The Pendant How To

Yes

 When we did our tatting pendant projects, we started with Tim Holtz facets.  I really wanted the ones with the indent that you can fill but they weren't available locally.  I debated between the different shapes and the packages of all the same shapes.  The multiple shapes won out.  Purchased at JoAnn Superstore

 I had wanted to try DG3 art gel because I had read such good things about it, but once again neither Diamond Glaze or DG# was available locally so I bought Inkssentials Glossy Accents - supposed to be the exact same as Diamond Glaze.  I found this at Craft Warehouse (a chain in the Pacific Northwest).

 The next step is to find a fun pattern that ends up really small.  I did some bluebirds of happiness.  Teresa made an angel for mom, GirlFarFromHome made a gorgeous and Teresa made a beautiful for herself.  You saw those in Teresa's post.

The rest was trial and error.  Your put the tatting on the back of the pendant shape and put a THIN layer to attach it.  Believe me we used really thick layers and that was NOT the way to go.  Several light layers gave a much better result.

Happy Tatting.

 Teresa - show us how to use this with our tatting!  Please!!!!!

New style Knit-a-Long

If you have ever looked at the blog address you will have noticed that it is ourknitalong.blogspot.  Long ago and far away we started this blog (Teresa - the Mastermind; Mom - THE Mother; and Dena - the crip).  The purpose was to let us knit together and keep up with each others lives.  We live on opposites sides of the country and don't get to get together as often as we wish we could.

Sometimes I go visit Teresa and get to attend Stitches South - and I am hoping that she is going to the Palmetto Tat Days and is going to invite me to visit again.

And sometimes Teresa comes out to my farm (ranch really but don't tell her).  When we are together we knit and so does mom.  Mom taught us and it doesn't get better than that.  Since we can't be together but a few weeks out of a year we spend a lot of time knitting together on Skype.

When Teresa and her girls were out earlier this month, we all went up to White House Yarns and got lots of yarn that was essential.  Mom got some great red yarn for a shawl and also some really nice purple for a shawl.  Teresa volunteered to knit the shawls for mom using the To Eyre shawl since she had just finished one for herself.

I had started a To Eyre shawl using  some Raven Frog Fiber Yarn which I ended up frogging after the first skein was finished.  It wasn't the yarn or the pattern but the combination.  That yarn couldn't do that pattern.  So We found a new pattern for the yarn. (See Teresa's blog post Knitting on the Farm. Look very closely at the second picture - do you see that gold wire?  Did you notice it and realize what it was?)

 This was the start of Teresa's version of a knit-a-long.  The pattern for my shawl required that I be able to count to 7.  Since I only have 5 fingers on a hand, I could not for the life of me get the pattern correct.  I would knit a row or two and have it so messed up that Teresa would take it and fix my mistakes and then knit for a while.  I would get it back, knit for a shorter while and mess it up. 
Apparently in this type of knit-a-long, one person knits and then the next person knits.  This worked well while Teresa was here.

But she went home.  And we knit together over skype.  And we tat together over skype.

Teresa started knitting the red shawl for mom.  And ran out of yarn.  She called me one afternoon to say that the shawl was going to be a knit-a-long but I had to get my own yarn.  My husband was a block from the yarn shop, a quick call to Gail, the owner who looked up what we had bought and gave my husband the yarn to bring home to me.  Teresa got the shawl out in the mail and I waited patiently.  24 hours later Teresa and I get on skype and I am knitting on her shawl.  She supervised my work and I got the shawl done.

Mom looks great in the shawl.  The yarn came in 50 gram balls and I only needed 20 grams.  So I looked at Ravelry for something to do with the extra.  (My part of the knit-a-long).  Three Red Hat Embellishments and a Shawl pin.  
I had about a foot of yarn left over.
Did you see the base of the shawl pin?  The gold wire?  I am on an alcohol free diet so that is as close as I can get.

Tatted Pendants

While I was out in Idaho, visiting, we made these lovely pendants.  Dena had the plastic crystals and the gel that you put on that mimics glass.  Girl Far From Home tatted the lovely flower bit on the left (using a fine thread that Tatting Goddess Gina sent us and a glitter thread) and I tatted the little flower on the right.  Then we laid them on the back of the crystals and poured the gel over them to encase them.  I also made an Angel that we gave to Mom, but I didn't get a picture of it first.  Dena also made some little birds but I forgot to get pics of those as well.  It was a lot of fun to do and makes a nice pendant - but don't try to do a huge, thick coat on the first pass cuz you'll get too many bubbles!

Lovely Anika of Tatting It Up sent me a card with this lovely tatted Celtic heart in it - so cute.  She's such a terrific tatter and a genuinely nice person.

She also tatted this bookmark (it's not crooked in person, that's just bad photography).  Her stitching is so perfect and even and I really love this bookmark!

She included this thread that she dyed herself.  I'm not sure what she named the colorways, but I think the one on the left reminds me of fire and the one on the right reminds me of a desert sunrise.  The one on the right doesn't look as lovely in the photo as it does in person.  When it came in, I immediately wound it into a ball and onto a shuttle and started Mary Konior's Spiral Glass Mat (pics of that later).  It's lovely to tat with and I'm pretty sure it's a smaller size thread than I'm used to tatting but I'm enjoying it! Thank you very much Anika, you are such a talented young lady and I'm so happy to call you friend.

I got a second package from Bree of Bree's Way Blogspot.  Her package was different but also very exciting and so much fun to open.  First she sent the bookmark on the left and the ornament on the right that she made herself.  I love them both, but the ornament is really special because I don't have a clue about cross-stitch.  I'll hang it on my Christmas Tree and remember who sent it to me every year.

Bree also sent enough of these gems for me to share with Dena - which was very thoughtful.  There are two amethysts in this group, one for each of us which is really nice since it's my birthstone and Dena's favorite color.

And lots of little filigree things for dena and I to try tatting on plus some rings and buttons and lots of findings for us to make jewelry out of our tatted motifs.  I've never tried tatting on any of the filigree findings but I've always wanted to try it.  

And beads - again enough for me to share with Dena.  Since we had plans to do some online tat together projects, this will be perfect - we'll have matching beads and bits.  Thanks so much Bree!

Little Yellow Duck

There's a little white duck, sitting in the water
A little white duck, doing what he oughter
He took a bite of a lily pad
Flapped his wings and he said "I'm glad
I'm a little white duck sitting in the water
Quack, Quack, Quack."

There's a little green frog swimming in the water
A little green frog, doing what he oughter
He jumped right off of the lily pad
That the little duck bit and he said "I'm glad
I'm a little green frog swimming in the water
Glug, Glug, Glug."

There's a little black bug floating on the water
A little black bug doing what he oughter
He tickled the frog on the lily pad
That the little duck bit and he said, "I'm glad
I'm a little black bug floating in the water
Bzz, Bzzz, Bzzz."

There's a little red snake playing in the water
A little red snake doing what he oughter
He frightened the duck and the frog so bad
He ate up the bug and he said, "I'm glad
I'm a little red snake playing in the water
Hiss, Hisss, Hisss."

Now there's nobody left sitting in the water
Nobody left doing what they oughter
There's nothing left but the lily pad
The duck and the frog ran away, I'm sad
"Cause there's nobody left sitting in the water,
Boo! Hoo, Hoo...

And Casey likes the little white (ok, yellow handspun) duck!

And so does That Other Girl!

This is the Yarn bowl that I won (that I didn't know I'd even entered the contest for - it was from a knitting magazine) and I'm sending it to Dena if she wants it . . . Do you want it?  It's pretty, but I'm fairly sure that either one of us would break it 

This is one of two lotus flowers that is open right now.  (You can just see the bud for the second under this - it's pink.)  I think this might be the prettiest lotus that I've ever had.  I am going to tag the tuber and sort this one out of this pot and give it a much bigger place to grow next year because I want tons of blooms.

Knitting on the farm

Yes, some knitting and some tatting happened on the farm.  This particular shawl didn't last.  It made it more than halfway (after several attempts) but it just wasn't meant to be.  The yarn didn't suit the pattern and it was being difficult from the get go.  So, after several failed starts, it got ripped back to nothingness.

However, the lovely yarn was reincarnated into a new shawl - it's now almost 1/3 done as the Cedar Wrap by Susan B. Anderson.  It's going to be lovely.  Cannot use this yarn for Girl Far From Home as we have recently discovered that she may be allergic to mohair!  Yikes!

This is the quiviut swallowtail I was knitting for Mom.

I finished it at midnight and Dena and I hurriedly blocked it so Mom could wear it to Red Hats at noon!

(Midnight blocking requires wine - every time.)

One of my models showing it off - it was gorgeous if I do say so myself (and I can cuz I didn't write the pattern).

And Mom modeling her lovely new shawl as she went out the door to her Red Hat luncheon.  She looked lovely!  

To Eyre knit in pure alpaca for myself.  But it looked so good on this model and she liked it so much that I bought yarn to make myself another.  It's a lovely and comfy little shawlette.  I highly recommend this pattern - it's easy to knit and a delight to wear.  Gonna knit a couple of these for Mom too.

Dena's blanket for a boy.  He loved it - as soon as this photo was taken, he spread it out on the grass and had a pizza picnic!

Gramma knitting.  Wine is not optional.

More Crazy Cousins

Um, did he really put a cat on that alpaca's back?

Seriously?

Um, yeah, he did and the alpaca doesn't seem phased by it.

Hmmm, not sure the cat is really excited about riding an alpaca but Cielito is ok as long as she feeds him.

Cat definitely not excited.

Ok, cat is gone, Cielito could care less, he's got a girl with food.

Cousin safety helmet - useful when around crazy cousins.

Came home from Boise to find this in the driveway waiting for a girl.

No problem - found a willing girl.

And off she rides, into the sunset.  (And she didn't come back till after sundown.)

Cards with crazy cousins.  No wine but lots of fruit and cheese.

And the famous infamous sploded can.  Ask the cousins how this happened.  What nitwit puts a loaded gun in a city girl's hands?  Ask the cousins.

Can't keep a good cousin down.

Unless you weigh a lot more than she does . . .  yes, he really did do push ups with her on his back.