Distracted by String

I’ve been very lax in posting as I’ve been obsessively busy making things. I thought I had calmed down enough to spend a bit of arts and crafts time writing about arts and crafts but aparently not. So here’s what I’ve been making!

A hideous pair of socks!

Mister has one foot slightly larger than the other from an old injury so I thought it would be nice to make him a pair of socks that fit both feet. Maybe with a couple more tries they could be wearable. 

A brioche scarf!

A gift for my father who will probably think it’s too shapey but, hopefully, will enjoy the squishyness. 

A slightly less hideous pair of socks!

More practise still required. And a new bind off. 

A lace cowl!

Turns out I can’t work a lace piece and a brioche piece at the same time, my fingers get confused as to what they’re supposed to be doing with yarn-overs. My own fault, I suppose, for trying to do everything at once!

A necklace!

The piece-de-resistance and four weeks solid effort. Some happy tatting, but a lot of un-tatting and frustration. Many times did I happily finish a section, put it on and be horribly disappointed with the way it puckered, gaped or cupped. Even after three attempts at trial runs.
All positive credit to Marilee Rockley, whose beautiful work hand-dyeing thread inspired me to attempt it myself and acutually get the colours I needed, and for her beautiful Beguile design on which this piece is based. It is only my inexpert additions and fuddling about that caused my issues. 

I take my hat off to all of the designers out there, your efforts are amazing and it will be a long time before I attempt any such thing again!

This piece was made with Lizbeth 10  thread in what was originally Bright Dark Turquoise #663 and Turquiose Twist #142. However, I dyed over it with some half-strength Dylon Tropical Green to make a more greeny shade of teal to suit my Nan, to whom I gave it as a birthday gift. 

Mirror Vision

Marilee Rockley is amazing. I’m loving making her Vision necklace, which is available as a PDF from her awesome blog. It’s the perfect pattern for those of us tatting backwards, because it’s already a mirror of itself!

When working left-handed, just follow the pattern as it’s written and you make the right hand side of the necklace first. Then just follow the instructions to mirror it. As there’s only one ring cluster, and the first thing Marilee does is tell us how to deal with it, all you need to do is keep an eye on which side you’re working. Which is also super simple as the first thing you make is a huge ring of picots. It feels a bit big and a bit technical, but it’s so beautifully constructed, it just comes together.

I’ve put to use a few beading tips I’ve seen since I swore off the bloody things a couple of months back, and it makes such a huge difference. Paperclips and floss threaders. My gushing rant became too long and I need to take some photos so I'll leave you with that inspiration and make another dedicated post soon.

I’m already shopping for new yarn and beads to work this necklace up properly. It's so pretty and so much fun to make!

This test piece #2 pictured is worked in Milford Perle 10 in Periwinkle with 6mm large bead, squashed 4mm medium beads and size 12 seed beads.. The last rick-rack chain is missing because I ran out of thread on my shuttle and barely made it through the preceding split rings!