, but was not quite getting the idea. Randy made it easy. He explained in good detail and did not mind questions at all. I totally enjoyed that. We did not have a "project" to do because it was a technique class, but I did make a bit of a sampler. Once I did this little bit, the idea presented itself and now I am fairly confident that I understand his method.
     Now, I said that was my first class, but there was another short class for early birds. It was a technique class also, taught by Mary Anna Robinson.We made a leaf using thread bars. Interesting idea and it looked good. Thanks Mary Anna.
    More on Tat Days in a day or so. Stay tuned!