Lest you think I bin a slackin'

I haven't posted for a bit, but I have been doing some tatting.  I will show you some progress pics as well as a test tat I did for someone. (wow, this turned out to be a long post)

I tested a pattern for a ZigZag Hair Slide by Sue Draney. The pattern will be available on her etsy store in the near future.  What is a Hair Slide you may ask?  it is a doily style tatted motif attached to hair combs to cover up a knot of hair similar to a snood.

This picture was taken before I attached it to the hair combs.  The thread is Lizbeth Vineyard Harvest size 20. The chains in the first 3 rows are lock chains ~ 1st half DS flipped 2nd half DS unflipped ~ which makes for pretty chains when using a varigated thread.  This pattern does require a tie and cut after the 2nd round.  I hate ends, and I know it is a bit arrogant, but I didn't follow the pattern exactly,  I did a lock stitch split chain so I could climb out to the 3rd round.

when you make a normal split chain, you leave a bit less then the length of the chain as it tends to stretch just a bit.  When doing a lock stitch split chain, you leave about 1/3 - 1/2 extra, because instead of simply encapsulating the bare thread, you will have to "pop" the half stitch to transfer it so it becomes a lock chain.

I have been sitting in the car a few times as farmguy did the driving and have been able to get more of my hanky edging tatted.  Here is an update

The thread is Krystle's Wisteria Lane in size 40.  I have completed 3 corners, and have 3 repeats left on the 3rd side, and then the 4th corner and another 13 repeats for the 4th side.  I will then have to attach it to the hanky.  The pattern is Mary Konior's Beauty Spot from Tatting with Visual Patterns.

Last month on my trip to Manitowoc WI, I started Linda Davies Star Attraction Doily using Jess's  Peacock and DMC green from my stash both in size 40. Here is the post from the end of my trip with the progress on the doily at that point.
This is as far as I have gotten now,  round 5 is finished.  The ends are still there, because I never trim them until the item is complete and has been dampened and dried at least once.

Going good so far.  I have broken a tatter's cardinal rule for joins with this doily.  I started out doing the normal up and down joins depending on if I was on the front or back side.  I tat fs/bs automatically.  but was not happy with the little color blip.  I know that several people have posted various ways to avoid the dreaded color blip, Jane Eborall's Blipless join and Lily Morales Larks Head Picot Join are just 2 but I have found the LHPJ method that Krystle has devised very easy and have switched to doing that style of join.  So if you enlarge the pic you will notice color blips for the first 3.5 rounds, after that I used Krystle's version to avoid the color blip. 

Can you stand more?

I have one more pic to post about.

Georgia Sietz has been asking for help with tatting for the Scholarship quilts for the Palmetto Tatter's Tat Days convention. Isdihara over at Ambitaterous has posted links to pattern and requests for tatting.  So I have started tatting a long row of Josephine Rings.  I have used up about 1/2 of a Aero Bobbin of size 40 Olympus in deep green and will finish the bobbin before sending it,  may get another bobbin done as well, as there is other tatting I want to do. We will see. 

 

and one more thing,  

I live not too far from Fargo, North Dakota, the daily newspaper there, The Forum, hosts an online community of bloggers from all walks of life.  They feature various blogs in the paper and online every now and then.  They put out a call for crafty people to blog about their art.  I contacted the person in charge to see what they were looking for as it occured to me it might be a good way to get more people introduced to tatting.  Their blogs are hosted on WordPress.  I would not want to run 2 blogs, and I was told that I would be able to migrate my past content from here on blogger.  It would mean an address change for my blog.  I would also have to learn a new format.  

I would appreciate any advice you can give if I should or should not pursue moving my blog. 

Any pros or cons to WordPress would be welcome. 

nearly midnight again, and I need to get to bed.  

See you all tomorrow.

Trip Tatting

It's late, but I promised tatting so here goes.

My friend B and I traveled about 9 hours from North Dakota to Manitowoc Wisconsin.  Manitowoc is on the east edge of WI, right on Lake Michigan.

We were going to visit B's mom A.  We took turns driving, and while B drove, I tatted.

1. 

Here is a Rosary I tatted on the trip.  It was for A who is 84, so I used size 10 thread.  It is a hand dyed thread I bought on ebay several years ago, and do not know the colorway or the base thread, but it is soft.

2. A's sister, D, also lives in the same complex.  She is 90 which shocked me, as I was sure she was still in her 70's.  She flower gardens along the outside her apartment, plants tomatoes in the designated vegetable areas, and because she had more plants started then room for, dug up another area down the slope from her patio near a wooded area.  She also volunteers at the local food pantry every friday morning, leads the Rosary every evening at 7, sews and mends for people, and in her spare time, sets puzzles and does plastic canvas needle craft.

The plant below is one she has had for some time, but she said it made her mad as it wouldn't bloom, and was going to throw it out, so I took it.  

In the pot along with the plant was one of those clear stakes that florist use to hold a card. So, to pay her for being such a sweet lady, I tatted Sherry Pences' Hope Butterfly and attached it to the stake. D was pleased.

This was tatted using the same thread as the Rosary. 

3. I finished my Tischband flowers

They are tatted in Marilee Rockley's Rhubarb Pie in size 40. The quarter is to show size. Now I have to decide on the leaf color and get them finished.

4. I had some down time and in my previous post showed some thread from Jess at Tat-ilicous.
Here is what I tatted with the Camo-licious

Her name is Huntress.  She is a Forest Guardian.  The thread is a size 40.  Here is a scan of both Huntress and Dawn Flyer, the dragon I tatted last fall.

Dawn Flyer is tatted in size 20.
I have almost finished the 4 book series titled Inheritance Cycle, by Christopher Paolini.  In those books there are 5 dragons,  Saphira who is blue, Thorn who is red, Glaedr who is golden, Shruikan who is black  and one dragon egg that has yet to hatch, so I don't know what color that one will be.  I have a yen to tat dragons in those colors.

5. Once I finished these I started a doily with the second colorway from Jess, Peacock in size 40.

I paired it a ball of DMC in size 40 color # 320 Pistachio Green - Med. The doily is Linda Davies Star Attraction.

And I will leave you with several other pictures I took on my trip.

Lake Michigan

one of the Submarines built in Manitowoc.  This one is now a museum.

Along the road in the middle of the state there is a resident with a sense of humor.  Do any of you remember the TV show Petty Coat Junction?

We actually turned around and went back a couple miles, just to get this picture.

I hope all of you who qualify had a great Mother's day, I was contacted by all my children so that made it a very good day for me. 

Have a great day tomorrow.
now it is time for bed.