Starting the Crown Again

    It has been a really lousy six weeks. I got some kind of crud that settled in my chest and would not let go. I was wheezing and what I would call chain coughing, where it just goes on for 15 minutes. The really bad part was it was not productive at all, so the gunk just stayed there. Now I am finally getting over it, after the third round of antibiotics. That is why I have not been tatting a lot, especially on the Faith Crown project.
    I kept looking at that crown. The rings are not even, there is a place where I joined and got in a hurry that looks terrible. I was just not happy with it, even though I wanted to use it to find errors and difficulties. Ok. I think I did that. I now have restarted it. I used bigger shuttles to do the first round so there would be no joins needed that would look unsightly. I think this is much better.

 

    For some reason, the white thread looks pink in this light. I did not bother to correct the image. Please bear with me.

    The second round has something that I find interesting. It is not in the pattern. I have been playing with a technique, but I am not sure what it is. In the closeup photo, you see I am putting a chain across the rings. 

    When I join, I make the standard down join to make a lock stitch. I then put the shuttle hook up through the picot and pull the shuttle thread back down through and pass the shuttle through the loop like an up join. This effectively makes a larks head knot. The reason I wanted to do this was to make the join balanced and even.What I see is a bar going across the join, the ball thread still on the left and the shuttle thread exiting a larks head knot. Now I need a picot here so that makes it all the easier to do. The question I have is, is this a standard stitch, like maybe a Catherine Wheel? Or something like that? I just don't really know. It does balance out my joins, though.

Faith Crown

    Just a quick update. I got the first round done, but  I am not really happy with it. I know I can do better. I am going to go with it as is at the moment and finish this crown. I will probably do it over later, but for now I am looking for the "glitches". I have found a couple.
    The first was running out of thread on the first round. I hate to tie in tails any more than needed, so I will have to use a larger shuttle next time.
    Second, I can tie in tails a lot better than I did, but I was in a hurry, so it does not look very good to me. No, you probably cannot see it in this photo. I am so ashamed of it I don't want to show it.
    Third, I also got a couple of  "loose" spots, where the chain or ring should be pulled together better.

    This photo is the first and second round. R2 is just the chain from ring-top to ring-top. On to the final round and see what errors await.

A New Strip

    I am now almost over the cold I have had for 3 weeks. This has been miserable. The doctor gave me a course of antibiotic, but had to give me another, stronger one when the first did not work. Feeling better now, but still a little congested.
   I am working on something I have promised myself for 40 years or more. Look at the row of rings in the picture. Recognize it? In the back of the book "Tatting Patterns and Designs" are 3 crowns. I always wanted to do one. I have started it several times and lost interest or got diverted to something else and forgot about it. Now I am going to do it and finish it. This will be Faith, the first one.

    When I started this row, I made a ring, then a chain. I wondered about the next ring. Do a shoelace? Then it hit me. So obvious. These are all thrown (floating) rings. That also means that the chain is continuous, so it will want to curl, distort, pull. I find the easy way to force it straight is just hold the first ring and rub my finger along it, a little at a time, until it is straight. It seems to work pretty well.

The Mystery Tat-Along Doily

    I finished the doily from the Craftree tat-along. I was able to do it continuously into round 9. Halfway through round 9 I ran out of thread, so I had one time I had to cut and tie. Luckily round 9 is the last one and it only required a ball thread so I worked off the spool. It did not take long to do that round. I think it looks pretty good. It is about 7 inches across (17.78cm). I don't know how big it would be in size 20.

    No, I am not over Sandy. It is starting to ease up a bit, though, since going back to work. It helps to keep my mind off it.

    We did get a nice little headstone. I think it says it all.

Please Excuse My Tears

    Please excuse my tears. I cannot see very well right now so if I type something wrong, I cannot help it. I have lost my best friend.

    You have all seen my avatar, the little dog. That is Sandy. I found her one morning running in the middle of the road. I picked her up and took her home, then went to work. That evening the wife and I canvassed the neighborhood to see who lost her, but no one knew anything about her for blocks around. One lady, across from where I found her, said that people drop animals around there because across the street is a swamp. I kept her. Sweetest little dog I ever had.

    At her last visit to the vet in August I was told she had an enlarged heart and that it was so big her lungs could not get enough air. We put her on medications. The prognosis was 6 months to a year. 

    When I got home today, I got down with her and petted her and talked to her, then went into my office for a few minutes. She came in and I got down with her again for a bit. She got up and went to the living room, then crawled into her bed. She had waited for me to get home from work to say goodbye.

    She died today at 6 1/2 years old. Too young. Pardon me, I need a handkerchief.

Well, The Colors Are Different

    If you look at Craftree you will find that I am working on a doily that was the 2015 Mystery Tat-Along. I want to show you this now because of the thread color. I am tatting this in King Tut, #941, Old Giza. I was not sure how it would come out, but the colors are interesting, to say the least. It is a very busy blend. Since King Tut is a quilting thread, I can see where this would have applications quilting over some busy print fabrics. In this photo I am about 2/3 the way finished and the doily is about 3"3/4 across.

    The challenge I set for myself for this one is to do it in continuous tatting. So far, so good.

I Couldn't Resist

    A couple of posts ago you saw that finally my back yard mess is gone. Nothing left that I didn't want. Well, almost. Anyway, the bare lands between my back neighbor and me finally got to me. I had to do it. I shouldn't have, maybe, kind of, but I did. I had a new shed built. And this one is bigger.

 
    I have, for a long time, wanted a workshop. A place to store and organized my tools and equipment, and a place where I can work on things. For instance, I really need to sharpen the mower blades. I just don't have a convenient place to do it. Now I will. The shed is up and done.
    Next, I have build steps. That should not take long, maybe tomorrow. Then I can move what is just thrown into the other storage shed into this one. The other one mostly has the wife's stuff in it. I have to go around her stuff to get to mine.
Once I get that done, it will be time to run electricity, then insulate, then build workbenches, storage cabinets, etc. It will take some time, but worth it in the long run.
    I am seriously considering making a smaller room inside for my recliner and my tatting. We shall see.