Lace Mat - Moving Right Along

Round four of Jon Yusof's Lace Mat Tat-Along is progressing.  Now that those long chains (round 3) are out of the way I am having more fun. And I am pleased with the color progression.

The trefoil bits are attached as I go. Doing it this way allowed me to keep tatting while waiting for the Lizbeth threads to arrive to the Handy Hands warehouse from China. 

Otherwise I would have tatted it all in one pass.

This mat is a bit of a challenge to photograph. The golds in the second image are more true-to-life but the lighter threads are overexposed. Zooming in on the same photo yielded the first image.

Here is a scan. 

Please pardon all the loose threads.  The ends are "hidden" but I tend to not trim them until I have done a final steam press and/or blocking. See how the colors look different in all three images?

I am tatting more on round four of the Lace Mat today instead of the Gingerbread Boy. Variety keeps me from getting too bored or frustrated.  Looking forward to sharing "tidied up" images.

À tout à l'heure, mes amies!

Tatting Tea Tuesday - Bungled Boy Restart

Tatting Tea Tuesday starts off with a sigh of relief, as my bumbling, stumbling start on the Gingerbread Boy Tat Along has been hurdled.

Sometimes "modus operandi" can get in the way of good pattern instructions.  Assuming that I was tatting the head first (even after reading the instructions through three times) was my first mistake. The next stumbling bumble was not paying attention to which shuttle to use.

These are common sources for tatting frustration. If you have had trouble getting started, there is hope:  Wendy over at Umi & Tsuru blog has created a pattern supplement to help.

From this point forward I will always think of Wendy as a Heroine of Tatting Adventures, right up there with Auntie "Mac" and her Flying Shuttles.  Thank you, Wendy!

My goal for Tatting Tea Tuesday is to complete the Central Body motif while sipping a steaming, grande-size mug of Spearmint tea.

Oh no; I used Starbucks-style "latte lingo."  Dave Barry lowered the boom on this in his "Ask Mr. Language Person" column in October, 2004:  Latte Lingo 

Or you can read the text of Mr. Barry's column as it was posted here.  The New York Times and a few other newspapers published the column too. All in all, a very amusing read.

Raising a spearmint-infused pint to wish you a Mega Grandissimaximo Giganto de Humongo-Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong Tatting Tea Tuesday. See you next week for more communi-tea!

Motif # 19 - Horsin' Around

Horsing Around with Ineke Kuiperij's Paard

Earlier this fall, I saw a Yahoo tatting group post from Riet over at Bengelblog called "Horsing Around with Ineke's Paard."  The linked PDF file credited Bobbie Demmer with showing a horse to Katharine Buckner, Pam Freck and Riet at the end of 2011 Tat Days.

The clever trio of tatting sleuths discovered the pattern was taken from the "Knight" piece in Ineke Kuiperij's Chess Set book.

And what a cute, cute, cute horse it is!  I immediately added it to my "must tat" list.

Motif 19 - Horse on a Paperclip
Here is my first attempt, tatted with Lizbeth^® 40 Spice Cake #182. For the eye I used a black bead from my stash.  My best guess for its size is either 4mm or size 6/0.

Two shuttles wound CTM are used for this and (don't hate me) but I did not pay attention to where I started in the color progression. I just picked up and started tatting. Normally I would have chosen the starting point, but I was thinking, 'It is only a test tat.'

Not only was it a very successful test tat, it was pure pleasure to tat and was completed in about an hour.  Pardon the pun, this spurs me on to create a few more horses on paperclips.

Thank you Riet, Katharine and Pam, as well as Bobbie Demmer for sharing such a fun project!

Lace Mat Progress

Norma Benporath Lace Mat Tat-Along
Round 3

Hurray!  Round three is complete. The Norma Benborath Lace Mat is looking graceful, even before blocking. 

Here is a photo of it pinned onto a round blocking template.  Hmmm, it might be time to print out a new one  (judging from all the pin holes).

Many thanks to LadyShuttleMaker for offering these free printable templates on her blog.  They are so handy!

Today (Veteran's Day in the USA) will mark the beginning of round four.  I have tatted all eight finishing clovers separately so they are ready to attach as I tat. The finishing clovers are tatted in Lizbeth^®40 Gold #611 and (crossing fingers) will draw the eye outward to the edges of the mat.

So far I really like how the Lizbeth^®40 Honey Drizzle #180 complements the first two rounds. (Lizbeth^®40 Pineapple Parfait #170, for those who like to know).

Tatting Tea Tuesday - Election Day & Carpool Trauma

Since Tatting Tea Tuesday fell on Election Day, Sw4nkyL4c3r and I decided to spend a few hours together tatting. Tatting is always more enjoyable when done together and what a pleasant Election Day treat!

Sw4nkyL4c3r and I drove over to her mom's house to sit with her bed-ridden stepfather, so that her mom could go vote.  Her stepfather is in the late stage Alzheimer's so Mamma Sw4nkyL4c3r rarely interacts with ambulatory/vocal adults. I believe our visit was a welcome respite for her. And it was a lovely tat-n-chat at her kitchen table.

Before long it was time to pick up The Sprout from Kindergarten. What should have been a calm carpool routine was quite unexpectedly interrupted.  I was walking around the van to buckle The Sprout into his car seat when very loud wailing rent the air.

What happened?!? The Sprout bonked his nose unexpectedly on an armrest in the car while showing off for his 4th grade carpool buddy. There was no swelling, no blood, no mark at all.  But you would have thought The Sprout's nose had been ripped off his face.

The most alarming part was watching the him punch himself in the nose repeatedly while huge tears streamed down his face.  He was crying so hard I couldn't understand him.  All I could do was hold his punching arm, maneuver him so I could examine his face and try to hug away the hurt.

He continued to cry the whole way home. The 4th grader looked very sheepish the whole time, so I suspect she may have had something to do with the incident, but she didn't own up to anything.  And The Sprout didn't tell on her, so I cannot say for sure what her role might have been.

I was at a loss for how to deal with the situation.

Once The Sprout was sufficiently calmed, I took him to a book fair and bought him some new books. It was a school fund-raiser so I didn't think it was spoiling him too much.

There were no nose-bonking or wailing relapses for the rest of the evening, but I wonder if I should be speaking to a doctor of some sort about The Sprout's punching himself in the face?

Any more seasoned moms out there who can comment on this type of behavior?

Deep South Staples

 Or how to survive in a southern kitchen without a can of cream of mushroom soup

By Robert St. John

Oh Sweet Mercy!  Have I chuckled a hearty chuckle while reading this cookbook. 

Growing up north of the Mason-Dixon Line^*,  I am often surprised and amazed by colorful Southern sayings. They are an endless fascination for me and I mean no disrespect whatsoever. Truly.

For example, I heard this said the other day while waiting outside of The Sprout's school. 

Tennessee mom said, "Anyone who's ever had their heart blessed knows how true that is...."

Georgia mom nodded knowingly.

BAM! Just like that I was confused. It took me the better part of 15 minutes of silent reflection before enlightenment finally came. 

'Is this a twist on the "Bless your heart" comment?' I thought to myself. 

But by then I had lost the thread of the conversation and couldn't test my hypothesis in context.  I still don't know what "anyone who's ever had their heart blessed" means.  

But enough of the exasperating example. Let's get back to the cookbook.

Published in 2006, the author states that the recipes included were traditional preparations of the Deep South that were handed down from grandmothers and great-grandmothers. They were often written on the backs of old cancelled checks, notepads, garden club programs or church bulletins.

Chapters are organized by occasion: Cocktail Parties, Funeral Food, then Breakfast, Salad and Soup and a grin-inducing essay on Vienna Sausages.  Main Courses follows with an essay entitled, "The Great Possum Predicament."  All chapters are peppered with cooking tips.

As you may well have surmised, it is the cooking tips and essays that had me giggling. 

There is a separate essay on sweet tea!  In it the author explains how the tea gets sweeter as you travel deeper into the South. That rule works for women too, he writes.  

I imagine a few readers may be nodding their heads in agreement.  The following short passage had me laughing out loud:

I hate sun tea. It's a scam. I imagine sun tea drinkers also are dog beaters and jaywalkers. Sun tea is weak. [...passage snipped for brevity...] The same guy who invented the Pet Rock invented the sun tea jar.  He was a dog beater. 

[...snipped again...] Don't beat your dog for fear that someone will call you a sun tea drinker...

This cookbook was a perfect choice for riding out Hurricane-turned-Superstorm Sandy. Cabin fever?  Not me.  I had good food, tatting and this anecdote-rich tome to dispel cooped-up feelings.

Luckily, we never lost power and suffered no wind damage.  We came through unscathed. Plus, my amusement meter reached level 10 at various points throughout the storm.

And a reward for those who read all the way to the bottom:
Funny Southern Sayings - Meaning of Southern Expressions 

I may never completely understand Southern expressions, but the journey is never boring.

^* the demarcation line representing a cultural boundary between Northeastern (Yankee) and Southern (Dixie) United States

Gingerbread Boy Tat-Along

Now that the Halloween candy-fest is past, it is time to scare up some après-ghoul tatting.

Gingerbread Boy Tat-Along
Anyone up for a Gingerbread Boy tat-along? One of the things I have wanted to tat for a long time is our dearly departed Tatting Goddess, Gina Brummett's, Gingerbread Boy.

Gingerbread Boy (click on link to download pattern from Gina Brummet's blog)

While you consider, here is Tatskool's post showing three good-enough-to-jump-out-of-the-oven gingerbread boys:  Gingerbread Boy!

And just so we all remember, in a later post Tatskool shared that one of her tatting lassies found a discrepancy in the pattern.  Read all about it here:  More About the Gingerbread Boy

Jeff Hamilton (Bridge City Tatting) shared his 2009 Gingerbread Boy and it looks FAB (even though he says he made a mistake or two with the pattern) in a solid brown:  Gina's Gingerbread Boy

Miranda (Tatting Fool) shared her Gingerbread Boys earlier this year, shortly after our beloved Gina's death.  Two delicious tatting treats, one with white icing and the other with green.

If you are interested in joining a Gingerbread Boy Tat-Along, leave a note in the comments.  I will make a list and start watching your blog (if you have one).  No worries if you don't have a blog.  You can still join in!