Tat Days Projects, Part I

Tatting Tea Tuesday - Hello October
Director Sprout set the scene, which explains the octopus and menacing tea light tree. ツ

While week one felt fall-ish, Columbus Day weekend sun brought temps in the mid-to-upper 70s. So instead of switching over to hot tea, today I settle in to tat with a sun-brewed glass of decaf green with peach iced tea. Later, The Sprout and I will bake pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies.

Let the huddles break, breezes blow and leaves rustle. My tea and thread cupboards are stocked, shuttles wound, and my favorite Pashmina shawl is at the ready.

Can you believe Tat Days ended three weeks ago? Still so much tatting to do! Here's what I have been tatting in the after glow of that marvelous, fun-filled event.

Crazy Mom's Hearts Afire Cross © 2011
Tatted in Lizbeth^® 20 Victorian Red

Motif 4 - Hearts Afire Cross
Just look at this adorable dimpled heart cross. I couldn't attend this class because Nina Libin's Winter Solstice was at the same time, so I opted to wait for the pattern CD to make the cross.

Can I make a confession? Over the years I have been pretty tight-lipped about my uncanny ability to break a thread when closing a dimpled ring. Those durned dimples got me every time.

That was before learning to close the dimpled rings second half-first, then first-half. The technique was first shared by Sue Hanson at 2008 Shuttlebirds Tatting Weekend. Sue called it the Dimpled Yorkie. Crazy Mom's pattern includes tips for closing her vertical heart split rings this way. Brilliant!

In fact, the whole Hearts Afire Cross pattern is a work of genius. It cleverly throws dimpled hearts off of dimpled hearts, then moves on to vertical heart split rings. It sounds complicated, doesn't it? But Crazy Mom's instructions are crystal clear and make it easy! If I can do it, you can too.

Sunrise, Sunset Bookmark © 2011 Martha Ess

Motif 5 - Sunrise, Sunset Bookmark
My first Friday class was with Martha Ess. We made her Sunrise, Sunset bookmark. The thread is Altin Basak 50 in colors AB355 Copper and AB336 Periwinkle.

Martha's patterns are 110% pure pleasure to tat. Clear instructions, gorgeous photos and diagrams - what's not to love? That said, her Sunrise, Sunset bookmark raised the bar.

Oops! Mine looks a bit topsy turvy, doesn't it? Sunset, Sunrise!

Don't fret if your bookmark curls a bit. Mine looked like this before pinning it out. A quick shot of steam and it was right as rain. (The pretty shuttle was made by Georgia and Richard Seitz.)

That which we call a rose, by any other name
Next up is a "rosone" (Italian for rosette) in progress from Il Lavoro Chiacchierino 14, page 8. The thread is YarnPlayer's Celery in size 20.

Celery (the food) has always been dreaded diet fare at Silly Hat Central, but YarnPlayer's Celery HDT is so fresh and pleasing it is easy to "swallow." ツ

This was my airport tatting project, not a Tat Days class. The bits I actually tatted in airports ended up looking positively wretched, so I cut it off and started again. This second try looks much better.

Last is a photo of the silly, "just say no to celery" pin I made for a fellow Tat Days attendee. My 2011 tatting resolution was to create more mixed media items with my tatting and this pin helps to meet that goal. Hee, hee, see how the Celery HDT accents the stalks?

I honestly couldn't judge the recipient's reaction beyond initial confusion (which, all things considered, was understandable) but the joy in creating, completing and giving it (On time, too!) made it all worthwhile.

This post just scratches the surface of my class projects so there will be a part II. Then comes Tat Days Loot! As for hijinx, all I can say is "what happens at Tat Days, stays at Tat Days." (Sometimes genteel, southern ladies can be bad.)

Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful. See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!