Summit Weekend Tatting

One weekend a year, I get together with my sister and some friends from college. We spend the time talking about our lives, eating good food, and generally enjoying each other's company.  This year, amidst the wine and chocolate and pasta, I brought out my tatting. So as conversation ensued within this group of writers and artists and musicians, I quietly tatted away. I had some leftover size 10 in white and pink so they turned into flowers and butterflies. I brought out size 20 Lizbeth Jellybean and continued along those lines.

I had been thinking about making something they could take home as a token. After some consideration, I settled on Marilee Rockley's Remembrance ring in Lizbeth Mocha Brown Medium. 

I have completed two so far. I have started my third and am going to redesign a bit to make an anklet for the last one. They are not perfect, but neither am I, so I feel they are appropriate. The bottom line is that they were made with love and laughter for people I care about very much. Thank you, Marilee Rockley, for such a beautiful design!

Moving on...

I have given up on the bonnet that I had started. I have come to a point where I need to be sitting with someone more skilled than I am to figure out the pattern and how to tat it. So, I am going to switch to another pattern and work on that. I am also thinking about tatting up a couple of butterflies for my daughter's kindergarten class. They are currently raising butterflies and I want to give them little lace ones to mark the release date. I have some Lizbeth 20 Jelly Bean that should do nicely. I'll most likely post after the weekend if there's anything to show for it.

OH, I started using a bobbin shuttle last week; thank you, Sue Ann. I have been a clover girl up until now. It is taking some getting used to, and I am usually change-resistant, but I am making progress. I was using it for the bonnet but will cut and run to something else.  Maybe some flowers, thanks Lelia, to put in my little girls hair. Oooh, flowers and a butterfly for her hair!!!!  So excited.

A huge thank you to those who have come to read this blog and comment. While my sister, a writer, has blogged off and on for years, it is my first foray. Thank you all for your support.

Must go, much to do before I tat.

Happy weekend to all!

If you ask my mom how I spent my childhood, she will probably say I was either reading a book or sitting in a corner playing with string. Easily amused and long-nailed, I was the one who untied knots in shoelaces and necklaces.  So, yeah, there's a precedent for me tatting.

Thinking that my grandparents had tatted lace, and wanting to follow in their footsteps, I bought "Learn To Tat" by Janette Baker.  I started tatting at the end of last year, furiously working chains with uneven picots and random unused thread space when I had the spare time. In December of 2012, I started using paperclips to standardize picots and things progressed. In January, I bought a measuring gauge and things really started taking off.

I recently connected with the Tollway Tatters (a lovely group of people) who deemed my tatting appropriate for public consumption. And so, on the advice of those who know better than I, I have started a little blog about my tatting (and anything else that night come into my head). We'll see how this goes.

My first project was a ring and chain, two shuttle practice pattern from Janette Baker. Tatted in size 5, white and ecru, my daughter decided she wanted it for a bracelet. It is now a crown for a stuffed horse.

My second piece would have been the butterfly from Janette Baker. I tatted at least a dozen of them for a local school to use for an art project in February. They were tatted in size 10 pink or white.

Next came the heart pattern from Janette Baker. It is done in size 10 pink and white. My daughter has claimed it, but I haven't given it to her yet. I may frame it. I don't know.

I did make a second one with the colors reversed, but gave it away. A contractor we use quite frequently saw me tatting and said that his wife loved that kind of thing. I gave him the heart for her.

Next came the Janette Baker's bookmark. It took some doing but I managed to summon the courage to try it. It is in size 10 pink and white (yep, big skeins of yarn to deplete).

After that, I decided I wanted to attempt a cross. I have an uncle who is a priest and thought it would be cool to make something for his vestments. He is a wonderful man and I thought this might be a nice way to give back to him for everything he has done for us. So, I found a cross pattern from psychotatter and made it in size 10 white.

My uncle graciously declined saying that where he lives they have stacks and stacks of vestments (it is a retirement home for Jesuits, after all). After showing it to a local pastor, it will soon find a home on the altar, and I have been commissioned to make another smaller version in red for his vestments.

And that brings us to my latest large effort from Janette Baker's book, the Daffodil Doily. It took some doing but I completed it in size 10 pink and white (yes, again).

On a recent weekend trip, I acquired some size 20 and 80 thread. I also picked up some beads to incorporate. I also purchased "The Complete Book of Tatting."  Inspired by a few of the blogs I have seen, I am trying my hand at jewelry and flower motifs in between the larger projects.

I had the pleasure of meeting the authors of several blogs last weekend at Tollway Tatters. They were so welcoming. It was such a wonderful experience to sit and talk and learn from them. Marilee Rockley even worked up a solution on the spot for the clumsy joins I had in the doily. They are a kind and generous group and I hope to see them again soon.

So, that brings things up to date. I hope to post on here periodically as I tat more. As I said before, we'll see how it goes. I am fairly certain this will be the most long-winded of my posts.

And since I would like to join in the 25 Motif Challenge, I hope to use these as my first five (for the calendar year). I know, giving myself a jumpstart, but hey, I'm a beginner, cut me some slack!