Back on the Tatty-Wagon!

This is a photo of my footrest that I took during a "butt-rot" weekend.  That's when I just sit on the sofa, catch up on TV and do crafts.  This time it was tatting and pinning out other tatting to block it.  I got an Amazon delivery, hence the packing tape in the photo too... this is descriptive of many of my weekends at home.  I just happened to photograph it this time.  Thought I'd share.   On a Tuesday.  Random.

I have been tatting quite a lot lately, because I decided to teach myself needle tatting.  In the photo below, the items were shuttle tatted and the blue and pink plastic pieces on the bottom are shuttles.  You  wind the thread around the shuttles and then make your design.  I had been doing cro-tat ornaments over the holidays and that is yet another form of tatting which incorporates crochet to make the designs more flexible.  Shuttle tatting, Needle tatting, and Cro-tat.  Three different ways and I know them all now!

I must say that I am enjoying all types but needle tatting is the easiest one to fix if it goes wrong.

For a great needle tatting tutorial in three parts, try making Ruby Lockwood's Mug Rug.  It's on YouTube.  Warning- she has a bird!  In the third part, Miku is getting a bit cheeky... caw!!!  She's a normal human being as well, so she does make a few mistakes and undoes them.  This is great because there's too many perfectionists out there.  Watch it through before you join in.  If you  make anything from it, please don't forget to like the video, and send me a little note too to let me know if you've tried it!

Cro-tat Christmas Ornaments

It's been such a long time since I'd been to a crafting class that I wasn't teaching!  When I signed up to this Cro-tat class from Rainbow Valley Crochet, I was so excited... I could hardly sleep the night before, and I got there so early the workshop wasn't even open yet and I had to go looking for a cafe that was actually open before 10am (strange, you'd think most of them would be... but apparently not on Rochester High St).

The class was being held at Unravel & Unwind CIC and when I got there and got to meet Helen from Rainbow Valley Crochet and get stuck in, I was just so thrilled.  The time went by very quickly indeed and I got nearly one entire ornament done, minus the final round, before I had to pick my daughter up from school.

What a great workshop it was!  I ordered all of the kits so I could make more at home with my new skills.

Cro-tat is a combination of crochet and needle tatting and it was actually the first type of tatting that I ever learned, but I only tried it a couple of times and then years later I discovered shuttle tatting... but I think now that I've tried it, I like cro-tat better. :)  I suppose really I could now try needle tatting too!

Anyway... This is my first foray into Christmas Crafting for the year, not counting the samples I made for the beginner's cardmaking classes at Unravel & Unwind.  The first one is on Monday the 14th of November, in case you were wondering... :)

And I'm sure you were wondering what this Blogtober 2016 thing is that I keep banging on about.  Check it out on the original post.

As Blogtober 2016 draws to a close, I will be blogging my thoughts about it all... tomorrow.

Tatted Angel

It's a bit early for Christmassy things, but I suppose this has an everyday vibe to it as well... it's my latest addition to my Etsy shop, a tatted angel, and I originally bought the pattern from Lacemakermom on... Etsy!

For those unfamiliar with tatting, it's a series of knots and picots, sometimes in a loop, sometimes in a straight line, and it can be done with a tatting needle or with shuttles.  I prefer shuttles.  I learned tatting on YouTube.  If you can get hold of tatting shuttles, it's a great craft to try!  This angel was a little bit complex, but there are simpler patterns you can start out with.  I do love this angel though...

It's in a little 4-inch silver frame that I got from Wendy at Scrapbooks And Cookbooks.  She is participating in Blogtober, as I am.  If you'd like to know more, to register your blog or visit other Blogtober bloggers, please visit the original post here.  You can join in, or just read along-- it's your choice!

Tatting Impasse

I made a tatted bracelet from a pattern I saw on Pinterest this summer.  I knew I had the perfect ribbon to attach it to but I didn't know where it was.  Now I have finally got the ribbon and the bracelet in the same place and I don't know what to do with it.  I was originally going to weave the ribbon in and out of the sections, but the parity is wrong and the weave would look strange.  Plus, it would cover up half of my hard work!  I know beads come into it somewhere but I'm uncertain as to how to proceed at the moment.  So here it sits, pinned to the board, waiting for me to make up my mind.