Tat It And See

Our wifi system isn't working, so I can't use the laptop. Plan B is to use the tablet on the phone system. It's limited, but I did manage to download Day 1 of Jane Eborall's Tat it and See. Yay. Can't wait to begin! So I've duly tatted the first four rings, with no clue as to what they will become. I'm using my silver shuttle again, as in the last couple of TIAS. The thread is a Milford variegated, size 20. I'm not sure if the tablet will allow me to use a cropped version of the photo I took. I'll give it a go. Mmm, no. I can't seem to add even an uncropped photo. I'll add a photo when the system is working again. Suffice it to say, I have tatted day 1!

Collaborative Butterfly

The designer of this butterfly is unknown, ( and beyond a copyright time frame)  but Claudia Huber counted the stitches and muskaan wrote a pattern and diagram, which you can find here. It's a pretty butterfly, well worth adding to my collection of butterfly patterns, and muskaan's directions are very clear, thanks.

Flower Garden Blanket

I managed to wash wool between showers and get on with finishing the blanket. It's a bit bigger than I originally envisioned, 160 cm by 115 cm. The squares pattern is here and the tutorial for joining is here. The yarn is wool that I spun. Cream is the natural colour, the other colours I dyed in the microwave.

Quilting clips worked well to keep the strips together for joining:

Pins tend to disappear into the work and be difficult to find again. I don't want to post it off to my granddaughter with pins in it!

Cut!

I took a deep breath and began cutting the fabric away from round my  Hardanger bookmark. Actually, it's a little bit easier than cutting the squares. The outside is buttonhole stitch. The loop of thread at the end of the stitches covers the cut, so it doesn't need to be quite as precise. (Don't tell an expert I said that, Hardanger is all about precision) There are a lot of faults in here, but I've learnt from it and I'm happy with how it looks. Now to use those lessons into the next attempt....

Crystal Star

Frivole's Crystal Star is beautiful. The pattern is clear and I managed for once to tat it correctly on my first attempt. Usually I have to have more than one go at a pattern before I get it right.  The thread is size 20 Cebelia that I dyed myself. The beads are plastic, not crystals, but they give the right effect. Very clever how Frivole has added them to the centre to create a mini star in the middle.

Still Raining

It's another wonderfully overcast, drizzly day. Anyone round here who complained would risk lynching, because we really, really need rain.  So suffice it to say, I think I've spun enough wool to finish my blanket, but it will have to wait until the sun comes out again to be washed.

As I can't finish the blanket right now, I've gone back to the Hardanger. That's probably a good thing. I've been procrastinating because I don't feel very confident about double faggot stitch. I took Maureen's advice, which was to stitch instinctively, and I'm thinking of it as a learning exercise.

The next step is to cut away the fabric from around the bookmark. Daunting, to say the least!

Raining

We have been suffering a severe drought, so rain is very welcome. We had a good shower on Christmas Day and then a couple of small showers, but this is the first 'rainy day' of the season. I can't complain. But it means that I can't carry on with the blanket until I can wash and dry the skeins of wool that I've just spun.

I still have half the strips to add to the blanket, and an edging to crochet. I don't think I've spun enough yarn to complete the job, so I can go on with spinning while the rain falls.