ornament and hat

I received a question about the pattern that I used for the ornament in yesterday's post.

The pattern that I used is based on the snowflake The Sixteenth Day of December from the book 24 Snowflakes in tatting by Lene Bjorn.

The pattern originally calls for rings and chains, but for ease in loading beads, I revised the pattern so all rings are SCMR. that way I could load all beads on the ball thread and only needed to wind 2yds on the shuttle.

After each SCMR I did an unflipped first half DS to lock the SCMR, otherwise if the entire work was a chain with no anchors, it seemed to me it would get rather loose and shift around.

I had to increase the DS in the center SCMR to accommodate the top of the ornament, otherwise the number of DS in the pattern are unchanged

I am posting another pic of the hat. I haven't decided if it is finished or not, but for the time being, it is. I might do some leaves, but then sometimes less is more.

This next pic is of a bookmark that I did for our Priest for Christmas. I based it on the Madonna and Child motif that Mark Meyers has posted on his website. I did a few slight changes. If I had had more time, I would have added to the length sort of like a skirt, but it was given as is. Here is the link to Mark's blog, you might be able to access his motif patterns at his temporary site http://tatmantats.wordpress.com/

The following pictures are of some crochet projects that I have finished.

The first is a child's size 8 shirt.

It is going to a charity. The pattern is the "T" top sweater from the Guideposts magazine website.

The second pic of an afghan that I made for my DH. I had started and thought that I had finished it several years ago. It is about 8' long so that it will cover him from his feet to his neck when laying down and tuck under his feet to keep them warm. but it was a bit narrow, so his elbows got cold. So I added to the width and it is now almost 4' wide.

The cream strips are crochet, but they look more like knitting as you make your next row in the back loop of the stitch below. Also I did all the double crochet using the Elmore method, where you do a chain stitch at the beginning of each stitch to add height. it goes like this for a regular double crochet - yarn over your hook, go through the stitch below, yarn over, pull through - you have 3 loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through 2 loops twice. and you have 1 loop left on your hook. for the Elmore method. you start the same. Yarn over your hook, go through the stitch below, yarn over and pull through - you now have 3 loops on your hook. here is where the difference come in. Yarn over and pull through only 1 loop, you still have 3 loops on your hook. now yarn over and pull through 2 loops twice and you have 1 loop left on your hook.

I really need to finish this and get it posted, it is long past time to get to bed.

Happy Tatting