I have been knitting, at least a little. It's been hard to find time for it with all the tatting that I've been playing with. These are the baby gifts I'm making. I'm making two of the penguins which is why you see the extra little pieces on the right hand side. This penguin still needs wings or flippers and the second penguin needs a body. It's going to be darn cute tho. I tested the white and it does felt, not as well as the black, so the stitches still show but the sizing will be the same for both. The Hedgehog is the same as all the others I've made before it - and I am going to have to make several more after I finish these baby gifts (2 penguins and a hedgehog).
Of course there has been a goodly amount of tatting going on around here too. This is the ring I tatted on after Dena posted that lovely video showing how to tat around a cabone ring. I used Lizbeth size 10 in Sea Shells and just sort of copied an item that Krystledawne has in her Etsy shop because I couldn't figure out the pattern I really wanted to make. (Thanks Krystledawne!) My piece is not an exact replica of hers because I was just trying to see if I could do this - and I could. I should have made the little rings bigger than they are, but I didn't know that until they were started so I made the joining picots very large and added an extra ring so that it wouldn't cup. So, it's not a perfect piece, but I learned a lot doing it.
And this is my brand new The Shuttle Shop dragon shuttle. I think it's just gorgeous and I love wooden shuttles because they are so nice to hold. This looks delicate with the openwork design, but it's not - it's nice and sturdy. I haven't used it yet because I've been playing with bits and pieces. Miss S says I have to use it to tat a dragon, but I don't think I'm there yet . . . too many things I don't know how to do. Soon, I hope.
And some teenage tatting for your viewing pleasure. This is the Jack & Jill edging from Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns. It's the second edging the girl decided to make. She made the first with size 80 thread just because she wanted to see what it would tat up like.Not only is Miss S tatting furiously, she's now designing and making tatting shuttles. She learned to cast pewter in art class at school last year - you may remember the Mother's Day necklace she made me Here.
Well, she did more casting this year and made me some lovely Spider earings (this was while she was playing Charlotte in Charlotte's Web) to thank me for all the spiders I knit for the show.
Now she's brought the casting home and is doing it here and she decided that she wanted to figure out how to make tatting shuttles. You see that there is one with thread on it and here is a picture of her flat cat shuttle without thread. She's cast it 3 times and improved it each time. She's testing them herself and then I'm testing them for her also. She hopes to make them and offer them for sale in an Etsy shop along with some of her other castings. I have to tell you I love the way the pewter picks up my body heat and becomes warm and comfortable in my hand as I tat. This could be good.
3 comments:
Okay, I am curious. You mentioned in one of the earlier hedgehog posts that you used single versus double strand fun fur so it would felt better. Does your fun fur felt? Or are you stranding it with wool? do you stuff these guys before felting?
What eyes and nose did you use? Where did you get those eyes and noses? Where did you buy the pattern? Is it the Fibertrends pattern?
I ordered the alpaca amigurumi pattern.
That's a lot of questions there sister of mine!
I use a single strand of either Galway or Cascade 220 for the front part and then add a strand of the fun fur to the back for the hairy part. You knit the front first and then pick up stitches around the edges with the wool+fur combo and knit the back in short rows. Fun fur doesn't felt which is why you need the wool.
You leave an opening on the bottom of the hedgehog or the back of the penguin as you knit - you stitch that up with cotton (I use dental floss) while you felt so it won't get felted into a funny shape.
I use plastic safety eyes and noses on mine. I will use those on these three, but not the next three. The grandmothers who have contracted me to make the next three prefer the eyes be embroidered but as I don't like sewing, I will probably needle felt them. I buy the eyes and noses from CR's Crafts - (http://www.crscrafts.com/products/productList.asp?cat=bear+supplies&sub=Eyes&L1=2&L2=6&L3=&L4=&L5=) - because they have a huge array of sizes, shapes, colors etc and they are cheap. Sometimes you can find the eyes and maybe noses at Joann's or Michaels or Hobby Lobby, but never a huge selection. My last CR's Crafts order was about $15 and I now have a HUGE selection of eyes and noses for all occasions - needed them for the senior prank aliens . . .
Oh yeah - both the penguin and the hedgehog are Fiber Trends Patterns and I have one more that a girl has requested I make. I got them at the local yarn shop.
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