Forest and shamrock

 The "Forest" batch is done and in my shop! I tatted a shamrock from it. Celtic knot center in the shamrock was inspired by the book "Celtic Tatting Knots and Patterns" by Rozella F. Linden. I still need the instructions in her wonderful book to figure out how to weave that Celtic knot! The rest of the shamrock is my design from 2009.

The Tatting Days in Indiana is approaching fast! I've been notified that the classes I'm teaching are filled, but there are many other teachers with a variety of tatting projects and techniques. So, if you're planning to head over to the Tatting Corner, the event runs November 6 through 8. I'll be there all day on November 7, and the morning of November 8. Maybe I'll see you there!

My teaching and show schedule

"Linnea" tatted bracelet

For planning ahead, here's upcoming events that I will be teaching or selling at:

November 6 - 8, 2014: Tatting Days at Tatting Corner, Greenfield, Indiana. I'm teaching the "Rotation" pendant. My husband will be selling my hand dyed thread and books.

April 18, 2015: Concinnity at Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I'll be selling my tatted jewelry.

May 2, 2015: Shake Rag Alley at Mineral Point, Wisconsin. I'll be teaching Beginning Shuttle Tatting.

June 2, 2015 (tentative date) at Bead&Button Show, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I'll be teaching Shuttle Tatting Basics, the project is filigree tatted earrings.

August 1, 2015: Shake Rag Alley at Mineral Point, Wisconsin. I'll be teaching Beginning Shuttle Tatting.

Well, that's what I've got on the calendar so far as tatting related events are concerned. Today's a nice warm fall day outside, so I'm off to go for a walk. Maybe dye another batch of thread later. Tatting Fool has a beautiful blog post featuring "Forest" thread, so maybe that one.

"Knitty Gritty"

Hand dyed thread "Knitty Gritty"! It's an earthy combination of autumn-y colors, from dull green, brown, gold, rust, and another brown.

I used this color in one of my "Linnea" bracelets.
The colors of autumn are pretty, but I really don't care for the colder weather around here. Hoping for one more nice day yet to grill outside :)

Assemblage greeting cards with tatted embellishments

 One thing leads to another, so I've been making greeting cards, with tatting on each as an embellishment. The main features are from digital photos, sometimes my own, sometimes purchased. I'm having a load of fun with paper, scissors, glue, and thread!

What I do to get pretty paper is open a blank document and insert a photo, and re-size it to cover nearly the whole page (my printer needs at least 1/4" margins) then print it onto cardstock weight paper. It can then be trimmed to the size needed, resulting in the picture covering all the way to the edge.

A document file is also how I print off other photos and clip art in a variety of sizes to choose from, for featured pictures and embellishments on the card.

The antique car photo is from JantasticPhotos, the steampunk digital paper is from TheArtBoxDesigns, and the vintage camera image is from GraphicVariete, all on Etsy.

Here's a shout out for Tatting Days Nov. 6 - 8 at the Tatting Corner - I'm one of the teachers there! My class is the "Rotation" pendant.

New original bracelet pattern with pearl tatting center: "Linnea"

It's done! Available in my Etsy shop and will be in my Craftsy pattern store as well. This is the pattern for the bracelet that caused such a stir on Facebook, and was the motivation to make my YouTube video about pearl tatting.

A challenging pattern to tat, because of the combination of unflipped stitches in the pearl tatting part, along with normal double stitches and reverse order double stitches (2nd half first, 1st half second) in the rings. It's all explained in the pattern, and diagrams with stitch counts are there, too.

Surprisingly, this design also demonstrates Newton's 3rd law of  motion by curving when only one side is done. It lies straight when the other side is finished, because at completion each side exerts equal and opposite forces. Sounds like rocket science? Yes, it is in a way, because a rocket flies by producing a bigger force than the drag against it :) 

Video: Pearl tatting, adding thread with Lark's Head knot, rings thrown off each side

My latest video shows how I do pearl tatting; there are, of course, other ways. I plan to link to the video in my new bracelet pattern, which at the time of this writing is still in progress.

Also shown in the video is the technique of adding on a new thread to the base of a ring with a Lark's Head knot, and tatting over the tail end. I put it in there because I use that technique in the bracelet, and I like it.

Just making the video has helped me to remember which side of the pearl tatting has the stitches in reverse order, to keep both sides looking the same. If this video helps someone else too, that would be wonderful.

Music is "Clear Vision" provided by SmartSound www.smartsound.com