Fiber Therapy

Too much stress in my life this week, so I've checked out for a few quiet hours to spin some silk the last few days. Our needlework may seem like a waste of time to many who don't understand but it serves a purpose beyond the beauty or usefullness of the items we create.

Shuttle Bag

I have finished the shuttle bag project in the TAT proficiency, fully expecting this to be difficult I was pleasently surprised by how much fun it was to make. In order to get my spacing right I measured and marked on my finger with a permanent marker, so silly but worked great. Just might have to try a bigger project in mignonette stitch, Ben Filkert has a great doily, hmmm, what was that one called, I think it is in his newest book, fooo, I just can't remember. So now I am ready for my next TAT button sampler and can not find anywhere the button package.

Sitting on a hold pattern momentarily, so my brain has been conjuring all kinds of new UFO's to start. NOOOOO I really need to finish some of the many already in the works. Keep repeating, no new projects, no new projects.....

Yes, I started a new project, I compromised and picked up 1 ounce of hand painted pure tussah silk top to spin. I get a fiber fix without an unreachable goal or UFO I must feel guilty as it lays undone waiting. Spinning is the purist fiber fix I know, the soothing rythym, the tactile feel of the fibers, the colors as they slide through your fingers, changing from one to another. It's like meditation, quiet, calming, peaceful.

Garden Train Village

Last night I was cleanning and repairing the houses from out of my lower garden, they are going to be sold for big bucks at a weekend garage sale, please please! The train station, water tower, and the country store are not in this picture, they are taking over the kitchen counters. My kitchen is so yucky now with 15 years worth of old leaves, dirt, cobwebs, and deads bugs. So I sat watching big brother and thinking how obnoxious is Will! and super glueing all the tiny pieces. Between the glue fumes and a Corona it's a wonder that the steeple isn't upside down, hehe. My fingers are covered in glue, at least they aren't stuck together.
EXTREME CLOSEUP!!!!!
Look a who came to help, isn't it just too funny, I'm surprised Shelby isn't a obgoblin in the photo.

Motif 4

This is the large cross from the book Tatting With Visual Patterns, my favorite tatting book. It is tatted in sulky blendables size 12. I think I will be doing another of these as it is such a nice pattern, and this is already spoken for. My stash of give aways isn't growing yet, hmmmm. When I did this one I kept thing of making all four points the same length, add a few picots on the end ring, connect many together like squares, and make a table runner. The shape reminds me of the squares in the cathedral window quilt. The negatice space would be the same as the white on
the quilt between the colors.
So many possibilities,
so little time.

Celtic Motif

Woohoooo I think I have a version of the Celtic motif that I'm happy with for the TAT. This is Jane's pattern and can be found at her web site. www.e.n.e.btinternet.co.uk/ It has been fun to do this with the same three colors every time but rotate the colors giving it a different look each time. FUN Thinking it would be nice to do a big piece with these and join them at the points, sort of like a flower garden quilt, each different. Hmmm maybe join them with bigger spaces between. Ok here's a pic of what I'm thinking, can't seem to say it, a picture is worth a thousand words. Knowing me I won't ever do this but wouldn't it be pretty?

Not Knots

I have not been making knots, I've been making loops, this is a knitting alert!! The hands needed a rest and knitting seems to be gentler on the arthitis than tatting. It is going to be a shoulder wrap. It seems to always be a shawl, a scarf, a wrap, got to break out of this rut, but in the meantime it will be a wrap for my soon to be ex mother in law. The colors are my favorites, blues and greens, you can tell by my couch, matches nice huh?, but no I'm not keeping it, it's not staying, it's visiting. The pattern is Starburst Shawl from the book Modular Knits by Iris Schreier. The yarn is cherrytree hill super sock in moutain madness, more greens than the picture shows. Kind of an entralac pattern but it's a cheat because the stitches stay on the neddles all the time, fun but not to take to a knit-in or plan on taking out more than you knit.

My knitting weakness or boggle. I find beautiful yarns that I must have, so I buy one skein. Mistake Mistake Mistake....... So excited I start a project that clearly needs more than I have, so off I go looking for more. Do I ever take it with me and check the dyelots, well how much could it vary? IT CAN LOOK TOTALLY DIFFERENT! I'm a smart person but I can't seem to learn because I've done this before. See two balls attached to the wrap, One end is light, then it is a row of light and then a row of dark. Actually works well with this pattern, shows it off nice, and the other end will be darker. Shhhhh it was all an elaborate design plan.

Shelby managed to worm her way into my picture, her back is almost as tall as the couch cushion. Here she is with Jake, they are not best buds, the cat was simply too lazy to get up and move away from the little pest. They are an evenly matched set, 21 lbs each, no brains verses no claws, both big babies.

Motif 3

I have finished motif #3!!!!! It turned out much bigger than I expected but it was well worth the work. This Hens & Chick Cross pattern is designed by Barbara Tozzano. It is really beautiful with it's classic hens and chicks. A nice all ring pattern, wind a shuttle, toss it in your purse, and anytime you need tatting therapy, there it is, simple to carry, simple to remember without the pattern. The pattern can be found www.fortunecity.com/victorian/vangogh/235/crosses/eliz2cross.html
I didn't follow the pattern exactly, almost but not exact, my lower secton of the cross is one pattern longer and the center has a slight change.
Following a pattern exactly is something I rarely do, must be weird, just seem to see things in a different way, it needs more or less stitches to lay better, or my errors become new versions. I guess this is the way the designing process comes to life for me. Not a rip off of someones pattern, but an inspiration to do something else with their thoughts as a start, an elaboration on a theme, or maybe a final product that doen't even resemble the starting point. Look at the center of the cross, would that not be a wonderful way to start an doily, different from the usual center ring with little rings around it. I'm facinated by the radiating lines created by the negative space, could it be done with 6 or 8 lines? It just wants, needs to be played with.

25 Motifs ?

This morning was my guild's tat n chat. We mostly chatted and very little tatting. I came as the locksmith, Ruth needed a garage door locked changed out and rekeyed, mission accomplished. Every second of the work is well worth the smile on her face to have a garage door that works. I want to tat and now my hands are so black greasy that I think the white cross I've been working on will have to wait.

I've been thinking of joining the 25 motif challenge, might as well, I keep retatting the TAT artisan celtic motif because it just isn't quite right, picots too big, joins sloppy, slightly puckered. I will have my 25 motifs in just retats, haha. I'm using in your face colors because it is Jane's pattern and that's what she likes. Seriously though I'm thinking of joing the challenge, my give away stash is empty, so I though a few of the celtics, crosses, hearts, gotta have a few flutters, bookmarks, oh and some flakes or stars. I'm thinking I will use patterns off the net, show case some of the beautiful work so many tatters have generously shared. The picture will be motif 1 and 2. Ok I'm offical, I'm somebody!!!!.... better let Sharon know and make the link.

New Shuttles

Yesterday I went to Art on the Commons, a art show in Kettering. So much wonderful art, I could have stayed all day and oogled. Diana Andra and William Schmidt were there with their Turn of the Century wood items, just beautiful! I picked up a new shuttle for me in dogwood with a hook and one for my daughter Sarah. I also could not resist the calling of the knitting needles, I had to get a set in rosewood, what is not to love about fine wood needlework tools, the grain, the smooth feel in your hands. There is nothing like a new toy to tat with! Diana's web site is www.Turn-of-the-Century.com , her shuttles don't click, they have slits for the thread to side through instead, a different look from the side, very nice to use.

A new shuttle begs to be used so I played with Wally's tat along pattern.
see her blog at http://tat-along.blogspot.com/ . It is almost the same stitch count as Wally's ,with lots of beads added. If I was to do it again I would use heavier thread.


my rings: 5-5 bead 2 bead, big bead, bead 2 bead 5 join to previous ring

chains: 2 bead 2 bead 2 three beads 2 two beads, big bead, two beads 2 three beads 2 bead 2 bead 2

(16ds total, 15 beads)

12 rings, 12 chains

Glow Tats

This is a my first post, a test of the glow tats blogging system, do not look directly into the glow. I haven't a clue what I'm doing but I will figure this out as I go. Glow is just an odd version of my initials, Gail L Owens, I'm not sure when I picked up the nickname. Yep the L is for Lynne, the usual L middle name, more than half the family is a hidden middle Lynn of some variation. Tats is for tatting not the glow in the dark tatoos you find if you google glow-tats. I intend for this to be a sort of record of my tatting and other needlework, knitting, spinning, or even glow-needlepoint, just doesn't have the same ring as tats does it. A place to store pictures, patterns that get lost, written on scraps of paper and stuck in books, remembrances of items happily passed to new owners. It is so easy to forget what we have lovingly created and given away as gifts. Oooo look, I can add a photo, but I've forgotten my username already, duh. Ok the doily is from Tatted Fashion by Teiko Fujito. I gave this to my mom, it's tatted in sulky blendables size 12, nice thread. Enjoy the tats!