I just posted about the friendship bracelets that I tatted while I was in the design process for
this tatted cord:

I am really pleased with the cord. I wanted it to be simple and not too frou frou.
It’s light and really pleasant to wear.
I am going to make it up in other threads to see how it looks in other colors and textures.
I loved the process of coming up with this design, and now, I am super inspired about designing all kinds of other tatted jewelry!
Fun!
Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

Yesterday, I posted about
making a tatting shuttle that broke.
And, so I recycled it and made it into a necklace:

And, now, I am debating about the cord for the necklace.
I know I am going to use Lion Brand Lamé in the oilslick version, but I am waffling about how I am going to make it.

I know that the Cordelia cordmaker on the left, works soooooooooooo beautifully for making square cords.
But…. since the necklace began it’s life as a tatting shuttle, it would make sense to tat the cord….
So, that’s what I have done!
Here’s the link to the finished cord: Tatted …read more

Yesterday, I posted about carving a Lady Hoare tatting shuttle from recycled wood.

I broke one of the tatting shuttles

sigh.
I tossed it into the sawdust bucket for burning next winter.
Tammy suggested that I reclaim it and use it as an inkle shuttle.
I like my inkle shuttles to have straight sides, so it wouldn’t work for that…. But…
I had been thinking that the Lady Hoare shuttles look like little dancing people….. so…..
I raced out to the workshop, grabbed the broken shuttle, and drilled a tiny hole.
I put a wire through it and a bead onto it (for the head) and
Voila!

I decided …read more

In my previous posting, I showed how I got started making the Lady Hoare tatting shuttle.
I took the bits of recycled wood back out to the workshop, and cut the 2 shuttles out on the bandsaw:

Then finished up the openings with a smaller saw:

Next, time to make some sawdust:

You can see how it’s looking more ’shuttle -y’:

Time to switch to files:

OH RATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I snapped one prong off! THIS is why I always cut out TWO!
(I didn’t waste the broken one- see what I did with it)
So, start all over and be a WHOLE lot more careful!

HURRAH! I actually finished it …read more

My husband’s dad built a desk when my husband was a wee little guy. Sadly, the desk fell apart last winter. BUT!
The desk lives on in all manner of ways!
I have made bag handles and a heap of bracelets from the bottoms of the drawers.
And, today, I made myself another ‘Lady Hoare’ (I pronounce it Lady Harr, as the other possible pronounciations are slightly ‘ahem’-ish) tatting shuttle:

The Lady Hoare style of tatting shuttle is a very old version of shuttle and I absolutely love it. It’s my favorite style of tatting shuttle.
Why? Because it allows me to load it …read more

I have loved pom pom makers since I was a kid.

The blue pom pom makers on the left are ones that I have had since I was knee high to a grasshopper.
The red/blue/yellow ones are  new Lion Brand pom pom makers and the tan/red ones are Susan Bates.
Pom poms are a classic trim or embellishment. But!
They don’t have to just be mild mannered trims.
I often design and make wild and wonderful dolls with them:

Like this one that I made with recycled/reclaimed objects for hands/feet and head.  The head for this doll is a bamboo tea whisk.
Thumbs up for pom pom …read more

It’s a very bad idea to read a hysterically funny book when you are in bed, and your exhausted husband is trying to sleep.
Last night, I was reading with my wee tiny light, trying oh so hard to be inconspicuous…. well…. oops!
I am reading the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith, and the gentle, but hilarious adventures/misadventures in the agency and garage had me in stitches. Which meant that the bed was shaking like a windswept leaf.  Poor seasick (awake) hubby!
There was one passage that struck me as being totally ‘Winnie the Pooh’. That made me want …read more

I am making a doll for my beloved mother-in-law.
It’s a ‘memory’ doll, and I am making it in the hope of bringing comfort to Mum as she struggles with the death of her beloved daughter, Patty.
I knew from the first moment that I started sketching the doll, that I wanted to use spoolknitting for the hair. Patty was born with curly red hair, so I wanted to celebrate that.

I wanted lots of spoolknitted cord, so I decided to use my Embellish knit spoolknitting machine.

I did a test swatch and decided that it was too stiff. I really …read more