Tatted Flower Choker

 The story behind this design is that I got the inspiration from a vintage edging pattern. It had the bottom part of the flower "petals" with the big picot-ed ring in the middle, and so naturally I thought a bead would fit into that ring nicely.

So, I grabbed some hand dyed thread from my latest batch "Gold Crimson", and because I wanted to get done with the project quickly, used size 10 thread. Now, size 10 does tat up quickly - BUT - it's a lot harder to get Swarovski crystal pearls (one of my favorite beads) onto it. The holes in the beads need to be just slightly bigger, argh! Still, I managed to get them on, using a size 15 crochet hook. I could have done it with a wide eye beading needle and a piece of sewing thread, too.

 The idea of completing the flower shape on top didn't occur to me until after I had the first side done. At first I had planned on doing something different so I had a picot in the middle of the short chain between flowers. Later, after a bit of experimentation, it seemed that putting more petals on top would make a cute flower. Because there are only 2 petals on top, with 3 petals on the bottom, repeating the motif tends to form a nice curve. A solid "Lizbeth" thread coordinated well with the hand dyed. I used the extra picot to make a Catherine Wheel join there, but the extra join seemed unnecessary to add stability, so on my next attempt I'm not putting a picot there.

I already have another one started, this time in size 20 thread. The first choker I made using only one shuttle and the ball thread, but the turns are tidier by using 2 shuttles, so that's what I'm doing now. There will need to be about 24 repeats in the size 20 thread; the size 10 thread version used 17 repeats. The first side flops around a lot until the second side is added to stabilize it.

Maybe a hand dyed would look nice on the second half of the brown necklace, hmm.

Simply "Giddy" tatted earrings

 The pattern, "Giddy" earrings, is in the Tatted Jewelry book published by Annie's Attic. All of the patterns in the book were designed by me (yes, that's my name on the cover). The "Giddy" pattern has just one "floating ring" at the top made with 2nd shuttle, beaded picots, and starts with a bead inside a self-closing mock ring. Instructions are in the book.

I'm trying to get more tatted items made for several art/craft shows that are coming up; 2 of them are listed on the postcard at the bottom of this post. I'll be demonstrating tatting at the events, too.

 

Gold Crimson hand dyed thread

Inspired by autumn leaves with colors of gold to crimson, I attempted to dye thread in similar colors.

Another project I finished are these 2 part earrings. The 2 parts are attached separately so there is movement. The ring tatted under the larger bead was done as a loop tatted ring. Tatting Fool has done an excellent tutorial on the loop tatted ring technique. The thread I used in this pair is some of my hand dyed "Tourmaline".

Celtic style tatted pendant

This is my latest experiment with Celtic style tatting; overlapping motifs only, not interwoven Celtic knots. I like this new design, but I'm not sure it looks "Celtic" enough. I'm thinking that maybe I could add some knotwork to it somehow, for another variation.

I do like how it is reversible, with a slightly different look on each side. The threads I used were size 20 Lizbeth in Burgundy plus my own hand dyed thread from the "Pizazz" batch.

The pattern is ready! "Rotation" pendant in beaded tatting

 It's done! By popular request, I've written up the pattern for this design, entitled "Rotation".

The skill level is listed as advanced, mostly because working with beads is fiddly. My videos on YouTube show many techniques such as tatting a bead inside a ring, so those may be helpful. Since this pattern uses size 20 thread, working with the beads is a little easier than when using size 10 thread, because the beads can be hooked directly onto the tatting thread using a small steel crochet hook - no need to bother with a fine helper thread to transfer the bead as when using a thicker thread.

The pattern also contains in-progress photos and a diagram with stitch counts. I've listed it for sale in my Etsy Shop. If purchased on Etsy, there is a delay of up to 24 hours, since the pattern is sent as an attachment to an email.

I'm also listing it for sale in my Craftsy pattern store. Patterns purchased on Craftsy are instant downloads.You need to sign up for a free Craftsy membership to buy patterns on Craftsy, but you don't need to be taking any of the classes in order to shop there or post pictures of your projects. Show the world that tatting is not a lost art by posting your tatted projects there and put "tatting" somewhere in the title so the search engine can find it.

Anyway, this new "Rotation" design is one of my personal favorites! I hope to make many of these in different color combos.

Sneak peeks at medallion designs in progress

Just some teaser photos for now, to show that I really am working on some new designs.

More pictures of Tollway Tatters

Tollway Tatters gathering at Hinsdale Oasis over the Illinois Tollway

Cheryl, Sue, and me

Carol, Diane, and Denise

Sue's latest projects

Tollway Tatters - talking and tatting

Such fun!! The group just keeps on growing. First time arrivals were Sue (known on Blogger as "God's Kid") and her new tatting student Cheryl. They traveled 3 hours to join us, and showed up already wearing tie-dyed t-shirts to coordinate with our group's "uniform" :)

It appeared that everyone had a wonderful time, I know that I did, and even sold some hand dyed thread. A gathering of tatters just isn't complete without a "vendor area", it seems.