The Tat-Up Girl

I made something!! :o

2011-06-03T18:05:00.000+02:00

Guess it's time to dust off the blog.

Here is a hanky I made to the daugther of a friend of mine for her confirmation (usually a big event here). Back in the day all the girls used to get one on the day of the confirmation, and I thought it could be fun to bring that tradition back to life.

I ought, how ever, to have embroidered her name and the date on it, but I didn't want to make her og your eyes bleed. I've done a lot of crossstitch, but it didn't really prepare me for doing those beautiful monograms (and especially not when starting to practice the night before). Oh well, learning to embroider monograms is now on my 'want to learn' list.

Update

2011-02-09T13:53:00.000+01:00

I haven't disappeared totally from the surface of the earth. I've had some serious problems with my hands and feet due to Raynaud's Phenomenon this winter (cold begone!), so amongst other things, I haven't been able to hold a shuttle the last couple of months and I have to wear gloves indoors all the time. How ever I plan to come back with a vengeance in the spring!

Yeah! New shuttle and needle case!

2010-11-10T22:00:00.003+01:00

And both handmade from Keld Olesen at http://www.orkisskytter.dk/.

The shuttle is made of ivory (oh...these memories - when I was a child, I dreamed of owning a recorder made of ivory but had to settle with box blight; now I finally have a piece of ivory in my hand, even though a somewhat different shape than I imagined then), and it's beautiful. The color, the smooth surface...everything. :D

I'm not quite sure what the needle case is made of, but I suspect it might be beech. And no, before you start thinking so, I have absolutely no clue about wood (too my dad's great dismay, I might add, since the men in his family worked in the woods for generations). Luckily, each shuttle for sale has a little sign, stating the type of wood it's made of (in Danish), and I found a shuttle with a 'beech'-tag that looked a bit like the needle case.

Enough talk. Pics, pics!

<--- /happy sigh.

<--- so pretty! I actually used to fixate a needle in an earplug, but this is much better. \o/

Pics, pics, pics!

2010-10-23T14:54:00.000+02:00

This will be a completely new type of post on this blog. No excuses for not getting any tatting done!! Just pics of something that I actually accomplished, the baby bonnet to my friend, who actually gave birth the other day to a little baby girl. :D

The bonnet is slightly too big for the doll (my mum's old doll from when she was a little girl), but I needed a model and my son is too big and would probably protest fiercely, if I tried putting a baby bonnet with lavender colored ribbons in it on his head.:P

Update

2010-10-07T16:01:00.000+02:00

I have not gone hibernating or anything (though it would be tempting...*glances outside the window*). My son had a huge meltdown because of his school, so we had to find a new school and start him up there, and it's quite a bit away from here. Luckily things are much better now, so hopefully there will be more time and energy to tat.

The baby cap is nearly done, which is about time. My friend is due in less than 2 weeks, and I doubt I can convince her to keep the little one inside a bit longer, because I have to finish the last rings. :P Hopefully I will have a pic up this weekend.

What have I been up to

2010-08-01T20:36:00.001+02:00

It feels like forever since I last posted on this blog. Since last time I've been working on a thingie to put a cell phone in. A floral motif that will be attached to a "leather" purse. I tried to make the motif first, but came to realize that I need to make the purse before it makes sense to tat. WHY, OH WHY do you always have to crawl before you can run a marathon? Needless to say, my cell phone thingie is now in my you-ought-to-do-this-now basket, where it will probably stay for some time, since another exiting thing has happened:

My old friend who has always been a career kinda girl announced that she is pregnant! That ofc. gives me an unique opportunity to foist tatted baby stuff on her. There are so many adorable things to make, and I doubt my 9-year old son will appreciate a tatted collar, so this might be my only chance to tat some baby stuff and actually have someone to give it to. Here is a work in progress pic. of a cap made from a vintage pattern (1940'ies):

I hope I will be done within the next couple of weeks. It's hard to tell on the picture (I think) how much of the work that is actually done, but I actually only need 2 more rows and then 1 round or something like that. Oh, and please note the beautiful picture without red blobs or blurring, all thanks to this thread!! \o/

The pattern is called "Exquisite Baby Cap" and it can be found in "The Tatter's Treasure Chest".

On a none-tatting related note: I've also been on a summer vacation. Mostly visiting relatives - my son has 6 great grand parents and 4 grandparents that we needed to visit, but we also found time to a trip to Legoland. The best pics from the trip has got to be the view from where we were staying, and a wonderful sign from Legoland. If you do not know the context of the sign, it looks more than just a little weird:

Blergh

2010-06-03T10:48:00.000+02:00

I've been working a bit on my new design. Some of it is really good, but other parts are just *sigh*. I know I ought to cut the bad parts away, but I'm not sure what to replace it with, so I keep going and hope things will work out when it all comes together. This also mean that my work mostly spends it time in my crafts basket instead of in my hands. It's not so tempting to use every available moment tatting, when it isn't really going the way you want. :P

Wohoo \o/

2010-05-16T11:28:00.002+02:00

I finished my Jan Stawasz-doily! :D But first a small cake-update:
I did manage to do all the cakes I wanted and they all ended up the way I wanted to, except for the green-goo-thingie I wanted to make. The gel-recipe didn't produce the kind of gel I wanted, so I ended up throwing the whole thing out. I did decide, though, that I will find some way to do it. The idea is simply too much fun just to give up on. My brother-in-law really liked the lemon curd, and the orange/ginger diabetes jam I made for my dad were also a succes (the blueberry jam was ALL MINE >:D).

Unfortunately I don't have any pics (for the first time ever), because I was so tired, that I forgot all about it, so you will have to trust me, when I claim that everything was absolutely flawless! :P

And now for the tatting: \o/

As you might have noticed by now, I finished my Jan Stawasz-doily (and no, I haven't pressed yet, I promise I will...at some point :P). It's the biggest piece I've managed to finish, because usually projects of this size ends up in my UFO-basket. I'm really proud of myself now. I actually managed to finish a bigger project!! Who would have thought?!! :D

Especially the last bit was tough to get through, because I already had my thoughts circling around my next projects. Uh, I really can't wait to get started. I hope it works out the way I want it to.

Experiments, experiments

2010-05-07T15:57:00.001+02:00

I'm still doing stuff for my son's birthday. On Sunday we will have the closest family over and a couple of his best friends. I will make a chocolate cake (my old recipe but with PioneerWoman's chocolate frosting) and a layered cake with raspberries, Confectioners Cream filling (approx. this recipe) and whipped cream. Oh and some buns ofc. You always need buns and warm cocoa for a Danish birthday.

My brother in law is English so today I tried making some lemon curd for him to put on these buns. I really hope it works out well, since it's nearly impossible to buy here, but I'm not sure I managed to get the right consistency. On the other hand I trust that it will be less runny, when the butter cools off. I also plan to make some blueberry jam, and some sugar free orange / ginger jam for my dad. Wtb. more time.

On the bright side, I've had lots of fun playing with sugar fondant. I've made a horde banner and a replica (well...eh...maybe not a spitting image but to the best of my abilities :P) of a special, epic World of Warcraft weapon. For giggles I tried to make an ooze mold from some Fimo modeling clay. I will try to make a green gel and fill it, so hopefully I will get a wobbling, gross thing to put on the cake as well. :D

<-- An ooze. They really do horrible. :-X If I don't succeed with this experiment, maybe I will try making some other WoW creature, but I'm a bit afraid of the time, and ofc. of being too tired to finish all my little projects.

Oh...and not to forget! I've haven't tatted that much, but my Jan Stawasz' doily is almost done! I only need the last part (about 1/4) of the final round. \o/
I've also made a sketch for a new tatting pattern. It will be a little purse-thingie for my cell phone, or perhaps for some potpourri? Can't wait to test it. And the color is perfect for the yarn, that AnneB was so kind to give to me.

Other diversions: Cakes and games

2010-04-30T20:30:00.001+02:00

My Nooblet is getting older. He will turn 9 years the 10th of May, which means I've started to plan BIRTHDAY CAKES! \o/ I'm starting to think I enjoy it more than he does. ^_^ I will have to make 3-4 cakes / muffins, depending on how long I last. :P 1 big for all 24 kids in the class, which he will bring on his birthday. 1 for the family celebration, 1 for when the boys come to our place for a small birthday party, and maybe one for the neonatal ward at the hospital, since they saved his life and made it possible for us to celebrate his 9 year birthday at all. I've tried to make them one every year ever since on his birthday, but sometimes I get too tired and can't make all that I want. We'll have to see this year...

We've agreed that the cake for his classmates this year will have to be in a World of Warcraft theme. The cake itself will be my old favorite chocolate cake recipe with bits of white chocolate in it just to humor Nooblet (I usually toss in some dark chocolate because dark chocolate is the best thing in the whole wide world - well, almost). And then, I think I will cover it with some milk chocolate ganache and a very thin layer of fondant. Since Nooblet plays on the horde sign, I will attempt to do a fondant horde banner and some weapons to put on the side. Unfortunately I know I can't go too crazy about it, since I know I will get too tired to finish it, if I'm not careful.

We will also have some celebration for the family. I plan to do muffins topped with ganache (dark and white to make everyone happy), and maybe I will use my new pirate skull cookie cutter to do some fondant thingies to put on? I also plan to use it, when the boys come over. Or maybe I should figure out a way to continue the Warcraft theme? hmm...Uh, I just love planning cakes. And to make everything better, ofc. I have to test bake lots atm., just to check if there are other recipes out there that can beat my favorite chocolate one. Tonight I made this, which was absolutely wonderful to. :D

And now for the other thing that kept me a bit too occupied. My hubby forced me to try this new, award-winning computer game, called Dragon Age. In the beginning I really didn't want to, because clearly I wouldn't like it. Well...I ended up stealing it entirely, and playing it 3 times in a row, before I would let my poor Hubby near it. And I tell you, if I weren't already married, I would go straight in this man's footsteps and marry a game character. Alistair is just the epitome of a romantic figure, and I will swear that is the dialogue must have been written by women, it's just so perfect... :D :D And you can even romance several of the characters. \o/
I just got the expansion for the game, called Awakening, and I guess that will keep me a bit too occupied as well for a couple of days, even though there is NO romancable characters in that, to my great dismay.

Mmm...how to fit more than a month down to a couple of lines?

2010-04-30T20:03:00.004+02:00

I think I will start with the most important first: I met with AnneB and Dantatter! :D They both came to Copenhagen, where I live, and we got a chance to spend some time together. They also showed med a much better way to tat . I am self-taught, as some might have read, and in the books I studied, there wasn't any mentioning of the best way to hold the shuttle when doing the stitches. I've seen youtube-videos, where I could clearly see my method was...eh...not as fast and quite unpractical, but it was too fast for me to learn the trick. BUT NOW I KNOW! \o/

I also got lots of new threads which I look so much forward to test-tat. I just have to finish my current project, because I promised myself I wouldn't produce anymore UFO's (lets see how long that promise will last :P). Uh, yes, and I saw all those wonderful dragons live!! And so many wonderful doilies made by both AnneB and Dantatter. They had them in such smart plastic covers in scrapbooking books, which I will have to get for myself as well. My current storing place is just a big box, but the plastic covers are much more practical.

Apart from that I spend some time going to check-ups on the hospital. Even though I never went to the arctic, some time late in February I found some of my toes started to have a fun color, and apparently it was starting to develop into gangrene and everything else got worse too. :-X So back on Prednisone etc. etc. which mean I've spend a couple of months being extra tired due to sleeplessness, more pains, especially in the hands, and being completely hysterical. I don't know why I go so mental on Prednisone, but well...I do.

What more...Oh...my current project! I started doing a doily from a pattern by Jan Stawasz. It went very well for a looong time (though not as fast because of my hands), but lesson learned: Don't tat when you're extremely tired and are watching Australian Master Chef at the same time, it will only lead to disaster! Disaster, I tell you!!! :'( <--- me.

The 3. to last round consists completely of even sized rings. 2. to last round has this little motif repeated all the round through, and it's attached to the previous round over 3 rings. Right side of the motif to one ring, the skip one, and then left side attached to a third ring. I was about to finish the whole round, when I realized I had one ring in surplus...I checked, and ofc. I had forgot to skip a ring half way through, and there was absolutely no way to save it. I had to take my scissor out and ruin all my work. /cry.Why do such errors always have to be made in the absolutely worst way with the absolutely worst consequences? If I ever catch one of those fish that gives 3 wishes, one of them will probably be a wish for no more cutting or unraveling in tatting. :P

Easter Egg vs. 2

2010-03-25T11:39:00.002+01:00

My Snowdrop Easter Egg vs. 2 finally dried. I do hope we won't get many insects this year, because it's so full of syrup that one should think I spend half a kilo of sugar on it. I didn't! I swear! Only 2 teaspoons. But I guess someone let it soak too much. *whistles*

As you see the version 2 has new leaves! It's very long cluny leaves, and I do like the result a lot. I wish I could have made them longer, but then I need a bigger hand. Or maybe I should try make a loom for it? But on the other hand that would feel a bit like cheating - not using the loom itself (I have joint pains in my hands too), but making something that it wouldn't otherwise be possible to make by hand. Or...I don't know...maybe the means doesn't matter much if you get the result you want? I will have to think a bit about that, I guess. Trying to do philosophy before lunch is always a bad idea. :P

There is no such thing as a failed experiment, only experiments with unexpected outcomes

2010-03-24T22:44:00.000+01:00

No, I did not think that headline out myself, it's a quote from some engineer called something as wonderful as Buckminster Fuller. For this experiment I wanted to do a red flower, I wanted it to be 3D and I wanted it to have voluminous petals. I thought of different ways to achieve this, and came up with several rings, squeezed as thin as possible and then a chain around them. I actually like the design, though I need to do one with 2 rings less, because it almost became too voluminous. It still has to appear dainty, delicate and...well..tatty.

The thread is DMC Cebelia, and it's a much darker red than what it seems to be on the picture (I really need to improve those photo skills). Each petal has 5 rings inside, and the outer chain is pulled just enough to shape the it. I tried fixing each petal to the previous, like the average tatted flower (3 ds, join to previous etc.), but then there wasn't enough room for the petals to fold out (hence the 'I need to do one with 2 rings less'). Then I tried only to have them meet in the bottom of the petal, which kinda works as long as you don't touch it. :P Well...I think it does look pretty but it has to be sewn into place, not to fall apart.

Oh, I also finished my New and Improved Easter Egg. Unfortunately it almost drowned in sugar syrup and it has yet to recover. :(

How impatient can you be?

2010-03-20T23:31:00.002+01:00

The syrup is hardly dry, but I never were a patient person. :P Here is the Easter Egg. As you can see, the leaves badly needs to be reworked. I'm not quite sure what to do about them, but I count on my muse to visit me in my dreams tonight.

I still think the stem is ok'ish. The problem with the leaves is that the end of the leaf can't really get that pointy as I want it to be, and as you tat it's very floppy unless you can attach them several places. As you can see I tried attaching the right one (the first I made) twice on the stem, but it just looks bad. I also wanted to have some width in the leaves, but that didn't really work either. Hmm...Oh muse, ascend!

Snowdrop in an egg

2010-03-20T21:39:00.002+01:00

The last 2 days I've been working on an Easter Egg with a Snowdrop inside. The border I made, turned out really well, and I think I will use it for a heart later as well - I was almost tempted to make it heartshaped instead of oval, when I did it.

The Snowdrop...hm...the petals were really easy, but the stem and leaves.../sigh. I ended up liking most of the stem and the one leaf, but the other leaf is horrible. I hoped that some sugar syrup would be able to fix it, but I guess even the biggest amount of sugar can't cure bad design.

I could of course cut of the bad leaf and make a nicer looking one, but even though I love sugar in all possible ways, sugar on my fingers doesn't count. :P Anyway...now the whole thing is drying in my kitchen, and I'll post a pic tomorrow, hopefully, horrible leaf or not.

Pattern for the Flower necklace

2010-03-18T17:55:00.004+01:00

I was asked to write down the pattern for the Flower necklace, so here it is: Flower necklace. I haven't test tatted the pattern yet, so please beware - there might be errors. If you find some, please let me know. I also forgot to add one thing on the pattern: It actually needs 2 X shuttle and 2 X ball thread, there are loads of split rings and a single downwards picot. It sounds worse than it is, though. ^_^

While I wrote down the pattern I had a revelation, that I have to share with you: It's neck-lace!! :o Sorry, I know it's horrible dad-humor (all dads seems to have this huge amount of bad jokes, which we call dad-humor in danish. Maybe it's the same in other languages? Or maybe your dads are just different from ours :P).

The last couple of days I also worked on a new design for a flower, but so far the result is eh...well...lets just say that I will await further inspiration before posting...

ZOMG! I finished a project!!! \o/

2010-03-11T22:00:00.000+01:00

I'm so happy. I finally finished a project I've been working on since before Christmas. The observant eye might recognize the central flower. Yes, it is in fact a re-use of the flower from the Red Horror Heart design I made for Sharon's design class. It's needless to say that I quit the Red Horror project, but I did like the flowery thing very much. I just had to come up with some way to use it. I spend quite some time doing different sketches in hand (mainly Art Noveau inspired), but what works on paper doesn't always work when tatted. Thus, I also spend quite some time re-tatting and re-sketching. This is the end result, and I'm very happy with it. :D

A little extra help

2010-02-10T14:18:00.005+01:00

I've been working on my son's costume for Fastelavn, which is a Danish holiday we celebrate a bit like the Americans celebrate their Halloween with trick or treat etc, except our costumes don't have to be scary. It used to be the final celebration before the 40 days of fasting, back from when Denmark was Catholic. We stopped being catholic but kept the party. :P

Anyway...My son who is 8 years old decided to be a punk-rocker, and on the picture you can see me sew some 'bracelets' out of fake leather to him. Later I put some studs in them aswell. Ofc. I also made him a nice studded collar, and I cringed a ring from a jewelry lock set up, put some soft thingie on the on end, and now it serves as a nose ring. I guess the days where he wanted to be a cute, cuddly animal is now definitively over. :-S To be sure I would finish in time, Aiko the Empress is giving me a most helpful paw. :P

Spiderbag, spiderbag

2010-02-08T15:23:00.002+01:00

My unique photographer skills shows again. :P It's bright daylight outside, but somehow the picture shows up very dark. The fabric has such nice creamy color but here it looks all boring grey. :(

I actually planned for the bag to be a bit bigger, but the edging wasn't as long as I remembered. Actually I did this edging, before I did the choker. As the observant eye might discover, it's actually the same pattern. When I did the edging I liked the look of it against my wrist so much that I decided I would put2 edgings together (opposite) to a bracelet or a choker.

I had originally planned for the bag to have some kind of handles as well, but when I was almost finished I couldn't really see how I could make any handles look good. I guess it needs a completely different design (or a lot better imagination than mine :P). I tried to put some stiffening material on the lower part of it, and it worked quite well, I think. The lining is black taffeta, and inside I also made a couple of pockets, which could be kinda handy. One of them I made lipstick side, which I thought awfully clever of me, until I realized that I will never carry it on a night out when it has no handles. Duh. Now I guess I can put...pencils and paper clips in it...or something like that. /cry. I really need to figure out those handles.

It looks better irl. I swear!

2010-01-25T00:19:00.001+01:00

Here is the choker I made some time ago. I've taken close to a billion pictures, the camera I have is all nice and good, but I just can't make the choker look good. For some reason the focus is all wrong, and obviously it can't be my fault, since my Mom always told me that I'm brilliant at everything I do, and as a parent myself, I know moms are NEVER wrong. :P

The thread was some what thicker than what I usually work with. Ofc. I can't remember the size now, but I like the result. I was wondering if I should tat some more for the front, but tbh I don't think I will bother. I like it as it is already, and I already have so many other things I want to do (not counting the UFO's that haunt me QQ).

Dantatter's Snowflake and a small update

2010-01-13T09:16:00.000+01:00

I had a wonderful Christmas, were we went to visit most of my husband's family. It was quite an endeavor, since his family is really, really huuuuge. New Year's eve we spent at home, alone the three of us, since we were all exhausted after so many days of Christmas lunches. Christmas lunches is a Danish (it's probably the same in all of Scandinavia?) Christmas tradition, which basically consist of eating until you collapse - or almost - together with as much family as possible.

On the journey back and forth, I managed to finish a tatted necklace, I had lying around for ages, but I haven't taken a picture of it yet, so it will get it's very own blog entry later.

Last night I finished one of Dantatter's design, and I got her permission to post the result. I'm quite happy with it - bear in mind that it hasn't been blocked, ironed or anything, because ~~I'm such an impatient person~~ I haven't had the time yet. :P

The blue yarn is DMC 80, and the golden one is also a DMC, but it doesn't say the size of it on the label. It is, how ever, slightly larger than the blue threat. I had planned to tat it back in December. The star in the middle reminded me of the Star of David, and it also made me think of New Year. Now I'm wondering what I can make of it. Maybe use it as a pendant? Use it as part of a bracelet? I also thought of making lots of them and stitch them to a blue piece of chiffon or some fabric like that to make a scarf, but I don't think I could find the time to do that. Hmm...

An angry wolf and a swine was having fun...

2009-11-18T11:50:00.001+01:00

No, it's not from a fable. It's just my lupus acting up and me, being so stupid as to get the swine flu vaccination on top of it. Too late I found out, that the doctor only had the vaccination with the immune system booster, which is kinda bad when you actually try to supress the immune system all that you can. :P It will probably take a while before I'm back on track again.

Did my muse go on vacation?

2009-11-04T22:52:00.000+01:00

She (or shouldn't I, as a woman, have a male muse? I mean we do live in an age with gender equality, don't we?) wasn't helpful at all when I tried to find inspiration to the stitch count for my design project. As I wrote earlier, I'm not that happy with the way the 1. and the 2. round looks when put together. It seems like the piece needs a round 3. or a change in either the 1. or the 2.

However, until I test tatted I did honestly think it would make a nice, flat something, but alas, that was not to be. It has a remarkable cup-shape now, and even if I were to beat it down with a sledge hammer, I'm quite sure it would pop back in that shape again. There is no way that is ever going to be flat (I think I might have done permanent damage to the scanner in the attempt to get a decent picture :o). So...back to the drawing board. Now, please ascend, you muse of ~~fire~~ tatting and give me the right stitch count so I don't have to do it all over again next time. QQ

Next projects

2009-11-03T21:49:00.001+01:00

I've got 2 projects I'm working on atm (not counting the UFO-baby cap I ought to have finished ages ago). My first project is inspired from some fabric I saw in a hobby shop. Creamy white linnen with *yuck* spiders on it. I immediately thought of a gothic / Halloween'ish sort of pouch, with a thicker black edging than I usually do. It will also get some kind of a handle, I've decided. I'm almost done with the edging itself. I used Cebelia 30, which is some what thicker than my usual DMC 80. I will have to see how it works out on the final bag, but atm I'm thinking it could have been fun with an even thicker yarn.

My other project is for the design class. I made a pattern, inspired by a snowflake and the upcoming Christmas. Sort of a wheel-shape surrounded by hearts. It looks very good on paper, if you ask me :P, but now that I'm tatting it, I'm not sure if it works as well as I hoped. The center is very dense while the ring of hearts is the opposite. I think it might need a 3. round to sort of balance the first and the second? Pictures coming up when I'm done, which should hopefully be in a day or two.

Big promises!

2009-10-23T11:34:00.010+02:00

Some time ago I found a marvelous little book from 1915 hidden away in our Royal Library, in the Medicin / Science department. How on earth a tatting book ended there would probably make a great story. I imagine a tatting secretary in the late 1920'ies secretly giving it the wrong label so she could keep it for herself for the next decades. :D

But the weird, handwritten label isn't what make this book so fun. It's the titel itself: "BOGEN OM ORKIS - Regler for at komponere et uendeligt antal mønstre på den hurtigste måde". My best translation (bear with me): "The book about tatting - rules for composing an unlimited amount of patterns in the quickest possible way". I must say the dear Esther didn't lack self confidence. :D

I must confess I eagerly grabbed the book when it came to my hands. Imagine: Here I had the book that would reveal to me how I could design an unlimited amount of patterns and then be quick about it too! It was almost like when Indy could hold the Holy Grail in his hands for the first time!!

Sadly, I think the book had more to reveal in the 1920'ies than today. Her best advise is to change the numbers of picots and size of rings and chains, and take one motif and entangle another / tat another one around it 'for endless possibilities'. I guess it wasn't this book that was supposed to start my design career. :P Apart from that bitter disappointment :D I really like the book. There is just something about old / older books. The looks, the texture, the smell, the way they used the words...I wish I could keep it, but sadly I have to hand it back in today. Bye bye Esther, it was fun.

A leap into the seventy thousand fathoms of water :-o

2009-10-23T11:10:00.000+02:00

When I started this blog I knew that I someday wanted to make it a public blog. How ever I am so very much a chicken so until now only a few select people have had access. Now I finally managed to get the courage to publish it, thus taking my own grand leap of uncertainty (yes, I always favored drama \o/) and make it yet another tiny drop in the big ocean of blogs. :P With a bit of luck I might even get someone to browse past it at some point. :D

Yet another star and some design sighs

2009-10-23T11:00:00.001+02:00

Lots of things has happened lately, so I haven't found the time to scan this star I made a while ago, when I was staying a couple of days at my parents place.
I still haven't found out whether I dare iron this metallic yarn or not, so if it looks sloppy I hope that's the reason. :P
I need to make many more, if I want to keep the promise I made to myself.
How ever it's a lot more fun to work on a new pattern for the design class. I'm very proud of the looks of it *beaming with pride*, there is just one "slight" detail that is troubling me at the moment. How on earth am I supposed to find the right number of stitches for the design? It looks so nice on paper, but I'm quite sure it won't look anything like it at all, if I try tatting it with the numbers I've tried so far. Making your own patterns is indeed a lot harder than one should think, and I didn't expect it to be easy.

Bits of this and that

2009-10-11T00:29:00.001+02:00

It turns out the bag was very well received, which makes me so happy. I've never made a bag like this before, and I had no pattern for it (couldn't find one I liked), so I build it in normal paper first and then made my own. The thing she liked best was apparently the pentagram, so good thing I ended up putting it where I did. :D

And I have to post how a good girl I've been! I stuck to my promise and made a Christmas Star / Snowflake yesterday, before I started anything new. I'll see if I can post a picture of it soon.

New book!! \o/

2009-10-08T16:56:00.004+02:00

There isn't anything like getting a big, brown parcel, knowing it's one or more books that you have been waiting for for weeks. This time I got Jan Stavasz's "Tatting theory and patterns."

The book is really a joy. It's hardback, which is always a plus, and full of wonderful patterns. I really don't know where to start...And tbh. I ought not to have ordered it all now, since I promised myself I would start on some Christmas decoration IN GOOD TIME this year. But...eh...maybe it would be wrong of me to break my long tradition of finishing everything in the absolute last second? It might turn over the whole world order, and we do not want that to happen, right?!! So I guess it's my duty to try out one of those beautiful necklaces first. And after all there are still many days (and late nights) until December. :D

Procrastination ftw :P

2009-10-08T16:46:00.001+02:00

Why start working on something straight away, when you can procrastinate and wait an extra day or even a few hours? :P

Again I managed to wait too long to start on the last bit of the bag, but again I did actually manage to be done just in the last second. How ever there wasn't enough time to get a proper photo of the finished bag, so here are some work in progress ones:

The first is how it looks from the front - only the finished one actually did close properly. :P And eh...it did not have a pin stuck through it.

And this is the inside. For a long time I didn't really know whether to use the pentagram at all. Originally, I planned it to be on the front, above the flower edge, but it turned out to be far too crowded. Then I thought about putting it on the backside of the bag, but it would just get messy, since it would rub against the coat all the time. Finally, I decided to put it on the inside. When the lining was sewn to it's place (it's not even pinned in place on the photo) and the pentagram as well, it turned out ok, I think. Now I just hope the girl will end up liking the finished bag.

Stars and flowers on my mind

2009-10-04T21:32:00.002+02:00

Well....turns out I wasn't really on my feet again, but hopefully I am now.
I haven't had much tatting time the last couple of weeks. I've been trying to figure out how to draw patterns (thanks so much to Sharon's design course! :D), and I've been working on a gift to the daughter of a friend of mine. She is a young wiccan and I promised to make (yet another) bag for her. I've been working on how to create a nice looking pentagram. It took some tries but I am happy with the end result now.

I'm nearly done with a matching edge (same green / pink flowers), but haven't decided on the bag design yet. :( I would really like to do something different than the usual pouch, and I can't wait much longer to decide. The bag needs to be done thursday at the latest! =:-o

Silver and untidy ends :o

2009-09-18T12:39:00.001+02:00

I haven't' fallen completely asleep. Unfortunately I've been a bit ill, but I'm getting on my feets now. Here is a bit I did a while ago - I was just too lazy to hide the ends until yesterday. :P I sincerely wish I never had to hide any ends ever. I know you can do the magic trick, but I always end up breaking the thread or draw the hole piece skewed, or I get so eager when I start a new project that I forget to think ahead. Anyway I always end up with a billion ends (at minimum!!), and then I leave the piece in my tatting basket until "a day where I suddenly feel an urge to hiding ends" (as if that day existed :P). But yesterday I was a good girl and finished 2 projects.

One is a bracelet made with beanile lace (I had to try something after I got that book :D). The colors are a bit random. The silver beads were the only beads I had lying around, and the white yarn was the only yarn with the right size. I tried with my usual DMC 80 first, but the knots were too small. They simply disappeared in the beads. It did turn out ok, I think, though I would have preferred black yarn and maybe some more colorful beads. I think I will have to make another one at some point.

The other project was a small Christmas ornament. A star made with metallic
silver colored yarn from the "24 Snowflakes in Tatting" by Lene Bjørn. It's a cute motif, and the yarn works very well for this, I think. My only worry is if I can actually iron that kind of yarn? If you look close on the picture, you will see that I haven't done it yet. I think I better tat a test sample and test how the yarn responds to heat, before I try ironing the real piece, even though if it's through the usual damp piece of cloth.

So many plans, so little time...

2009-09-05T12:58:00.001+02:00

I'm still working on multiple projects. My birthday was in late August and I got several tatting books as presents, amongst those Nina Libin's "Beanile Lace", which I *had* to spend some time on. :D
Before I make any grander projects, how ever, I need to get some new beads. I've started to think about making some beaded snowflakes for Christmas. I do feel a bit like the woman dreaming with the basket of eggs on her head...while I imagine all the lovely pieces I can make, I will probably make the worst mess out of it ever or even stab myself to death with the tatting pin. Maybe I ought to learn to master (or at least use) the technique before I plan the awesome designs I want to make with it. :P

I also started following Sharon's Design-tat, which is very, very fun so far. I'm not overly happy about my designs yet, but on the other hand - if I was, why take the class? In the last lesson we all had to make a design from the same starting point - eight 4-4-4-4 rings connected with 4-4 chains. My first design was a very simple one. I wanted a cloverlike shape, but ended up with something looking a bit more like a tudor rose. There ought of course have been some extra rounds, but I misread and thought part of the challenge was only one round.

A couple of days after I finished that design, I woke up one morning and had dreamt about another design. I had the whole design in my head when I woke, and of course I had to try and make that as well. It came out ok, I think, even though in my dream it was a lot easier to make even sized very large rings. :P In reality I tightened too much when I pulled them together, but since I didn't believe I would be able to make it all right in first go, I didn't bother to unravel - I thought I would be unravelling any second anyway. It turned out I didn't - I actually did it all right in the first go :o. But I guess I ought to make a new one with a proper tension in the rings. Wtb more time...

Thérèse de Dillmont's "Tatting"

2009-08-18T11:46:00.000+02:00

I have always been interested in the history of crafts and art. As a young teenager I was often seen at the library with my nose in books about dressmaking from earlier centuries and the like, so when I started to tat, of course I had to learn about the history of tatting aswell.

Several women have been great contributers to modern day tatting, and one of them, Thérèse de Dillmont, who is mostly known for her Encyclopedia of Needlework also wrote a wonderful little booklet, simply called Tatting, which I just managed to secure from the library of my local Art and Design Museum. :D

I really want to recommend it, not only because it's great fun to sit with a book from such an important author in your hands, but also because it has such sweet designs. I have especially fallen in love with some of her medaillons, one of which inspired me to an earring last night. I won't post a picture yet, since I'm not perfectly happy with it yet, but I think it will be good, when I have changed a couple of things to the design. At least I hope so.

Instead I will post another of Thérèse's work, an illustration (medaillon) from the Encyclopedia of Needlework. The pattern is described at the link above. It's quite different from the one from "Tatting", but it has the same beautiful emphasize on the center, which I really like. I've already used the center part of the pattern to create several beautiful small flowers, and I've started to think about how to make round 2 into a sunflower. It should be possible, but I'm not sure when I will have the time to test it.

And more...>.< (I do other stuff than various bags as well, you know)

2009-08-15T11:47:00.000+02:00

My sister said she liked my tatting bag a lot (ofc. she has to say so - it's sort of an obligation when you present some hard work in front of people's noses, saying "ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL??!!! I SPEND AGES ON IT!" You can't really be polite and say "nah...it kinda sucks"). Anyway...I chose to believe her, and made a bigger one (about 30 cm. high) in her favorite colors for her birthday. I might add that my sewing machine broke a while ago, so I actually did it all by hand. Well, I didn't weave the fabric or spin the thread, but you get the point. :P

You can't really see much of the lining of this photo, but ofc. it's the same burgundy sort of color as the rest. I need to practice a bit more on making silk roses, but all in all I was quite happy with the final result.

The lace is a pretty standard trefoil one, but I find it very pretty.

More bags :D

2009-08-15T11:28:00.000+02:00

Can you ever get enough bags? No, I don't think so. Bags are like shoes - no matter what your hubby says, there is always room for some extras. :D

The first bag I made because I wanted something else to carry my tatting around in that the plastic bag I was using at the time. I wanted it to be easy to carry and ofc. I wanted some lace on it. I thought of different designs but ended up with this very classical one, because I think it really shows the lace to it's advantage. I made the lining quite colorful, again to make the lace more visible. Sorry for my not so apt photo-skills. :-X

And a detail pic:

Cell Phone bag

2009-08-15T11:20:00.001+02:00

Unfortunately I haven't been accustomed to take pics of the stuff I've made. I only have one picture of one of the early things I made, which was a cell phone bag for my sister. I don't have a picture of the finished piece, only a work in progress one. I used kinda thick thread for it to be durable. I used a pattern for an intersection, which I made in the length of the phone. Then I tatted a similar on to the first and so on, until I had 6 in total, assembled to a little bag. I lined the bag with some black 'silk'thingie, I got from some jewelry wrapping once, and it actually turned out quite nice.

So...I decided to make a blog, what now?

2009-08-15T11:04:00.000+02:00

I started tatting about 2 years go. When I was 15 I inherited a shuttle from my grandmother, and ever since I've known that some day I would learn how to use it. Years went by and I tried all sorts of old crafts - embroidery, cross-stitches, nålebinding (aka knotless netting / knitting), spinning with a spindle, making felt, knitting, crochet and such. Finally, I thought it was time to pick up that shuttle and get started, and from the first moment I was hooked.

Since that moment, I have searched the internet for blogs and websites, the library for books and articles, and of course I've made various pieces along the way. As it seems like everyone, except me, have a blog these days, I thought I would get one as well. I'm sure the world will be a better place if I foist pictures and ramblings on random people that might pass by. :P