tatting practice

As much as I love to sew, and knit, and crochet, and embroider, sometimes I like to do something a little different. Lately I've had a yen to tat again, so I've been stocking up on interesting threads when they cross my path. Today I had need of a small embellishment, so I decided to drag out all my threads, books and such, and give it a go.

I learned to shuttle tat years ago, but decided it was just not worth the trouble. But a couple of years ago I read an article by Pamela Quevedo regarding needle tatting, and decided to try it. I find it much simpler than shuttle tatting, and quite enjoyable. Though my skills are far inferior to hers, I have at least reached the point where I can decipher vintage patterns, change the stitch counts for the larger threads I prefer, and even write my own patterns just a little.

Today, the piece I made started as a pattern from a vintage tatting book. I tweaked it for the size thread I wanted to use, and I was pleased that it turned out to be exactly the dimensions I needed for my project! Experienced tatters would find glaring errors, of course, but I think it will suit my purposes just fine. (And yes, I know I need to weave in my ends. I'll get to that.)

If you are interesting in trying needle tatting, I would highly recommend the book Learn Needle Tatting Step by Step by Barbara Foster. If you order the kit, it comes with needles so you can get started right away.

yet another thrift store find

In case you hadn't noticed, I've had opportunity to go to the thrift store a few times lately. This time, I found some yarn! About 3 2/3 skeins of Reynolds Courant, which I had never heard of, for 99 cents. It's 73% viscose, 27% linen. Interesting, right? I can find lots of appropriate patterns for bags and such, but what I'm really hoping is that there's enough to make a small shawl.

The needles will need to be circular, because the number of stitches increases exponentially when knitting a shawl. And the needle size will need to be a bit bigger than the size 8 the label calls for, if I have any hope of making a shawl from what I have here. So I pull out my three largest all-time favorite vintage Susan Bates Circlon needles. My aunt Karina, who taught me to knit, gave me a few pair; I also snap them up if I see them on Ebay or Etsy. They are not too smooth, not too "grabby," not too pointy, not too blunt. The biggest one here may be a bit large; the smallest one, a bit small; I think the medium one will be juuuuust right.
Boy, I hope this works. I'm liking this steely blue-gray color with denim - you think?

What do you think, helper kitty? Helper kitty?

I had an idea in my head for the pattern, and was about to try and write it out. Luckily, I found this one, and it saved me the trouble. Honestly, I think the stitch pattern will show up better in this yarn. So let's give it a try, shall we? It's a nice day here on the back porch, so I think I'll sit and knit a while.
Hello! Coffee and chocolate - how did that get there? ;)
Ah, yes. I like how this is turning out. Very much. But I'm getting annoyed flipping from one page to the other to keep up with the pattern, so I think I'll scribble the main repeat on a card.
Aaaand my helper kitty has completely passed out under my bench. Hard to find good help these days.

vintage finds #2

As promised, here's the second installment of my good vintage fortune over the past week. During a visit to the thrift store the other day, I rescued this bag from the bottom of the craft bin. $1.98.

Inside were all these wonderful trims! The standard rickrack, of course, but some unusual color patterns and some labels I've never seen before. (You know how I love the labels.) And the tapes and ribbons with patterns woven in - what a find! Some look to be really old, but in good condition.
I love this one, but look what it's wrapped around - a great old needle card!
I've often wondered what would happen if I wrote away for one of these offers, and included my ten cents postage. I mean, there's no ending date, right??
There were, of course, lots of bias tape and hem tape. In the days before sergers, these were necessary to keep seam allowances from fraying. This was a new one on me, though: bias tape, packaged in a little box, with 2 tiny wooden spools of matching thread!
A few laces and ribbons, too. This lace was one of my main reasons for buying the bag. It's been removed from something, and has buttons, either from the same garment or planned for a new one, attached. Waste not, want not! It's nice, strong, heavy lace and in great shape.

This was also new to me: some of the ribbons were bound with a metallic label, and the layers were separated with cellophane. Hm.

If you've read this far, you must have some interest in vintage trims. Here's the sad part of the story - some of the trims have rust spots from pins. So I beg of you: go to your great grandmother, or great aunt, or whomever you stand to inherit vintage trims from someday. Ask if you can help them "organize" their stash, and as you do, replace the cheap pins with the kind that won't rust!!!
(Or, if you're still reading, you may have no interest in trims at all. You might just be my friend, for which I am thankful!!)

vintage finds #1

We had the cause and opportunity to visit the library a few days ago. And a trip to the library often means a trip to the library's used book store. They have a sewing and craft section that supports my vintage needlework book habit.

On this particular visit, I only had $6 in my pocket, so we had to make some tough choices. This one almost didn't make the cut, but I'm so glad it did! My first thought was that it could replace my other, larger, more delicate stitch reference books. It would easily fit in my knitting bag. Seemed like a good use of $1.

Later, as I had the opportunity to examine it more closely, I saw what an amazing reference it is! I wanted to find another copy for my friend Maya, so I started checking around on the internet. I was amazed - all the copies I could find were $42-100!

Observations:

1. This one will be going on the shelf, not in the knitting bag;

2. Maya, I love you, but you're getting photocopies of interesting pages; and

3. I totally ripped off the Friends of the Library bookstore. Sorry!

(Did you notice the #1 in the title? hee hee - there's more later!)

snail habitat

As I expected, the snail needed a house. So here's the house in the book, and the house we made. Not a bad replica, if I say so myself. Lydia has since added artwork on the walls. Thankfully she was content with bubble wrap in place of an actual bubble bath… it's the little things in life that I appreciate. ;)

Here's Lydia dressed as Angel Cat Sugar, complete with the pink purse to use to carry the snail home.
One modification to the pattern: The snail didn't want to sit up well, so I added that ruffle thing around the bottom like a real snail. Now we know why real snails have that thing, I guess. I would not hazard to tell you in detail how I did it; I just did a row of single crochet where I wanted it to go, then did 2 sc in the back loop of each sc around.
Oh, and the snail needed a purple bow, too. So rather than a boy snail named Cinnamon, as in the book, we have a girl snail named Pretty.