Lynn posted a comment saying that she uses  a pasta drying rack for drying her lace bobbins.

I thought that this was a great idea, and filed it away in the- hmmmm… ‘clever… file’….

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

When we dropped in on a garage sale,

I spotted a wire basket

that gave me an aha moment…..

I thought…

it’s not a pasta dryer

but ….

this will work

BEAUTIFULLY

for drying  the tatting shuttles.

So, that’s my ‘yay’ for the day.

And, now, there’s another totally excellent book that I want to give the thumbs up to….

copyright Mary Konior and Lacis publications

‘Tatting with Visual Patterns’

by  Mary Konior

published by

Lacis Publications,

Berkeley, CA,

is a real keeper.

The projects are

presented with

precise text instructions,

as well as clear

and meticulous charts,

AND are photographed

beautifully in full color.

The book is full of excellent hints, tips and guidance for tatters of all skill levels.

I highly recommend ‘Tatting With Visual Patterns’, as it’s a storehouse of information and is timeless in it’s approach.

Very good stuff, indeed. Gold star for this one!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

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 he called ‘pearling’ or ‘purling’, but it sounds like tatting, not knitting…..  hmmmm…..

intriguing…..

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I fell in love with Kreinik’s Metallic 1/8″ ribbon thread and wanted to tat some butterflies with it:

There’s 5 meters on the spool, but I didn’t know if that would be enough to tat 2 butterflies.

So, I decided to do an experiment.

I wound 5 m of Rainbow Hemp Beading Twine from Jolly store  onto my tatting shuttle and tatted these Rainbow Butterflies:

Poifeck!

You can get a pair of earrings with less than 5 m!

So, I went ahead and wrapped my shuttle with the spool of

Kreinik Metallics #209C 1/8″ Ribbon yarn  

and it tatted up BEAUTIFULLY!

I am delighted with them.

I tatted them while blissing out to the music in the bistro where my husband’s jazz trio was playing.

People kept coming up to me to ask what I was doing and to admire the thread.

Don’t tat in public if you are shy!

People are intrigued by it and want to know what on earth you are doing.

I am still waiting for the little Flip video camera to arrive (it’s almost TWO months now that I have been waiting for it!).

When it gets here, I’ll do a video tutorial on how to tat these incredibly easy, but oh so gorgeous, earrings.

And, perhaps, I should make a pair to give away in a series of ‘Yay, I’ve been writing Hankering for Yarn for more than 2 years now’ celebratory give aways next week….

Whaddya think?

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I have had a life long love affair with lace making.

I started making lace when I was a little girl, when one of my grandmother’s friends taught me how to knit lace. She showed me that wrapping the needle with the yarn made holes and that I could figure out how to make wonderful things by putting those holes together.

I got addicted to crocheting lace in my teens and then in my 20’s, when I discovered tatting, I felt like I had come home!

Tatting and crochet really are ‘peas and carrots’ )

There are endless possibilities when you put them together. This is just one of the many many lacey things I have  made by combining the two techniques:

Bliss. Pure and simple bliss.

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay(copyright)

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While it is still in the pre-publication stage, I really can’t talk about it in detail. But… oh boy…. once my publisher releases details, I’ll be happily yakking about it!

Can’t talk about the book, ‘cept to say that I am busting my chops on it, but I CAN tell you about the red butterfly shawl that I am tatting and crocheting.

I am just about finished tatting the small flowers that are filling in lots of spaces between the butterflies…..

And, soon I’ll be connecting the dots…. well, no, not the dots… the flowers and the butterflies!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

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 shows the bead slipped down to the last of the 5 dk.

And the pic below shows the dk that holds the 1st bead in place.

Here’s the picot and the next dk:

So, I repeated the * to * for 30 inches (75 cm) and then took the thread through the eye of the jewelry clasp, and headed back up the cord:

For the 2nd half of the cord, I did 5 dk, then joined the shuttle thread to the picot, and repeated this process for the entire length of the cord.

At the end, I worked a ring of 9 dk, closed it, cut the threads, tied knots, trimmed the ends and did a little happy dance!

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

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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)

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Last week, I carved a couple of tatting shuttles. One of them broke, and I turned it into a necklace

Over the weekend, I took my tatting shuttle and cone of thread, and beads with me- everywhere!

I ended up tatting 2 friendship bracelets before I arrived at the cord for the necklace.

I’ve designed lots of tatted friendship bracelets over the years. I love making them, because they are so portable. Besides, it’s so much fun to give them to friends!

These two have already found their way onto friend’s wrists!

I need to make more.

If you’d like the pattern, I can upload it.

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

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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 to burn embellishments on it:

and dip it into the varnish:

And, now, I am just delighted with it!

So, there you have it – a bit of an old desk drawer is recycled into a tatting shuttle, which is recycled into a necklace.

Recycling squared!

What have you reclaimed or recycled lately?

And…. do you have a favorite shuttle, tatting or otherwise?

Also, thank you so much for posting comments.

You inspire me! Yay for creativity!

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

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 without breaking it!

Finishing touch time:

I burned a little interlacing heart on it.

Voila! my new tatting shuttle from an old desk drawer!

They are a monster load of work to make, so I wouldn’t be making them for sale.

Besides, people can order beautiful Lady Hoare tatting shuttles from Lacis in Oakland, CA.

(no profit in saying so, but I dearly love their shop and the people who created and run it)

I LOVE making my own tools, and especially love it when I am reclaiming the stuff I am using in making the new treasure !

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

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