2015 New Year's Cards

New Year's Cards must be received on 1 January. So you have to post them no later than 25 December.
That's what post office here says. But every year, I post them around 30 December mainly because I'm too busy. And actually, I really don't want to write them at all.

Still, I have to send them to my relatives and friends. I sometimes think that I should just send holiday greetings by e-mail to friends. But that won't work with my relatives since many of them are so old.

So, I sent these cards above. This is the Chinese year of the sheep so I draw sheep. And I glued a tatted motif each to the rest of the cards.
It's a lot of fun to tat motifs and that makes me write New Year's Cards every year.

VÄV 2014 i Umeå

I've been to Umeå, Sweden last month. VÄV 2014 was taken place there from 18 to 20 September.
 

 Though I don't weave at all, it was such a great and fun opporunity to go to VÄV 2014.

There I met many knitters and I bought some yarns to knit at a booth of Östergötlands Ullspinneri.
I saw a lot of booths selling knitting yanrs there. Wool yarns, silk yarns, cotton yarns, and so on.

  

Also, I saw some huge crochet mats. They were made of very thick yarns and if you make same things with lace yarn, they would be dainty doilies. Interesting.

So, if you are a knitter or a crochetter and thinking of going to VÄV 2017 but hasitating, you must go.

My friend and I had a hard time to collect information of VÄV 2014 and it would be same for VÄV 2017, but we would be there again.

A New Book on Tatting

A New Book on Tatting, a photo by Garyou on Flickr.

Two books on tatting lace have been published last month. And this is the one of them.
FUJISHIGE Sumi's _Kurashi no Naka no Tatting Lace (Tatting Lace in Everyday Life)_.

All the patterns were already published previously but the books are out of print now. So, if you have FUJISHIGE's old books around 1990s, you may not need this one.

There are 9 doilies including small ones in this book as well as edgings, accessories (2 collars and some necklaces), motifs, and collages.

I've made a small doily from this. In the book, this doily is used as a decoration on a small pouch.
All the works are made with Olympus threads but I don't have white one so I used DMC Cordonnet Specail #40 in Blanc.
I usually use bobbin shuttles; I used a clover shuttle this time. My first tatting lace book was written by FUJISHIGE and at that time, only shuttle I could buy was clover's. It's a sense of nostalgia.
And you know, clovers shuttles are very good, too.

Jane's Bookmark & Black Magic

Jane's Bookmark & Black Magic, a photo by Garyou on Flickr.

Just in middle of Bookmark-Tatting mode now. I'm not a bookmark person, but I'm using both of them right now. They are very good for marking patterns in knitting books as well as tatting books.



Via Flickr:
Left: Jane's Bookmark
Thread: Lisbeth #20 Col.691
Right: Black Magic
Thread: Lisbeth #40 Scottish Thistle

Running out of Energy

Tatted Motif, a photo by Garyou on Flickr.

This motif was supposed to be a bookmark, Christina in _Tatted Bookmark - cross-shaped._
But the thread on the shuttle was a little too short and above all, I was running out of energy to finish it up.
So, a bookmark-to-be turned out a square motif.

I've been working on a tatting project using lace weight yarn. It seems there's a long way ahead with this project.

And here's another bookmark I made. The picture is a little before finishing tatting.

Same Motifs Joining Differently

Same Motios Joining Differently, a photo by Garyou on Flickr.

This kind of motif is my favourite and I just wanted to tat something out of it.

First, I made the pale violet doily. It was very hot when I began to tat it, so I just joined motifs with one ring. I think this doily came out well. It looks cool because it has a lot of space. It even feel so light. Lighter than the pale blue one.

Then, I made the pale blue one. It got hotter and I hesitated a bit, but joined two rings each. Since the colour looks cool, it doesn't look so thick.

I'm lack of ability to create something original; now I know a little thing make things different.

A New Book and A New Shuttle

Tatted Motif & a New Book, a photo by Garyou on Flickr.

A new tatting lace book was published last month. If you translate the title, it would be _Tatting Lace: Accessories and Small Stuffs_ or something like that. Most of the works in this book are motifs. As you can see from the face of it, some motifs are turned into accessories as well. Some patterns call for SCMR and Cluney-like techniques.

I made a square motif from this book. I used Lisbeth #40 154, Wildflower Garden. I tatted it with a shuttle and a ball with SCMR.

To tat this motif, I used my new tatting shuttle. It's a new colour of Clover's tatting shuttle, milk.

So many new products make me scream with joy.

Sampler

Sampler, a photo by Garyou on Flickr.

I've seen many lanyards lately and I want to make one. But I can't decide how I make a ring over a bead, with picots, without picots, or with small beads.
So, I just made a sampler and found out I need to practice to tat SCMR with a bead in center.
I tatted with silk thread, but cotton thread would be better? Maybe?

New Tatting Shuttles from Clover

New Tatting Shuttles from Clover, a photo by Garyou on Flickr.

I've bought new tatting shuttles from Clover on Saturday.
The colours look so cool. Pale green and blue suit for summer.

"L" stands for large.



As you can see, it is as long as a Sew Mate shuttle.
Clover says this shuttle is for loading beads.



The hole is really large. You can use really thick thread with this shuttle.



Followings are my opinion, and you might feel in different ways.

Though its length is as same as a Sew Mate one, it's a bit thicker. That makes me a little more difficult to tat since my hands are small.
It can hold a lot of thread and that's for sure.

Anyway, new products are good news and that shows tatting is not a lost art at all.



Via Flickr:
a bit large

Black Magics and a Motif

Black Magics, a photo by Garyou on Flickr.

I made the blue one first. I didn't feel like blocking it. Then I made the green one. It came out a little bit better, I think.
Maybe I should try tatting another one. Would it be better?

Yesterday, I made this bead-tatted motif designed by Nina Libin.


It is supposed to become a bag charm. I used silk thread. Beads are for bead weaving so their sizes are almost exactly same. This was my first time to use those kinds of beads. It's a bit annoying to thread all the beads, but the result is neat.


Via Flickr:
Designed by Mary Konior
Lisbeth #40 Turquoise Col.657, Green Col.679