Something Awesome! A new Shuttle!!

 Okay, maybe a PAIR of new shuttles!! And they're GREAT... I got them off Ebay, & to be brutally honest, I wasn't expecting to love them. Like them, but not LOVE them. They're handmade, but for the pair they were $10.95 US, or $6.75 for one. After all these years of oogleing David Reed Smith shuttles but being sad about the price, I wasn't expecting the same quality. They're Cocobalo (spelling sorry!) wood. I'm not sure why they came one with a pick, one without, but I kinda like it that way.

 Yep, they're the same size as a Clover - pretty great, huh? They're polished smooth, but not so smooth they slide out of my hands.

 This is the one I've emptied a shuttle to use... see how thick the wood is? Not fragile at all, even at the tip of the pick. It holds a little less thread than a clover, but not enough less for me to notice. I did have to sand the tips to fit my thread. I left it a little tight, so it's a little fiddly, but with time it'll stretch out. That's why I left it tight! :) I'm thinking of ordering another pair that I can sand out for #80 thread.... I haven't tried any on this set yet, but I think I might have made the gap a little big for anything smaller than 40 or so... Haha, darn! I'll have to order another set!! =D

 Side view of both. Yeah, I know it doesn't have a hole in the post, but I don't usually use the hole anyway. I imagine if you asked they could put you one in....

For size comparison. The pick is straight on the wood one. Ohhh, I love mine. I totally recommend at least trying them out. The guy was super nice, & he really wants to make the customer happy. You can get them all the way up to 3 1/2 inches I believe, so if you like a bigger shuttle, you can get one. The link is here & it'll take you to what is going to be their home page; it isn't finished yet, but there's a link to his Ebay store. They sell parts for old saws & tools, as well as tatting shuttles. I thought it was an odd combination, but I suppose it fits. For those of you that love the look & feel of wood, but don't have mega $$$$$ to spend on them, I would SO try these out. OldTymeAntiques is the name of the Ebay store, & Jeff Erickson is the super nice man that sold me these shuttles :) Oh - & I ordered them late Friday night, & they came MONDAY! if you get any faster than that, I'd have to have a time machine :)

Strep Throat, Snuggles, & Tatting... Sort of...

So... Tuesday I had to take my little girl to the doctor - a 102 Degree (farenheit) fever for 3 days worries a parent, ya know? - & turns out, she has her first case of strep throat... 1 week before her 2nd birthday! Of course as soon as we walked in the door of the doctor's office, her fever was gone & she felt fine. But, she got some of that awesome pink medicine that all little kids love (including me) with strict orders for lots of fluids & stay in the house time for the next 10 days. Which is great for someone with a child that doesn't LOVE being outside. For those of us with babies that were practically born in the barn, it STINKS. "Outside? Outside? Mama! Outside! MAMA OUTSIDE PLEASE OUTSIDE!!" has been the standard war cry around here for the last few days. And the cherry on top?? Now *I* have a 104 degree fever & honestly, if my head fell off right at my shoulders, I wouldn't mind. Maybe hitting the floor would make the throbbing stop. Fortunately, I've been the lucky recipient of lots of little girl snuggles & "love mommy"'s the last few days.... Would be nice if she realized braiding my hair with a barbie comb doesn't help, but how could I possible say no when she's being so sweet?? :)
Now for the tatting. Yes, there has been tatting. Up until today - I can't stand to look at anything that long. I promise, I have sunglasses on right now over my glasses so I can stand to look at the computer screen. It hurts that bad. I can't even stand to put my contacts in so I don't look like I'm looking through the bottom of a bottle.... But I'm so bored I have to do *something*, & this happens to require the least movement, & I can do it laying on the couch while Untatter plays on my legs. I'm telling you, she's being strangely sweet... :)
All of these pictures were taken day before yesterday, but the work still looks the same. The work was started (some of it finished) a week or so ago.

 These are earrings.... They're supposed to be snowflakes, but to me they look more like stars... Hmm... they came from my Rebecca Jones book - I love that thing; every time I flip through it, I find something else I haven't seen before! The color is Lizbeth, but I can't remember the name. I just know it's a lovely bright turquoise/teal color.... I might change the colors, but I need to empty these shuttles first :)

 This is what came next... It was supposed to be a pendant to go with the earrings, but I'm not sure it won't be too big once finished. But I like how the motifs surrounding the center make a kind of spoke on a wheel kind of thing..... When I finish it we'll see how big it is...

 This is the bigger project I'm working on. It's "Rose Garden Doily" from Big Book of Tatting. The outer chains are supposed to be white, but I thought green might make it more interesting. It's kind of a pea green, instead of the regular leaf green, but I like it. My pink & yellow are also brighter ones, instead of a rosy mauve color  & a pastel yellow. What can I say, I like to get punched in the face with color occasionally! I wish my camera showed up my colors better!

Here's the picture from the book. It isn't a very great picture, but I basically wanted to show the original color, as opposed to what I'm going to do. Which one do you like better?
I hope ya'll noticed I'm still using sew mates & clovers.... I originally wound my Boyes for this project, but ended up changing them over because I just wasn't enjoying using them anymore. To the point I actually wasn't tatting because of how uncomfortable they were. So maybe I'm a convert. 6 years later, I'm a convert to small post shuttles. Now... I just *hate* plastic! I need something pretty! Something that I'll be able to pass on to Untatter's children & say "this is what's special about this" someday.... It's quite possible that's the reason I clung to the metal Boyes for so long before using the more comfortable shuttles.Hmm... :)
Enjoy your day!

P.S. I should edit - the earrings were finished & taken pictures of a little over a week ago. They're already in my etsy shop... But the rest is pretty accurate. Now I just have to remember to post pictures of the Arches doily - it's finished, in a frame, & I LOOOOOVVVVEEEE it!!! I'm keeping it for myself buahahahahaaaa :)

So...

No pictures today... Just a post to let ya'll know (all 4 of you:) That I'm still here.
You know I finished MPD, & you know I was planning on adding it to a rather plain purse I got for almost nothing....... But it's still on the blocking board. I've managed to rip the seams out of the inside of the purse, but I just haven't made myself take the time to measure out the center & start sewing it on. I'm seriously burnt out on that doily & just can't stand to look at it right now. But I will finish it eventually! I will!
I'm still making flowers for bobby pins, but I'm pretty burnt out on them too. I still haven't sold one. They've been relegated to the bag in my purse for now, & today I plan on changing that out, too. I did sell a necklace I'd made, but it wasn't online - it was to a woman at a gas station here in town. She bought the one I made for Sister, right off her neck! So now I have to break out the black thread & beads & made Sister another one, just like the old one, only better because I've learned a few tricks since then...Good for her I guess :)
Does anybody have the book "Traditional Tatting Patterns"?? It's edited by Rita Weiss. I've done a couple of things from this book, no problemo. But I got it in my head I wanted to tat "Tatted Trio" on page 36. If you have this book please comment, please I'm begging. Or if you know somebody that's done this doily or if  you even have any advice for me! I picked the large one, because it has 2 star flower things in it instead of just the one. The directions are the same as the small one until you get to the eleventh round - not that I made it that far. I've made it to the 3rd round & the stupid thing just will NOT lay right. I wouldn't call it "cupping", so much as I'd call it a smushed mess! I've adjusted picots, stitch count, tension, number of chains.... I've blocked it, wet & dry, starched it, screamed at it, thrown it away & started over, threw it against the wall (to the detriment of my poor broken tipped sew mate....)
But I just can not get it to lay straight like it should! Help! I really want to make this doily. Really I do. But at this point, the 3 rounds finished are on the blocking board, & I've moved on to something else. Something that's probably just as bad an idea. When Untatter goes down for her nap, I'll be starting YarnPlayer's Arches doily. In some very vintage Star thread, in size 80 varigated purple. I'm not even totally sure where I came up with this thread, but I have 2 1/2 balls of it.... I've never done anything this big in 80.... nothing bigger than justa minor doodle... Wish me luck! And help! :)
Also - if anyone knows how I could come into posession of one of those darling tatting presses that seem to be floating around it would be much appreciated if you'd let me know. My "i want" button has been lighting up alot here lately, & mostly to do with those. I hear there's a pattern to make my own, but if any of you had seen my actual sewing abilities, you would laugh at that suggestion!
Enjoy your day

More Cabone Rings...

Well one more anyway. One of the small ones I use to make earrings. But really I think I like this one as a pendant.... I don't know yet. It's done in Altin Basak, which is odd because I didn't think it'd be stiff enough to hold the rings up on its own. But it is, which is great because I have some colors I love in Altin Basak. It didn't exactly turn out like I wanted because I wanted to attach a pearl to the bottom of the ring with a clover leaf. But I didn't want it done in the one round because I thought it'd be too much with all the other rings going around..... Except now I can't figure out how to get the pearl on there without there being wwwaaayyyy too much on the bottom. Hmmm... Back to the drawing board on that one. But I think I like this one all on its own for now. It's a great pinkinsh lavenderish purple that doesn't show up on (at least my screen) the computer, but I like it. Think I'll try something else this color. I did add the jump ring as I went (in a join) instead of adding it to a picot later. How do you think it looks?

And yes, I'm still using Clover shuttles.... Much as I hate to admit it!
Enjoy your day

Excited! And Feeling Guilty....

First thing - I'm excited because Untatter went to the bathroom in the BIG GIRL POTTY!!! That's right, we just crossed our first potty training milestone!! Woohoo!! Okay... Enough about that... =-D
Now - what am I feeling guilty about?? All this stuff I got in the mail from Fox.... And I only sent her 5 bobbins of thread or so... Look what she sent me!!

 The tin is absolutely adoreable, but I don't know that she'd appreciate her address being posted on my blog so you only get the inside, as her card is on the outside :) Then there's 10 spools of Cebelia, & those cute little beads... So I feel guilty... Hope she'll forgive me! :)
The other thing is the fact that I've been sorely neglecting & under estimating the value of both Clover & SewMate shuttles. Now I'm not going back on how much I love my Boye metal shuttles - I'll always have a soft spot for them. But since I only have 3 made in USA & 1 old one that's huge, I recently decided to put my sew mates in my purse bag. That way if I lost them, it wouldn't just break my heart. Well, I've had some time to work on the edging that's in there a couple of times, & for some reason this particular time I've used them, I just love them. So much that when I got home yesterday, I wound up the clovers I had in my stash. In the past this would have made me miserable. But yesterday, it was like something just clicked. I love them both! Now I do like the sew mates better, because the size is more comfortable for me. But I actually took all the Boyes & bobbins out of my project bag & put my 2 clovers in the bag. I only have 2 clovers & 2 sew mates for now, but still. I don't think ya'll realize what a huge shift this is for me! I do plan on buying a few more sew mates, but probably will stick with just the 2 clovers... For now...

 This is the progress on MPD. I'm not sure why but my computer is showing up that the thread is a little pink. But it's not. It's white Cebelia. Hmm... At any rate, it's coming out alot better this time around. I tried it one time several years ago - actually it was my first real project & didn't get past these medallions. I'd only been tatting around a month & apparently it didn't dawn on me that because I tat left handed, things go counter clockwise. Which means I have to consider that when making joins to the other medallions & go the other way around from normal. But I've got it this time I think. It's amazing what time & education will do isn't it?

This is what I came up with for my friend's press I was supposed to fill. Well I didn't come up with it - I remade if from one I already have. She says she likes it in pink & brown. What do you think? I just realized the date on my camera is off by about 3 years & a few days & I don't know how to fix it.... Have to call my sister on that one......
And now I'm about to take Untatter for our walk. Haven't gotten to the last few days because of rain. Now if my stroller will just dry out.... wish I hadn't left it on the porch......
Enjoy your day