#1 for the 25 motif challenge

This is BUTTER TOFFEE in size 20 tatting thread. My friend and student Kyoung-mi loves fish. Fish are a common theme in her pottery shop and paintings....so I decided to design a tatted fish espcially for her

I decided to join the The 25 MOtif Challenge again this year. It is a fantastic way to motivate oneself to tat. Anyhow this year my challenge is to tat 25 motifs all in a different HDT (hand dyed thread).
That way I can have a sample of all my hdt's tatted up...I've been meaning to do this for awhile, so today is as good as any to start.

Merry Christmas....Free Chatelaine Tatting pattern

I've been working on my T.A.T. "Masters" portion all year. I am nearly finished. I was hoping that as a graduation present to myself, that I could complete a chatelaine. I couldn't find a design that suited me, so I designed a chatelaine tatting pattern myself. I've since made an edging and bookmarks with this pattern....and I would like to share it with you for Christmas:

Sherry's Chatelaine.

This is a bookmark version I tatted for a birthday present. Tatted in size 80 HDT (hand dyed tatting thread) "Shades of Gray".

It has SCMR's and thrown off rings, and double picots...so it's a lot of fun to tat!

If and when I complete the chatelaine I will share it....I've tatted about 20 inches so far(a little less than half of what I need) and I have a couple of months of tatting still to go....

Merry Christmas!!!

It is snowing!!!

Would you believe it? It literally went from hot to cold with no in between. It is snowing outside and it is FREEZING in my house. I am wearing gloves as I type this. Ah well, I LOVE winter and much prefer it to the melting temps we had over the summer.

"TUSCANY" hand dyed tatting thread (HDT) is back! I am gradually trying to dye all my colorways in silk too! Oh and good news on that front. My tatting girls helped me to get some new silk....YAY! They got a decent price and it was delivered without charge. I didn't have to drive in traffic for 2 hours, or go to the market and haggle with the shop! What a blessing!

I am off to do some more dyeing.....eeeks...my hands are already cracking from the cold weather.
Oh and "ROYAL DIADEM" is completed and up for sale....click on link for more info!

TA DA! "Royal Diadem" completed....?!?!?!

I am promising myself that this pattern is DONE! "Look away....don't turn back..."
I just finished blocking the final draft last night. I was going to hold off on sharing this until the pattern is ready to distribute...but the excitement of completion has gotten the best of me. I can't help but to share. I am in such a celebratory mood that I am irritating myself with my own spazziness.
I have over 5 months of work into this doily; countless hours and dogged determination to get it just right.

Still tatted in two continuous rounds. With this draft you can see the rounds. The inner round here was tatted with 1 skein of "Karen's Halo" in Silk size 20. The outer round was tatted with 1 1/2 skeins of "Royalty" in silk size 20. It measures 10 inches in diameter. Remember when I said the silk tats up a bit smaller than the cotton? Well if this was done in cotton it would be 11" to 12" in diameter.

Hurray! I am going to take a short break from tatting to finish up the book. I don't have a time frame for the release yet...but it should be sometime this month. It depends on how many times I change my mind with all those little details!

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!

Tatting in Korea

I've been searching for tatting in Korea since I got here one month ago.
Yesterday, I took my first train trip to Seoul (a story in and of itself) and found the "Fabric Stuff" district. (No kidding, 'fabric stuff' is what it says on the billboards).
This district is huge comprising of hundreds of vendors selling fabric, notions and threads, etc. I honestly don't know how they compete with one another. There will be 10 vendors in a row selling exactly the same thing.
Anyhow, even though I can't seem to shake this illness, I walked 10 miles, got blisters on both feet and suffered two panic attacks due to the hoards of people. I don't like shopping....period. But I was on a mission to find tatting in Korea. I showed dozens of people tatted lace and shuttles, and although they were clearly impressed and fascinated, they had no idea what they were looking at.
My mission is to get well, learn enough Hangul to communicate and go back to the district and see if anyone is interested in learning tatting.
It was not a waste of a day however, after searching high and low and pantomiming in a ridiculous manner, I did find a little treasure that I hope to share within the next couple of days.

In the meantime...since I can't keep this under my hat any longer.
I have been working on this design for 4 months. Parts of it may be familiar to you as I have posted bits of this continuous doily before. Everytime I tat it, I come up with ideas to improve it. Well, it is not finished, and I want to add two more rounds, but I am quite happy with the changes and the progress thus far.
With the exception of the last round the entire doily is continuously tatted (no split chains), it took just shy of 1 skein of size 20 HDT. This one is tatted in "Raspberry Mousse". The second round will also be continously tatted.
This is tatted in the front/backside method, with some fun picot treatments thrown in and some block tatting. I have plans for one more technique to come. So far it measures 8 1/2" in diameter.
Not being very fond of doilies, (but wanting to be a well-rounded tatter) I decided I should design at least one really good one. So please tell me what you think so far...

Too much???

It's too much isn't it? Less is more right?
I think I'll take this one back to the drawing board.

I've just been tatting and sleeping, sleeping and tatting. Isn't that the life? Arghhh! (yes just like a pirate)...
It's either insomnia or being unable to stay awake.
What the goob????


Also, for some reason I am no longer getting comment notifications at all. So if you have responded to any of my comments I wouldn't know. My blogger is now in Hangul and I can't understand it....I just go clicking around on links until I find the thing I am looking for.

"HEART ATTACK EDGING" Tatted Lace

Sorry for the delay in presenting this pattern. The day after we moved in to our new Korean home, I fell ill and have basically been sleeping for the last 3 days.
Anyhow, I purchased a new scanner....(It is so much better than my old one) and I downloaded my diagramming software to my laptop so VOILA! Here you go! Enjoy!
"Heart Attack Edging"
This will also be located under "Free Patterns" here on this blog.

Buddha's birthday was recently celebrated here in South Korea and I chose these colors for the edging because they match the buddha decoration's everywhere.