Tischband Started

I have been wanting to start this ever since Umi & Tsuru posted here. 

and since I can understand a smattering of German, and the word Tisch brought that to mind.  I decided to find out what Google Translate had to say.  Tisch can be translated as Table,  and Band, well that is basically self explanitory.  so Tischband can be translated as Table Runner.

and I can see that in the picture posted of the original pattern on Umi's link above.

I have started my version of the pattern.

the thread is size 40 Rhubarb Pie by Marilee Rockley.  yummmm  I think I might have to get some more rhubarb out of the freezer. 

I have benefited from the posts by previous tatters giving hints and tips to make tatting this pattern easier. So, while the pattern calls for 6 layers of chains around the flower center, I have only tatted 5.
and I ran across a link to a youtube video for tatting the leaf. The videographer is Frivole, who is so generous with her video lessons.

here is my week. 
Monday: work, and because of farm things this morning, I didn't get to work until 10:30a.m. good thing my boss is good with a flexible schedule, but then I didn't leave work until 7:30 pm. 
Tuesday: I have a meeting in a city 60 miles away, with the Diocesan Pastoral council so I will not be going to work. 
Wednesday: a meeting in a town 30 miles away, for a Safety Council sponsored by our State Workforce Safety and Insurance Dept for which I am chair of the finance council. so at least I will have a few hours at work in the afternoon.
Thursday: I will have a whole day at work.
Friday: my dd#4 gets to walk in graduation from grad school at a university 4 hours away.  She will still have to defend her Doctoral thesis in a couple months, but she will be a Doctor of Chemistry.  I am so proud of her, this has been a loong haul.  Her first experiments for her thesis several years ago after her successful defense of her Masters were considered failures. that meant starting over in between the teaching she has been doing. Now it has been discovered that those "failures" weren't failures after all, simply a new discovery that wasn't understood properly.  Woo Hoo,  She will be able to publish a paper that will be sighted by other chemists for some time.  Major Woo Hoo.
Doctoral students are expected to publish papers, and several of her papers were covered by grants and the companies who provided those grants considered the work proprietary so she could not publish them. Now, one of those papers has been released and she can publish that paper. so that has helped.  Things have been falling into place for her this year. 

I am so proud of her.

Oh, that means no work on Friday for me either as I will be traveling to see her walk across the stage to get her hood.

Hmmmm good thing this wasn't payroll week.  don't know when I would have gotten that done.

I guess spring is here

according to the calendar, spring is here.  and today is Earth Day.
I remember way back when this got started, it was big, now it is just a mention in the news media and small print on some calendars.

One of the things I got done this weekend, is this....

I started the seedlings for my garden today.  This is a small community garden effort this year.  there will be at least 3 families who are looking to help and get produce from my plot.

None of them will get out in the ground until the 1st of June.  Around here we don't count out frost until after Memorial day.  and believe me,  there have been years where I can remember frost every month except July, and some of the residents of this area can remember back to the 30's where there was a year when there was frost in July.

there are 10 rows going from lower left to upper right. each row has 5 seedling pots
2 rows Kohlrabi Early White =10 pots

Cabbage Premium Flat Dutch Late 5 pots
Cabbage Early Jersey Wakefield 5 pots

2 rows Swiss Chard 6  pots
            Tomato Yellow Pear 2 pots
             Tomato Burpee Jubilee Orange 2 pots
2 rows Tomato Roma 4 pots
            Tomato Oregon Spring 4 pots
            Tomato Burpee Long Keeper 2 Pots
2 rows Tomato Super Beef Steak 4 pots
            Tomato Burpee Big Boy 4 pots
            Tomato Burpee Long Keeper 2 Pots

I will start the Squash, watermelon and cucumbers  in a few weeks.

I am hoping the weather cooperates so I can get in the garden to plant lettuce, radishes, carrots, onions, garlic and more swiss chard this week.

then sometime next week the peas can go in. 

The green beans and corn will have to wait until the middle of May before they can go in.

although, farmguy's wheat is up and he is out planing corn this week, so I suppose..... I could put in all the garden now, but for me the farmers are pushing it. and if it freezes, they will have to replant.

hope you had a great weekend. and lots of time for tatting.

how I fixed my goof

The pattern for the doily goes like this

1. Split Ring
2. Split Ring
3. Ring
4. Chain + to 3
5. Ring
6. Chain
7. Ring + to 3
8. Split Ring
9. Split Ring

but, by not paying attention this is what I did

1. Split Ring
2. Split Ring
3. Chain
4. Ring
5. Chain
I got to the Ring and said "uh, oh, now what. 
I didn't want to un-tat 2 chains and a ring.  that would take more time then I wanted to spend. 

I spent a few minutes fussing at myself for not paying attention.  then realized that I should know how to fix this problem.  Jane's TIAS goat flashed into my mind and I thought "Ah Ha!" I do know how to do this.

Here is what I did.
I used a Self Closing Mock Ring with a Thrown off Ring. and joined to the core thread where the 2 chains come together at the bottom of the ring. and joined to the top of Split Ring 2 where I started the chain.

TA DA!! Yeah! it worked.  and it saved me a lot of time. 

in the close up below, you can see the difference in how the rings lay

but it is not so noticeable if you don't know to look for it. 

here is the doily again, and if you look for the "wonky" chain with JK knots on it in the lower right hand area, you can find the spot.

So, that's my story and I am sticking to it. 

Doretha Tear Drop Doily complete

I have finished my version of the Tear Drop Doily designed by Georgia Seitz for Doretha Albe.

I used Lizbeth size 20 in Fruit Fiz (I remember the color name, but have lost the label, so have no idea of the number)

in my previous post I listed a couple other tatters who have made this doily and inspired me.  Fox has also made this doily.

I was able to get this to complete a circle using 14 points. While tatting this, I was thinking of changing the joining points to allow it to circle easier. I would join the 2 split rings on the sides of the tear drops and not join the top chain. that would pull the center closer and let the outer area curve more easily.  But then again, that might make it too floppy. 

part of this doily was made while riding in the car.  because of not keeping my mind completely on what I was doing, I made a boo-boo. 
the pattern calls for split ring, split ring, ring, chain, thrown off ring, chain, ring, split ring, split ring.
but I did split ring, split ring, chain, TOring, chain.  then looked at what I had done, and discovered that I had missed the 2 top rings.  I didn't want to frog the chain, TOring,chain; nor did I want to cut and hide ends.  but with a small amount of thought I said " ah ha!! I know how to fix this!"   
How would you  fix this?  and can you find the spot? 
leave your thoughts in a comment.  and I will do the reveal tomorrow night.

I am seriously thinking of how to fill in the center.  using Josephine Knots instead of picots does complicate the matter, but I have some thoughts on the subject. Do you have any ideas?  it is a bit unstable at this point.  picking it up it will distort, and you need to adjust it into a proper circle when you lay it down. 

what the mailman brought this week

This week, I have had some very nice surprises when I got home from work.
on Monday there were 3 packages waiting for me.
The first one I opened came from Krystle Payette and in it was

Krystle's new colorway Getaway in size 40.


the second package came from Marilee ~ Yarnplayer    and inside that envelope was....

Marilee's Pansy in size 50

yum, yum, new threads, I really need to have more time to tat, so I can use all these luscious threads.

now the 3rd package came from Sherry  ~ Ladyshuttlemaker
and this was in it.

   I was honored to be asked to test a couple of these patterns. Thank you Sherry for your trust.

After all this, I still felt the need to buy myself a birthday present, something that no one else in the family would know that I wanted without telling them.
This was waiting for me when I got home from work today

yeah!! it feels great in your hand, it is big enough for a generous serving of tea. and it looks better in hand then it does here in the picture. This is also from Sherry ~ ladyshuttlemaker. Thanks Sherry. you can find them in Sherry's shop at the link above.

for my actual birthday in a couple weeks, we are having a "girls day"  5 of my 6 daughters and my son and 2 girl friends are going to spend the day visiting art galleries and antique stores in a near by large town, something that I enjoy, but almost never get to do.

thanks ladies for the wonderful arts and crafts.

North Dakota Spring

it is early spring here in North Dakota and how I know is the Apricots are blooming, want to see?

and since the weather doesn't look like it will freeze, and it has been nice enough for the flies and bees to be out, we may actually get some apricots this year. 
apricot rhubarb jam is oh so very good

Doretha's Teardrop WIP

This is what I have been working on for the last couple of days.
a couple hours last Thursday, and another couple hours on Sunday eve ~ International Tatting Day.
This is my rendition of Doretha's TearDrop Edging/Doily. designed by Georgia Seitz.  I was inspired by the doily shown on Frivole's blog and by Isdihara on her blog Ambitatterous.

as you can see, I had to change something, and I decided to put Josephine knots on the center chains instead of the picots.

The thread used is Lizbeth size 20 in Fruit Fizz. 
This is anywhere from 1/2 to 1/3 done,  and looking at the curve, I suspect it will take more then 12 points to make the full circle.  I will then have to take a look at it and decide if there needs to be something done with the center, or if I will leave it open.  Having changed the picots to JK will make it more difficult to fill in the center, but we will see when it is finished.

I love my Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles, thank you "I'm in the garage" otherwise known as Mr Tat's Heaven.

Blessed Holy Week to all.