Odds and Ends

Every tatter has lots and lots and lots of leftover thread ends. This last week I've used a lot of mine up by making beaded snowflakes. The beads make it easy to hide the ends so you don't care if you have to use multiple threads. Here I used 2 pieces of thread and hid the ends under the beads. The basic pattern is R 4-4, 6 beads (size 10), *R 4-4-4-4, 6 beads, R 4+4*, repeat from *.

I got bored after awhile so I modified the pattern by adding beads on the outside rings and changing the ds count to 3. Naturally, since there's little structure to the snowflakes I had to stiffen them using glue.

Do You See Something Different?

This is the last snowflake in this round for the doily I showed you a couple days ago. Do you see something wrong between A and B? Apparently I didn't until just now, when I was a little irritated that my center picot was too large compared to the others in the doily. I know, a little knit picky cause apparently I missed the BIG PICTURE DIFFERENCE! You know, the one that makes what should have been the last motif in the round unusable in this particular pattern. I'll have to make another, no fixing this motif.

Exhibit A












Exhibit B


Hmmm, what's different between these 2 pictures....










Still can't see it? Try counting the rings on the center round. 5 rings on the correct motif Exhibit B but I threw in an extra repeat on Exhibit A to make 6 rings. Sigh, this is why I don't do more complicated patterns. Sob! I was so close. Really, I'm laughing on the inside.

Packaging

There's no pictures to share today instead I'm taking a moment to muse about packaging. You know, the stuff that comes around the stuff we give, receive or buy. There's something special about a nicely packaged object. I know that I have been persuaded to buy something stupid just because the packaging was cool. Many companies invest a lot of time and money into packaging so there must be something to it.
Why am I thinking about something so mundane? Well, I made some snowflakes, stiffened them (probably for the first time ever) and they looked pretty hanging up. Then I had a thought- would they look so pretty if I gave them in a plain old envelope? If I just hand them to someone without packaging the snowflakes are likely to get lost or dirty before they hit the Christmas tree. I need some sort of packaging but the plain envelope hides them and Ziploc bags just don't do it for me.
So I thought about it for a bit...
Aha! Guess what I have: self-sealing plastic bags! I stuck a snowflake in each one and I am amazed by how much the presentation is improved by a bit of plastic. I feel like its something you get from a candy shop. I think I'll add a ribbon and a gold sticker. Does this make the tatting more valuable? more worthwhile? No, but it might make someone else feel that it is.

WIP

In the last couple weeks I have been working to finish my works in progress from the last couple of years. Mostly what happens is that I start with an idea, develop variations from there and then hit a road block. So I stop and start to work on something else. With one exception all of my WIPs are my own patterns and the road block is deciding what to do next.

This one I started and stopped 2 years ago. I really like the thread and the colors but I forgot that pentagrams don't fit together the way hexagrams do so into the UFO pile it went. However, I have picked it up again and have been working on it to finish this round. Afterwards I will do something to join it all together with an outside round. I have 2 more motifs to finish this round. If I was to make this pattern again, I would either remove the extra picots on the outside round or add more in other places. They don't really belong in a motif with no other decorative picots. The color of this thread really makes the motif look like a snowflake and is very pretty so I don't need to add extra picots. If I did the pattern in white I think that decorative picots would keep it from being too plain or stark. The magic number for this pattern is 8 so I could add more picots by making a picot every 4 or 2 picots. Many doily or motif patterns use 4 or 5 as the magic number i.e. picots every 4 ds with every ring or chain being some multiple of 4 ds.

Package arrived!

Being single and probably a little strange I buy myself a birthday gift. Since I was a student for many years this is usually a small gift. This year, I splurged and ordered one of Sherry's lovely shuttles as well as some silk thread.

I like this shuttle because the buttons on it remind me of the Borrowers and the Littles. The Borrowers is a child's book about little people who scavenge a living off the normals (us). The Littles is a cartoon based on the book. The buttons on the shuttle look like something they would scavenge.

The colors I ordered were Spring poppies and Granny Delicious in silk. The scanner doesn't show their colors very well so I skipped any pictures. The shine and the quality of the thread is very good.

Thanks Sherry, that package arrived in great shape!

Misdated Blogs

I'm not sure if anyone else is irritated by this but blogger always dates a post for when I started writing it rather than when I finish. I usually take a little while to write out my posts. Not for stylistic reasons (obviously) but because tone is such an issue with the written language. Its easy to for something to be read in the wrong way so I try to be very clear about what I'm saying. This means that I often think about something for awhile before posting. For example, the previous post was started last week but I didn't post it until today. I think the posting should be for today not October 30th. Its not going to end my world but I notice it anyways. I wonder, does this mean that I am missing postings on other blogs?

Dresden doily

I think that my favorite doily of all time is the Dresden tatted doily by Roger aka Freedman. Its very simple to make and tats up quickly. I made 4 of them in 2 months a few years ago for a friend of mine. I altered it a bit by adding beads to the picots on the outside round and Nina Libin style bead leaves periodically on the outside round. I don't have any pictures of the ones I made and I couldn't copy the picture over from Needle tatting two but here's the address: http://groups.msn.com/NeedleTattingTwo/dresdentatteddoily.msnw
Take a look, its a very easy doily, you can make it as big as you like and it looks lovely when finished.

How do I assess the difficulty of a doily? Well, I take a kiss (keep it simple silly) approach to tatting so when I assess the difficultly level of a doily I look at a few aspects of the pattern:

1) basic techniques required- anything with plain old rings and chains I consider easy, start adding in split rings, SCMR, clunnys and you are looking at a different level of difficulty whether you are comfortable with advanced techniques or not. I'm very comfortable with many of these techniques but its just one more thing to think about. I recommend that if you are not familiar with a technique in a large pattern that you practice the technique first. It really sucks to finish a pattern and realise that there's a big difference in quality between the split rings or clunnys you started making and the ones on the outside round. However, I don't believe that advanced techniques alone make a pattern difficult.

2) length of repetitive elements- if you have to constantly consult the pattern because the repetitive element is too long to memorize then its more difficult. You have to keep stopping to check the pattern and you risk skipping a line. This is doubled when the ds counts within the repetitive element change. There's a UFO in my pile that initially looked very very easy. Just rings and chains. HOWEVER, its never going to be finished because the repetitive element is too long, the ds counts change every ring and I keep reading the wrong lines, making the wrong rings and then cutting it out. I'm very bitter about this pattern.

3) number of repetitive elements- when a pattern changes in each section you run the risk of making the wrong element. You tend to get a flow going so its really easy to miss a change or a transition area. If there's 1-2 variations its okay but more than that and it gets dicey. Of course these patterns are impressive once finished so are more than worth the time and patience. What's the difference between #2 and #3? Not a whole lot.

4) the lines of the pattern- huh? well, some tatting patterns go with the flow and curves of the rings and chains while some constantly change direction. This means that you may have to finesse a bit and the pattern may only lay properly once you pin it. It also means that tension may be an issue and you have to tat it very consistently. How annoying if everything is perfect except for one sloppy chain. I never, never, never tat anything without a picture.

This may sound very serious but its not. I'm just sharing one way to look at doilies based on my own experiences. I'm sure everyone will tell you something different and they'll be right. I've had alot better time doing projects once I figured these things out. I don't get frustrated trying to finish a long project in a short time. I also don't have the urge to hurt someone with a sharp shuttle when things go wrong. (my fault? no, never my fault- better to blame someone else) The Dresden doily rates low on all 4 aspects but it looks very nice when finished. Its a good first doily to make.

If a doily rates high in any one of these 4 it doesn't mean I don't do the doily, it just means that I don't work on the doily while watching TV or on car rides. Challenge and change isn't a big deal in a small motif but its a little more serious if its a large doily. There's nothing worse than finding a mistake at the end of a large doily or after hours of work. Believe me that I've done every stupid mistake possible... and some that didn't seem possible at the time. If a doily pattern rates high in all 4 categories then I try to get someone else to make it! That way I can see the results without pulling out all my hair!

However, in a final word there's nothing more beautiful than a well tatted doily, the larger the better. Some of the most beautiful works I've seen were simple patterns done well.