More tatting supplies

This is the newest shuttle listed in the shop. I am showing the photo so you can see the model that came in for this photo shoot. He was great to work with and I only had to give him a few aphids, which I think were well worth his time.
Also the silk has sold much faster than I anticipated but never fear there are new batches listed in the shop. BTW I am LOVING tatting with this silk, it has exceded my expectations. I could see running into some frustration with it if you had to retrotat which of course I did (retro-tat that is, NOT run into trouble) but I can foresee retrotatting possibly being an issue for newbies. With that said, that is the only drawback I have found with it.
This is the first weekend that my hubby has had off so I am getting very little accomplished as he is the biggest distraction in the world. He is a good distraction but if he didn't have a job and hung around all the time, I would never get anything done.
I was hoping to show the next round of the big doily I posted about previously....ahhh it will happen ....in due time.

But I won't leave without some eyecandy:

I had to try this pattern with the silk thread. I regret that I have to muck up all my photos with signature stamps. We all know that there is a thief among us and I need to protect my creative property as best I can. It was about a year ago that I discovered individuals "borrowing" my images without my consent or knowledge so that is when I added this extra measure. These disrespectful people were not in the tatting community. Our community is honest, and fun and we tend to band together and protect one another. I am so proud to be in this community and I want you all to know that "I GOT YOUR BACKS".

Anyhow here is a close up so you can see the thread better:

I used size 20 "Seaweed" Hakelgarn for the green portion and size 20 "Hydrangea" SILK for the grapes. I think I will do the whole necklace in silk next time around ...maybe with some beads.

I have promised to share the technique of making this sort of tatting. I realized a video is going to be too long and most likely boring. So I am working on step by step instructions with diagrams. This is taking me quite awhile so please be patient. My tolerance for sitting at the computer for long periods of time is declining.

Also there will be more HDT "Sue Hanson" coming up....stat!

Ta da!

I managed to block this last night. My biggest fear was bleeding all over it but that didn't happen. I am still in pain but today it doesn't seem as bad as it did last night....probably because all the bleeding has stopped. I will not be able to work for awhile but I am getting pretty good at typing with my left hand so I might try to get a lot of computer work done over the next few days.

I was going to put this edging on a hanky but soon realized that it would be a hanky I would never use, so I got loftier ideas and designed a doily for it. Can we just say that this took foooooreeever to make.
I'm calling it the "big" project because of what it involved and not so much the size of it. Especially since this is done in size 80 thread.
This is the most technical piece of lace I have designed to date. Of course the edging took 5 shuttles but there is also a lot more involved in this piece including, split rings, mock picots, split chains, encapsulation, tatting over tails, down joins and a crazy technique I made up but pretty sure have not invented.
I did all the technically "right" things when making this which has spawned some deep thinking such as; Is it really worth it to spend 5 minutes on a split chain to jump out of a round rather than 5 seconds to cut and tie and hide the ends later???
I am still pondering that.
Also when working with as many different colors as I tend to, some of those techniques will not work.
But anyway, here it is. I hope you like it!

Tatting Necklaces

I was wondering what to do with this motif because I felt it was a bit big for an edging so I worked it into a necklace with a nice toggle clasp. I think this would be real pretty in white as well and might look gorgeous on a bride.
I had a great Memorial Day and was fortunate enough to squeeze in a lovely picnic in the mountains right by a meandering stream.

Hankies, more grapes and a surprise!

Couldn't resist torturing you all with yet more pictures of grapes. The edging is coming along. You probably didn't notice that I was a just a little bit proud of this edging. Come to find out that I am not that clever after all, I guess there are folks out there who have tatted with a lot more than 5 shuttles at one time.
My pride was short-lived as usual.
I am in the market for some Irish Linen Hankies because I need to put all my new edging designs to good use right? They are really expensive, these handkerchiefs,...who knew?
Anyway, these are the least expensive hankies I found on the internet. http://www.allaboutblanks.com/Hankies.htm. If anyone knows of a better deal, please do share.
I got a lovely surprise this morning.
My great Aunt Dolores gave me a shuttle that my great grandmother gave her over 30 years ago. Now I actually have one of my great gran's tatting items....YAY!!! You would think that because I am the ONLY person in the family who tats and everyone knows it that I might have more of Great Grandma's tatting things but they were all pilfered and scattered to the winds after her funeral. I didn't mind because being a child at the time I wasn't entitled to anything. And besides, of what use are shuttles, thread and bits and bobs of lace without any skills to put them to use? But I can't deny that it is nice that one of her shuttles has migrated back to me.

Now I am probably putting myself at risk for some hate mail here but I don't really care for the bobbin style shuttles and I guess these are the ones that Jane E really goes nuts over...(made in England). But because it was touched and used by my GG I am going to tat with it. Who knows, maybe I'll start liking them.................................................................................but I doubt it, (hee hee).

5 shuttle tatting

Are you sick of grapes yet? Just when I thought I was done with this edging design that has been plaguing me for days I was struck by an intriguing idea. At first I thought I was crazy to even consider such a thing but uncontrollable forces urged me foward.
This was my inpiration:

It is a photo of my kitchen where I have these really cool alternating grape lights. So my goal was to make alternating grape colors on the edging design without a lot of fuss. I wanted it to be a continuous tat.
Voila! After much deliberation and a little frustration I am now enjoying the fruits of my labor....Pun intended!
This blog post is my 50th post. Whoo hoo! This is a pretty big deal considering how ADD I am.
And now that I know I can successfully tat with 5 shuttles at a time I have tons of other design ideas rolling around in my head.

Goodness Grapecious!!

Two posts in one day and my very first edging design! When I get fixated on an idea I can't let it go until I have a satisfactory conclusion. This idea was rolling around in my head for nearly four days. I am very pleased with this edging. I generally don't go in for edgings and doily's and such.
But this is a design I can't wait to use in my own kitchen (which happens to be, what I like to call, my "Italian Bistro").
I am going to have a bugger of a time writing this pattern as I don't know the term (or even if there is one) for the method I used, and I certainly don't know how to transcribe it. Perhaps one of you tatting guru's out there can assist me.
Now that this is done I can get back to doing some pottery.

Necessity is the mother of invention

More 3 shuttle tatting:
So I really wanted to figure out how I could continue this motif indefinately into an edging with no cuts. I mulled over it for an entire day and a half and came up with this. Of course I had to make it extra hard on myself by using size 80 thread. This motif is tiny. I am re-working it today with size 20 and tweaking the design here and there. This is a tricky little thing...mind you I am not claiming that I invented a new method or anything, I am sure someone knows what the heck I am doing....but I sure don't know what to call it.
More to come later.