The Tatting Goddess

Who could have guessed that

a little thread,

adequate bandwidth,

a creative mind

and a generous heart

could bring so many strangers together.

Thank you for your kindness and encouragement.

I will miss you Gina,

as will all of Tatland.

You helped make

this little corner of the internet

a home to so many.

Life Line

I'm still about - on earth that is, not so much in cyberspace.  Thank you for checking on me.  Sorry that I haven't responded to emails.  It has been busy... and that won't be changing any time soon.  We began homeschooling one of the kids this year.  BIG adjustment for me.  It's going well and I am happy that we are doing it, but my creative pursuits have definitely taken a hit...

There hasn't been much time for tatting - my brain can't keep up with language arts and social studies etc, AS WELL AS, ds, -, --, and RW.  All I have to show is what I WAS working on before I came to care about prepositions, pronouns and the American Revolution...

Above is progress I had made on testing a tatting pattern I am attempting to write up.  And below is an unfinished motif - I BELIEVE it is part of a vintage pattern, but I wouldn't swear to it.  If I ever find the pattern, maybe it will be finished...

Knitting has been my friend lately.  I still have a bee in my bonnet to make some socks for my dad and the pattern is simple enough that I am able to work on it as I wait... and prod... and wait some more... for homeschool work to be completed.

Unfortunately, not so simple that I didn't make a mistake while shaping the heel.  I'm such a newbie at knitting that I can't immediately tell where my mistakes occur and things started to careen out of control as I began ripping back.  I thought all might well be lost and reminisced lovingly about how hard it is to retro-tat and how apparent a mistake can be in a tatted piece (SOMETIMES, that is...).  You're never going to see a piece of tatting unravel and return to a pile of crinkly thread before your eyes as you attempt to fix an error and figure out WHERE you are in the pattern!

I put the ever shortening sock aside and scoured the internet for help.  That's when I found JL Yarnworks' post about lifelines.  THANK GOODNESS!

I'm happy to say that adding a lifeline has put me back on track and I didn't lose anymore sock than the heel flap.  I'm going to take Jackie's advice and keep my lifeline in as I continue knitting in case I find myself in water over my head again...

Why the ELO song?

This is the song I found myself humming as I stitched in my lifeline.  I do love me some ELO!

Dweams and Dwums

Dweams

I tatted the first couple rounds

of this motif after Baby Doll

had woken me up

several nights in a row,

frightened of her "dweams."

That accounts for the 

(in my mind)

HUGE AND CLEARLY VISIBLE

lumps where I hid the thread ends.

Cheaters, a magnifying glass

and squinting were

not enough for these tired eyes to see.

Dwums

Baby Doll began running a tempie (fever)

about the time I was debating

whether to chuck the motif

or keep tatting.

A (fairly) quick trip to the doctor
explained those "dweams."
Baby Doll had an ear infection
AND
a virus - she likes to multitask.

So the last two rounds were tatted

over several nights, sitting on the floor by the sofa
(which is apparently the BEST sick bed in the house),

while Baby Doll fell asleep
watching Little Bear,
after being assured
that there would be no more
"dweams."

And now...
the "dwums" are healed,
the "dweams" are done,
but there's STILL a baby on my sofa
when bedtime comes.
But that's not ALL bad...

The motif is No. 15 - Rosette of Tatting, from Old-Fashioned Tatting Patterns, Book 1, edited by Barbara Foster.  It was another enjoyable tat, and the perfect relaxation for a worried mind.

Baby Doll's "Spa Day" & Tat Time for Mama

This is No. 52 - A Tatted Edging from

Old-Fashioned Tatting Patterns, Book 1

Edited by Barbara Foster.

LOTS of pretty patterns in this book!

I was using up some thread left over on a shuttle

while waiting for Baby Doll at the

manicurist dentist.

She LOVES the dentist,

but I was afraid the honeymoon would be over

after yesterday's appointment

because she needed a filling.

She was happy as a lark after her appointment though,

with painted nails, a bouncy ball and a balloon bird, 

and her "special cleaning" went very well.

On the sock front,

we have a HEEL!

Erm, and a couple little holes,

and it is kinda tight

BUT

the good news is that I think I know

where I made my mistakes

AND

like I said, we have a HEEL!

So we're still in the game...

Bee in My Bonnet or Sloth in My Socks?

When I FINALLY

learned the basics of knitting,

I got a bee in my bonnet

to make some socks for my Dad.

I thought,

AT LAST 

I had found a hobby

which I could share with him.

But in an effort to be

REALISTIC

I decided to make socks for

Baby Doll first.

Little Feet = Little Commitment

Good thing because

I tat slowly,

I sew slowly,

I do whatever I am doing slowly,

and it appears that knitting is no different.

I figure that at least by knitting little socks

I will reach the point of messing up

and learning lessons from it more quickly

and perhaps

I will then be able to begin

SLOWLY

knitting Dad's big ol' size 12 socks...

I'm making socks from Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes.  I am a total rookie knitter and have been amazed that I have made it this far.  This book has a great method and very effective instructions.

We Did

and all these years later, 

we still do...

This is a botched attempt at a well known heart (which I will add the link for as quickly as I find my copy of the pattern) and the beginning round of a larger doily (hopefully) to come.
Update:  The heart is actually Li'l Heart by Birgit Phelps (http://webspace.webring.com/people/qb/birgit_ph/lilheart.html).