Lovely card and gifts from Clyde

 

Clyde sent me this beautiful Hawaiian Christmas card which arrived today. It is very intricately cut in white with a brown paper behind it. So pretty I think I will have to frame it. The thread is Marilee's hand dyed red from Tourmaline in size 80. The Celtic snowflake is tatted in size 50 Apple Blossom. The little copper darts are for marking pages. I have never seen them before, but they will be put to good use.

Thank you so much Clyde for your very thoughtful, and generous, gift to me. Happy New Year!

Ruth Perry's Celtic Snowflake 2008

 

I had already admired this snowflake tatted by others, but after Clyde so graciously gifted me with one of his I had to try it myself. I used this size 20 Flora thread first as I was afraid it would be too difficult and I would waste my hand dyed thread. Not so! It is very simple, especially once you "learn" it.

I used approximately 20 yards of thread in size 20. I put 10 yards on each shuttle and had very little left on either of them.

Let me go see which of my hand dyed threads wants to be a Celtic snowflake!

Cheery Gifts From a Friend!

 

 

Look what the post office delivered to me! They came in a pretty yellow card with tatted pink flowers pasted on it to form a cross. So sweet.

You will probably recognize them as being from Clyde. The snowflake is Ruth's Celtic snowflake done in Yarnplayer's "Knitty Gritty" hand dyed thread. The Maple leaf is Ruth's design as well. It is done in Yarnplayer's "Sugar Maple" hand dyed thread.

The are both so beautiful. Of course, the snowflake is hanging on my rainbow Christmas tree. I must admit that the maple leaf is as well. It is just too pretty not to!

Thank you so much Clyde for sharing your precious tatting with me. It did brighten my day very much. You always seem to know when I need cheering up.

Still unidentified snowflake

We've yet to identify the designer of this snowflake. I am really enjoying tatting it, as you can tell. If no one objects and anyone wants it, let me know and I will post it here or email it to you. I don't know what else to do.

I tatted this one with the last of the blue/green size 50 hand dyed thread from New Zealand that Clyde so generously shared with me. You will notice red spots in a few places where I joined on the outer chains. The only other size 50 in this thread is a variegated with red in it. I had to use it for the shuttle thread and switch the left over blue/green shuttle thread to the ball thread. Phew! I was afraid I wouldn't make it. As it was, I still had to leave out the last regular round of chains before I started the outer round with the long picots.

I think these little snowflakes will be perfect to fill in between the big ones on my Rainbow Christmas Tree this year.

Thank you again to our phantom designer!

Thread Requirements

No pictures this time. I am going to try and start giving thread requirements for items I tat, whether my design or someone else's. I get very frustrated, as I am sure all of you do, with leftover thread on the shuttle. Worse yet, running out of thread before I finish.

Clyde has given me permission to tell you how much thread I used on his Ray of Hope doily that I test tatted for him. I used approximately 78 yards of hand dyed thread in size 80 for this 9" diameter doily.

This was Yarnplayer's Rhubarb Pie hand dyed thread. I had one skein of the Rhubarb Pie, one skein each of solid dark pink and solid medium pink. I also had a set of six solids that were 12 yards each. Of course, I used all of some of it and had some left of the others.

Now, to the earrings by Nancy Tracy. In Flora with medium picots, I used 1 1/2 yards for each earring. In DMC it only took 1 yard, I guess because it is softer. I perfer the Flora as it has more body. Well really I prefer hand dyed thread all the time, but wouldn't we all? I will get around to making some in HDT. I might add that this is a great way to use up those bits of thread from previous projects. I have a zip lock bag full of "bits." I have made all of these earrings from the leftover bits.

I hope this helps.

Milky Way Snowflake #3 HDT

This time I tatted Jon's Milky Way snowflake in size 50 hand dyed thread from New Zealand. This was a gift from Clyde several months ago as well as the blue/green colorway I used on another snowflake previously. This thread is very shiny and smooth. It tats easily and "untats" easily! It is 3" in diameter tatted with
size 50.

Thanks again to Clyde for the thread and to Jon for her lovely patterns.

Rhubarb Crisp/Rhubarb Pie Expo!

I thought you might like to see all of the Rhubarb Crisp/Rhubarb Pie tatted pretties together. I might have this for lunch!

Everything is size 20 except the new doily from Clyde's pattern which is tatted in size 80. Of course, this is all Yanrplayer's hand dyed thread.

I am taking the three large pieces to look for frames as soon as I can. The snowflakes went back into the "snowflake house" until time to decorate the Rainbow Christmas tree. I can see right now that I need many more RP snowflakes. I'll get right on that! I've made a picture of the snowflake house and will post it.

Hope you enjoy the candy.

Spun Sugar Doily Finished!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!

Presenting - Clyde The Mad Tatter's doily pattern - Ray Of Hope
Hand Dyed Thread in Rhubarb Pie by Yarnplayer
My tatting and color arrangement

Here it is!

 

This doily was an absolute joy to tat! If you go over it with a magnifying glass, especially the last round, I promise you will find some faults. You will not however find any fault with Clyde's pattern. It was a breeze start to finish.

I had been saving this thread for some time looking for just the right pattern. I think I found it. Clyde was so generous to let me test tat this for him. I hope he will be proud of it - I am!

I will sit down and add up how much thread I used as soon as I can. It is only 9" in diameter in size 80 thread.

Spun Sugar Doily through row 10

 

Two more rows done, still having fun! The official measurement through this row is a whopping 6". Only 4 more rows to tat and then it will be done. I'm enjoying it so much, I will probably have to start over. I'm going to try and add up exactly how much thread is required for the whole doily. I have 4 skeins of Marilee's "Celery" that I think would tat up beautifully with this pattern. By the way, this has not been blocked, just pressed lightly for the scan. More tomorrow, I hope!

Spun Sugar through row 8

 

How many of you expected to see yellow next? Maybe Yarnplayer did. Tatting this doily is a true joy. The pattern is well written and the HDT is fabulous as usual.

Ray of Hope through row 7

 

I am more in love with this doily with every swish of the shuttle! I hope you can see the different colors in the rows of chains. There are two rows of the lightest, two rows of the middle, one row of light rose/red, and one row of the darkest rose/red. Humm, what now?

I think I am going to have to name my color version of this doily, with Clyde's permission of course, "Candy Land."

Clyde's Ray of Hope Doily

 

I am test tatting this doily for Clyde and he has given me permission to post progress pictures. Hopefully this design will be in a book in the near future!

As you know, Yarnplayer's Rhubarb Crisp/Rhubarb Pie is one of my all time favorite hand dyed threads. This is my second doily in this color, plus several snowflakes for my Rainbow Christmas Tree and a cross motif.

To be different, instead of my normal size 20 thread I am using size 80. The center motif is the Rhubarb Pie variegated. The next two rows are in the lightest pink in the "set." It measures 3" so far.

Stay tuned for further progress and colors!

Rhubarb Crisp Doily Finished!

I'M FINISHED! I love this doily. It makes me feel happy, warm, cheerful, hungry and nostalgic all at the same time. I hope that covers it. Tatting with hand dyed thread is the absolute ultimate tatting experience and high up on experiences at large. I am definitely framing this doily and probably redecorating!

I will measure how much of Marilee's thread I have left so I'll know how much I used. All of the thread is her's except the solid yellow which is DMC Cebelia size 20.

I still have to do some major blocking. I don't know how I am going to manage straightening out each little picot, but it has to be done. I can't see putting this much effort and love into tatting a piece and not finishing it properly. I'm hoping once it is gently washed it will be more easy to block.

Thanks to all of you who have watched it's progress and been so encouraging and complimentary. Now, join Clyde and I and become Hand Dyed Thread Addicts!

Design Bug

It seems with all of the flu and viruses going around, I've been bitten by a bug very familiar to most of you. I avoided it for a long time, but now it might be a terminal case. I COULD NOT GO TO SLEEP LAST NIGHT BECAUSE LEAF DESIGNS WERE FLOATING IN FRONT OF MY CLOSED EYES! This just won't do. I am going to put a notebook and pencil by the bed tonight so I can turn on the light and sketch them out before I forget them. Maybe that way I will be able to go to sleep. I have drawn them this morning and now I just have to find time, and clear enough eyes, to try and turn them into tatting!

I know how I must have gotten it! The virus didn't come over the internet so it could only be from three sources. Marilee, Sherry or Clyde. Bill kept telling me this hand dyed thread was dangerous to my health. I guess he was right! No bother. I'll just have to "work through the pain."

I am also working on my doily and this round is really going to frame the doily well. And, another snowflake rose. This one is even smaller than the pink one. I crocheted the center with a size 14 hook VERY TIGHTLY and the leaves are in size 12 Sulky quilting thread. A bit fiddly, but pretty.

Pictures one day.

Irish Crochet/Tatted Rose Snowflake

This is what Diane and I have been working on that we were keeping secret. We are both excited about it. It was Diane's idea, but we all know she is a unable to tat or crochet at present. We know we can't copyright the Irish crochet technique, but the idea of the rose with my design for the tatted leaves we hope is unique. I made up a couple of the techniques I used on the leaves. I am going to check and see if anyone has done them before. I am so glad that things are starting to click and I am thinking of things to do without someone having to tell me or show me!

I wanted it to look as real as possible, so the leaves are not identical as you can tell. That's also why I added the "stem" looking things.

Clyde suggested that the leaves might better balance with the rose if they were tatted in size 50. I don't have any so I think I will combine two shades of size 80 and see what happens.

Thank you again to all of you who have taught me so much and thanks to Diane for the idea. Maybe one day I will have patterns that I will be able to share with others as some of you have with me.

Heart gift tag from Sherry's pattern

Thanks for this pattern Sherry. I think I will be making more. This is the first time I have used size 80 hand dyed thread and I like it. Sherry made this one and I think the name is Patriotic. Since it has three colors, I think it would be better suited to something bigger. I'll work on that.

Sherry, Marilee and Clyde kept telling me that tatting with size 80 hand dyed thread is nothing like tatting with regular size 80. I was skeptical, but decided to give it a try. They were absolutely right. The rings close easily and it doesn't twist up like regular 80. I am sold! Oh, no! Now I need more thread.....

I did accomplish one more thing today, but it is still a secret!

Surprise Package from my friend Clyde!

I recently received this card that Clyde The Mad Tatter made. In it were two skeins of HDT from New Zealand and the star and snowflake in the color of the skein pictured. They are for my Rainbow Christmas Tree this next Christmas. The other skein is on two of my shuttles and is what I used to make this blue/green/purple snowflake you have already seen.

The thread is size 50, but was much easier to tat with than I had expected. The hand dyeing really makes a difference. He is now going to send me some size 80 to try before I start buying more HDT! We are both in serious trouble with this addiction!

Clyde is a good friend and was very kind to share with me in this way. Good friends are hard to find.

Rainbow Snowflake #2 for 2008

Thanks to the generosity of my friend Clyde for introducing me to this thread from Craft Supplies Ltd. in New Zealand. It is color #1204 size 50. All of you know I prefer size 20 thread. He wanted me to try the size 50 in DHT to see how much stronger it is and easier with which to tat. He was right. I love it! It is very smooth, doesn't twist and knot up and I didn't break it one single time. He also sent me some in another color. I know he tatted a doily with this one I just used. I'm not sure about the other one. Now, I won't have to be afraid of the smaller thread from Yarnplayer and Lady Shuttle Maker.

The pattern is from Gun Blomqvist and Elwy Persson's book "Tatting Patterns and Designs."

There are so many things I want to do. I finished a baby hat yesterday, but it is too small. I have downloaded another pattern this morning to try. Diane and I are working on a new idea, (her's), that I think you will all like, but no clues. And I have so many different colors of HDT that I want to tat with. So little time...

Back to my projects. And, I probably need to find something to cook for DH.