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.

What a compliment!

This is a picture of my Star Attraction doily tatted by Mary Harris. Isn't the colour combination absolutely devine? Thank you Mary for choosing to tat this doily and for helping to iron out a couple of glitches in the pattern.

Star Attraction edited

Just to let everyone know that Mary Harris has been doing this doily and has found a couple of mistakes. I have now corrected the pattern and done a new PDF. Anyone wanting the new PDF just email me.

A pair of edged doilies

I have done this pair of edged doilies for putting under bedside lamps in my guest bedroom. The edging pattern comes from the Classic Tatting book by Anne Orr. I decided against doing dolies with just tatting as the base of the lamps is 6 inches across and would cover most of the tatting!

I have chosen a cream cotton to go with the maroon tatting as I have a maroon throw over the base of the bed, the main coverlet being in cream and beige.

Variation on a theme (now called Star Attraction!)

I decided to make a pair of doilies in brown and cream to go with the new decor in my guest bedroom and thought that my new Starburst Doily would be just the job. But after the second round my designing head reared up and the doily ended up like this! I am now half way through the second doily but of course this one has got to be exactly the same otherwise it won't be a matching pair!

And here is the link to the PDF pattern of this latest version.

All my books on CD

For those tatters who only have dial-up internet and find that they cannot purchase my patterns books because the PDF files are too big to download I have now put the books onto CD. All five books on one CD for £27 (including postage). If you would like to buy this CD then contact me here.

Sweet Pea Arrangement

I thought you would all like to see a little arrangement of sweet peas, for which the pattern can be found in my latest book Summer Collection of Tatted Flowers.

I have now added the sweet pea pattern to my free list and here is a link to the PDF.

New book now on my web site

Just to let everyone know that My new book Summer Collection of tatted Flowers is now available to purchase from my web site or click on the link in the list of Items For Sale.

To purchase Summer Collection

I am having a few problems with my website at the moment and therefore cannot upload my new book for sale "Summer Collection of Tatted Flowers. Anyone wishing to purchase it (the price is £6) just email me here with your PayPal email addy and I will send you an individual invoice. As soon as I receive the funds into my account I can send the PDF for the new book.