My sisters-in-law and I absolutely love going to second hand stores.
A couple of weeks ago, we were in one of our favorites, when Sis spotted this old old crocheted piece in the back of a drawer:

She held it up to me and we both fell in love with it.
She asked the lady how much it was, and the lady tossed her wrist and went,
‘Oh, phfft, it’s free…. it’s  worthless….. there’s a hole in the middle!’
Sis and I looked at each other in amazement and had to stiffle guffaws of delight and amazement.
Afterwards, I thought that this is another perfect example …read more

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

 
We have a wasp problem, and don’t want to use pesticides to kill them. Well, actually, we don’t really even want to kill the rotten little beasties…. they are part of the grand plan of nature, after all. We just don’t want the little stinkers to set up shop around our house, barn, hayshed, tool shed, garage or the farm machines. Is that too much to ask? LOL!
So, I designed a pattern for a fake wasp nest to trick them into to bugging off somewhere else.
So far, the crocheted wasp nests seem to be working! The deck has been wonderfully …read more

The Crochet Liberation Front on Ravelry awarded me their hookalicious award for kewl crochet for my earth friendly design for a crocheted market bag:

I love it that they GOT my pun: It’s a♥ GREEN ♥bag that’s all about ♥ loving the earth! ♥
I am tickled pink. When I was nominated for a Fabbie award, I made myself a trophy.
I figured that I always celebrate with a really great cuppa tea (green chai perhaps?) so why not carve myself a crochet hook with a teacup on it? Makes sense to me.
So here’s my award to me… …read more

We’re big ‘greenies’.  We always carry our own cloth or crocheted grocery bags.
So, to celebrate Earth Day, I want to invite people to whip up some market bags to be oh so handy while they take care of the earth!
The handles are neat because they are made from recycled wire coat hangers.

Here’s the link for the pattern: Green Market Bag 

Terri’s going to be facilitating the weaving of a  Saori peace banner on Earth Day on Salt Spring.
And, people are going to be bringing something special to the Earth Day celebration on Salt Spring….
Check it out…. it’s VERY inspiring!
EARTH DAY SALT SPRING