Layered Tatting

I like the look of layered tatting, where the layers are created simultaneously. The flower is by Jennifer Williams. The butterfly is from Mary's blog. It's interesting that the joining is not the same in the two pieces. In the flower, the small rings are joined to each other. In the butterfly, they are joined to the large ring behind them, with the next large ring joined to the same picot. But the effect is much the same.

Lost: my connection to the world

I think it's pretty amazing that I can be in rural South Africa and connect to the whole world via internet. But the connection is tenuous. Yesterday the aerial that receives our internet signal was blown down by the wind.   The aerial serves a group of farmers, not just us, so I guess there was a lot of squawking. The ISP man hastened out the 50 kms from town to sort it out. He was only partially successful and will have to come back today to finish the job, but he did make sure we were connected to the world again. Thanks Debruyn.

I've spent the last two days cleaning -boring for me and beyond boring to anyone else! So I thought I'd show you a picture from my archives. Jess from Tat-ilicious had a post a few days ago about using Jane Eborall's diamond pattern to look like a block or box. A few years ago I did the same, only more so, to make 'tumbling blocks'. Here's a link to the diamond, a very versatile pattern.

A Nonevent

On our weekly trip to town yesterday, I planned to buy more organza to make food covers. There was a wide range in the shop and I spent a pleasant 10 minutes deciding which colours I wanted. Yellow might make the food look odd. Pale pink is pretty. Blue or turquoise? Then I needed someone to cut it for me. I stood around for a while. Then I went to the curtaining department, where three shop assistants stood in a huddle and asked them for help. One of them shrieked, 'Rachel' and when that had no effect, told me to go to the back of the material department and see if anyone was there. I did, and then I stomped out of the shop without any organza. If they can't be bothered, neither can I. Problem is, there isn't anywhere else in town I can get it. I'll have to wait for the next trip to Hartswater, I'm sure my favourite little wool/material shop there will have what I need. In the meantime I'll go back to sewing the edging to my tablecloth.

Here's a picture of a food cover I made several years ago, just for some eye candy.

Roses Are Red, And Yellow Too

Another food cover ( I'd better abandon teashower, since I can't find it in any dictionary). The rose is by Victats. I think it's very clean and modern, perfect for this project, and the pattern, called Roses are Red...,  is clear and easy to follow. Thanks Victats. I used size 20 thread for a rose in each corner and size 10 for one in the centre. The butterflies, (can you guess?) are Jane Eborall's very small SCMR butterfly. I did them in lilac to link with the dangley beads at each corner. The beads help to keep the cover in place. The edging was done on my sewing machine. I like the idea of combining machine embroidery and tatting.

Holiday Knitting

I started this top when I was away, but  finished it after I came home. It's the same pattern as the top I made for Isabel. The colour in the photo doesn't look right! The label of the 4-ply cotton says moss, though I think it's more pistachio - either way, it's a distinct green. The top is shorter than I visualised. The pink top I knitted myself used 7 balls of yarn. It was knitted on 2mm needles. This one is knitted on 4mm needles and is a more open pattern, so I thought 5 balls would be ample. No. 6 balls would've been better.

More Recycling

I cut two more 'Lady Hoare shuttles' from a thicker plastic. I think it's an improvement, they are firmer and easier to hold, though they won't win any speed contests. I used them to tat the second barefoot sandal. Of course I had to make the sandal match the other one, shown here, so I haven't yet tested doing a sandal in one pass.

Now I just need summer to arrive so that I can go barefoot!

Recycling

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions on yesterday's post. Monica pointed out that I had wound the thread in the wrong direction! Oops. Thanks Monica. This morning I cut a shuttle from an old bleach bottle. Not very elegant, but it does seem to work. I didn't find it necessary to use LadyTat's tip to do a half hitch round a prong, as I did with the clay shuttle,  but I will keep it in mind.

Here's why I need a bigger shuttle for this 4 ply cotton:

Because Jon's daisy pin is made with only chains, and the rest of my barefoot sandal was split rings, I thought I could fit enough thread onto normal shuttles to complete the sandal. Nope. I couldn't finish the strap around the ankle. Plan B is to make another strap from the left and tie at the back of the ankle. But I would like to be able to make a sandal without joining in new thread.