The picot comb, new eyeglasses, and metallic thread fire test

 

"Linnea" bracelet in progress

The large Clover picot comb comes in handy for measuring picots that will have beads placed over them. I'm not one to use a picot gauge much at all, but the Linnea pattern has a lot of picots that will be covered in size 8/0 seed beads in the next row. Too many for the paper clip method of holding beads on temporarily. I found that 2 bars of the comb made the picots the right size!

Clover picot comb in use.

Picture of me in my "studio" wearing my new eyeglasses.

New multi-focal glasses for me now that recovery from cataract surgery is done! Everything is so clear and bright now. Ordinary reading glasses work okay for close work like tatting, but I prefer to not have to put on glasses to see close, then having to take them off to see distance, so the multifocal glasses are perfect for me. My distance vision isn't quite 20/20 anyway so they have just the right amount of correction.

Recently I watched someone "melting" the ends of Liz Metallic thread and got overly excited about it. I do have some experience melting the ends of nylon macramé cord which works well and I had all sorts of dreams of easy finishing of Liz Metallic projects in the same manner. At the Tollway Tatters zoom meeting on Saturday I was offered some really helpful advice : experiment first on a practice piece! So I did and here's some photos.

Yes, that's a scary flame!

The side of the lighter extinguished the flame, but...

That candle-like type of flame is not what I've experienced with nylon cord. Also the knot did not seal, it came apart. So, I'll just stay with sewing the ends in to finish them, as with cotton thread.

I still love working with Liz Metallic thread! Here's my current bobbin lace project in progress using the colors of "Seafoam" and "Sand Dollar". The lace collar pattern is "Pareis" by Colette Varet. I've made this pattern before in Liz Metallic "Bright Gold".

Bobbin lace "Pareis" collar in progress.

Metallic thread experiment 2 = success!

This time I tatted my Atom in Simthread. It’s finer than size 20, so I added a few more double stitches. (6 instead of 5 in the center. 8 sets and 13 sets in the “orbits” instead of 7 and 12.)

The work in progress

 The Simthread from Rita Richmond at Shuttle By Design worked well! I was able to tat my split rings around beads and close them without problems. The thread also stood up to undoing mistakes.

 I still need to finish the ends of the necklace chain before listing this atom in my Etsy shop.

 This new colorway I call “Solar Flare”. Only a test batch, so just a few skeins listed in my Etsy shop

Want a chance to win some hand dyed thread AND help out one of my friends who is battling Multiple Sclerosis? Donate any amount at this Go Fund Me fundraiser and let me know about it in your comment below. I’ll choose a winner from those who helped.

Metallic thread experiment 1

I recently gave this Beadsmith metallic thread a try. It's a 2 ply with a thickness is similar to DMC size 30 crochet cotton. It worked okay to tat both rings and chains in a simple pattern (my "Dazzling Debut" earring design).

However, something more complex, such as my "Atom" with a split ring around a bead, didn't work, though. The Beadsmith thread isn't smooth enough for such a tricky maneuver!

Rita Richmond of "Shuttle By Design" sells a different brand of metallic thread that is 3 ply. I've placed an order for some! When it arrives, I'll test tat it!

In the meantime, I decided to tat an atom of Lizbeth thread (River Blue medium) and get more scientific (using the term VERY loosely) with particle theory by adding "neutrinos" and "quarks" simply by adding tiny beads :-D