More on Little Christmas Tree

I was looking at one of my trees last night and all of a sudden wondered... "why not make the snow with tatting instead of crochet?"

So here is a version with tatted snow.

Little Christmas Tree Pattern

In fact, I think I prefer the tatted snow as it's a little firmer and is perhaps even better at helping give the branches their shape.  I have now amended the pattern and added the information on tatting the snow so if anyone wants to re-download it, you'll now get the most recent version.

Here's trying to give you a better look at the tatted snow.

As I mentioned in the pattern, I used normal lock joins on this version but it would look nice with Catherine Wheel joins too.  Perhaps I'll use them on the next version when I try adding beads for baubles as well.

My forest is growing!

I'll look forward to hearing from anyone who makes the first tree.  Feedback is welcome!

Little Christmas Tree Pattern

Best wishes,

Frivole

Little Christmas Tree Pattern

Well here it is at last!  It's more than 10 years since I first talked about it so hopefully it was worth the wait! Again I'd like to thank the designer, Mrs. Roesti-Holenstein, for generously giving permission for me to share her pattern on my blog. I also want to thank my German friend for being the intermediary and for her help in making this happen. I really felt this one would be enjoyed by many tatters. And now is a perfect time of year to share it too!

Little Christmas Tree Pattern

I've uploaded the pdf on Google Drive and set permission to "everyone with the link"

so I hope it works!  Let me know please.

This is what it looks like, just finished, without the crochet snow.

I think adding the snow really helps give the tree a nicer shape.

It helps spread the "branches" better.

Here is a slightly more top-down view of it.

The pattern (as I have written it) has not been test-tatted by anyone but me so if you make it, please feel free to let me know if you find any mistakes and amendments you think would benefit tatters.  I'm a big fan of patterns made in one pass so I have used split rings and split chains to move from round to round.  If you are not confident with split rings and chains, you can cut and tie for each round (there are 6 rounds).  I have videos that show how to make split rings and chains on my YouTube Channel if you're looking for a bit of help on making them.

On split chains in particular, I know they don't get used all that often in patterns and may seem a bit daunting but they're not that difficult once you've practiced them a bit.  They are a really useful design element to help move from round to round and for that reason, I think they're great!

To finish, I'm adding this last photo from my original post 

which shows how well the little tree fits on top of a pen!

And of course will also look lovely hanging as a decoration.

I'm thinking of making a series of videos that demonstrate how to make the tree, what do you think? Oh and Lavinia's comment reminded me that I've been meaning to tat the tree with some little red beads in it for baubles, I think that would look great.  I'll try to make it for my next blogpost.

Addition 11.10.24:  Looking at my tree tonight, I wondered why I'd not tried making the "snow" with tatting instead of with crochet?  So I did!  And yes, it looks great and works very well so if you're not a crocheter or simply if you prefer to do it all with tatting, here is what it looks like.  I think I might even prefer it myself to the crochet version.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Great News! - Christmas Tree

I can't believe I'm talking about the "C Word" on a 1st of October but I was eager to share my news and also this will give more time to people who may want to tat this for Christmas.

Several years ago now, I made a blogpost about a lovely Christmas tree pattern designed by Edith Roesti-Holenstein which a friend from Germany had helped me obtain.  I had several comments and enquiries by tatters who wanted to make it but the designer was not online and only sold paper copies locally or by post if I remember correctly.

However, I am delighted to say that after exchanges and with help from my friend as the intermediary, I was given permission to share it here on my blog!  It's taken me a while to get around to tatting it afresh and I thought it was more complex to tat than it actually is.  You do have to cut and tie after some of the rounds but to be honest this is then hidden underneath and you could just knot and cut the ends if you wished instead of sewing them in.  However, I'm trying to see if there is a way of making it in one pass which would always be my preference!  The "snow" is added afterward with crochet.

Quick update:  I've been working on this tonight and it IS doable in one pass, with the use of split rings and split chains.  I often use split rings but split chains a lot less often so this will be a good opportunity to practice them!

I will try my best to get the pattern together as soon as possible and make a new blogpost about it when it's ready.  So keep checking back if you'd like to tat the little tree!

The tree in the background is the one I made many years ago and the one in the foreground is the one I just made.

The other thing I need to figure out is how to share the pattern as I've had many problems with Google Docs over the years and people telling me they can't access my patterns there.  If anyone has good suggestions on how best to do that, I'd be grateful.  I'll see if I can just post the pattern straight here into a blogpost.

To be continued...

Best wishes,

Frivole

Tatted Flowers & Lavender

Oh I can barely believe we're already in September!  My last post was back in July, I'm really neglecting my blog.  It was a wonderful busy summer filled with travel, sunshine and happy family reunions.  How was yours?

I found this tatted double flower motif by Jan Stawasz (from his second book "Tatted Treasures") while I was tidying. What does one do with such pretties?  I have a box full of them and am really not sure how to use them.  Maybe decorate an Alice band for my niece?

While on holiday, I picked some wonderful fresh lavender and decided to make "lavender bottles". They are such a nice way to preserve lavender and the fragrance lasts for years.  They eventually dry up but if you press them a bit between your fingers the fragrance is released anew.  Great to keep in your clothes drawers.

I tried different materials to weave them with but in the end, the nicest is probably very thin ribbon as in the ones below.  I think they make the pretties diamond pattern.  The very dark purple doesn't come out very well in the photo unfortunately.

I hope you all had a lovely summer too.  After fresher rainy weather recently, we're back to sunshine and warmer temperatures this week so I'm making the most of it.  I love autumn too but always feel a little sad when summer comes to an end.

Best wishes,

Frivole

One More Pair

I just didn't have the right earrings for today's dress... so had to make some!  Following on from the previous post, here is another lovely beaded earring pattern.  It is a free pattern from the Blog "Linda's Crafty Inspirations" and they are her Peyote Fan Earrings.  She has many free patterns on her blog so if you like beading, I'd recommend checking her blog out.

I love tatted earrings of course but I'm also a big fan of beaded earrings and always enjoy making them.  Do you have a go-to beaded earring pattern?

Summer is finally here today after a lot of cool rainy weather here in the UK so I'm making the most of the  welcome sunshine!  

Best wishes,

Frivole

Beading & Large Lace

Oh dear, where does the time go??  I can't believe I hadn't posted since Easter!  Maybe it's because I've done very little tatting lately (standard size tatting) although I'm currently working on another large lace lamp.

In the meantime, a little beading interlude... I always enjoy making earrings and when I last visited my local bead shop, I found a few kits I fancied having a go at, also because I had some birthday gifts to make and I always like making earrings as gifts.

So here are four pairs I made, different models, different colours.  

Summer has been slow to arrive but I hope you are enjoying some sunshine and happy days wherever you are!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Easter Egg

I unfortunately ran out of time to complete the second egg as I ended up having an impromptu invitation to go away for the weekend but I managed to decorate one of them!

Happy Easter!

Wishing you all a lovely time with family and friends this holiday weekend.

 Best wishes,

Frivole