New Earrings

I've been distracted from shuttle-tatted interlocking rings and cross patterns by the need for some new earrings. I looked through some of the patterns I've saved from other websites and blogs and found great inspiration. The pair pictured below are based on the Poinsettia Earrings designed by Rachel Colvin Jackson. I confess to taking a few liberties with Rachel's lovely pattern. I didn't want to sew in beads afterward so I made long beaded picots and I substituted double stitches for the half stitches Rachel uses in the outer round. I'm very happy with the result. Thank you, Rachel for sharing this pattern with us.

Tatting on the road

I apologize for the photo quality, but I thought a poor photo would be better than none at all.

My plans to rework my Celtic cross bookmark with the interlocking rings had to be put on hold. I've been on the road quite a bit lately for work. In fact, I'm out of town now. I chose a familiar pattern and grabbed several balls of Lizbeth variegated threads that I had not yet tried. This proved to be a great choice as I've enjoyed tatting on planes, in airports, in autos (I wasn't doing the driving), and in hotels. Loading one Aero shuttle completely and starting with shuttle and ball, I was able to make two bookmarks before reloading a shuttle.

I didn't completely unpack both suitcases after the previous trip before I started repacking one for this shorter trip. I think I must have left a couple of bookmarks in my other suitcase. By my calculations, I've tatted at least 9.

Happy tatting!

Tatted Teddy Bear progress

I finished the Teddy Bear in Inga Madsen's Tatted Animals. The thread is Lizbeth size 20, Purple Marble. He is now framed and proudly on display in my office at work.

It works!

A few posts back you saw my efforts with part 1 of Kathy's tutorial for interlocking rings with a shuttle. It took me two tries with part 2, but I'm very satisfied with the results. I had a little trouble closing that last ring satisfactorily, so I again removed the thread from the shuttle so I could pull it through to cinch the ring closed. Thank you very much, Kathy. I've place links to your tutorials on my techniques page.

I designed a cross pattern years ago that has interlocking rings in the center. I finger tatted the rings, but that was so fiddly that I've never worked the pattern again. I look forward to giving my design another tat using this method for the interlocking rings.

Tatted Elephant

I finished Inga Madsen's tatted elephant, pages 16 and 17 of Tatted Animals. The thread is Elizabeth size 20 in Seashell. I've started the Teddy Bear on pages 30 and 31. You'll see it a bit later. Inga's book contains a picture and a diagram for 12 different animals. The others are a bird, butterfly, sitting cat, dog, giraffe, horse, ladybird (ladybug), monkey, snail, and a squirrel. All of them are adorable. Inga used these designs for a quilted baby blanket and includes some instructions for doing the same. I'm tatting the animals just for fun, with no particular plans for how I'll use them. They are just fun to make.