Thursday, November 29, 2018

One More Hat

    Yes, I have been wearing my hat. It is getting more like winter now. Not too bad, about 50F daytime, but the last couple mornings have been just below freezing. Now I am glad I made the hat.
    One of the fellows I work with saw my hat. I had made him one a few years ago, but a different style. It had no cables and was just ribbed all the way up. He asked if I could make him one like this, so I did. This one is made in Caron yarn. It is a pretty soft yarn. He likes it.
    I did ask him where the other hat is. He said his mother liked it so well she took it and that's why he needed another!
    Now, back to tatting.

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

My Hat

    I have a favorite TV show. It is a British comedy by the title "Last of the Summer Wine. It is about 3 older men, retired, no wife any longer for whatever reason, and their second childhood antics. I think is it the best comedy I have ever seen. (I know others have their own opinion.) There is one character they call Compo. In the show he wears a knit cap. I checked around online and found a pretty close pattern. This one is my first try. I do have a few mistakes, but if it gets cold, I don't think I will care.
    At least it is in my favorite color - green.

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Finally! No More Mess!

    This one is not about tatting. You may remember that 2 years ago Hurricane Matthew decided to pay a visit to this area. The wind was not so bad, about 75-80 miles per hour at the most. The bad part was it dumped 14"+ rain. What happened then was trees could not hold on because the ground was so wet. They may as well be planted in sand. Combined with the wind, the rain made it so they just fell over. The worst one for me was an oak in the back yard. It was 75-100 feet high and 40" thick. It has taken me 2 years to get it cleaned up, but finally it is done. Here are just a few pictures of the progression. The dumpster holds 20 cubic yards of material. I loaded 3 of them.














    It took so long because I am not longer the perfect physical specimen I used to be. (Yeah. Right.) One thing for sure. Getting old sucks. Now if I can just get some grass planted next spring.

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Finished With a Christmas Present

    Once again, it's been a while. Just getting busy with life. The wife is not feeling well so I have been trying to take care of her, as I can. I am still working too much and playing - well, not enough. But such is the way of the world.
    On a positive note, I finally have finished a Christmas present. This one is Renulek's Spring Napkin 2018. This has really been an interesting tat. Mostly I have had to do it at work, no, not on company time, but I usually arrive about an hour ahead and have coffee and quiet. I also take lunch in my office so I eat, then tat. I started this one in February. Between everything else, I finally got it done yesterday.
    I did the first several rounds as continuous tatting, but eventually the pattern got a bit complicated so I had to start individual rounds. On the last round are 48 "points". I used the method I have in my Experiments page for doubled rings. I think it looks better that way. In this photo I have not blocked it yet. I have washed it with Orvus though. It is tatted with Pop-A-Bobbin shuttles using DMC100 and measures about 13" across. I wonder what it would be in size 20?

    This doily will go to my niece for Christmas.