Thursday 14 September 2017

Giant Tatting, Miniature Knitting and More Socks

Just been having a bit of fun with a few things lately.  A friend of mine showed me some amazing miniature sweaters so I gave tiny knitting a try with some pins and tatting cotton.  It's not difficult to knit in that size really, the only thing that's difficult is finding a way of holding on to the needles!  What you'd need is a needle that is fine but much longer so you could grasp it.  After that I saw some big tatting somewhere and went on the search for a set of japanese crochet-tatting needles I'd got a few years ago and which were gathering dust in a drawer.

I added the tatting shuttle in there to give you an idea of scale.  As you can see my cro-tatting skills are still leaving much to be desired!



Blowing the next image up so you can see how small the knitting is!



I'm still finding it really hard to make a neat job of needle tatting though not doubt it's just a matter of practice.  I kind of like the idea of oversized tatting though and I think (if I can get my technique up to scratch) it could be nice to make a bold necklace in a thicker yarn.  I might give it another try.  

And then I also have more socks on my needles which will be gifts.  A pair of fun, extremely fluffy ones with cookie monster eyes for a young person:


And another pair in my current favourite sock yarn (Cascade Heritage) with nice fine cabling, a pattern by Wendy Johnson.



That's it for now.  Tonight I'm working on the green doily.  I'm over a third of the way around the last round so just more of what you've already seen.  That's the problem with big projects isn't it.  You feel like you don't have anything new to show for a while.


Autumn is definitely in the air already.  It's been cool, wet and windy!

Best wishes,
Frivole

7 comments:

  1. Really neat projects!!! :)
    I love the Cookie Monster socks!!!!! :)
    The other socks and your doily look wonderful!! :)

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  2. Wonderful juxtaposition! I love both the miniature knitting ( oh, my old eyes) and that gorgeous giant tatting!
    And your socks-such luxury, makes me want to knit!

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  3. Oh, I've wondered how that tiny knitting was done. I think oversized tatting is definitely worth persisting with. Lot of potential.

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  4. Lovely projects! I've not tried cro-tat, although I believe I had a book at one time. Your tiny knitting reminds me of a home ec project I did in junior high. My mom knit a tiny swatch, made a pair of tiny knitting needles out of tooth picks, and glued it to the blue construction paper cover. That was more than 50 years ago, but I can still picture it!

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  5. Oh wow, what a contrast of sizes! Great photos! I'm curious about what yarn was used for the giant tatting.

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    1. Hi Marilee, it's a cotton yarn which is a bit thicker than DK weight. I used a 5mm crochet hook to tat it. The problem is, as you may be able to see, that the strands are quite loose in that yarn and it's easy for your crochet hook to catch on the way out. I've tried again with a smoother wool yarn and it worked a lot better. I'll show that in my next blogpost.

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  6. I am fascinated by that small knitting and have seen them inserted into clear Christmas bulbs at craft fairs. I bet you can do a cable stitch too, so very clever.

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