Tatting Tea Tuesday: Feelish Sheepish

There was much gnashing of teeth this past week as I vainly tatted, picked out, re-tatted, picked out again, re-tatted again...(repeat this cycle several more times) the Valiere Square.

What started as a simple tat to celebrate summer has turned into a real groaner for the old grey spaghetti.

Forgive me, for I have been stupid
Maybe my brain went on vacation. (Can the mind play tricks in absentia?)

Why wasn't it working?

Valiere Square, round 2

Is Stupidity Contageous?
Round two of the Valiere Square consists of simple five-picot chains that connect around round one. There was even a handy note about joining two picots together in one join. Easy peasy.

But when I tatted it, the motif cupped around my index finger like a perfect little thimble.

(See my error yet? Oh, what a staggering blend of hubris and idiocy. Not reading the directions carefully leads to this kind of carelessness every time.)

Second try (8 picots = 18 stitches) was much better, but it still curved in on itself a bit.

Third try (10 picots = 22 stitches) lies perfectly flat. Sweet success! Right?

Nope. See anything different about my motif, compared to the pattern image?  Let me show you the two images together:

Valiere Square with inset image

See it now? D'oh!

Can you believe for a WEEK I have been fussing over this pattern, never realizing that I only joined to HALF the connection points? The answer was right there, in the photo, in the stitch counts (i.e. the math), right there all the time.

Boy, do I feel sheepish!

Anyone know of a brain restorative tea that I can drink between now and next Tuesday?

Autumn in the Air

Champagne grapes, crisp apples and pumpkins on the vine. Morning fog too. These things make my fingers itch for knitting wool. And baking pies and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. And scrapbooking.

Autumn must be in the air.

Another summer is drawing to a close and I haven't made the Valiere Square ice cream cone. AUGH! (Charlie Brown's anguished cry after Lucy pulls away the football.)

Though the morning air felt a bit nippy, the afternoon was sunny and warm. I am taking it as a SIGN to start the Valiere Square ice cream cone.

This is how far along I got during The Sprout's play date at a local playground.

The pink thread is Flora 20 color #207 raspberry rose.

My focus was to tat entirely by feel - not scrutinize the stitches - and keep my eyes on The Sprout while he raced around the playground. It was hard to resist scrutinizing, but I managed to not look until I needed to make a picot (gauge-free).

Round one looks uneven but with practice it will improve. This time last year I physically couldn't make stitches without looking at them. I feel satisfied with this improvement, even with the gapsosis in the sample.

The tea kettle has come out of summer storage and has been working overtime since Sunday brewing Theraflu concoctions for Hubby with a Headcold.

Hubby is better today and the kettle can again return to its first duty - tea. My tea infusion for today is a delicious Vanilla Nut Cream Decaf.  It's not Lord Nelson, but it is tasty.

Tatting Tea Tuesday
A hearty, warm welcome to all "communi-tea" newcomers! If you have read about tatters who drink coffee, diet coke or beer with their Tuesday Tatting (I still chuckle over Tatting Beer Tuesdays. What next?) and are slightly confused...

Here are the rules:

• Set aside some time to tat.
• Put the kettle on for tea. (or your beverage of choice)
• Share your progress on your blog or your favorite tatting group list, with "Tatting Tea Tuesday" in the headline or email subject line.

(Adding the communi-tea part is optional, I just like the pun.)

And don't forget to leave me a comment with a link to your post or message so I can come see.

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

Tat Days, part 2

Yesterday I spent my blog writing time working on a newsletter article for my lace guild on the topic of Tat Days. The rest of the evening was gobbled up preparing The Sprout's preschool gear, nursing hubby's headcold and making home-made chicken soup.

So (if you don't mind?) I would like to beg off my usual Tatting Tea Tuesday routine to share the Tat Day article with you.

Tomorrow expect a post reviewing the Tatting Tea Tuesday "rules" for newcomers. 

Without further adieu...

Classes, contest and camaraderie at Tat Days

Classes, contests and camaraderie punctuated the 8th annual Palmetto Tat Days, held on August 27-28, 2010, in Toccoa, Georgia. IsDihara attended with her family and reports back with highlights of the two-day event.

There is much to be excited about if you are a tatter, like me, attending her first Tat Days conference. Hosted by the Palmetto Tatters Guild, this annual event welcomed 75 tatters and their guests, spouses and friends from around the world. 

What a marvelous, tat-in adventure it was! My first impressions were of warm welcomes, adding faces and names to dozens of online friends, incredible classes, shopping and more.

Eight teachers and assistants shared techniques, tips and patterns in more than 30 classes, plus early bird and night owl tatting sessions. Outside of class, games like Tatting Jeopardy, Tat Off! (a speed tatting contest) and a door prize game kept everyone in stitches. 

If you came to tat, you had plenty of opportunity to do it nonstop. But learning and levity were also on tap as tatters reunited with long-distance friends or put faces to names for the first time. The atmosphere was very much like a family get-together.

I marveled at seeing more than one or two tatters in the same room, interacting and learning together. I was amazed at the silent auction items, the Mary Konior display and the display of tatted works people brought just to show and tell. Each year one show-and-tell project is awarded a People’s Choice prize and another prize is awarded for Best of Show.

In addition to the display items, the tatting people wore on their bodies and the laces flying off their shuttles and needles were gorgeous. Tatted hats, vests, lanyards and jewelry were but a smattering of the lace modeled around the site.

The crazy quilt drawing and live auction was a huge success. It raised a record-breaking $3,200 for the Tat Days Scholarship fund! The quilts were incredible: one king-size, one baby, two lap-size and another special Elvis-themed lap quilt.

The vending room was filled with threads, tools, trinkets and books galore! It was a veritable lace-making Shangri-la. It didn’t take long for me to exhaust my pocket money, but the opportunity to browse, touch, compare and pet the threads was priceless.

On January 16, 2010, a famous tatter passed away. Mary Konior is world-renowned for her tatting books and her lacework. It is quite safe to say that if you find a circle of tatters working patterns, you will usually find one of Mary’s books. 

Sue Hanson flew over from the UK to share a display of Mary’s tatted lace for the last time. The executors of Mrs. Konior’s estate had petitioned the display to be returned so it could be sold at auction. It was bittersweet to see her lace legacy for the first time and know that it was for the last time.

In summary, everyone I met at Tat Days was more wonderful than I could ever have imagined. It was an incredible experience from start to finish and I heartily encourage anyone to attend next year.

Tatting Tea Tuesday - Tidbits

Today is The Sprout's first day of preschool! We got him up, washed, dressed, fed and out the door without too much of a struggle. His first day is only an hour and a half. Nothing to get too worked up over, though Big Daddy was certain I would cry.

Okay, okay. I started to tear up at the last moment. But only because the teacher's assistant came over and said, "You can leave now if you're ready. No reason to cry."

Of course, then Big Daddy said, "Oh no! You said cry." And sure enough, tears started to well up.

That's sabotage, right?

Tatting Tea Tuesday

Tatting Tea Tuesday is dedicated to tidbits. Small snippets of information that will sort of catch me up enough to focus on one or two more Tat Days posts.

Mojito Mint tea and Pepperidge Farm "Chesapeake" dark chocolate pecan cookies accompany today's post. My shuttles are loaded to continue work on the "summer fun" bookmark that I posted about on June 15. Will I complete it before the first snow falls? 

My homage to the "Ladies of Missalonghi" from August 24 isn't far enough along to photograph either. But the butterfly cakes were delicious. 

Fifteen seconds of fame?

Have you seen the Sept./Oct. 2010 issue of Piecework magazine? It was the topic of my August 20 post.

An article on page 46, entitled "A Tray Cloth to Hemstitch" includes a lovely vintage tatted edging. But there is no mention of how to tat the lace should someone wish to recreate the tray cloth.

A side bar on how to miter a corner as well as a how-to diagram for antique hemstitching are included. For the tatting all it says is: "Handsew the lace around the edge of the tray cloth. Steam-press."

So I emailed the editors to share a source for the vintage tatted edging.

The pattern may also appear in other sources, but the one I had on my reference shelf was from a reprint of Butterick's Tatting and Netting, 1896 (New York).

Wouldn't you know? I got a nice note back asking for permission to print my email in a future issue of the magazine's "By Post" column. How cool is that?

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

Motif #15 - Broomstick Tatted Bookmark

Broomstick Tatted Bookmark
© 2010 Martha Ess

Time to show off my second completed project from Palmetto Tat Days 2010!

Isn't this bookmark just so for finishing up your late summer beach reading?

It is tatted in Lizbeth 20 #125 Seascape and measures 5 inches (12.7 cm) long by 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide. It will count as motif #15 for my 25 motif challenge.

This bookmark would look terrific in bold, peacock colors, transitional or monochromatic colors, rich gem tones or even soft pastels.

Two solid colors would also give it striking dramatic appeal. Bling is an option for folks who know how to add beads into the center of rings.

The good patterns are always this way, aren't they? Versatile. Timeless.

Martha, thank you for sharing this great lace bookmark!

Swept Off My Feet
Sometimes all it takes is a passing glance. Sometimes more. Serendipity lent a hand in my latest infatuation — broomstick lace.

In August I signed up to take Martha Ess' bookmark class at Palmetto Tat Days. Mid-month, broomstick lace crochet was demonstrated at the county fair. By September 1^st I was swept up in broomstick lace love.

First six rows of Broomstick (Jiffy) Lace Scarf

Segue: Two Types of Tatters

Learning new techniques is a big part of my motivation behind and passion for tatting. Those of you who are production tatters may not understand this. You thrive on finishing projects.

A production tatter doesn't have UFOs. They must finish one project before starting another.

Technique tatters thrive on learning new techniques and have been known to switch gears mid-stream or set aside a project to start another one.

When my first attempt at the broomstick tatted bookmark went awry (image below), I switched to broomstick crochet.

The broomstick crochet kept me focused on the technique while I muddled through options of weaving in the extra-long picots on the Bali sample. I was playing around with weaving the picots of ring one and ring two through each other and then applying the swirl join at the top (ring 2 picots would travel over to become ring 1 swirl join and vice verse...) when fate stepped in.

First Serendipity, Then Fate 
One day The Sprout decided to "make laces" with mommy's shuttle and a snap was heard that struck fear into my lace-lovin' heart. He had been swinging the lace over his head like a flail and the cord snapped, sending the shuttle and lace flying across the room.

The lesson learned (aside from the deep well of patience that kept the boy alive) is that three-cord threads aren't as strong as six-cords threads.

Yes! I actually tested that theory and allowed The Sprout to repeat his flail test. Twice. The six-cord thread held through both flail trials. And The Sprout had a great time helping mommy. The finished bookmark was the six-cord flail test cotton!

Now you know that six-cord threads are Destruct-O Boy approved for all your tatting needs. ツ

Motif #14 - Mary Fitch's Poplar Leaf

Mary Fitch's Poplar Leaf
Karey Solomon © 2010

Sharing my first Tat Days finished piece -- the Poplar Leaf from Karey Solomon's Early Bird class on Saturday, August 28, 2010.

Now, I did not attend the early bird class since I was staying off-site (17 miles away). But the nice Tat Days staffers graciously gave me a copy of the pattern.

This leaf is more along the lines of what I imagine is a manageable pattern for Tat Days. And isn't it just a darling little leaf?

Motif #14

This counts as motif #14 for my 25 motif challenge. It is tatted in Lizbeth 40 #138 Leafy Greens and measures a petite 1 by 1 1/4 inches (2.5 cm by 3.2 cm).

The pattern is Karey Solomon's re-envisioning/adaptation of a 1916 pattern by Mary Fitch. This leaf is in her "Tree of Life" book.

Karey says tatting this leaf is a great way to use up partial thread on your shuttle. It is a single shuttle pattern and only takes about 3 yards of thread.

Karey, you've done it again. Thank you for enchanting us with this petite leaf and offering up a mini-tat to use up left-over threads.

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