Finished Rainbow Bookmark

    This is a fun tat. I started it Saturday and finished today. Mostly because life happens. Had a few things that needed taking care of, as we all do from time to time. Tatting is a hobby, after all.
    I had the red stripe done yesterday evening. This morning, about 6, I started on the rest of it and it is now 2pm. Considering that I did go out to my shop and did a little wood work between the rainbow and the cloud, that's not too bad. The cloud took a little over an hour.

So here is the finished bookmark. It was done in the pattern using size 30 Cebelia. I used Size 20 Lizbeth. I wonder how small it would be in King Tut?

A Rainbow

    I am starting another pattern today, well, yesterday. I hope to finish it today or tomorrow. Should not take too long. It is a simple pattern, but I am learning from simplicity.
    Nancy Tracy has a book out, 'Tat's Where I Stopped', that has wonderfully imaginative bookmarks in it. I have decided to do one of them. These are themed to the months of the year so there are 12 patterns. I am doing March. It is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Here is my pot of gold. The red ring is the start of the rainbow. I will post that when I get it done, probably tomorrow. In Nancy's pattern, the shamrock is green. I wanted a pot of gold, not a pot of green, so mine is gold. I just happened to have the Lizbeth gold color on hand.

    Lesson 1. Sorry it is a little off kilter, but not that bad. I am starting to remember to scan these instead of photograph them. You get truer colors and it is easier to set up without reflections.
    Lesson 2 is at the top corner of the pot. There are thrown rings on chains. Now, when I see a pattern with thrown rings, I wind up 2 shuttles. In her book she says she does not care to use 2 shuttles all the time and to just use a shoelace trick to reverse the threads. I had never thought of doing that. Pure genius! It works a treat and I only had to use one shuttle and the ball.
    Lesson 3. I need to remember that if it is only rings and chains, don't cut the thread from the ball. Now I have to reattach the thread and that means tails to hide. I have to remember CTM more! Too late for this project, but next time.
    Now see! I am learning.

Alternate Threads

    As I said last time, now I have time to try new things. Here are more samples from the Alternate Threads book. I am working straight through the book from front to back and I want to do each sample as presented. I think Randy and Gary have it in a pretty progressive order.

     I am starting to get the hang of doing this. I still have not figured out how to get the picot gauges in there yet, but one thing at a time. I did, though, decide to make it a bit more difficult. At Tat Days last year I purchased 4 of their shuttles. I am learning how to use them as I work through the book.

    They are fiddly at first, to say the least. I keep having to work that screw to get thread. Like Randy said, though, it's practice. It is getting to be a bit easier each time and I am developing my own technique. Later in the book he talks about the double bobbin shuttles. That should really get interesting!

Learning a New Technique

    Ah, retirement has it's perks. One of them, and probably the one I like most, is more time to do what I want instead of what the company wants. Freedom to choose. Time at home with family.
    One of the things I am doing with the time is trying to learn new methods and techniques in my tatting. I have time to practice now. At Tat Days last year I took Randy Houtz's class on Alternate Threads. I am using size 20 for this, not King Tut!
    The first thing I see I have to come to grips with is not the concept, it is the hand position. I have now done the first 2 pages of examples he gives. I just separated most of them by chains of some sort to see them easier. I think I am starting to get used to the hand position pretty well, though occasionally I do drop one of the threads.

    Here are a couple of scans of the samples I have done. I see that I need to work on tension, but that will be later, when I am more comfortable with process. I think the front/back difference is interesting too.  These two pictures are the same thing, just flipped over. I really want to get the hang of this. It has a lot of possibilities. For some reason, this is reminding me a bit of pearl tatting. It is probably in how the thread is carried around each set of stitches.
    In other news, no, I have not finished blocking out the crown. Judith Connors suggested that I put a ring in base to help hold the circle. I looked in my drawer of "tatting supplies" and found a 4" ring that will fit. I just have to decide how I want to attach it. I could wrap with ribbon, wrap with thread, not use it at all, or re-tat the crown and use it like a cabone ring project. At least I have time to decide.