Ulla's square

 This was a difficult pattern, indeed! My first attempt came to a rapid end when I realised I had gone backwards and could go no further.

This second attempt I did manage to go all the way round, but the centre is a right mess! I definately need to try again, with a clearer thought about how to do the middle. I am grateful to Fox and Tatting Fool, who had already gone before, because it reassured me to see that I wasn't the only tatter to get into difficulty with this pattern. The scanner is the one at work, and I have a few problems with that, too.

Extreme Tatting

Once I had received my goodies I was keen to finish this square from the Iris Niebach book and start trying out the new threads and shuttles.

So I tatted this despite loads of interruptions and distractions; from the dogs, who are both on heat, and Raphaël who is on holiday and therefore rather more demanding than usual, the cats, one of whom has tummy trouble, plus various visitors and phone calls. I am amazed, it's not top quality but I don't think I've actually made a mistake, and goodness knows it's quite a complex pattern.

Some more things

I have managed to complete Beatrice after some invaluable help from Sherry, who found a spare length of "Peach Pandeora" thread. Here it is, but I am having trouble with my scanner, and the first scan made a file too big to transfer.

I then wanted to try the silk thread, "Royalty", so I made Judith, again following one I had seen on Diane's page.

Finally, this motif, from Blomqvist and Persson's book, is not made in Rainbow Bright! The trouble with HDT is that it comes in finite quantities, and so I have become rather careful, not wanting to waste it. This thread is an ordinary machine embroidery thread from Gutermann, and the colours are not so bright, or so well blended. Still I wanted to see how it would look in this classic motif. It is very small, I am guessing the thread to be approx size 100, and when I miscounted it was nearly impossible to undo, so I didn't bother!

Latest work

I haven't been posting, because it's difficult to scan on my computer and I have to use the one belonging to the man I live with. He doesn't mind that much, but he often seems to be using it himself.
Anyway, here are a few bits from the previous month.
First, a lilac square from Mary Konior's book.



A little brown square from A Tatter's Workbook.


This was the beginning of a square from Iris' book, but I didn't like the colour of the thread...sort of bilious, I felt, so I gave up.

And then I discovered that the man's eldest son and his girlfriend are expecting a baby, so I decided to have a go at the bootees as shown by Pamela...not knowing what sex the offspring might be I chose black, well, it goes with everything doesn't it? Mmm, I have been getting a lot of "Black is not really suitable for babies" feedback, but as I am bound to make too many mistakes I am carrying on regardless, this will just be a prototype.

You're so square

This is my attempt at one of the squares from Iris Niebach's booklet Tatting Together, Square Motifs. I found it quite challenging, and this is a long way from being right, but I felt it was worth showing. Sometimes, bad tatting is as interesting as good... My excuse is that it was mostly done while on night-duty, which can be a jelly brain time. (Dealing with drunken phone calls at 2 am can be a bit distracting to the real business in hand!)

Music from Buddy Holly!