Inspired by visit to Sonoran desert

 

"Sonoran Stones" hand dyed thread

A visit to the Sonoran desert in Arizona a few weeks ago inspired a new hand dyed thread batch! "Sonoran Stones" is my attempt to capture the colors that I saw while hiking along the nature trails near Phoenix, Arizona. The thread is listed at https://www.etsy.com/shop/yarnplayer

A sampling of stones seen on the desert trails.

Size 80 thread in "Sonoran Stones" colorway.

While in Arizona I visited the Desert Botanical Garden near Phoenix which is amazingly beautiful!

That's me in the Desert Botanical Garden!

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.

Lilac Sea and Sea Green plus lace jewelry

 

Hand dyed "Lilac Sea" is a pretty sea green with purple. I took the dye for sea green, added a little bit more dye to make the color slightly richer, and did a few solid color skeins in size 20. Actually, I was trying to match a batch from years ago that I'm using in a current project, but the thread in my project is a little darker. So, next time I'll add a dash of black dye powder to darken it, hoping to not add too much! But the current skeins go very nicely with the "Lilac Sea".

A couple of pendants currently listed in my Etsy shop: the blue and white is from my free pattern "Star Capella" and the red is from a pattern in my book "Up and Tat 'Em". I added beads to the outer picots and a curled ring bail at the top, but otherwise it is the same as the "Five Petal Pendant" pattern.

Mélange earrings in Liz Metallic bright gold with red beads

"Loopy" earrings with Liz Metallic Iridescent and Lizbeth Christmas Delight size 20.

That's me wearing a bobbin lace collar made from Liz Metallic, with the sweater I knitted last year. ☺

Currently no eyeglasses since I recently had cataract surgery. I've been using reading glasses to see close work. Prescription bifocals will be next. I do notice that colors are a lot brighter now! ♥

Pattern for Victory necklace and more Snowflake

 

The story behind this necklace is that I saw a picture of a vintage tatted collar (I think it was from the 1940s) and decided to embellish it. I'm sure that I've seen other variations online based on the same collar pattern, but I think mine is different enough to call my own. Someone actually asked me to write up my version of the "Victory" pattern some time ago and I'm sure the message is somewhere in the vast array of messaging services we have these days but I couldn't find it. Anyway, the pattern is done!

The pattern is listed in my Etsy shop so you can read all the specifics there. Although I use size 20 thread to fit with the beads chosen, of course any size of thread can be used without any beads, the tatting will just turn out larger or smaller. 

In addition, I posted a video on YouTube demonstrating putting a bead in the center of a ring, showing how it's done in the pattern.

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New batch of  "Snowflake" hand dye thread just listed in my Etsy shop also.

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In bobbin lace, I finished my first try at a pattern I'd been wanting to figure out for years! It's from a French book Bijoux En Dentelle by Colette Varet and the pattern is called "Pareis". 

The original in the book was made from wire. I made mine using Liz Metallic size 20 and some Lizbeth size 20 thread. My collar has flaws but it's wearable! I learned a lot from working the pattern. 

I used Google translate to understand the little bit of written instructions that were in the book. The diagrammed pattern is excellent, but since it showed just half of the collar it needed to be photocopied from the book with the 2nd half reversed and put together to prepare a printed pattern. I think I enlarged my copy 104%. I'm pleased with the results and the Liz metallic is nice and stiff so it seems almost like wire. Now I have the pattern so I want to make another!

Scenic Stroll

 

The autumn trees with hand dyed thread that they inspired.

New batch of hand dyed thread, inspired by a stroll through the park in autumn. "Scenic Stroll" has been listed in my Etsy shop: yarnplayer.

Hand dyed thread "Scenic Stroll".

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I'm continuing to have fun with bobbin lace. Bookmarks are a good size for practicing and I find that I'm even doing more reading of actual printed books since I got going with this! 

My bookmark based on "Sampler 7" from the book "Torchon Lacemaking: A step-by-step guide"

I've started another bookmark in Size 20 cotton thread using GaliciaBee's pattern with Cathedral Window spiders. Starting the top I used a different technique to try it without the usual little picots and I'm attempting to add "footside" edges. I've done this pattern several times so now am feeling bold enough to experiment! 

Progressing on "Victory" pattern

 

An in-progress photo from my version of the "Victory" pattern. 

Slowly, I've been making progress on writing up my necklace version of the "Victory" pattern, based on a vintage collar pattern of the same name. The vintage pattern can be found in "The Tatter's Treasure Chest" published by Dover. My pattern varies slightly from the original collar and has beads added. Quite a while ago someone asked me to write up my version, so I'm finally getting around to it! Probably several weeks before I have it finished.

My necklace laid over the photo from "The Tatter's Treasure Chest"

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Bobbin lace ornament from a Jenny Brandis pattern

I messed around with a Jenny Brandis ornament pattern that is rather too advanced for me at this time! I like the results, but it bothers me that in order to keep the colored thread separate from the black I tied knots and cut, which seems wrong to me! Eventually I may try again.