Shuttles for Joy and Hope

Hearts of Hope by Anne Bruvold

I have tatted a shuttle full of these. My first intention was to tat one for each of the victims. But, as I filled the shuttle, I couldn’t help thinking about those left to survive or punish. My Hope is that this does not define their life. I Hope they continue to live seeking out life experiences.

I’ve filled the shuttle a second time as I’ve given almost the entire first batch away. People ask for one to remind them to take action. I purposely used a different shuttle for this batch. I want my shuttles to bring Joy and Hope, not be items of Remembrance.

Swimming, swimming, swimming

It’s finished. Jane’s TIAS 2018. Pretty little thing. Easy to tat up, a mystery until the last, and just plain fun. Doing these tat-along projects keeps shuttles in my hand. I tend to want to rest after the flurry of snowflakes that seem to fall off the shuttles every December. Thank you Jane and Renulek for putting your designs out there for us to discover and join in the fun. I’m still working on Wiosna 2017 adding beads to the pattern. I’m playing with color in a big contrasting way. We’ll see if the end result is something to be held up as an example of what not to do when confronted with colorful thread and crazy beads.

I’m also considering starting a smaller doily. It’s only 2 rounds. I found it in the Handy Hands Winter 2018 Newsletter. Barb reprinted a Coats 1941 booklet. The unnamed designer, perhaps another musician who tatted away listening to others play, named the pattern Sonata. I’d like to use one color thread and several colors beads. We’ll see how that works out.

Something Old, something New, something Blue.....

I completed a few things lately:

The square for the Brussels monument

There are 4 of them because I practiced Direct Chain tatting using up thread and then tried both size 30 and size 20. The smallest one turned out fine although I couldn’t tell you what I’d done to make it come out looking OK. By the time I tatted the largest one in size 20 thread, I wasn’t paying close attention and had to start over twice as I’d forgotten to join, or Reverse Work, or all three! The thread is Cebelia. Too soft for my taste, but it was the only size 20 pink I could lay my hands on.

That’s because I was packing for the workshop last Monday. It went well. I covered both needle and shuttle technique for DS. The group caught on fast. Perhaps because they all stitch and are comfortable with needle, thread, and were ready to have fun with knots. I look forward to coaching them. Perhaps we’ll even see some more tatting at the Fair.

I also complete the next section of Jane’s TIAS:

Since I’m on a roll, I plan to spend more time today and tomorrow finishing up projects. This coming weekend, I’m taking the Rigid Heddle Class that the Craft Guild is sponsoring. I’ll be working with wool. It’ll be a long 2 days, but I should have a cool scarf by the end.

Do not flip..........

Still prepping for the workshop. I’m down to winding sample bobbins of thread. I find that’s the best way to give folks a good length of thread to use as they learn the DS. Should finish tomorrow. It’ll be nice not to be up late the night before teaching stuffing the kits!

I took a break yesterday to master a technique that has been intriguing me now for years: Tatting without the flip. Some have been calling this Direct tatting. This is simply NOT flipping the DS as in the second half of a split ring. It intrigued me because it allows a small section of chain to be tatted as though you switch shuttles without having to cut from the ball, load a shuttle, switch shuttles, forget which shuttle is shuttle 1, waste thread having estimated how much for shuttle 2, and generally easier set up for patterns.

I just couldn’t really execute the technique well. Call it unflippingitis. Yep, I kept flipping. Sigh!

So, when Muskaan related that she used the Direct method for the inner chains on her Brussels squares, I sat myself down and learned how:

These were done with much smaller thread as I wanted to use up what was on the shuttles. I’ll be using some size 30 DMC thread I think. That seems to work out to the correct size.

Oh, and here’s my TIAS:

February in Monterey

Well, Crosby weather hasn’t hit yet this year.  It’s been so wonderfully warm and sunny that the roses are very confused. We decided we needed to push the annual pruning up a few weeks. Glad we did. It would be nice to get one more day or so of gentle rain. It’s just so dry. And you know how they say, “Never say never.” Do to that and the other normal homeowner chores we do, there hasn’t been much time with the shuttles. Just Jane’s TIAS.

Day 9

I think we may be tatting someone from the sea. But then again, that just may be my choice of thread.

I’ve almost got everything prepared for the Workshop next week in Salinas. I asked that they cap registration at 20. It’ll be a fun day. Hope your weather is cooperating to make a fun Spring possible for you!

The game is on

Here’s my version of Day 2: 

And Day 3:

I have also added to my design sketch book. I attended a lovely chamber concert last weekend in Carmel Valley. The musicianship was superb, the room pleasant, and the selections enjoyable. Being chamber music, the venue felt quite intimate. I could almost hear the rustle of silk and smell a bit of powder or snuff on the air. Almost. I really have very little desire to relive that era. I’m very happy living today in this age. There’s much wrong with the world, and much right.

One of the selections was Terzetto by Gustav Holst. The piece is in 2 short movements scored for flute, oboe, and viola. Written later in Holst’s career, the piece was interesting and well executed. Through spoken “Conductor’s Notes” given before the concert by the Artistic Director of Ensemble Monterey, John Anderson, and also through written program notes, we learned that the score of this piece is written using 3 different key signatures. Each of the instruments plays in a different key. Sure enough, I could hear the difference. I could also recognize when the instruments ended up playing a chord in one or another of the keys. It made for some rather nerdy listening. The true artistry of the composition is how the music sounds positively melodious.

I immediately dreamed up a tatted motif. Each instrumental line would be in a color assigned to represent that instruments tonal character. Mostly chains, the thread will weave in and out creating a design. Even the negative space will play a part. Just as my ear filled in the missing pitches to recognize tonality, my eye must fill in the holes to recognize shapes. 

There are a few projects I must finish before I work on this. Whenever I have trouble motivating myself to finish a project, I’ll just need to look at this sketch!

Jane's TIAS 2018 has begun!

And the snowman isn’t finished. But that’s not a bad thing. I caught an error that couldn’t be improvised around. So, another start. And there were a few distractions. Nothing dangerous and mostly fun, just took time.

Here’s my version of Day 1 TIAS 2018

Jane's TIAS 2018 Day 1