In celebration of my 2 year blogiversary on hankering for yarn, I am having a heap of contests
This is a Lady Hoare tatting shuttle that I made. I won’t be making them anymore, as they are incredibly finicky and tricky to make. Besides, I am having so much fun making and working with my ‘Little Bird’ Tatting shuttles, that I think I’ll stick with them!
Congratulations TattingChic! Your number was 2 and that’s what came up! Please send me a response to the email that I sent you, so I can mail your treasure to you!
Hope you will enjoy them!
Image source: …read more

 
I carved this Lady Hoare Style tatting shuttle from mahogany. They take ages to carve, and I have decided not to make them anymore.
I am so delighted with the Little Bird tatting shuttles that I designed and now make that I am going to stick to making them. They’re a delight.
ANYHOW! Here’s how you can win the last Lady Hoare tatting shuttle that I will ever make!
The contest begins NOW and runs until  7 pm Mountain Time, August 3, 2008.
Here are the rules:
1]  To enter the contest, leave a comment in the comment box on this page.
2]  You MUST leave …read more

I just did a quick google search about tatting shuttles and other needlework tools.
One of the neatest things that came up was a site that has a copy of a book called:
‘Old Time Tools and Toys of Needlework’ 
It’s such a charming read that I found myself getting totally absorbed in it!
I loved reading about the Lady Hoare shuttles.  The quotation about the joys and pleasures of needlework is just lovely. I don’t want to break copyright, so I won’t quote it, but definitely recommend a quick browse (or leisurely schmooz ).
Interesting that the poet Chaucer wrote about ladies doing something …read more

Yesterday, I posted a note about the tatted cord that I have just designed. It’s for a Lady Hoare tatting shuttle that I made and broke… rats… so it became a necklace.
Here’s how I tatted the cord:

With a dental floss threader, thread a heap of ‘e’ beads onto the cone of Lion Brand Lamé yarn.

The cord is a sequence of *5 double knots (dk), slip a bead down the thread to the last dk, 1 dk, 1 picot, 1 dk, slip a bead down to the dk* repeated from * to *
The pic above …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