"Girl Tatting"

[Image Source: Philadelphia Museum of Art]
This painting by Pierre August Renoir currently resides in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The shuttle is small enough to be a tatting shuttle, yet, something about the way Renoir's subject is holding her hands makes me wonder. Is she tatting? Could she be knotting instead?

One of my favorite of Georgia Seitz' many memorable quotes is, "As many tatters as there are . . . that's how many ways there are to tat."

So I ask you. Perhaps you tat in a way that is similar to the method employed by the lass in this painting.

Georgia even narrates a wonderful teaser video for Palmetto Tatters called "Tatting Hands" in which she says these very words. It is a wonderful video. Look at all the different ways tatting is accomplished.

How do you hold the thread in your loom hand? Do you use your thumb and middle finger for "the pinch?" (I don't.) Could she be making a chain?

What do you think?

Split Chain Success!

Popping online to share a tatting success — I have finally conquered split chains!

Five years ago I learned how to make split rings an have become quite fond of them. But I have avoided split chains. That is, until a split chain was the only way I could tat myself out of a designing jam.

Remember these SweetHearts?

The colorful one on the left is in the process of getting an additional round. Can I just say, this HDT rocks!

And can you believe that it took me three days to figure out the split chain technique? Three exasperating days!

And I was following this excellent PDF tutorial:

Marie's 'Fast and Easy' Split Chain © Marie Smith 2007

The problem was working the stitches right-handed. I'm naturally left-handed and haven't tatted anything right-handed in oh, around 10 years. Awkwardness really slowed me down. But I got it.

Clever scrutinizers will notice the imbalanced threads. Round 1 uses size 20 cotton throughout, while round 2 uses size 40 in color Rainbow Bright HDT by Tatskool and size 20 in a deep purple-to-white variegated from Flora. The split chain really accentuates it.

In spite of the imbalance, I am forging ahead as a test tat of round two. The thread is such a dream to work with and the colorway too lovely to waste.

Better brush up on my right-handed tatting though, or else this blogger will be Ambitatterous no more! Can't have that now, can we?

And The Winner Is...

It's time to announce a winner for the Fractured Quotes: "Knot-TEA" Parody & GIVEAWAY!

I entered all participants into my Excel spreadsheet. Everyone was assigned a different number and those who were eligible for two entries were assigned two numbers. I then used a random number generator to choose the winning number. Here is the result:


Lucky number 7 and the winner of a Halloween-themed quilted ball ornament is Tattrldy! Congrats, Wanda!

And now for a fun surprise! Since I have enough quilting fabric to make two ornaments, I decided to make two prizes. Which confirms what many of you have long suspected. I AM a glutton for punishment. LOL!

So the second winning number is 2 (how serendipitous is that?) — and the second quilted ball ornament goes to Tatskool! Congratulations, Tatskool!

Ladies, please email me your mailing addresses (isdihara@verizon.net) so I can send your prizes out in about a week. (I need some extra time since I am still tatting the center motifs for these.)

Thank you to everyone who played along with my twisted giveaway. The entries were very creative and inspired! Can you believe I've had a certain 70s tune stuck in my head all week? LOL!

And now, every time I pick up a shuttle I say the following affirmation:

'Gentle shuttle! Let the thread yield to thee.'

Special thanks to LadyShuttleMaker a.k.a. MadMadPotter for providing the best giveaway model a blogger could follow for a first-time giveaway!

I now return you to your regularly scheduled Tatting Tea Tuesday creative thread capade.

Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful.

See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!

Tatting in Hobby & Craft Center

Does your local library have a Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center? This library in Round Rock, TX, does and they include materials on tatting.

If yours doesn't, why not suggest it? This PDF file of the press release provides more information from the Round Rock database.

"It's Dead, Jim"

Silly Hat Central's lone PC died.

After a weird Verizon FiOs glitch (related, no doubt to a FiOs system update that included but may not be limited to the video console) the PC is not reading the hard drive as a boot-able device.

I will be offline until it gets fixed. Until further notice, this is IsDihara, signing off!

Fractured Quotes:"Knot-TEA Fun" GIVEAWAY

Pumpkin Vine Edging by Heidi Sunday

Maybe it's the Autumn chill in the air. Or all the giveaway energy buzzing around Tat Land lately.

Maybe it's just a wild hair.

Whatever it is, today I feel a bit knot-TEA.

So I'm having a Knot-Tea Parody contest and GIVEAWAY!

Here are the rules:

1. Open your favorite web browser and search for tea quotes. (You could also enjoy a leisurely browse through the library or your personal stash of tea books if you prefer. I'm not picky.)

Lewis Carroll took a children's rhyme and bent it to his silly whim:

“Twinkle, twinkle little bat. How I wonder what you're at! Up above the world you fly, Like a tea-tray in the sky” ~ Lewis Carroll

2. Alter it so that it reflects tea and tatting. The word tatting (or one of its common variants) must appear in the altered quote. Something like this:

“Twinkle, twinkle little tat. Worked into a table mat. Lacy knots line up so fine, Making tea-time small talk shine.” ~ IsDihara (based upon a quote by Lewis Carroll)

3. Change author's name to your screen name & post your fractured quote in the comments below. (You may list the source quote and author as a clickable link.)

4. The cut-off date for submitting your entry is midnight on Monday, October 12, 2009, Eastern Standard Time. Winner will be announced on Tuesday, October 13th.

5. That's it!

Yes, you have to work a tiny bit harder than just writing a comment. Follow Mary ("practically perfect in every way") Poppins' advice:

Lyrics Mary Poppins - A Spoonful Of Sugar lyrics

Want another chance to win?

If you post about this giveaway on your blog you qualify for a second entry.

Be sure to add a (2) to your comment below, just like in TattingChic's Mondo Monday Giveaway. Kindly include a clickable link or with the name of your blog so I may verify your entry. Once verified, you will be added to my giveaway spreadsheet a second time.

Winner will be chosen via random number generator.

Winner will receive a quilted ball ornament decorated with tatting. Here is a link to a page with several colorful examples of quilted ball ornaments (none with tatting on them).

Here are the fat quarters I picked out for the ball ornament. The Pumpkin Vine Edging will be used to trim the ball. Only three fabrics will be used for the ornament, but I left the color field open wide. The only color I forgot was Frankenstein monster green. Hee, hee!

So have all the fun you want. (Especially you punsters!) Good luck.

Thanks for being knot-tea with me and fracturing a quote along the way!

See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea. Mwah-hah-hah-hah!

I won! Mondo Monday Giveaway

Can you believe I was one of the lucky extra winners in week three (3) of Lady Shuttle Maker's Mondo Monday Giveaway? Squeeeee!

A skein of her lovely hand-dyed thread and some beads are whisking their way through parcel post right now. Ooh, I'm practically vibrating with excitement to see what beauty awaits!

Thank you to Lady Shuttle Maker (a.k.a. The Mad, Mad Potter -- awesome names, both!) for putting on this fun, fun contest and giveaway.

And congratulations to Viv from Viv's Tatting Quest who also was a lucky extra winner, and Heather Johnston from The Tarnished Tatter who won the big prize - a tatted leaf necklace!