Butterfly form the heart!

I was doodling last evening thinking I would design a heart being as Valentine's Day is so close! Hmmm....well as you can see, it's nothing like a heart, but it does make a pretty butterfly! LOL

Knitting whilst visiting

I have spent a lot of time visiting my Mum and my DH in hospital and so I have spent the time knitting myself an Aran Jacket. The pattern did not have pockets, but what use is a jacket without pockets? Not a difficult task to do and so my version has now got pockets. Got to have somewhere to put the tatting shuttles! LOL

Hospital Mania!

I thought regular visitors to my blog might be wondering why I haven't been posting recently. Unforturnately my Mum was taken into hospital just before Christmas with pnuemonia and came home to my house on Christmas Eve, however, her condition became much worse and had to go back into hospital on New Year's Eve. At the moment she is still in hospital but at least she is now on the mend.

Last night I had to take my husband to the Accident and Emergency department as he had become really ill with some unknown ?virus. They have kept him in and will be giving him a brain scan as soon as an appointment can be made.

So, as you can see, I have had no time at all for crafts and blogging!

Pretty in pink!

Here is a pink set for a young teenager.....matching scrunchie and earrings!

Unfortunately I haven't been able to do much tatting as my mum has been very poorly with pneumonia! Brought her over for Christmas on the Friday (19th) and had to call for the paramedics on Saturday. She was able to come out of hospital by Christmas Eve but went downhill again so that I had to call the emergency doctor out yesterday. She seems to be a little better today but at nearly 82 years old it is going to be a slow recovery!

Snowflake earrings

These little snowflake earrings are done in DMC size 80 with Swarzoski crystal beads.

Cakes again!

Tatting has had to take a back seat this week while I made and decorated some cakes. I have done my brother's 60th birthday cake and decorated with a fishing theme as he is greatly into fly and course fishing. I hope he likes the fact that I have depicted him as a frog! LOL

The other cakes are a Christmas cake for a dear friend with a frog sledging down a snowy slope and an upside down frog in the snow with just his bottom and legs sticking out! LOL and just a plain covered Christmas cake for home! I never seem to have time to do anything exotic for myself, hence no picture!

Celtic Bookmark - my own design

Here is a picture of my latest design....a celtic bookmark.

I started with an idea of making central motifs joining through each other as I tatted them and then the outer rounds just sort of emerged!

It has been tatted with Coates cotton size 40.

I won't be doing the pattern for as I think it is too complicated to write out!

Heart Bookmark

Browsing through a Mary Konior pattern book I saw an edging pattern that I thought I would be able to adapt into a bookmark and this is the end result!

Another Star Attraction

Nita sent me a photo of the Star Attraction doily that she has completed.

Bookmarks for presents

I needed a few bookmarks for presents, both birthday and Christmas and decided to try Eliz Davis' celtic style one. I think that it is a pretty pattern and is sturdy enough to do the job well....some bookmarks, although very pretty, are more for show than for actual use!

First Aran Jumper Finished

Here is the first Aran jumper in the Christmas present bundle to be finished.

I managed the V neck OK and the guesswork with the number of stitches in the neckband worked first time! I wasn't sure if I had enough stitches in the neckband and therefore decided to do it double length, fold it over and instead of casting off, catch each stitch down when sewing down the fold. This way I could ensure that the neck opening would not end up being pulled too tight!

DH also decided that he wanted the sleeves to be narrower than knitting patterns usually are as they always seem to bag under the arms. I did this by reducing the amount of stitches increased on every 4th row by 4 stitches....doing the same amount of increases every 6th row as the pattern stated therefore ending up with 4 stitches less overall....then compensating on the decrease section by continuing with just decreasing 2 stitches every other row all the way up instead of changing to decreasing 4 stitches every other row at the top section. I hope this all makes sense!

I am pleased to announce that it fits DH perfectly! He is extremely pleased but it now has to go

off to Santa for delivery on Christmas Day! LOL

The Aran Marathon has begun!

I decided to knit myself an Aran cardigan/jacket, with pockets, as I couldn't find one in the shops that I liked. I haven't knitted for a couple of years because of arthritis in my right wrist and right shoulder, but now that both joints have been operated on successfully I thought I would try knitting again.

I am delighted to say that I have not had any problems in the actual knitting, but I have had one great big problem!!! This problem goes by the name of Dear Husband! "I want you to knit me one first" says DH. So I dutifully start doing one his size. When I have knitted the back he kindly informed me that he didn't want a cardigan, he wanted a V neck jumper! The pattern booklet I bought didn't have a V neck jumper in it and so I have had to make one up as I went along!

This is what I have done so far!

Oval Delight!

Here is the finished oval doily that I have called Oval Delight. I think that I will make some alterations in the future as I can see that if I did it a little bit differently it would make it even better. I will write up the pattern in a few days time, but then I need a break from tatting doilies. I'm going to spend the next few weeks knitting! LOL These will be for Christmas presents and so I had better get a move on!

Oval Doily Progression!

I thought you would all like to see how I get to a finished tatted item.

I wind a couple of shuttles and off I go and see what turns up. Before I started, the only vision I had was that this doily was going to be an oval.

The first attempt was a good shape but there were too many stitches and I could tell that to continue was only to going to make it worse and only keep bunching up.

The second attempt seemed to start well but as I progressed I was not happy with the shape! The 6th round had too many stitches but the 7th round didn't have enough and was starting to stretch and cup.

The third attempt, so far, is coming along nicley. I am happy with the shape and the rounds are lying beautifully without resorting to the iron!

I hope this shows that, even if the finished article ends up looking like any other doily, I am working solely out of my own head. Naturally we designers are all influenced by the years of tatting we have done in the past, but we are not re-inveneting the wheel here and there are only so many shapes that can be achieved. Having said that, when I have finished, I will scour my pattern books and surf the internet, hoping not to find something almost identicle! Only then will I put the pattern out to the public.

Oval Doily Coming Soon!

I am in the process of designing a new oval doily. It would appear that I have the doily bug at the moment! I have made a couple of false starts, but everything seems to be coming together now. I will post pics in the next couple of days.