More on Shuttles, Treat Mints and a Teapot

Remember this photo from two weeks ago? I started a holiday recap only to abandon it after the blogging attempt stretched long into the day and night.

Santa's goodies included two decorated shuttles: one from La Cosette with holly, berries and snowflakes.

And the other a Clover shuttle blinged out with pretty pink posies from Lace-lovin Librarian Diane. See it peeking out from the red satin bag? That same bag was tantalizingly displayed in Diane's post, The Big 500. She celebrated her 500th blog post with a giveaway and I was one of the lucky five winners. The prizes were a mystery and I have to say the suspense was palpable. But I couldn't be happier with the prize!

That darling red satin pouch held a treasure trove of goodies: the pink posy shuttle (hand-decorated by Diane), a ball of vintage white tatting cotton, a 12-yard sample of Sulky thread (color 4025), an EZ-Bob for winding thread, and a charm clip. Such nice goodies. Thank you, Diane!

To see a nice photo of all the items together, check out Martha Ess' blog post. Her belated thank you says it all, so much better than I have.

Tathogen^® Treat Mints

To the ladies in my lace guild, who have been nervous about thread-eating microbes ever since I returned from Palmetto Tat Days, I gave out holiday samples of Treat Mints. Everyone seemed to like them and it afforded some peace of mind (particularly to the bobbin lacers who couldn't tat a Thyme leaf cure).

If you haven't heard about the thread-eating microbe, read about it in this Tatting Tea Tuesday post from August 31, 2010.

And on that note I kindly thank you for reading all the way to the bottom, and leave you until anon.

Tatting Tea Tuesday — Never Enough Thyme

Whew! Freshly returned from Tat Days, I am itchin' to show you all the new things I learned. Sadly, I spent more time chattin' than tattin' and don't have a whole lot to show.

My mission today is to share a "secret" that I have been keeping. *drum.roll*

Thyme Leaf

My first design! It is a thyme leaf, but really you could use it for roses or any other leafy purpose. It looks wonderful tatted in Lizbeth #138 Leafy Greens (above). It also looks great tatted in solid colors.

It can be tatted with or without split rings, in one or two rounds and with or without beads.

For those who prefer not to tat split rings, tat the two inside clover elements separately, joining the second to the first according to the diagram. Then tat the second row separately. (Three sets of ends to hide.) 

If hiding all those ends makes you feel a little faint, it can also be tatted all in one pass.

Why the secrecy? Tat Days attendees were given this pattern as a freebie in their welcome packets. It was imperative that they all get one, you see...

"The game is afoot."

A tatting game was unleashed upon Tat Days, called Tathogen. It spreads like a virus because it is a virus game. This wicked little microbe eats your precious thread, unless you tat a cure.

The first morning of Tat Days I was overjoyed to find that a few early birds had already tatted their cure and were wearing thyme leaves on their ID badges. As I mingled, I handed out little cards that read "You've just caught necrotizing filitis. Please report to the quarantine area for treatment."

Oh boy! It didn't take long before folks were refusing those cards! They would say, "Oh, I don't want that!"

Nobody wanted to put their thread at risk. (Hee, hee.)

At the end of the conference, one tatter told me that she didn't like my games. They were too risky!

I'm guessing she enjoyed the element of danger. I appreciated her good-natured humor. It is more fun when folks play along!

Careful, it's catching
The pattern may have been a bit ambitious to complete during the hectic two-day schedule. But that's okay. Now you can tat yourself a cure to protect your thread!

Because you never know when the next Tathogen outbreak may strike.  ツ