Hooded Towels

These hooded towels, designed by Amber at Crazy Little Projects, will help fill my half of the market stall. I made the monkey and ladybird for my granddaughters. I'll put them on the market, then if they sell I can make some more and if they don't it won't matter. In case it's not clear what the other creatures are, they're a frog, a dragon and an owl.

Ideas Magazine

Yesterday I bought the December issue of Ideas, a South African craft magazine. It has tatting in it! There's a page with photographs showing how to tat and three snowflake patterns. I suspect a person would be hard put to learn to tat from the directions, but I hope it will stimulate interest. Interestingly, the article uses the term 'double knot' rather than 'double stitch'. The magazine appears in an Afrikaans version and an English one, but they were wrapped in plastic, so I couldn't take a peek at the Afrikaans one to see what terms were used.

It was far too hot for take-along tatting yesterday, so I didn't get much done towards the market. I did make this simple bracelet to show off some beads that have been in my stash for a while.

Earrings for Market

The centre ones are Jon Yussoff's  daisy pin. The others are my own patterns - you can find the flower pattern on the side bar. Having grasped Catherine Wheel Joins, I'm more confident about doing split chains, since it's essentially the same manoeuvre, so I revisited an idea I had for an earring some time ago to make the black pair with rainbow beads. This is not a great output for the day. I should've stuck to my idea of repeating one pattern over and over!

Stumpy

One thing I learnt as I made bells last week was that repeating a pattern you get to know it well and the tatting goes along quicker. So, since time is limited, I decided to make Kersti Anear's Stumpy Bookmark in an array of colours. I chose this pattern because it is very attractive; it's quite small; it uses only one shuttle and ball thread and traditional tatting techniques. Last, but not least, I could see nothing on the pattern about it being for personal use only.

Preparing for a Christmas Market

I've been asked to take part in a Christmas Market on the 8th December. That gives me only two weeks to make enough things to create a good show. I'll be sharing a table, so it should be possible, but I'll have to get on with it. I've made a start by making two food covers using motifs I already had on hand. The only thing I tatted specifically for the project were the leaves, which I made up as I went along. Note the Catherine Wheel Joins - ta da!

Six Bells

 Phew, Chiara made 35 or 40 of these bells, which makes my task look a very small one! It's done. Once I'd made a couple of bells and learnt the pattern, things went quicker, so I needn't have panicked. The more I panicked, the more mistakes I made, the longer it all took.....

Working on bells

I need to make 6 of these bells before Saturday. It's taking me longer than I bargained for, I'll have to skip blog-reading for a bit! The pattern is by Jane Eborall. It should have beads incorporated. Luckily the person who wants them said not to add beads, otherwise they would take me even longer to make. On the other hand, I think the beads probably help the bell keep its shape. Another example of how you alter Jane's patterns at your peril!