This is my second attempt at attaching the tatting to the tulle and it’s working much better.

One of the exciting things about this attempt is how I found the actual tulle that I’m using.  To make a veil you start with a circular piece of tulle.  When I took the veil making class at Pacific Fabrics I asked the teacher to cut a couple extra pieces for me to make these mini veils.  It was quite a while later that I realized that they sell these little circular pieces of tulle pre-cut and packaged in the wedding section for making gift bags/party favors.

I picked up a package of black ones to try this out on and it’s working quite well so far.  More to come for sure.

Quite a while ago I took a veil making class at the Pacific Fabrics store in Northgate because I wanted to play around with tulle and figuring out how to attach the tatting to it.  My idea was to make little mini-veils in different colors.  While I was there I asked the teacher to cut out a couple piece of tulle in different colors to try out these mini-veils.  This is the first of them.

For this one I did the tatting first and then sewed it on the tulle.  Didn’t work quite as well as I would have hoped.  It was hard to figure out exactly how much tatting I needed to go around the tulle and so I started the sewing while it was still attached to the ball and shuttle and that was sort of awkward.

I finally finished attaching the tatting last week and as I was doing it discovered that I had overshot and made it too long for the tulle.  Took a bit of retro-tatting to get it right, but got it there eventually.  I’m going to add a couple other little flowers to the main part of the tulle, and then figure out a way to attach it to a barrette.

I’ve started another one that I’m attaching to the tulle as I’m tatting it and it’s working much better.  It’s the same pattern, but I’m just joining directly to the tulle.  I only just started so I’m not very far along, but I’ll try to take some pictures tomorrow.

This is the unfinished version of Mary Konior’s Spinning Wheel that I started last week in yellow and white.  I like the way it’s turning out.  I just ran out of the yellow thread on the shuttle and haven’t gotten around to finishing it off yet.

The yellow of this project was the left over from another piece.  An edging around a handkerchief that I’ve been working on for a while and finally finished the tatting for.  I didn’t realize quite how much tatting there was to a get around a handkerchief!

This handkerchief has been on my list of projects to finish for a while.  Now that the tatting is finished the next step is to get it actually sewn onto the handkerchief.  The pattern is from one of the Priscilla books.  It took me a while and quite a few attempts to figure out how to do the corner.  It’s always nice to find a single shuttle pattern that I like.

This is actually last week’s project and I finished it then, but it’s been a busy weekend and I’m just getting around to writing about it.  A couple weeks ago I picked up a copy of Mary Konior’s Tatting with Visual Patterns on Ebay.  Last week I tatted up this version of the Spinning Wheel pattern.  This is one of the few full-multicolored threads I like and I think it works especially well with the black.  I like the stain glass look of the combination.

This is actually the second version of this pattern I did.  I also started one in white and a variegated yellow in size 20, but ran out of thread on the shuttle and haven’t gone back to finish it off.  Perhaps that will be my project to finish for this week.

It was nice to simply follow a pattern without having to make adjustments or retat or rewrite anything.  A nice bit of change from working on the Priscilla books other older patterns.

I had been planning to go to Camp Wannatat this weekend, but it’s getting close to exam time (two weeks from today!) and I managed to twist my ankle this weekend while coming down the stairs.  It’s feeling much better now, but it sort of messed up my study schedule and I’m not sure now that I’ll be able to go.  We’ll see how things are in a couple days, but now I’m thinking I’ll have to skip it.

Sometimes while reviewing my accounting videos I’ll work on a piece of tatting to keep me from getting distracted.  If I’m not doing something with my hands (either tatting or taking notes) I tend to find myself checking email or rearranging things on my desk and not fully paying attention to the videos.

Of course, it can’t be a very complicated piece of tatting since the whole point is not to get distract.  This garland has been perfect.  It’s a simple single-shuttle edging with rings of 3-3-3-3.  No need to think at all so I can keep my hands busy and my mind on the accounting.

I had three balls left of this size 10 DMC thread and originally I planned to use all of them on this garland, but I’ve got two more starlit shuttles full of thread before I’m finished with the first ball and it’s already probably long enough to put on the tree as it is.  I think any longer and it might be a bit cumbersome to put on and pretty annoying to take off.  I do think that I’ll make garlands out of the other two balls (I have one other garland I’m working on from the same color), but maybe I’ll pick out a different edging pattern to use for each of those.  4 garlands of matching colors, but different patterns sounds fun.

Unfortunately, I’ve discovered that this thread bleeds a bit as I’m tatting with it.  I find it coming off on my fingers.  It doesn’t seem bad enough to toss the thread, (I have to tat quite a lot before I notice it) but I decided it would be best to limit what I used it for.  These garlands seem like a good project for it.  They take a lot of thread and will be well packed up and stored for most of the year.

I’m looking around for other pattern candidates for the next garlands.  Right now I’m feeling partial to single-shuttle patterns so I’ve been flipping through some of the Reigo books and trying to re-imagine what the the 1840s pictures would look like in real life.

Isn’t it pretty?  This is the first of Camelia’s doilies that I’m trying to replicate. The center part is what I used for the snowflakes/Irish Roses from last week.

Out of the 12 of Camelia’s doilies that I photographed extensively in detail to try to replicate (no promises that I’ll get to them all) I picked this one partly because it’s one of the smaller ones and so I thought that would be a good one to start with.  Smaller, yes.   Not necessarily very straight forward.  Camelia does interesting work with some innovative techniques.  Even once I figure out how to replicate it I’m still left with trying to figure out how to explain it to someone else in instructions that make sense.  So don’t be expecting patterns for these anytime soon, but the project is very slowly coming along.

I think though that I’ve come up with a pretty good system for figuring out how to make them.  When I was there I took not just overall pictures like this one, but many, many close-up detailed pictures of each section of the doily as well.  When I tackle a new one I start with looking very carefully through the pictures and writing out the stitch count.  When I’ve got the whole thing written out I start tatting from that and adjusting the pattern as needed.  Usually for some of her more innovative techniques this also involves trying to write out my notes to myself about how to do it in way that someone else might have a shot at understanding.  I always use two colors so I can follow the first and second shuttle portions later.

This is actually similar to what I do for working through the old patterns from the Priscilla books, except there I am working through the old-style of writing out the directions and rewriting them in modern notation.  I WISH the Priscilla books had detailed pictures, but no such luck.

I’m actually getting close to finishing my first of this doily.  It got put aside a while back when I was packing up to move so it’s been squished up in a small tin of tatting for a while.  It’s on my list of weekly projects to finish at some point this year, so maybe you’ll get to see a finished version sometime in the next couple months.  Unfortunately, I know there’s no way that my finished version is going to turn out as nice as Camelia’s.  Maybe after a few more practice ones.

This week I finished a couple of new pieces that I started two weekends ago.  We went down to the Tacoma Polo Club for the last polo match of the season.  It’s a lot of fun to watch and goes great with tatting.  Next year I want to organize a large group of lacers, knitters and crocheters to go to a match together.  Sort of like when they do the Stitch and Pitch at the Mariner’s games, except that this would be Picots and Polo.   Or maybe Picots and Ponies.

Anyway, I had just come from the Lacemakers of Puget Sound meeting where we had listened to a talk on Irish Crochet.  I used to crochet, but only with yarn.  Interestingly, I had never liked actually crocheting with thread through I think it’s gorgeous.  I even created my own class as a directed reading course in which I studied the history of Irish Crochet during the potato famine.  But never liked actually crocheting with thread so I stuck with making blankets until I discovered tatting and switch solely to that.  (Crocheting was also starting to hurt my wrists.)

At the meeting I had with me a re-creation project I’e been working on for a while.  About a year and a half ago, Sarah Nielson and I were coming back from Bobbies and we stopped in Spokane for a quick visit with Camelia Crapo.  Well, our quick visit turned in to about 4 hours and we left with stacks of photocopies and at least a gigabyte of photos some of her gorgeous one of a kind doilies and snowflakes.  We vowed to recreate them and write up the patterns.  I took the doilies and Sarah took the snowflakes.

Cut to 18 months later, we don’t have anything shareable yet, but we have started playing around with them.  I’ve been working on one of the smaller doilies.  I’ll share details about that later, but at the LPS meeting two weeks ago, I realized that the very center part of the doily sort of looked like an Irish crochet rose.  I had to try to out so I started two of them at the polo club.

The first one is in size 10 and the second one is the left over size 80 I had on my shuttles from the bracelet I posted about a few weeks ago.  I really like the way it turned out with two colors.  The piece is done with two shuttles in three rounds, with the second round made up close, but behind the first round and the third one behind that.  The six inner rings are with shuttle 1 and all others are with shuttle 2 off of the base chain of each round.

I think it makes an interesting three dimensional snowflake or could be used like an Irish crochet rose as part of a larger piece.  And, of course, it makes a lovely center to Camelia’s doily.

Moving from California to Seattle means that I finally got my tatting somewhat sorted out.  Well… not really.  But at least it’s all contained in one place now.  The process made me realize just how many unfinished projects I have started.  I used to be pretty good about finishing what I started, but then again, I also didn’t use to have so many shuttles making it so easy to start new ones before the old ones were finished.  🙂  Since I’m starting to feel like my study schedule is under control I’m going to dive into a goal I’ve been wanting to set ever since I got moved up to Seattle.  In an attempt to sort through the UFOs (UnFinished Objects) I’m going to attempt to finish project every week. Some of these projects will need more tatting, some just need the finished piece to be sewn up or the ends to be hidden.

This week’s project was to decorate this summer dress.  I added the edging a while back, but almost immediately afterwards managed to get a couple spots of bleach on it.  So I made these flowers to cover them up.  I used the motifs from the Star Doily in Priscilla Tatting #3 which has become my go-to pattern for a round motif.  The smaller ones are simply the center part of the full motif.  I had the tatting finished a few weeks ago, but this week I finally got them sewn on the dress.   Now that I’ve got them on there I’m thinking they look a little sparse so one of these weeks I may “restart” the project and add some more, but for now I’m calling it finished.  🙂

One project down.  Seventeen to go.  Wish me luck.

I think I’ve finally gotten a study routine down. And since for the next 6-8 months my life revolves around the CPA exams (hopefully I can finish in 6) that means I know what my life will look like for that time.

Sunday-Friday mornings are my primary study time.  I have scheduled out what I want to get done each day and if all goes well I finish by noon or maybe 1.  Afternoons when I’m usually the least mentally responsive are time for errands, with a sprinkling of review, catch-up (where needed) and working ahead (where possible).  I’ve always been both a morning and a night person and it’s during the afternoons that I slow down so this new schedule of using the afternoon for things like grocery shopping and going to get the car’s oil changed have been working pretty well.  Until last week I was trying to get more studying done in the afternoons and it just wasn’t working and leaving me stressed out because I wasn’t getting everything done.  This week I’ve also gotten a fair bit of studying done during the evenings which has been nice, but that’s because Noah has been out of town on business.  He’ll be back tonight and I’ll probably have to adjust my schedule for next week a bit.

The good news with all of this talk about studying is that it means that I’ve figured out how to get my studying in a less stressful manner and now I don’t feel guilty about the time I’m tatting.  Pictured above is a bracelet in size 80 that I just finished.  Well, technically I finished the tatting about a month or so ago, but until a week and a half ago I hadn’t actually gotten the ends sewn in. During a lacemakers meeting I borrowed someone’s magnifying glasses and was finally able to get them tucked in nicely.  It’s been a while since I’ve worked with 80 and I’d forgotten how much I like it.  For years when I first started tatting it was all that I would work with.  This project inspired me to pull out some of my copious amounts of the stuff and start playing around with some more smaller threaded projects even though I’m trying not to get too many new project started.

The pattern for this bracelet comes from the Priscilla books.  I started at the hook and worked across on one side and then did the same on the other.  I’m especially pleased with the bit I came up with for attaching it to the hook.  Being able to do a bit of filler with some lock-stitch chains means the project is a bit more adjustable since the hook attaches directly to the lace to fit around the wrist and the overlap isn’t bulky.   The split rings are a convenient way to hide the ends at the start of each side.  I’m thinking of doing a necklace of a similar style, but it would end up being a choker, which I don’t really wear and I’m not sure yet I want to put that much time into a piece I’m not likely wear.  I’ve been thinking about some variations that might work, so we’ll see if that’s something I’ll get around to eventually.

Sorry for the radio silence.  I didn’t intend to disappear for so long, but it’s been a busy couple months.  I’ve gotten myself settled into Seattle and am enjoying the lovely summer we’ve been having.  I went back down to Los Angeles for a few weeks to finish training my replacement at the radio station.  It’s nice to pass off the torch Susie.  I know I’m leaving the station and volunteers in good hands.

I am now pretty much officially unemployed and studying full-time for the CPA exams.  I’ve still been tatting the last couple months and I’m looking forward to getting caught up with the blogging, but my first exam is in October so I still expect to be somewhat distracted.  Basically, any time I’m not studying I’m feeling guilty about not studying.  I’m trying to make sure I still leave enough time for myself so I don’t get too burnt out.  The first test might be in October, but there’s still 3 more after that.  I’m trying to finish them all in 6 months.  They have a 40% pass rate each, but my goal is to pass them all on my first try.

So that’s the quick update on my life of the last few months.   Sorry not to have any exciting pictures of tatting for my first post back, but rest assured, they are on the way.