Trouble Posting Comments

I have been experiencing trouble leaving comments off and on for some time. Now, I notice that more and more of you mention this same problem. I have found a way to get around it most of the time and thought I would share it to see if it will help.
When the letters you are supposed to type aren't there - click on the handicapped button and a little square with a dot in it will pop up under where the letters go. If you click back into the letter box it should give you a drop down of combined letters. Choose one and type it in. It will then tell you that is wrong and give you the right letters to type. Does that make sense? I hope so. Let me know if it works for you.

TIAS Day 6

 

I've still no idea. Clever Jane!

Dumbledore's Phoenix

Well, I looked up some pictures of Dumbledore's Phoenix and I really hadn't remembered it well at all! It's all red/orange/firey with a wicked looking beak and wild eyes. Not at all like my little orange, purple, pink bird with a green eye! Too funny! Maybe I'll try again. It was fun to make and I love using my HDT.

Jon's 1st book

I received my book from Jon and I am so happy and excited about it! I enjoyed helping a little bit with test tatting and motivation and appreciate so much her thank you in the book. That's the first time I've ever been mentioned in a book before!

I hope those of you who haven't ordered will check it out. The patterns are very clear and easily understood and the book is well done.

Congratulations on the successful launching of your first book, Jon!

Inga Madsen's Starling - Well Almost

 

I started out with Inga Madsen's pattern for a Starling. I really didn't change the pattern except to lengthen the tail and add the little extra on top of the head so the wing wouldn't be so out of place. For some reason as I was tatting the wing, the phoenix from Harry Potter came to mind. I know he isn't right yet. I need a picture. However, most of you know how I am about color and I LOVE this little bird!

The thread is all size 20. The orange is Lady Shuttle Maker's, the other variegated is Yarnplayer's and the purple is Flora.

I hope Inga will forgive me for my interpretation.

TIAS through day 5

 

I've still not a clue what it is, but I think it is so pretty! I need to work with beads more often.

TIAS through day 4

 

These last two segments didn't take very long at all. I hope I have it right! (Still no idea)

TIAS day one and two

 

I finally got enough sense about me last night to get the first two days done. Now I see that I have days three and four to do! I'll try to get them done before the day is over.

I have absolutely no idea what it is, but it is fun to watch it develop!

By the way - all of these beads came from the same packet. I had been trying to be sure I got a mixture of the light and dark and then guess what happened? No? I knew you couldn't figure it out! The end of my size 14 crochet hook that is probably 70 or 80 years old BROKE! They just don't make things like they used to. I found about 5 size 12's and 1 size 13. I ended up with the 13 and the lighter beads won't go on it. So there you go.

Starfish Patriotus Americus pictures #2

 

Lady Shuttle Maker wanted me to make another picture next to a quarter so that you can all see how delicate this starfish is made with size 80 thread. "And beads too!" said she. Here it is.

Starfish "Patriotus Americus"

 

When I introduced my green starfish, I said that I couldn't find out his name and country of origin. Well, I definitely know where this one resides. This one is from the Alabama Gulf Coast. I'm sure he would migrate to other parts of the United States if the natural conditions which he requires were present. You know, like warm gulf waters. I have heard they might be present on the gulf side of Florida as well as in Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana. I know they are on the Texas coast.

I wonder how many other countries have their own "special" starfish. I think there are probably other American starfish that need to be presented here as well. Maybe some of you have sighted them and have pictures to show us.

I honor of our Memorial Day this weekend, my little friend has been reproduced in size 80 hand dyed thread called "Patriotic" made by Lady Shuttle Maker who is now in Korea. He will be going to live with a dear friend tomorrow. I know she will take better care of him than anyone. She is the most outwardly patriotic person I know and they belong together!

Please let me know if you see any other starfish like this one or in other varieties. In my opinion, the starfish needs greater exposure to the world.

Introducing Blaze - Isaac's Cat

 

We are calling this cat "Blaze" as it looks as close as I can get to Isaac's cat. He calls him Blazey, but I'm sure he prefers to be called Blaze. You know how proud cats are!

This pattern is from Inga Madsen's book "Tatted Animals." I've had the book for a while now, but this is the first pattern I have tatted from it. It is strickly a diagram pattern book with the barest minimum of written instructions. I guess I'm getting more comfortable with that as I go along.

I tatted him with the same thread I tatted Jane Eborall's giraffe. The label is long gone, but it is huge! It is two threads twisted together, almost as big as tatting with two size 10's. Blaze is about 6" tall and about 4" across the bottom. The color is a little lighter than it shows up in the scan and his eyes are green glass beads that don't show up. I think I might frame him for Isaac's room.

Now, I have some hand dyed thread of Lady Shuttle Maker's that is chocolate colors that should match one of my cats well enough. We'll find out! I also have to finish a starfish I have started.

I'm Still Here

Not much tatting for Lala lately. I've caught Isaac's cold/sinus infection and don't feel like much of anything. I have a couple of things started but no ambition to work on them right now. I haven't even gotten my supplies together for Jane's TIAS. I'm impressed with what I see some of you have done so far. Maybe today or tomorrow I will feel better and get started.

It is so good to see new (to me) people blogging about their tatting. Lost Art? Please!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

 

What more could a Lala want? Krista just sent me the pictures from Sunday this morning. Isn't he a cutie?

Green Sulky Starfish

 

I finished him/her! I was going to try and be very clever by giving you the scientific name and location of this starfish. Scratch that! It is what it is. There are green ones that I found pictures of, but no names.

Tatting with Sulky size 12 is an interesting job. I really love the results, but there are a few drawbacks. For one thing, it is small. Another, it splits easily and can get fuzzy. If you tat too tightly the rings are sometimes difficult, but not impossible, to close. Still with all of this is has its rewards. This is one of their blendables and the shading is lovely. It gives "living things" a more lifelike appearance, in my opinion.

The pattern for this starfish can be found by scrolling down in my labels to patterns.

Now that the Sulky lesson is over, I'm going to tat one in purple hand dyed thread. I'm not sure which one or what size yet. I think I love starfish!

Today

I'm tatting another starfish, this time in green Sulky size 12. It is slow going. I worked on it a very little bit today, but not much. I'm very sore from my surgery last Thursday and have to be careful. Good news from the doctor - no cancer. I might have to take a pill to prevent future problems. I'll find that out on Thursday. Right now I'm just very happy that I am cancer free!

Last Night

Well, after the nightmare woke me up and I finally got back to sleep, storms rolled in. We had horrible thunderstorms and tornado warnings off and on for the rest of the night. The emergency sirens woke me up and we watched the t.v. weather until it was safe to go back to bed - we thought. Then we had to get up again. We didn't have to take refuge in the basement this time, but we had to call Bill's mom and have her go to her safe place. It was very close to her house. We had approximately 3 1/2" of rain! We need the rain desperately, but all in all it was a miserable night. I hope I can get a nap today sometime. Now it is supposed to get down to the high 40's tonight and we will have to bring some of the plants back into the transition room. At least the lemon tree will have to come in. I'd hate to lose those lemons.
Here's to a better night tonight - for everyone!

Where's Lala?

Here she is! I've been out of commission for a few days trying to recover from some surgery. I hope I will be mended soon. I did manage to tat Gina's mystery medallion and it is lovely. I encourage all of you to visit her site for the pattern. I would add the link if I weren't too sleepy to figure it out. Anyway, it was fun even for those of us who are very visual. I won't post the picture until she says so.

I'll go and try to sleep again. Not having much luck tonight.

Pattern for Starfish #1 and #2

The only difference is #1 was two colors and #2 is one color. No pattern difference except the mock picot.

STARFISH #1

You will need two shuttles. If you are using one color, wind continuously.
I used size 20 DMC for the solid yellow and size 20 hand dyed thread for the variegated. It will be about 4” in size 20 thread if tatted tightly.

Abbreviations
R ring
C chain
+ join
LJ lock join
- picot
Clr close ring
Rw reverse work
Dnrw do not reverse work
SS switch shuttles

As with all of my patterns, I used front side/back side tatting for this starfish. In this case, it will be rings in the arms that are tatted from the back side so that the stitches will need to be reversed. I have marked these rings with Italics and Bold type.

When joining between rings on the arms – I just find a little space and put it right in the bottom of the previous ring. You could make a very small picot for this, but there is the chance of it not lining up right.

Rose center:
R (2-) x9, 2 clr dnrw tie threads to make a mock picot (if you are using 2 colors you will have to make a 10th picot instead of a mock picot. Just make the 10th picot and then join the thread back to that last picot being careful not to make an extra space.) I hope this makes sense. Let me know if you need help.
C 3LJ to 1st picot below, 3LJ to next picot. Repeat around to start
C 4LJ around to start. Joins are in space between chains on previous round
C 5LJ around
C 6LJ around
C 7LJ around
C (2-) x3, 2LJ around (there should be a total of 10 spaces around)

Arms:
*C (2-) x9, 2 rw
R 14+14 clr rw LJ to next section of central disc
C (2-) x7, 2 rw
R 10+10 clr rw ( Join to bottom of previous ring)
C (2-) x5, 2 rw
R 8+8 clr rw (join to bottom of previous ring) SS
Shuttle 2 R4-4 clr dnrw SS
Shuttle 1 C (2-) x5, 2+ between rings
C (2-) x7, 2 + between rings
C (2-) x9, 2 LJ to next section of central disc*
Repeat * to * 4 times for 5 arms. Cut, tie and hide ends

© 2008 by Laura Blanton
Please feel free to print this pattern for your own use. I also encourage you to post pictures of your starfish on your blog or website. You may tat these starfish and sell them giving me credit for my pattern. I would like for you to send me a picture of what you tat. Have fun!

Starfish #2

 

Here is what I hope is the refined, properly lined up starfish. The pattern is not ready yet, but will be soon. I have a wonderful "helper", (more teacher really), who is guiding me through some mistakes I had in the pattern.

I'm hoping to tat another one tomorrow in a more "starfish" color. This is Lady Shuttle Maker's hand dyed thread "Citrus" in size 20. (I think that's the name. I bought it a long time ago and I'm not sure.) It might look as if it belongs in a Disney movie instead of under the sea, but I like it anyway.

Our friend's Japanese Blood Maple

 

 

 

I just have to share these pictures with all of you nature lover's. I absolutely love this tree. I think I love it as much as my friend does. Maybe I'll "treenap" it one day! The tree is about 5' tall and 5' across. I guess it's around 5 years old. This is the first time it has bloomed. We didn't even know they did bloom.

At first I said the blooms looked like tiny butterflies, but really they look like tiny paper airplanes. They are at most 1/8" wide!

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Labels

I learned something new from Marilee aka Yarnplayer today. In the absence of a web-site for my growing collection of patterns, she taught me how to add a page element for labels. Then I added the label "pattern" to those posts with patterns. I know that some of you have been using this feature for a long time, but it is new to me. Unfortunately, I have such a long list of labels that you have to go way down the list to find patterns. I tried to remove all labels except the very necessary ones, but haven't been successful with that as of yet.

In the meantime I hope you will use the label list to go to patterns. I have to work out a web-site with my internet provider.

Thanks!

Pizzazz Snowflakes #1 and #2

I occurred to me that I should repost the pictures of these two snowflakes closer to the patterns. The diagrams are still further down in the blog. I think they have probably gone into the archives for March.

I have the starfish pattern written up and have asked a friend to test it for me. I am going to re-tat it. I'll put it here when we both finish testing.

One day a website for patterns!

Button Heart #2 in Easter Egg HDT

 

I tatted Susan's button heart again - properly this time. I used Lady Shuttle Maker's Easter Egg HDT again with another of my grandmother's buttons. This one is a pretty lilac color that is irridescent. The scans of the tatting with buttons haven't been good, so I used the camera for this one. I wish there was some way I could make the bottons show up better. Oh well. You get the general idea.

This is a great pattern that I think would be good for beginner's who want a little more challenge.

Patterns for Pizzazz

I can't make it work. Basically, every where there is a chain you need to reverse the order of the stitches. On snowflake #2 that applies only to the first round. The second round is all Josephine Chains so it won't apply. Sorry.

I hope you enjoy these.

PIZZAZZ SNOWFLAKE #1
Copyright 2008 Laura Blanton

Abbreviations
R ring
Ch chain
- picot
Clr close ring
Rw reverse work
Dnrw do not reverse work
+ join

I used front side/back side tatting in this pattern. I have started tatting almost everything that way. It just looks so much better to me and is no trouble. Using Jane’s method, I have used italics and bold to mark sections where I suggest reversing the order of the ds to achieve this look.

You will need two shuttles, preferably wound CTM

FIRST ROUND

Start with center ring of top three ring cluster.
R2-4-4-2 clr
R2+2-4 clr rw
Ch 4-4 rw
*R4+2-2 clr join it to picot on previous ring
R2+4-4-2 clr
R2+2-4 clr rw
Ch 4-4 *rw
Repeat from * to * 5 times
Ch 4-4 join to center of 1st cluster
SR 4+ to picot on last ring / 2+ to picot on beginning ring 2 clr rw

SECOND ROUND
*Ch 6 rw
*R 5-5-5-5 clr rw
Ch 7 rw
R 5+4 (-)5 times, 4-5 clr rw
Ch 7 rw
R 5-5-5-5 clr rw
Ch 6 + to picot between clusters on round one dnrw continue chain 6 rw *
Repeat from * to * 5 times joining ending chain 6 to picot between clusters below. Dnrw continue chain 6 and join to beginning ring. Cut, tie and finish off ends.

Copyright 2008 Laura Blanton

Please feel free to print this pattern for your own use. If you post pictures of your work, and I hope you do, please give me credit for my design and maybe put a link to my page. Enjoy and let me know if you have any problems with the pattern.

PIZZAZZ SNOWFLAKE #2 IN LAVENDER
Copyright 2008 Laura Blanton

Abbreviations
R ring
Ch chain
- picot
Clr close ring
Rw reverse work
Dnrw do not reverse work
+ join

I used front side/back side tatting in this pattern. I have started tatting almost everything that way. It just looks so much better to me and is no trouble. Using Jane’s method, I have used italics and bold to mark sections where I suggest reversing the order of the ds to achieve this look.

This pattern requires knowledge of Josephine Chains and Rings.

You will need two shuttles, preferably wound CTM. If two colors, as in this example, one color on each shuttle and tie together.

FIRST ROUND

Same as first round of Pizzazz Snowflake #1

SECOND ROUND

*Josephine Chain of 25 half ds. (I used the second half) SS
Josephine Ring of 15 half ds. (I used the second half) SS
Josephine Chain of 25 half ds Join to space between two three ring clusters below.*
Repeat from * to * 5 times.
Cut, tie and finish off ends.

Copyright 2008 Laura Blanton

Please feel free to print this pattern for your own use. If you post pictures of your work, and I hope you do, please give me credit for my design and maybe put a link to my page. Enjoy and let me know if you have any problems with the pattern.

Patterns for Pizzazz Snowflakes 1 and 2

At long last here are the patterns to go with the pictures and diagrams. I have had a lot on my plate lately. For those of you who want to tat them, please let me know if you have any problems. Also, please post pictures if you tat them. I would love to see how they come out.

I'm going to go to the actual files and try posting them from there. The italics and bold disappear when I copy and paste.

The diagrams are further down in the posts where you can print them. One day I will have a website ready for my patterns - I hope.