Oh boy! It’s definitely been awhile since I updated my blog. Not entirely my fault our brand new PC decided to throw a permanent tantrum and we’ve been computerless (probably not a word!) for quite a few months. Thankfully it was still under warranty so we exchanged it for a different make. Though that’s not been without pitfall; since all the hardware that worked with Vista didn’t work with the new Windows 7 – so with Christmas and splashing out on new router, printer etc. it has been a rather expensive month. All seems to be working now! I’ve done a lot of knitting and spinning.
Finally finished the Liquid Gold shawl and seemed to have been received well at Christmas. I’ve also started a new hobby; probably not a wise decision since I already have dozens of other hobbies. My friend who taught me how to quilt kindly showed me the very interesting art of Tatting. I must say it’s very relaxing and the results seem to be quite quick.
I had a bit of Christmas money and bought a boat load of stuff from Roseground; including some lovely books, my favourite is Tatted Artistry of Teiko Fujito. I’ve always loved Japanese craft books; the workmanship is always amazing whether it is temari balls, crochet or tatting. Luckily this is translated into English too; though that’s just a bonus really because the patterns are in an universal format anyway. There is beautiful use of colour and the patterns range from the simple to the very complex like the cover of the book.
I pottered around making small motifs including the cutest butterfly and instead of these going to waste I glued them to card so as to make a Birthday card.
I also found a good source for free tatting patterns by Jane Eborall. I made the Flowery SCMR Bookmark minus the tail. I used Lizbeth No. 20 for all the motifs; the blue/green was 117-Countryside, the pink/purple was 140-Country Grape Swirl and the green was 684-Leaf Green(Medium).
The Flowery Bookmark was definitely quite challenging for a beginner as it includes self-closing mock rings and split rings. Though, I was quite happy that I managed to make it after only about 2 weeks tatting.