At my last visit to JoAnn's, I found this size 20 thread, and I think it is perfect for a beginner like me. I love the colors, and the size is very manageble. Thank you Carol for recommending it.
As you can see, there are several mistakes in this swatch, and this is my second try. One of the rings has 4 picots instead of 3, and the join is with the wrong picot from the ring before. I will have to learn to read my tatting better since I find it almost impossible to undo a mistake once the ring is closed. I understand there is a way to do it, but I have not managed that yet. I'm used to crochet, where you can just pull on the thread to undo your mistakes. I am finding it difficult to keep track of where I am in a pattern, mostly because you have to pinch your work to make the stitches. I have to remember to undo the pinch and look at my progress to keep from making mistakes.
Over the weekend, I think I will try to make the heart from my lesson book. The swatch about is about 1/2 of the tatting I will need to complete it, so we shall see how it goes.
Gina, you are right, the pattern I want to be able to make, eventually, is the mignonette pattern. Thank you for that information, I was able to find a how-to on line.
My pictures were taken outside on the front porch at 6:45 AM this morning, since we didn't have any electricity at that time. I had to correct the color quite a bit (I think I got close) because the sun wasn't quite all the way up yet. I'm already finding it very discouraging how dark it is in the morning, and how early it is getting dark at night. That's one of the reasons the thought of spending winters in Arizona is so appealing. I heard the electricity came back on a couple of minutes after I left for work.
I also want to wish DD2 a happy birthday (again). (Blank) number of years ago, on this date, we received the gift of a beautiful baby girl, and we are still grateful for that gift.
Here are DDs 1 & 2 wearing their brand new dresses mommy made for them.
This is with her dad on her wedding day. This one makes me teary. Love you, sweetheart!
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5 comments:
Hi Jane--I see you're learning shuttle tatting. Have you tried needle tatting? You can do everything with a needle that you can with a shuttle, and if you know how to knit, it's even easier because the basic stitch is just a cast on knit and cast on purl. I taught myself how to do it from a book in 10 minutes.
Plus, it's really easy to take the rings apart if you make a mistake, even after you close them!
I love the purple and green combo. Very pretty.
Carol S.
looks great. I've tried (multiple times) to make the heart & messed up every time.
Taking rings apart is a nightmare.
When I make that mistake, I just give up.
Now I'm curious about the other pattern & I'm going to look it up on line.
I really need to get some stitching done for the exhibit - and know that deadline is looming
I have a tin full of my early "practice". It always amazes me to find bits and pieces of size 5 perle cotton. I can usually still remember the mistake though. Too many or too few picots, joining in the wrong place, losing my place in the pattern. It does get easier. For a long time, I couldn't even keep track of where I was in the stitch if I got interupted - 1st half or 2nd half. Seems silly now, but at the time, it was overwhelming. You're doing quite well. Practice will even up your tension and make it easier to know where you are. glad to hear you found out which edging you were thinking of.
Hi Jane,
Keep on practicing. That is the only way to keep improving. You may want to keep your earlier attempts for a while so that you can see your improvements as you progress. That was motivation enough for me to keep going.
I have written something in my blog about open a closed ring. I hope it can help you when you need to do it.
I just now found your blog, and it really hooked me (no pun intended). Several years ago I bought a how to tat book at Michael's, but have yet to open it. My grandmother was also a tatter, and I thought I would like to learn. For some reason it intimidates me though, but now that I see yours, I might just try it after the holidays. Right now, I am busy cross stitching for a convention in October, and that leads right into the holidays.
I also am intrigued by the temari. I think I have something about that upstairs in my craft room...
Can't wait now to watch your progress on this.
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