Face of a Madman?

    This is another hobby I am learning. Being a spaceman. NO! I put a wood shop in my shed out back and I go out there to play when I am not tatting or knitting. We all need something different now and then. I don't do it a lot yet, but I go out when the mood strikes. It is nice in the shop. Quiet and alone.

    Did I say quiet? Well, no one bothering me. It is far from quiet. That is why I wear hearing protection. Start a table saw in a 16x20 foot room and you will see how quiet it is. Along with the dust collector, which is a large industrial vacuum.
    In my picture, I have on eye protection, hearing protection and breathing protection. The cutting equipment generates a lot of fine sawdust that I just don't need to breathe. And chips can fly into the eyes. I need those to see what I am tatting.
    I just wanted to post a picture to show how silly I look. But the personal protection devices do help keep me safe. I am already worn out. I don't need more problems!
    Oh, the hearing protection is a commercial type. It has built in noise reduction, a radio and bluetooth. I am usually listening to an episode of Last of the Summer Wine playing on the computer while I work.

A New Cap

    Now and then I will do something a little different. I do know how to knit and crochet so the other day when I was in WalMart, I spotted a color of yarn I had never used, camoflage. I had to try it. I usually make a new cap every year, though not usually for me. I have one that has worn well for several years. I do have friends that like them, though, so I will probably give this one away. 

    I like to work on double pointed needles. I have used circular but this has become my favorite way. The point of all this rambling is not really the cap or the knitting, but the point stoppers. I kept dropping stitches off the ends where I was not working. This has been going on for years, but I am a bit slow. I have never used them before because they are called point protectors and I keep my needles in cases, therefore I thought I did not need them.
    I dropped into JoAnns and bought 8. They stay on well and keep my knitting on the needles. I use 5 needles. As I get to the next one, that cap comes off and goes to the needle I just finished with, sort of rotating them around as I work. And these do work. One more minor problem fixed.

A Charming Charm.

    At Tat Days 2018 I got to meet Vicki Clarke. A charming young lady and an excellent tatter of course. Unfortunately she could not make it to Tat Days 2019, but she did send a small project for everyone. This is her Honey Comb Charm.

    The kit had about 5 yards of yellow thread, size 20, and a hex shaped piece of wood. Mine has a gem glued to the center. I suppose they all did. It is on both sides. There is a small card with her web address instead of instructions. That is fine. I copied the instruction and made a print. I put it aside to finish my class work for Tat Days first.
    Yesterday I was reading Bernice's blog and saw she had finished hers. It looks a lot better than mine. This spurred me to go ahead and do mine. Since I am knitting a hat right now, I wanted a break. I am a slow knitter, much faster at tatting.
    It took me 2 tries to do it. Well, I said it came with yellow thread. The blue I used came from a ball laying on my desk. Why? Because, as usual, I screwed up the first try. I made one whole side before realizing I had forgotten a join, all the way around. Oh, well. Toss it and do over.So now I have a blue one. Back to the needles. You may also notice another "difference", but now it is done.

A Ride to Tat Days

    I told Jane Eborall that the car she designed could take her to Tat Days next year. Well, I don't know about crossing the pond. The sea bottom is probably too rough unless you have 4 wheel drive.  I like her car design, though. I have done a couple of them already. Cute and quick to make.
    If she can get to South Carolina, then I have one for her to drive to Tat Days. Remember, it's her car. But "painted" in USC colors.

    I do need to add doors and windows. I may try that. Does anyone else think this reminds them of cartoon cars from many years ago?

More Coriolis-es

    I went to the state fair yesterday with the Palmetto Tatters Guild. Upon arrival I helped set up for the day. Once people started coming in we got fairly busy talking, sharing stories and demonstrating tatting.A lot of people remember Grandma had tatted lace on something, a doily, a collar, a tea towel.
    I didn't really make anything there, just some rings and chains for demonstration purposes. Nothing to keep. Others were making and handing out small items. I did display the Juliana Doily. A lot of people liked that. I also got a lot of compliments on my tatted Dr. Who Bow Tie that Anita Barry designed and taught at Tat Days a couple years ago. I mounted it on a tie clip. The old photo of it is here.

    While I was talking to Theresa, she showed me 3 of her Coriolis motifs she had done in 3 different sizes. She had them in sizes 20, 40 and 80 thread. She said something about being told I would do size 120. I suppose that is close enough to King Tut thread.
    I tried to start it, but with all the visitors to talk to, questions to answer and demonstrations of stitches, I just did not have time. I did bring home what I started, though, and this is the result. The one on the right is in size 20. The left one is King Tut quilting thread. You can see easily the size difference. It really was not that hard to do. I just like doing fine work, I suppose.

More Patterns

    Now that I have almost all the stuff from Tat Days done, I need to work on something else. I have a couple projects that I need to finish. If you look down the side you will see my Artisan badge from the T.A.T. program. I am working on the Master's level, but have not had time to finish it. I think that will be next on my list. I will have to do other little things in between the articles for that, though, because I am not allowed to post program projects online. Sorry, but it keeps the integrity of the program.

    What to do between? Well, I just got this in the mail yesterday evening. I have all the CDs of patterns from all the Tat Days that are available. This one is for the years there was no CD. The guild has finally made it available. It was probably quite a chase to get all the permissions needed. Now I can do some of these in between the T.A.T. program projects. These I can post here.
    OK, back to work (tatting). Oh, by the way, if you want a copy, you can get it here: Order CDs.

Double Dip Braid - Class Fourth and Final

    Sometimes I like to take classes, not for the article, like the coin purse, but for the techniques involved. This was one of those. I saw the braid and asked myself what is the path to make this one pass and did not see an obvious answer. It is intended to be something like a lanyard, but I do not usually use those. I wanted the technique.

    Since, once again, I could not stay for the class, when I got back I did my classes at home. It has taken me several days as I have other things to do too. You all know how life happens. I finished them in the order that I would have done at Toccoa.
    I began this one and got to the fourth ring, which happens to be on the second row. You make the first two rows first. I saw a dilemma. How to add the chain back to the first row and still end up at the top of the chain. Erin Holloway-Moseley taught the class, but was not here to advise me, so looking at the instructions it says connect and wrap backwards. I thought about that for a moment and decided to do this:
    I put the hook through and pull up a loop, pass the shuttle through, pull it back under, making sure it lies neatly, put the thread over and pull down a loop, pass the shuttle through and pull back up, tighten to the first part and you have a DS. It's a split chain without the split, sort of.
    Erin, if you read this, tell me if I got it right. I do know that for some reason my rings don't overlap like hers do, but I think I figured out the technique. I also see I need to make it neater.

Butterflies - Class Third

    My third class at Tat Days was to be the Butterflies In Flight by Jane Eborall. Now I have it completed as a small bookmark. She suggested using it as an edging, bracelet or bookmark, so bookmark it is. One thing I really like is the way the lock chain adds to the leading wing edges. Really pretty.

     This is not too hard to do if you understand SCMR's. The hardest part for me was starting it. I have a habit of avoiding knots when I can. I did not follow her instructions to begin with a weaver's knot. I laid the threads where I needed them, then tatted over tails with a bit of a pass through. If you want to see something similar, Jane is preparing to add a technique to her pages that will demonstrate it. It is not exactly the way I started this, but close. I did start with two separate threads and made the SCMR immediately. (You have to pay close attention to which thread is which.)
    At the end, I decided to add a spiral and then fray the end. I did not get as much fray as I would have liked, but it will do fine for my books.

A Man's Purse? Tat Days, Class Second.

    I doubt I will carry it, but it was fun to make. Oh, wait. That was going to be my last line for this post. Well, it was fun to make. And quick, too, actually.
    This was to be my second class at Tat Days this year. When I started it, first thing I did was read the pattern. The second thing I did was e-mail Sharren.

    Sharren Morgan designed (I think) and taught this pattern. It is her Edwardian Coin Purse, and that is why I asked, "A Man's Purse?". The kit for it was simply the clasp. You can find them online pretty easily. Then I chose gray for my thread. Well, you didn't think I was going to carry pink, did you? Actually, I probably would. I am too old to care what people think. The only thing I can think of that might improve this would be to add a silk liner, but I am not going to.
    I don't know if she is making the pattern public, but it is on the CD from the Palmetto Tatters Guild for Tat Days 2019 HERE.