Woolgathering

Oh, nice. Very, very nice….

Grizzly Mountain Arts: Lil Rascal Handy Winder Tatting Shuttle

I elected to try the Field of Daisies tatting last night. I would up my shuttle, created my first ring, and realised I didn’t know how to join the next part on. The pattern says to do the join, where to do the join, but not how to do the join. And then I noticed I wasn’t at that par anyway and needed to effect a chain with picots. Except I didn’t know how to do that, either. There was a link to the instructions (coo, those forceps look like a wizard idea!) but I was in my bed and not at a computer.

So, my new tatting project got no further than a ring with three picots. I did a lot of un-knotting, though. I am sure that was good practice.

This was very fiddly to do.It’s a bit wonky, but I think you might be able to guess what it is meant to be.

I’m thinking that maybe silk is for the advanced class. it’s pretty, though, is it not? I must not waste too much of it - I have plans for this skein.

This time in my Hipknits silk laceweight. In some ways the silk is easier to work, in others it is more difficult. It is certainly easier to unpick mistakes in

You may be able to spot some mistakes that I did not bother to unpick…

Cute little fella, ain’t he?

Yes. I’m chuffed. And now I need to try making something else, I think.

Adventures in Tatting, Part 1.

Last night I made forward progress on the tatting. Some mysteries are easier solved with the help of experienced hands…

From the top:

• Some chain practice
• More chain practice, using one coloured thread (this helped a lot) with the white shuttle thread
• A complete ring - with inadvertent picot
• Lots of rings, with intentional picots

I managed three rings on that last piece before coming home - the rest I did in the half hour before going to sleep. I really think I had begun to crack the problem by then. So, this morning I became ambitious. This was my first attempt. And this was my second - can you tell what it is yet? It’s one of these (my third attempt was a complete one).

I think the boat came in!

It’s not finished, because I don’t know how to do that - the instructions that I worked from don’t indicate how to attach the tail rings to the body ring. (EDIT: the solution is here)

I am very pleased with this.

Whaddya mean, you never saw a pink fish? Pah, what do you know!

Do thread adventures belong here, alongside the yarn? I think that they must, for where else could I put them?

I have been building a resources page for tatting on the craft club’s wiki. (It’s open for all to view at the moment, if there is any interest.) It’s a work in progress that I will add to as I learn more.

I thought it appropriate to test some resources, so I set to last night and determined to teach myself tatting in advance of the group meeting on the 7th Jan.

I thought it was easy

I was going great guns after watching some YouTube videos to supplement the beginner’s tutorial that I  had found. I had a row of beautifully even stitches - and a slightly uneasy feeling…

Then I tried to form a ring, and the knots just wouldn’t budge when I pulled the shuttle thread in the manner suggested.

I roped Mr L in to help. We watched YouTube videos and Googled until 1:30 this morning… and finally we determined that the uneasy feeling I had, which was based on the diagrams in my first tutorial not looking like my tatting, was well founded. My knots were wrong. It’s all about the flip - and I just hadn’t been flipping.

Now I can see what is needed, I have to practise some more. I can get the odd flip, but haven’t yet achieved consistency. What I need is a coloured thread, but I only have white (suitable) thread in the house.

Tatting verdict = Harder Than It Look

I shall try again this afternoon, once I  have made my mince pies. I am not looking forward to those - I screwed up the pastry while rescuing the DIY master at work this morning. Mr L  is occupied in attempts to eliminate draughts in the old part of the house. We have green squirty stuff all over the walls and the carpet. It’s OK. I’m not house-proud.