"Golden Glow" batch is finished

So I just had to try one of Lady Shuttlemaker's butterfly patterns with it!

The next dye batch will be a repeat of "Tigereye". It will have darker golds with browns, and long distances between color changes.

When your shuttle runs out of thread...

...one way to deal with it is to refill your shuttle at the time you are ready to start the next ring. You can leave the chain thread intact if you have more thread available for filling your shuttle.

In this case, I did not think it was necessary to tie any sort of knot to connect the new thread to the old. I simply started a new ring, and put the old end through in the same direction as the core of the new ring. The photo above shows the first half of the first double stitch.

This photo shows the first half of the first double stitch, after it has been tightened.

Continuing in the same way, always putting the old end through the same way as the core of the new ring.

I decided to continue hiding the end through the join. Same principle, just put the old end though in the same direction as the core thread of the ring.

In the photo above, you can see the old end sticking out of the ring. It's best to just leave it while you tat some more past that area, before trimming the end.

The new end that was left by adding the new shuttle thread, is now being worked under the chain.

Here you can see both of the thread ends sticking out of the new ring and chain. When more tatting has been done past that area, give the old ends a firm tug before trimming them off, to make sure the all the tatting is firmly in place.

"Forest" dye batch and "Vision" necklace in burnt ochre

Dark greens with some lighter highlights. This dye batch turned out closer to what I was actually shooting for than my last attempt! I just had time to start a simple edging pattern to show how the thread works up. Maybe I'll turn it into a bookmark.

This photo is a close-up view of my latest working of my "Vision" pattern. I used size 20 instead of the size 10 called for in the pattern. It works, but using a different size causes some minor adjustments to be made.

Nothing ever is perfect, but hey, if I waited till I got it perfect - it would never get done at all!

With total disregard for hiding ends, I just let them stick out at the end of the neckcord, added beads, and frayed out the ends. Shabby chic, funky, or whatever the fashion people call it - I'd wear it! But I decided to put it up for sale instead.

Earrings

The row of split rings with beads between is simple IF you have mastered the split ring! Definitely a technique worth learning, since it opens many possibilities.
Sharon has a couple of great videos on her website demonstrating it.
There are also some good photos showing how it is done on Jen's Tat-ra Sutra.
More good photos and description at Tattered.
Many other places as well - these are just a few I know about.

The snowflake earrings are from my own pattern available here. I did these in quilting thread. They seem stiff enough without adding any kind of extra coating.

One of these days I should figure out a snowflake for earrings that holds up well on its own without needing a special thread or coating to help it hold its shape! I don't use any type of stiffening on my other earring designs, and they seem firm enough.

Sometime I will need to do more of the "Weathered Stone" colorway, the one that is in the top photo. I made 2 sets of earrings in that last week, and each of them sold in just one day!

Apparently dull greens are a popular color! Well, this week, however, I am going to be shooting for dark greens! We will see how it turns out!

Not really what I was shooting for, but hey...

...I like it! I decided to name it "Pizzazz"!

Actually, according to my schedule in a previous post, I was supposed to be coming up with dark reds. Er, um, well... I didn't get there --

-- yet.

The earrings in the top picture are the same pattern as the ones in the previous post, done in "Pizzazz" with red beads.

Already better

This morning the fever was gone, though the mid-section still feels a bit "queasy". But I felt strong enough to sit at the table and finish these earrings.

The batch of red thread was dyed before the sick spell hit, and is currently still "curing". It will have sat for well over 24 hours, so hopefully the colors will turn out nice and rich, but we will see!