Tatting and Thursday's Inspiration

This is an eighteen inch wide doily that I made as a heirloom piece for my daughter to hand down to her children. It was made from size 80 hand dyed thread. The pattern came from Georgia's website for the online tatting class.

"When the heart weeps for what it has lost,

the spirit laughs for what it has found."

-Sufi Suying

The Joy of Tatting

It is amazing the growth that tatting has has gone through over the years. When you think of how tatting started out as trim and doilies it has sure evolved into an art form that I think has more uses than was ever thought of just 50 years ago. Just take a look at some fellow tatters blogs. We have people creating jewelry, 3 dimension objects like a ginger bread house or chess set, Christmas ornaments just to name a few. Unlike the threads of old we have threads with amazing shades of colour and unique Hand Dyed Threads which blend colours in an amazing way, making sure that the item you are tatting is truly one of a kind. With the wonderful invention of the Internet we now have access to online classes with tatters from around the world and new tatting methods spread across the world in a matter of hours instead of weeks or months. We are also able to share our tatting with an audience that we would not have had access to 20 years ago. Is tatting a dying art? NO WAY it is a growing art and I am very happy to be a tatter at this time when it is progressing so fast. So pick up your shuttles or needles and take part of the tatting revolution. We are growing and we are having a blast. Well I am at least.

My Favorite HDT

I finally managed to get a piece of tatting completed. I have realized that I just cannot put a piece of tatting aside to work on another project. I am the type of person that needs to finish one project before starting another or it drives me crazy. Here is my latest project, a doily, the pattern comes from Traditional Tatting Patterns by Rita Weiss and is called Party Time Doily. It is tatted in Marilee's (YarnPlayers) Tourmaline HDT size 80. This colourway of HDT is my favorite of Marilee's. This is what the thread looks like when it arrives in the skein form. ( Note your skeins will be thinner. These ones are extra big as it was a large order )

This is how it looks when it has been tatted into a doily. Isn't it beautiful.

Here is the new home for the doily. I think it looks perfect under the antique cranberry glass lamp. What a fitting home for a piece of fine lace and it is just that much more special knowing that I was the one who made it. Yes I am proud.

This was the doily I was doing for the tatting Olympics but I am going to get a DNF ( did not finish ) on it as I am going to take a break from it and test tat a doily for Linda called Starburst. The doily that I was working on was Party Time Doily from Traditional Tatting Patterns edited by Rita Weiss and is being made with Tourmaline Hand Dyed Thread from Yarnplayer size 80. This is my favorite thread that she makes so far.

Heirloom Doily

I was asked by a fellow tatter if I could take a picture of the doily with a common item to give a better perspective as to the size of the doily. I am happy to oblige. The pencil in the picture is a new , standard soft lead pencil and I hope this gives everyone a better perspective as to how big the doily is. My daughter is down to visit for a week and she got her first look at the doily and she is very pleased with it. Now she just has to wait for it to be passed down to her.

Heirloom Doily

Following some helpful advice from Sharon I have taken a new photo of the doily that gives it much better representation. I don't know why I didn't think to photograph it on a white background, it sure makes a big difference. Now you can see the true colours of the thread and better detail.

The Making of a Heirloom

I am a firm believer in the value of the strengths that we need to pass on to our children to help them grow up to be well rounded adults. One of those strengths is that they know that they are loved and are reminded of it often. This is the reason that I wanted to make this heirloom doily for my daughter so that when I am no longer around she will have a reminder that her Dad loves her.

This doily is made from the pattern available from the online classroom here and is made with YarnPlayers Fern Hand Dyed Thread size 80. The doily is 17 inches across and took 11 skeins of HDT to make. It was a big project to work on but after seeing it done, it was well worth it. My daughter is coming home for a visit this weekend and I can't wait for her to see the doily. Now my son has asked when I am making one for him but he wants a rectangle shape.

Well I have finished two more rows and they set up the foundation for the FINAL ROW. Yes I am very excited as this major project is coming to an end. I know there are a lot of people who are not crazy about doilies but I think there is something special about a large piece of tatting like this that we can pass down to our children or someone special. There are few things left in this world that are special and are still handmade I say lets carry on the tradition before it disappears in this made by machine society.

Hurray Progress
I finally finished the row that seemed it would never end. I don't know why but this row just seemed to take forever and it was not fun to do which is unusual for me. I am looking forward to finishing this doily but there is still a ways to go so I have to remember patience, patience. I am really happy with the progress so far and it is going to be one heck of a doily.

Yes I am still working on the doily. I just had to design a part of a motif for it as the center that the pattern called for did not look nice when I tatted it so I changed it and am much happier with the one I designed. Now about my thread problem. Thankfully Marilee (YarnPlayer) has offered to dye a batch of thread to match the Fern that I am using so I will have enough thread to finish my doily. It is by no means a small undertaking as I think I will use about 14 to 15 skeins of HDT which is a big investment but it is worth it as it is an heirloom to be passed on to my daughter.

Now for other news. We have a new member in our family. She is a 2 1/2 year old Indian Ringneck Parrot named Kiwi. She is settling in very well and is already playing favorites with Gregg. Our home is starting to sound like a jungle at times.

I am presently working on a very large heritage doily and was sure I had enough Hand Dyed Thread to finish the project but was sadly mistaken. If anyone has Yarnplayers Fern size 80 thread in there stash that they would be willing to sell me or trade for a different colour could they please contact me off list or I will not be able to finish this doily properly. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Clyde
I can be reached at cepage1ca@yahoo.ca

The doily is progressing but it is going very slowly right now. The row I am working on is another row of motifs and though they are not hard they are time consuming and I have not had much time for tatting lately. I have been suffering through a bad bunch of migraines the past 2 weeks and they have left me unable to do anything. I am hoping that this bad spell of them lets up soon. My next project will not be near this big. I think it may be time for some HDT bookmarks.

Well the doily continues to make slow progress but that is okay. I have promised myself that I will not work on any other tatting until it is done. I am the type of tatter that only likes to have one project on the go at a time and finish the job before I start a new one. I am really surprised that even though I am using size 80 thread this is going to turn out to be a big doily. Well back to my tatting.

Well this doily has now reached the point where it is to big for the scanner and I still have 5 more rows to go. It is going to be large and I am loving it. So far I have used 3 skeins of Yarnplayers Fern Hand Dyed Thread size 80 and it is making for a very fine lace doily. I am really happy with the way the colours flow throughout the doily. When this is done it will definitely be a heirloom for one of my kids.

This is the start to the large doily that I am in the process of creating. I am using Yarnplayers, Fern size 80 HDT. The doily will be about 18 inches when done. The pattern comes from Needlecraft, February 1925 and can be found at http://www.georgiaseitz.com/books/nc/ncfeb25pg20.jpg . I would have posted a picture sooner but after I finished 4 rows I noticed an error in a previous row so it was back to the beginning.

How to Unwind a Skein of Hand Dyed Thread

I have noticed in the emails a few people who have expressed concerns about how to handle a skein of thread without it ending in a pile of knots so I thought I would share what works for me everytime and I think it is pretty easy and well worth the effort. This method was developed to be done by one person as I always find when it is time to start a skein no one is around to help.
1. Remove lable from skein and keep in safe place for future reference.
2. Untwist skein untill you are left with a circle of threads that are tied together in a couple of spots.
3. I usually tat with my feet up on a foot stool so I place the circle of threads around my 2 feet about one third of the way down my foot then slightly tilt my feet toes out to tighten the thread. Place the knot that joins the start and end of the thread towards you.
4. Remove the loops of thread that are tied to hold all the threads together.
5. Cut out knot that holds the beginning and end of thread together and let them go.
6. Grasp one of the thread ends and pull it around your feet and after a couple of times it starts to come off easy to wind on a shuttle, bobbin or a piece of cardboard. Remember to keep slight tension with your feet. If you are winding onto a piece of cardboard make a slit in each end of the cardboard, place start of thread in one slit and end of thread in slit at other end.
7. Plan ahead and plan on winding the whole skein of thread in one sitting and what ever you do donot answer the phone or door or the nasty knot fairy's will visit.
I hope this will help those who are afraid to try Hand Dyed Thread because it comes in skeins. Any questions contact me at cepage1ca at yahoo.ca Hope this helps.

I had some of the Tourmaline thread from Marilee (Yarnplayer) left on my shuttle so I decided to make a treat for myself. Pictured here is a bookmark and coaster that I made from an adapted pattern from Tatting Patterns and Designs by Gun Blomqvist and Elwy Persson. I have really enjoyed tatting with this thread and I think it is one hand dyed thread that would look great with any project. I recommend that you keep an eye on Yarnplayers blog to find out when she does another batch of this thread I can guarantee it will go fast.

SUNLIGHT

This Doily is made from a pattern from The Tatter's Treasure Chest By Mary Carolyn Waldrep. It is made from Hand Dyed Thread from Marilee (Yarnplayer) called Tourmaline in size 50. This colour blend is my favorite HDT so far. If you decide to make this doily take note that there is a huge amount of picots to do and the last row requires a lot of blocking.

Sunlight

This is the start of a doily from a pattern from the book The Tatter's Treasure Chest by Carolyn Waldrep. I decided to use a pattern because the thread that I am using is Marilee's (Yarnplayer) tourmaline, size 50 and I think it is the nicest HDT that she makes. I just love the colours so I wanted to make something that I knew I was going to like the look of and not waste the thread. Thanks Marilee for once again creating a HDT that is almost to nice to be real.

SUNLITE

This is number 2 in the series of doilies that I am designing. I am happy with how it turned out except the outer rings are woven picots and they do not work to well with the fine thread. I think the woven picots will turn out nicer with a thicker thread. The doily is 6 inches across and is made of Marilee's (Yarnplayer) Tiger Eye Hand Dyed Thread size 80 and I used about 35 yards of thread.