Christmas Gifts, Crafts, and Cookies!!

These are my latest in the world of tatting. There's four of each, and I will be joining them together with jump rings when they are fully starched and blocked:

I joined the 25 Motif Challenge this last week, so I will say that these are four different motifs. They're not fully finished, but they will be the first in my go at the challenge!

These were all tatted in a size 20 of HDT from Lady Shuttlemaker, "Icicle." I used two different patterns, one was the December pattern from Georgia Seitz site for beginner tatters, located here. The next one up was the same pattern, just doubled and taking out a ring/chain and joining to one picot in the center. The third was a crochet pattern that was translated into tatting, however I've lost the pattern. I'll see if I can find it before my next post..

Since I have gotten confirmation on some of my threads getting through the mail, I feel its alright for me to post what the cards looked like before being put in the envelope:

I had the origami paper sitting around from about three Christmases ago when I made a tree that was completely decorated with nothing but origami cranes. Wow, that was a while back.. I was still in school at ITT..

The envelope is made the same way that Katie did over at Katie's Tatting Khronicles, though I think I may have made mine before she did, except she made them way better than mine!

It may not seem like much of a Christmas craft, however I am working on M's Christmas present at the moment:



He's getting a nice journal; parchment, 200 total write-able pages (or 50 sheets folded in half) and bound with some thread that I need to dye tonight so it will be ready in the morning. I'm using tea for this one, which will be a new experience for me. It's going to be bound in a Japanese stab-binding style, mostly because I like the stitch and it's easier than some of the other styles. I'll try to post some pictures of the entire process -- this is a really good way for re-binding books that are loosing their spine or have been passed down.

I also got bored when I was taking the pictures of the parchment, and decided to share with everyone one of my orchids before the blooms fall off:



This is my newest addition to the growing plant life of my home. I'm surprised that the blooms have lasted this long.. Maybe it's because I'm keeping the temperature the same constant 73 degrees?

Thread Exchange

I sent out my thread earlier today and it should be in everyone's hands by end of week. I've been procrastinating cleaning house, and today I have cause to put it off:


At top left, from Marcella, is a collection of thread that includes a DMC Perle Cotton in size 12, and a vintage thread from Clark's Boilfast, size 50. Next is from Marji, Lizabeth size 20 Springtime. Thanks to both!

Now that I have them, I don't know what to do with them! Perhaps some pretty ornaments?

I'll post pictures of the cards I sent out later, once they've reached their destination!

Holiday Thread Exchange, and other Holiday things!

As promised, here are some pictures of my latest thread dying exploits. The yarn took around three rinsing before they were fully dye-free, and the thread twice (but only for the darker colors. I didn't realize it took so much to get the brown out!!)

Size 10 Bamboo
Colors:
Orchid Blossom
Grape Vine
Orchid Blush
Chocolate-Strawberry Swirl
Black Friday

Size 10
Colors:
Grape Vine
Chocolate-Strawberry Swirl
Arctic Slushie
Flames
Orchid Blossom
Peach
Rose-Pink
Black Friday
Size 20
Colors:
Flames
Chocolate-Strawberry Swirl
Black Friday
Grape Vine
Peach

Size 30
Colors:
Black Friday
Orchid Blush
Arctic Slushie
Chocolate-Strawberry Swirl
Rose-Pink
Grape Vine
Orchid Blossom

I now have more thread than I know what to do with.. But that's alright. :) If anyone wants to try some of this out, send me a comment and I'll respond.

There's a Holiday Shop in my local strip mall. They come every year, but the best thing about them this year is that I found two books for tatting!


Anyone know where to find a "crochet tatting hook"? This book calls for one, but I have no idea where to find one! I think I can re-work the patterns to use a shuttle, but I'm not too sure... Crochet is not my forte, it's more of my mothers. and she seems interested in this book (I asked her if she could figure it out and teach me.. It's a good trade -- I teach her needle tatting and she teaches me this!). All I need is to do is get some hooks and I'm set!

Also, Kelly gave me a nice $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble. Yay! Now I can go crazy again! I've found a few books/pamphlets that I really want to get, but will need to see if I can have them shipped to the store. I'm not too fond of waiting for anything to come to my mailbox, especially since it's a tiny thing! lol I guess I need to figure out which books I want!

I'll be sending out my parts in a thread exchange tomorrow. It's kind of funny -- I didn't realize that two of my partners are from my home state! And one is in an area that I go to frequently! Weird..

Also, another note on the Christmas shopping woes.. I managed to get my sister a gift that I know she will like (since I don't have the time to get hers made..), only to bungle it up and have her see the box it was in! This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that it was from one of the stores that she loves.. And that the smell of the tea she wanted me to get her is currently filling my house with it's candy sweetness!

Dye Again!

I'll try to post pics when I get home, but I've finally took the time to dye more thread (and also some yarn!) the way I wanted. All that's left is to rinse everything (and in some cases, again!!) and let them dry. I've came up with some new color combinations, and did away with some of my others.

Now, I just need to build my skeining machine and I'll be off to the races! ^^

I am seriously thinking about sending some of these out to be test-tatted, since I won't have time to make something out of every color combination. Any takers?

.. Well, I guess that would have to wait until I get the pictures posted, yeah? lol

Finals, Yarn, Thread, and Dye

Finals are next week, and I only have to go for three days, and two aren't for tests! ^^

Anywho, I'm gearing up for another round of dying. I didn't get the chance a week ago to dye, mostly because it was Black Friday and I had to work the early shift (whew! so glad that is over!!) This time, I'm making a Christmas gift for a friend who crochets (making a skein of HDT.. erm.. hand-dyed yarn?) that is purple and black. She chose the colors! I'm also going to be dying some thread, so I've got to choose my colors soon!

I'm trying to get everything skeined, so keep a look out! I will also be adding some more tatting, as well as a full pattern to my Clover Square. I've only got to finish the final corner and type up the pattern and I will be done! ^^

Pics will be up (save those for the thread exchange.. I'll add those when my partners get their thread! lol) sometime later, after it's all said and done. Happy tatting everyone! ^^

So much to do, so little time!

This entire semester has gone by very quickly, and I've found myself in the revision stage of studying for finals. No new tatting at the moment, but I may have some in my next post.

I have a list of things that is insanely long of things I need to complete. I've found that tatting, while it's relaxing to me, is something that I will need to put on the back-burner for a few weeks until I get through with classes. Luckly my classes end the second week of December, but there's so much to do!!

However, I did find some tins for the presents I am sending up to M's family. They are too cute!! I'm one that usually likes the traditional style of tins, but these are a little bit more modern than what I usually go for.

So, my Christmas To-Do List is as follows:
Knitting:

• Finish Kelly's Scarf
• Lace for Mom/Nannie/Grannie?

Tatting:

• Snowflakes
• Some Edgings (for the jellies)

Preserves/Candies:

• Apple Jelly (if I have time.. It depends on how Thanksgiving goes..)
• Candied Almonds (really, they're easier to make than some people think!!)
• Cookies!!

As of right now, I have four different family dinners to go to this week. I am going to make some cookies for them, since I can make the dough in about ten minutes and then get out of my sis and mother's way. What will take the longest is how many cookies I am going to be cooking.. Looks like I'm going to be baking for several hours tomorrow!

Also, next Friday I will be dying again. I joined a thread exchange for this Christmas and want to send more than the 30 yards that I dyed before. Not sure which colors I am going to be dying, though, since I have so many that I like. I think I'm going to enlist help this time, though.. The skeining alone can take several days for as many as I dye at a time!

No pictures today, I haven't had time to do anything since Sunday. If I have time, I'll try to post some things later on this week.

I hope everyone has a happy (and safe!!) Thanksgiving!

List of Patterns

These are the (current) patterns that I have came up with. Each are (or will) be linked to the pattern entries as they are blogged.

This list will grow with time. I just wanted to have a quick list for later.

Moroccan Sun
Medallion 1
Clover Square

Happy Tatting!

New (possible) Tatting Pattern

Been working a lot on school, but I had this idea for a while and wanted to try it out. So, I sketched it out in illustrator, and this is the final result. I'm still working on the pattern itself, since I am only on the second chain of the first round. Here's the sketch as it stands now:



Yes, that is my chicken scratch of note taking hand writing. I will have this posted as soon as it is finished with tweaking. Two shuttle work, and this one was after a false start (closed a ring way too early and couldn't get it back open).

I've also been working on several other projects..

Heart's Desire

Jon's Quaintesque Snowflake

Got some really good shots of the snowflake, even though I ran out of white thread with ONE MORE CHAIN to go. (huff) Guess this means that I'll have a few more threads to hide, huh?

Both of these are tatted using threads that I've dyed myself. The Heart's Desire is tatted in a size 30 red that has a few flecks of darker (almost blood-) red. The snow flake is straight light blue and white (both size 20), though where I had the blue tied is still white. I tied it too tight!!

The blue was a quickie dye job -- I didn't let the dye stay on long; I just left it in the dye and took it out after five minutes. I love the color and these pictures make it look darker than it really is.

The Heart's Desire piece is finished, but I messed up on the last two joins, so it looks lop sided. I'll have pictures in my next post of the finished one, but for now I am going to bed. 'Night!

Gearing Up..

Photo from noaa.gov

This summer, I went and took a spotting class. It was pretty cool - we learned how to tell scuds from rotating wall clouds and what a tornado is and what to do when we see one.

I never imagined that I may have to put that knowledge to use so soon.

I do not live on the East Coast, however I do live in an area that may receive some of the fury of Ida. It's weakening, but even I know that a weak tropical storm can throw out some major super cells.

So, in light of the possibility of horrible weather, I am getting geared up for a long week of sleeping at other family's homes. If we were to have a severe tornado come through (which two years ago, we had a near miss with one forming above my sister's house and touching down a county over), I'd feel much, much safer inside a lovely brick house rather than steel and wood.

My tatting/knitting box from before is getting packed and ready for long nights of watching the news. This is going to be an interesting week!

Motiff 1: Medallion

Giving designing a try.. Here's one original design that I've come up with in the past year. Couldn't decide on a cute name, though. Click on the pattern for the chart.



Tatted in the round, with either one shuttle or needle and a ball. Do not cut thread between rounds

Abbreviations:
R Ring
C Chain
Cl Close
- Picot
+ Join
RW Reverse Work
DNR Do Not Reverse

Round One:
R 5-3-3-5. Cl. RW
C 3-3-3-3 RW.
*R 5+3-3-5. Cl. RW
C 3-3-3-3. RW
*Repeat six times, then
R 5+3-3+5. Cl. RW
C 3-3-3-3, Joining at base of 1st chain.

Round Two:
C 5-5-5. RW
R 3-3+3-3, joining to 2nd P of first chain. Cl. DNR
R 3-3-3-3. Cl. RW.
C 5-5-5, joining between chains of center medalion.
*C 5+5-5. RW
R 3-3+3-3. Cl. DNR
R 3-3-3-3. Cl. RW
C 5-5-5, join between chains.
* Repeat six times, then
C 5+5-5. RW
R 3-3+3-3. Cl. DNR
R 3-3-3-3. Cl. RW
C 5-5+5, join between chains. Cut, tie, and hide ends.

Any feedback is appreciated! ^^

If at first you succeed,,

Dye, dye again! lol.

Spent a good deal of Sunday dying some thread, again! I had more colors to play with this time, and it looks as if I had a Kool-Aid fight!





On another note, today I realized I needed a better container to house the projects that I am currently working on. Since I've been working on them at school a lot, I found this little tin lunch box that is perfect for the job:


I bought it years ago when I was working at Claire's for fifty cents, and then promptly forgot about it! I had two of them, but gave one away to a room mate about a year ago.

It's the perfect size for the three projects that I'm working on at the moment:



And it will even hold my camera! The pencil cases that I was using weren't really practical since I had to stash them in with my books, taking up most of the room I have in my book bag. Right now, it's holding the beginnings of the Quaintesque snow flake as well as an original design that I'm trying to type and chart up.

It was a nice find!

Anyway, I'm thinking about offering up the threads as test threads. I've always wanted to dye yarn and fabric, and now that I've learned how with thread, it should be smooth sailing from here on in (cue the hurricane).

Ochid Update and some Tatting!!

The orchid that I re-potted nearly a month ago hasn't came back from it's sorry state. I'm still holding out the hope that it may live, but it's growing dimmer.

My other orchid has only lost one bloom since the pictures I've posted on the 9th of last month, and has gained another flower with one slowly opening up! Sadly, I think I've been over-watering it, so it looks as if I'm going to have to re-pot that one as well.

I also got a new orchid, this one is purple. Again, pictures will come later.

But, for now, I give you some tatting!

I think I'm getting better at shuttling. These two designs are my own, the second (and wet because it's being blocked) was a whoopsie moment. I had come up with the design and had written it out, then lost the paper! I forgot a 5-ds count on most of the chains, making this look way too cramped. The first one has the right stitch count, but as you can see, I'm not quite through with it. I'll post a pattern for it later, once I get it all ironed out.

Since today is a beautiful day, I'm going to dye some more thread. I have been using the thread that I dyed before, but now I'm needing some other colors for some other projects that I need to do. So, again, pictures to come when I get through with them. The thread is already skeined, too! ^^

I did it!! I did it!!

I finally got around to learning how to shuttle and, while it's slow going right now, I'm liking it better than needle-tatting.


The site that I'm learning from was linked from the online tatting class, over at The Online Tatting Class.

I'm also having a go at hand-dying thread. See the yumminess?


All of these are done with three different colors, blue, black, and rose petal. These aren't all the ones I've made; there are two that I didn't get in the picture. I didn't know it could be this fun to dye!

These two are the lightest of the bunch. I didn't leave the dye on for long, resulting in a very pastel coloring. I'll have to grab another picture of the finished pieces.


Next time, I'm going to try some other colors. I've got a large ball of thread that's 400 yards of stark and shiny white that's just begging to be dyed!

That's all for now. Wish I had more tatting to show, but maybe next time!

It's done! It's done!!

And tomorrow, I'm off to the state fair!

Orchid and Lots of Pictures

I haven't been up to much in the past two weeks. My birthday came and went, and the rain finally let up so we could have some really gorgeous days.

I've also been taking pictures for class, which has been interesting. M took me out of state for a late birthday present, taking me down to Daytona Beach, which I will post pictures of later (they're on a different computer). It was so much fun!


On my birthday, Kelly (who I still haven't started his scarf yet..) bought me an orchid. This is NOT the orchid that he bought me, rather it's the one my parents got me for Valentine's this past year.
So, I know how to take care of them. I mean, yes, I did freak out when the flowers fell off and the stem 'died' the first time, but now I know what to expect. This one has been blooming for the past three weeks (no idea how I've managed that.. last time it stayed blooming for two), and it's starting to put out new growth. My problem is, the one that I got for my birthday is wilting and is almost dead.

I posted about it on Yahoo! questions, and got the response that it may need to be re-potted. So, following their advice, I did just that, and this is how my afternoon has been so far. So many pictures, but I think they speak for themselves.

Atlanta(is?)

In case others outside haven't heard, the capitol of my state is currently getting flooded.

( pic courtesy WSBTV, found here)

I skipped classes today because of my back hurting so bad, but now I'm kind of glad that I didn't make it out of the door.

Thankfully, we haven't had much more than just standing water, but after the drought we've had the past five or so years (because here in the N-GA mountians, we haven't been getting as much rain as the rest of the state), it's not looking good. Last night, we had 5-inches of rain in less than twelve hours, which is more rain than we've gotten total in, oh.. Six or seven months?

I'm glad that the drought is over, but at this rate, we will all be flooded. Right now (at least in my town), we are in a lull, but another band is getting ready to push through. We're in for a rough night.

We've been given a flood warning, so I'm moving up to my grandparent's house. They live on top of a hill, where as my house is in a hole.

Pray for everyone; this is some of the worst weather we've had in a while.

Possible Patterns To Try

Been surfing around Knitting Daily, which is a site that I saw in this month's Needle Work magazine. I just started my subscription, and it is certainly interesting!

Here's the patterns:

Shawls

• Estonian Lace
  
• Lace
• Icelandic Lace
• Firmaments Lace

Traveling Stitch Leg Warmers

.. I think that's all the knitting patterns I want to try. It will be awhile before I am able to do any of these, since I'm so busy with school and holiday preparations.

Pictures of Mack's scarf will be up later. Supper time!

Canning Jelly!

Since it is a holiday weekend and I'm not expected at school tomorrow, I made some peach jelly with LOADS of help from my mom. These are some of the pictures from this escapade. Sorry for the small size, Photoshop decided to crap out on me and save over the originals. Haha, that's what I get for using actions! ;)


This is all the goodness that was needed for the jelly. In the pot and pitcher is the peach juice that I helped mom make on Wednesday. Four different flavorings went in to enhance the flavor.


Once I was happy with the overall flavor (minus the sugar..) I brought it all to a boil. The next five minutes were really hectic, hence no pictures. Then, with the help of mom and AB, we managed to get all the jelly into jars, and outside to the burners. The next series of images will speak for themselves:

All in all, it took less than an hour to go from juice to canned jelly. It was loads of fun; I'm already planning what I'm going to do next.