Aliens in Tat Land: A Closer Look

   This past January, Jane Eborall hosted her annual Tat It And See adventure. She works hard to design, diagram, and deliver an original tatting pattern in bite-size pieces for Tat Land to enjoy.  It is two weeks of creative battery-charging, energy-boosting, doldrums-banishing fun!   

   You can never tell where Jane will take you. Every stage of her game is fun, since it fuels my  imagination to run wild with crazy guesses. (I always try to work in a camel guess early on.) 

   Each new clue jump-starts my creative brain cells and helps me to see design possibilities. This year she had me guessing right up until the very end.

   Without further adieu, I present to you the first of my insinuation of aliens! Chief Blue Meanie from Outer Space!  He is tatted with Lizbeth thread, size 20, #707 – Sky Blue Dark. 

   You know that bittersweet feeling when you get to the end of a very good book? The end of T.I.A.S. each year is a bit like that. It is affecting, conquering new techniques; I have loved the camaraderie; I am delighted by the aliens, and yes, I am sad it's over for 2023. 

I will have alien #2, #3 and #4 to reveal in future posts.  Stay tuned, tatting friends!

“Everyone’s quick to blame the alien.” ~ Aeschylus

Motif #18 - If He Only Had a Brain

Nutmeg the Christmas camel
Design © 2002 Dolly Hollander
Through no fault of his own, poor Nutmeg has become an unfortunate Christmas camel.

I didn't bother to block him (for reasons to be explained) but will still count him toward my 25 Motif Challenge.

Motif #18 - Christmas Camel

Nutmeg is tatted with Lizbeth #671 Christmas Red, #638 Christmas Green and Tatskool's Nutmeg HDT. All size 20.

He has a size 11/0 black seed bead for his eye and size 8 gold seed beads for his saddle. The flat scan doesn't do it justice, as the saddle bows out slightly for a lovely 3D effect.

Here is a link to Tatskool's Christmas camel from 2007. Hers is decked out so handsomely in his Christmas finery.

A Series of Unfortunate Decisions
Poor Nutmeg's neck is all out of whack so I didn't finish his bridle and reins. But the problem is not with the pattern.

He was coming along so well until I missed a join behind his ears, resulting in a misshapen neck and disturbing lack of brain.

(Now Nutmeg has something in common with a certain Scarecrow.)

Of course, decapitation is an option. I could tat him a brainy new head.

Would you fix him or leave him to suffer his fate?

~ flexiPoll: free online web poll ~

While I don't consider this next bit to be an unfortunate decision, I would reduce the stitch count if I were to tat it again:

I tatted Nutmeg's tail using Jane Eborall's marvelous Padded Double Stitch technique. But I didn't adjust the stitch count so his tail is a bit long.

Okay, I am done being my own worst critic. Whew! Aren't you glad that's over?

Let me stress that this is a wonderful pattern. Tatskool downloaded it from the Internet a few years ago. When I asked her if she could share a link, she was able to screen grab the pattern for me using the Wayback Machine. But my Wayback Machine searches have turned up bupkus. I am not sure where you can find it now.

ADDENDUM: I was lucky enough to stumble upon her phone number and spoke with Dolly on the phone this evening. What a delightful person she is! She shared a trick with me for stiffening lace using Future Acrylic Shine Floor Wax. Thank you, Dolly, for taking the time to chat!

E-mail Dolly Hollander privately at the email listed at the top of this post to request a copy of the Christmas camel pattern.