Working on Round 19

I haven't yet completed my self-set quota for the day, for round 19. The need to do washing and bake bread rolls intervened. I'll finish later today, or perhaps do extra tomorrow.

Round 18

Do you know that feeling when you only have one more ring and chain to tat and the bobbin thread is almost finished? I really should have wound more thread on the shuttle, but instead I finger tatted the last ring and then rejoined the shuttle for the last chain. I was left with just a few centimetres of thread, but I made it:

So round 18 is done. Only a couple more to go.

Better

This pattern is by Andi according to the pattern I found on Pinterest. I changed the colours drastically, which gives it a different look to the original. It is 7 beads round, which makes it much easier to work than the one I had to unravel.

Thumbs Down

I spent hours working on this yesterday before I finally admitted that it just wasn't working. Instead of being a smooth beaded tube showing the pattern off, it's a lumpy mess that distorts the pattern. I think my tension must be off. It's 10 beads in circumference, which is more than I usually use, I think I haven't got the hang of it. So be it. Now to undo it. The crochet unravels in a flash and a blur, but then the beads must be separated into their different colours.

Round 18, Day 1

How does my garden grow? I'm working on Round 18, one section a day.

Changing Tack

I wanted to sew another market bag yesterday, to give as a birthday gift, which meant getting my sewing supplies out - sewing machine, fabric scissors and so on. I like being able to do different crafts and at the moment I have several on the go at once, each with its own set of equipment.

Sewing:

Knitting:

My tatting is in an eartag packet, I'm doing my bit for repurposing:

Beaded crochet:

Add to that the paraphernalia of everyday living and the place is somewhat chaotic. There's no closing the door on it, but my neighbour recently gave me some plastic tubs that help keep my craft supplies organised:

One for beads, another for size 40 thread.... As long as I remember to put things back in the correct tub of course, they do help me keep track of things.

And A Necklace

I crocheted a longer beaded rope to make a necklace. I'm pleased with it, it has the 'African' look I was aiming for. The colours are a bit off in the photo, so I took another with a white background:

Mmm, not sure it's an improvement, it has the 'overlighted' look that my photos of the whole Renulek doily have had recently and the orange is still not quite how it looks in reality.

Round 17

Round 17 is done. It ruffles slightly, probably because I'm using the wrong size thread for the chains (don't tell anyone!) I think it'll be fine once it's blocked though. It measures 55 cm (22 inches) across. 

Beady Bangles

My stock of crochet beaded bangles has been depleted, so I thought I'd make some more. It's good to keep my hand in. I need to practise the invisible join too.

I Think It'll Work

I'm back to knitting my entrelac cardigan, using boucle wool. When I described how I planned to structure it, I wasn't absolutely sure it would work. But I'm knitting a sleeve in the round now, and hooray, it's turning out how I visualised it. When I was researching entrelac techniques, I read about reducing the size of the squares to down step, so I'm going to try that on the lower half of the sleeve, to taper to the cuff.

Round 17, Day 1

I contemplated tatting round 17 in ecru and green, but honestly, I've never seen a beige daisy.

Have a look at the link, there's a gorgeous multicolour version of the doily there.

Round 16

I divided round 16 into six sections and worked one section each day. I'm leaving the markers in place for the next round, which should be out later today.

Poinsettia

Muskaan's Clover leaf Poinsettia has been on my to-do list for a while. I saw a pretty version on Craftree the other day, which reminded me I've been meaning to tat it. So here it is. I just love it! When I'd done five repeats, I though uh-oh, I'm going to have to tat 7 repeats to get round, but no, 6 repeats worked fine.  I changed the outer beads to green because I want it to look like a flower surrounded by leaves and thought the red and yellow beads detracted from that. Talking of beads, the yellow ones in the middle are a genius stroke to make sure this is a poinsettia flower and no other.

Twirly

Isabel had her ears pierced recently, so I thought I'd send some earrings with the cardigan. These twirly earrings are done in hyperbolic tatting. You can read Patty Dowden's explanation of hyperbolic tatting here. I looked back to the pattern or method I wrote in my own blog here. I used size 60 thread and tiny beads to make them as delicate as possible.

Smoothing Things Over

I've finished the cardigan for Isabel. The sequin yarn was a bit tricky to knit with because the needles kept poking into the sequins. But when it came to putting the cardigan together, the sequin yarn was impossible! Instead, I raided my tatting supplies and used size 20 white thread to sew the parts together. I used it to pick up stitches around the neckline too, which worked like a charm. I knitted the band in the sequin yarn and the original stitches don't show at all. I considered using it to cast the band stitches off, but I had a better idea - I removed the strand of yarn that held the sequins and used the smooth part of the yarn to cast off with, as I did for hiding ends:

I wish I'd thought of that earlier, when I cast off the other pieces. But it was certainly more important on the band, where the cast off is not hidden by seams. Now, fingers crossed the Post Office will get the cardigan to Isabel!

Don't Tell Anyone....

I didn't find another ball of green size 40 thread in my stash. Plan B required.  I did find a Milford size 20 in pretty much the same shade of green. I thought that if I use size 40 for the rings, I might get away with using size 20 for the chains. I started by using Renulek's stitch count for round 16, but it didn't look right. I started again, reducing the chains from 6-6 to 5-5. I think it'll work. You'd have to be very eagle-eyed to notice. I hope I have enough of the green size 40 left for the outer round. I'm still working on round 16 and I guess I'll have to complete the round before I can see whether it's really going to be okay, but so far, so good.

Angel Mine

Nicola Bowersox's Julie's Angel is not as easy as it looks. You need to pay close attention to tension to make it symmetrical. I suspect I haven't succeeded. I might keep this one and make another to send to Isabel. I've finished knitting the parts of her cardigan but now have to put it all together and work the neck band.

Still Sparkling

I'm still working on Isabel's cardigan. The back and two fronts are done and I've just about finished the first sleeve. Onward, onward....

Round 15

Round 15  is done. The doily measures 49 cm across. I thought I had plenty of the green thread, but now it's beginning to look as though I'm going to run short. Fingers crossed there is another ball lurking in my kist, otherwise I'll have to make a plan B.

In Green

I'm working round 15 all in green. I like the 'silhouette' of the round, the way the chains all have the same stitch count, but the ones 'within' the repeat are more curvy than the ones 'between' repeats. As with the previous round, I'm aiming to work one quarter at a time. Two down so far: