Thursday, June 26, 2025

It's been quite a week (May 12)

 

Most of the school has graduated now, so things have calmed down at work. It’s not completely calm, just calmer.

Tri-Tatters met at Mordecai on Saturday. It was the day before Mothers’ Day so it was fairly quiet. F just came back from a small tatting conference (she said there were about 30 attendees, the limit of what the conference can handle). She had made some really neat projects, like a 3D pinecone, which I hope the designer has published because I would love do that pattern as a pendant and earrings.

Martha surprised us with a visit. And she brought some linen thread she had that looks like it is perfect for my linen hankie project. I have 3 spools of thread already, 1 cotton and 2 linen. 1 color is just wrong for this project. The cotton matches the hankie color and the other linen is a good match for the lace, just larger than sewing thread (it’s a bobbin lace thread, I think). Martha has a spool of actual linen sewing thread and in a color that matches my lace. Next step is sewing the edging to the hankie.

My vintage hankie with the embroidered purple flowers and size 80 edging was looking dingy. I handwashed and it looks better now. It’s also less wrinkled because I laid it out to air dry.

I had my date with Carry last week. I gave her a bunch of small buttons from a mixed bag of buttons. I finished my first sentence (barring punctuation) in my Morse code edging. I’m tempted to make a lanyard or necklace, tool. Talking with Anitra over the weekend, I am planning a doily for the state fair. But I can’t use my first piece because it has my name. On the other hand, it will give me a good estimate on how long I need and therefore what I have room to say to edge a doily. 

ring and chain edging with varied number of beads on the rings in singles and doubles

 

Took a tour of a prospective new home for Mom. Lovely place, great staff, wonderful location, but the rooms were tiny. My dorm room in college was bigger. And these were semi-privates (like my dorm room).

Doable, but not my first choice. I know I’ll need to cull Mom’s possessions for her move but I’d like for her to be able to keep the photo albums my cousin made for her. And they do have private rooms, just none are available right now.

Stopped by Edward McKay’s on the way back. I found a couple packs of stationery/notecards. More expensive, but also larger, than what I get at the dollar store. And it’s a good thing, my supply was starting to run low. Mom would find me many of my bundles at thrift shops. She doesn’t go shopping like that anymore and I rarely take the time to do any shopping so it’s harder for me to locate them.

I also picked up a couple copies of c. 1980s fantasy novels for cheap. I’ve read them before and wanted a comfort read. And these were cheap enough I was willing to get a 2nd copy.

Monday, May 05, 2025

NCRL meeting

 Saturday was the NCRL meeting. We are aiming for 300 goodie bags and several people are making things. So some people spent time prepping some materials. I turned in my stitched hedgehog, snap bag, and tatted motifs. 

cross stitch hedgehog with flowers

quilted bag in floral print with contrast prairie points

 
assorted tatted motifs

I helped with the prep, then worked on my Morse code edging.

ring and chain tatted eding with assorted number of beads

 

This is the meeting goodie bag (1st 20 to register get one) contents.

tin of hand balm, chocolate, granola bar, netting (to hold loose thread balls), wrist strap, decorative tin bucket, ball of Lizbeth thread, bag, & decorative "Altoid" style tin

 Mom needs to move. Her physical requirements are above what her current facility can handle. So I am going to tour a place on Thursday. 

Yesterday was May the 4th. A silly holiday, but it's a good time to remember Carry Fisher's lessons.

Sunday, April 27, 2025

My Political Post

I am so angry at Republicans. They had a chance 4 years ago to get #45 out of politics and they put party over country and constitution. We are reaping the consequences of their inaction. 

I have an entire list of matters to be angry about:

The destruction of the US economy

ditto: DEI

treatment of transgender

treatment of all marginalized communities

 ICE

Mr. 34 (for his felony convictions) destroying US reputation

rise of racism and white supremacy

stupid tariff war

 This is not the entirety of the list, just a sample.

Hey, 2 weeks, that's better, right?

 Been busy tatting motifs for the NCRL made goodie bags for next year's IOLI. 

tatted lace heart

Peacock Heart (found on wayback machine)

 

 Last week was incredibly busy at work. I worked 9+ hours M-Thursday and left early on Friday. 

Went to see my parents yesterday. And took pictures of some plants. 

flower and greenery


I was using up thread from my Morse code edging. Beads will definitely work better than the picots.

tatted snail
Today was gaming, our monthly Pathfinder game. Luckily, C reminded me Friday.

Monday, April 14, 2025

It's been a month plus?!

 

I finished my 1st draft of my Morse code edging. I used single picots for dot and double picots for dash. I’m not that happy with it. It seems visually noisy.

Ring and chain edging with varied picots


There are other options. I could do SCMR (self closing mock rings) and so single picot for dot & Josephine knot for dash.

I could use a picot for dot & bead for dash. Or bead for dot and 2 beads (1 up and 1 down) for dash. I could even try, although I’m not likely to, using seed beads and bugles beads for dots and dashes.

I finally finished a bear from Loomahats book with tiny loom knit bears (look up title). I wanted to use up some yarn left from another project but there wasn’t very much. The bear body took most of it, but I wasn’t sure there was enough for the limbs, so I used leftover coordinating yarn for limbs, ears, and snout. Plus a 3rd yarn for the headband. I think I will also add tatted flowers to the headband. I wish I had thought of that before I sewed the headband to the bear.

Knit teddy bear in fuzzy yarn with smoother yarn limbs and headband


There’s a peanut butter snack ball recipe I’ve had for over a month. I finally picked up the last two ingredients. There’s an optional 3rd ingredient I don’t have, but it’s optional. And kind of expensive for the amount I need for the recipe.

Spring has sprung, in all of its pollinated glory. At least the flowers are pretty.

My friend with the mid-March birthday celebrated late this year. He rents a picnic pavilion at a park, as his house isn’t really big enough for all the guests. He makes it a cookout and provides the charcoal and everyone brings good. C made burgers and my favorite fruit dessert. C takes raspberries and blackberries, muddles some with honey and lime; he added fresh rosemary this time. Then mixes crème fresh with mascarpone, honey, and lime. Layers the fresh berries with the muddled berries, then covers the whole with the crème fresh/mascarpone frosting-like. The berries are quite tart and the frosting is creamy and they work together so well. Sorry, I don’t have pictures because I forgot.

March 29th, Tri-Tatters did our demonstration on the Matriarchs of Mordecai day. There was a lecture in the visitor center, so we were on the porch of the big house, aka the yellow house. If you look carefully, you can see the shadows of the display in the pollen on the tablecloth.

Shadows where items were, outlined by pollen

 

And footprints in the pollen on the porch (oooh, alliteration).

boards with smears in pollen

 

At the Carolina Fiber Fest I talked to a woman who concentrates on linen and cotton. She recommended I use 100% cotton thread to sew my linen edging to my linen hankie, since I am highly unlikely to find linen sewing thread.

If Michaels has 100% cotton thread, I didn’t see it. And of course, the thread rack at Joanne’s is denuded. I emailed one online company because I wasn’t sure which of 3 colors would work best, and you can’t really trust what you see on a computer screen. They were not helpful, ‘whichever one you think is closest.’ I understand them not wanting to take a chance since I asked for ‘closest to unbleached linen,’ but still. I’d rather have a ‘we do not have enough information to give you a reliable recommendation’ than telling me to trust my video card. The whole [gold and white/blue and black dressfiasco] proves that you still can’t trust video cards (although one article I read blamed other factors like people perceiving the color difference due to whether they think it’s in shadow or not and in artificial or natural light). 

I volunteered to make motifs for pin cushion/needle something for part of NCRL’s provided goodie bags to next year’s IOLI. I plan to make 25 and I made 14 in less than a week. I need to have them done by May 3rd, the NCRL Spring Lace Day. Sumiko is doing the sewing and she needs to have them on hand. 

pile of tatted motifs

 

I also need to recover my headphones. They are very expensive ones that I got secondhand for a really good price. Alas, the cover has split on one ear and I need to cover it before it gets worse. And if I’m covering one, I should cover the other. I have some nice, soft knit to use; black with white print.

I got the knit to make shorts or leggings but I’ve been using it to patch stretch jeans, etc. Both because a stretchy patch is better for a stretchy garment and because knits don’t need to be hemmed.

If you’re wondering why this post is so long, there are 2 reasons. One is that it has been a long time since my last post. The other is that my supervisor has requested that I avoid social media during working hours. Which wouldn’t be a big deal except the only people who can see my screen are behind me. I have a privacy screen on my display because I sometimes look at sensitive information. And there are times when I am quite busy and there are downtimes when I don’t have anything to do.

I can’t do trainings during slow times, because between the noise of the area and the poor quality of the speakers, I can’t really follow anything. I have old tv, radio, and movies playing because I feel no need to follow the plot and don’t need to watch them. I do have headphones, but they were ordered when I thought this change was temporary and I only needed them long enough to listen to voicemails, which are rarely more than 2 minutes long.

I have ordered new earbuds. One, I only need to wear one, so I can attend to people at the counter without an earbud that suggests I’m not paying attention to them. Two, I can actually hear training videos without ear pain. Most trainings can be interrupted, although being able to take them without interruption is better. That’s not going to happen, so I need to work with what will happen.

Obviously, I can’t tat or loom knit either. I hate having to look busy. I don’t mind being busy, just having to look busy when it’s not.

And I can’t go far from the counter for very long. Yes, other staff can handle it but the counter is my primary responsibility.

Instead, I will work on my writing. Thank goodness for the ergonomic keyboard.

Monday, March 03, 2025

Other resources online (free)

 Arizona University

Last modified Wednesday, October 19, 2016 8:36 am

On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics

The On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics contains material on weaving, basketry, lace, and related subjects.

Most documents are in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). See the tutorial on PDF. Acrobat Reader 4.0 or higher is required to access the PDFs on this site. It's free and available for a wide range of platforms.

The documents on this site come from a variety of sources. Most are digital facsimilies of paper documents created by scanning or, in some cases, digital photography. Some documents were written for online publication. Other documents were obtained from the Web and other sources.


Scarf, etc

 I did a pair of Marilee Rockley's earrings, from Tatting with Beads Jewelry. The pair from the cover. This time I used size 20 thread, Lizbeth, with kinda black beads. There's a hint of green in the size 6 beads.

Tatted earring with beads
Black is really hard to photograph well

 I also used some size 10 black crochet cotton to tat a new tab for my tote bag key ring. The tab, nylon strap, frayed to strings. It was holding on, but felt borderline.

 

Key ring with tatting visible, plus frayed edges of strap

I also went to a 3D printer and vacu-form workshop. Because of time and equipment constraints, we ended up using the premade forms, half-hearts. People could choose whether to make a heart candle or heart soap. I have a lot of candles so I decided to make soap. But I added so many flowers, I couldn't get the 2 halves together. Instead I have 2 half hearts.

One heart with blurred edges, flat side down. Other heart is flat side up and flowers are visible

I tried again to make a vinyl sticker of the drop spindle. But cheap vinyl was cheap. 

My pocket scarf is finished though, pattern by Loomahat. Mine is a little shorter, cause I'm a little shorter. I ran out of yarn as I was working on the 2nd pocket section. Luckily I had another skein (cause I looked for the 1st one and couldn't find more) that coordinates well enough that the 15 or so yards I used it not visibly clashing. 

Draped knitted scarfs, ends are turn up to form pockets

 

Just in time for more cold weather. 2 weeks ago: snow. Last week: sunny and highs in the 70s. This morning, frost.

But we heard thunder on Thursday so we may get snow by March 9th. There's an old saw about thunder in winter means snow within 10 days. There's meteorological science to back it up. You get a thunderstorm in winter when a cold dry front hits a warm moist front. Then vice versa, can mean snow.

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Tatting Resources, etc

 If you came across my blog because you're looking up tatting, here's some online resources

Craft bibliography website (check to see if that author/book is real - AI fakes are a real problem)

Antique Pattern Library - free, old patterns. Can be hard to decipher.

Online Tatting Class Founded by Georgia Seitz, the videos were live streamed

Noo Bear's tatting tutorials (videos)

Jane Eborall's technique tutorial (drawings)

Jane Eborall's patterns (free patterns)

Sparrow Spite's videos 

A Twisted Picot has some videos and they carry supplies

This one starts from loading the shuttle (videos

A selection of other sources to get supplies (A Twisted Picot link above) (no particular order)

Herschner's has perle cotton (and floss, but mostly embroidery, knitting, and other fiber arts, etc; incl. kits)

 Lacis is a lace and textile museum, that also sells supplies and patterns

 Tatting Corner has tatting supplies as well as other crafts

 Handy Hands is another good shop

 You can also check Etsy for hand dyed thread and painted or crafted shuttles. 

Don't forget to check your local fiber shops and resale shops.

Sunday, February 23, 2025

Trying to get back on schedule

 Went to see my parents last weekend. And since I took the train, I got some tatting done. Learning entwined rings, and trying in size 3 since size 40 about broke my brain.

Tatted hearton pattern page, Holding Hands Heart by Freubelkistb

 I tried it with some linen thread I had, but running out of thread and reloading messed me up.

Upper part of heart, 2nd set of rings are not entwined

 I made an earring from Marilee Rockley's book Tatting with Beaded Jewelry, but size 10 is a bit large/long for earrings for me. This will probably be a bag charm or a pendant.

Series of rings, some beaded, ending in a beaded picot with 1 large bead with 4 smaller beads on either side

 I've done it again in black size 20 thread. With smaller beads, too, of course. 

It snowed this week. We got about 3 inches of it. Then some melted and froze again. Then melted and froze again. 

snow covered ground with trees
Not far from my house, the day after it snowed

Holly leaves with icicles dripping from them
very wintry look

I got some shuttles from the craft resale shop. One is a Tatsy, with the instruction packet. There was a Boye shuttle in the same package, with some thread still on it. I tatted one of the patterns from the sheet.

Single shuttle tatting patterns with a metal Boye shuttle

single shuttle daisy pattern, in progress, from pattern sheet
I ran out of thread

 There was also an Aerlit,, with thread and a few rings tatted. I had to retro-tat a ring that had gotten twisted up, then continued the edging until I ran out of thread. I tat much tighter than that original tatter.

Aerlit tatting shuttle with ring and bare thread edging

 As a bit of a giggle, I made a hat for a coworker's cold cat.

 

knitted oval with 2 slits

And I made progress on my scrap bag (from Karey Solomon's Bring on the Buttons) during Richard Embry's Tat & Chat yesterday.

Button center with rows of tatting around it

And I spent some time practicing Marilee Rockley's technique for Victorian set split chain. I haven't mastered it, but I do have a better idea. Bad picture, but it was the only one I could get at the time.

tatted ring with a Victorian set split chain