Double Cross

The first Tatting Tea Tuesday of summer started out with me sipping an iced green tea Nojito.  I make my own mint syrup, adding several splashes of lime to the green tea plus a fresh sprig or two of mint.  YUM!  Feel free to add rum if you prefer a Mojito-tea concoction.

Two Jane's Bookmark Crosses
Designed by Grace Tan/Jane McLellan
Tatted by IsDihara 2013

This week I completed a second Jane's Bookmark Cross. One for each of Sapling's Kindergarten teachers. These turned out great! Both are lovely and were a joy to tat. Sapling's last day of school is June 13, 2013, so I even completed them before deadline.  Perhaps the most amazing part!

This second cross is tatted in Lizbeth® 20 #149 Peacock Blues. It measures three (3) inches in length (7.62 cm) and two (2) inches wide (5.08 cm).

Hats off again to Grace Tan who cleverly adapted Jane McClelland's bookmark pattern into a cross.  And gratitude also to Jane McLellan who adapted her bookmark from a braid that appeared in the May 1984 Anna Burda magazine.  Such amazing talent from these two tatting ladies.

Jane's Bookmark Cross pattern PDF may be downloaded from the Tatting Class Homework page: New Pattern from Grace Tan

Ramblings and a Sneak Peek

To kick off summer tatting season I had wanted to tat another Celtic Strawberry Heart by Birgit Phelps or one of Martha Ess' charming Split Ring Ladybugs (pattern available on Palmetto Tat Days 2009 Pattern CD).  Alas, with the stitching I am doing I wasn't able to start either project.

It seems the Piedmont Palm Frond group was the lone sponsor of a decorated wall hanging this year. We had been keeping mum about our theme but I see no reason to keep it under wraps any longer. Here's a sneak peek at our whimsical blue-eyed penguins:

Playful penguins wall hanging for
2013 Tat Days fund-raising auction.

There will be more to discover about these capricious penguins at Palmetto Tat Days in September.  The wall hanging will have hand-stitched applique, couching and some bead work as well as tatting and bobbin lace. My hope is that such fun-loving sea-birds will be in demand on auction night.

Contemplating Wavy Gravy

Oh, what fond memories I have of making the One-Ball Wavy Gravy Hat (original design © 2007 Elizabeth McNamee) by ElizaMac.

Jane from South Africa knitted a delightful variation in June 2012 (her blog post is titled Gilded Hat) and I have been thinking about knitting another one ever since.

For those on Ravelry, a pattern page is available here that includes a link to the free pattern.

Elizabeth's original blog post:  Noro Kureyon One-Ball Wavy Gravy Hat Pattern

I first stumbled across The Wavy Gravy hat (surprise, surprise) while on a late-night blog crawl. After knitting two in quick succession, I made a third using "Christmas Pudding" colors and donated it to charity.

If you have never seen a Christmas Pudding knit hat, prepare to say "Awwww."

Image Source: Driftwood Blog

Audrey Wilson shares links on her design blog for darling Christmas Pudding pin cushions and tea cozy patterns:  The Design Studio: Christmas Pudding Knitting Workshop and Hand Knitting Patterns

The Wavy Gravy hat I will knit will not be a Christmas Pudding.  Rather, it will be more like this one again by Jane from South Africa - Two Hats

Tatting Tea Tuesday - Lanyard Love & A Hatchling

Keeping this short and sweet in order to be ready to receive The Sprout's teacher shortly after lunch for a scheduled Home Visit.

Two Interlocking Ring Lanyards

Motif 25 - Interlocking Ring Lanyards - Finished
Thanks to 12 - 13 hours of hurricane rain (courtesy of Ms. Irene) I had several hours of tatting time. I finished not one, but two "braided" lanyards using Jane from South Africa's interlocking rings.

The threads used for the one on the left are:

• Lizbeth^® 20 #638 Christmas Green for the foundation row.
• Lizbeth^® 20 #652 Royal Blue for the Interlocking Row.

The threads used for the one on the right are:

• Lizbeth^® 40 #157 Raspberry Frappe for the foundation row.
• Lizbeth^® 40 #638 Christmas Green for the Interlocking Row.

The lanyards turned out rather well if I do say so myself. If I tat another, I will add a bead to the center of each ring in the foundation chain to give the braid some sparkly pizazz.

This officially completes my first 25 motif challenge.

I will be starting a second challenge as soon as I decide whether to focus on a tatted animal theme, work my way through a tatting book or continue letting untried techniques be my guide.

Hatchling Has a Head
One other project that I can share with you is progress on the Dragon Hatchling.

The foundation is Anne Bruvold's Flying Minor Norwegian Dragon (Water Dragon) tatted in pastel-colored quilting cotton blended with a sample of YLI red-gold variegated thread.

Applying interlocking rings to the the tail, body and neck adds dimension and looks like scales. The interlocking rings and body bits are tatted in Altin Basak 40 Nakis Simi (Gold - Sari) and Ozen, size 50 - a 100% Polyester thread sample from Backwoods Tatter (by way of CrazyMom).

Next to come are the wings. He is to be a love present for The Sprout while I am away at Tat Days. So I must get him finished in time!

As I tat this darling wee dragon, I imagine him hatching in an abandoned mine shaft where gold dust still glitters in alluvial deposits. His name is Zaurun. It is a blending of the Pashto name Zarin, the Hindi (and Cambodian) name Arun and the symbol for the chemical element for gold, Au.

Here is how one (very classy, IMHO) woman weathered Irene: High Tea in a Hurricane

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