Thankfulness

I would like to express my thankfulness for the tatting community.  I have "met" many lovely people through my love of tatting and I really appreciate it.  I occasionally receive wonderful little surprise packages in the post from generous and thoughtful people.  These are not always specifically mentioned on my blog but I want to say here how much I feel privileged to be the recipient of these kind gifts.

A while ago, I received one such package and meant to write about it but I'm only finally getting around to it.  It contained a very useful tatting (or needlework in general) tool which I've not seen mentioned elsewhere before.  When Jane started her TIAS, she stated the amount of thread needed on the shuttles (in yards) so out came my wonderful gadget which I finally share with you here:

It's a thread counter.  You put your thread in the slot and pull the little lever down to hold it agains the wheel (which is inside and which you can't see!) and as you pull the thread off the ball, the little counter measures the yards.  Clever, isn't it?  It will be particularly useful when I next make a beaded shuttle bag where you have to measure quite a lot of thread for all the beads.

There were other things in this great package too but the other one I will show you is a Starlit shuttle which I hadn't tried before.  Last time I made beaded shuttle bags, I used a Tatsy - even made a video of it - which is really quite large, larger than necessary.  The Starlit will be wonderful being a size in between a Tatsy and an Aero as you can see in the picture below.  Of course, straight away I had to add hooks to mine.  I chopped that long, scary nose, and gave it a hook instead.  I'm ready to go!

I hope the sender sees this post and knows how much I appreciate her gifts.

Tatsy on top, Starlit, and Aero

Talking with other tatters is also a great way to find out about new suppliers or supplies you hadn't heard of before.  One of my reader from the UK showed me a motif she was working on and I told her I liked the thread she had used and what was it?  It was a pale blue and yellow thread.

It turns out it is a thread I can buy here in the UK.  It is made by Coats, and is called Puppets Eldorado (strange name).  It comes in many sizes and the one I'm showing you here is a size 16 (the smallest they had).  I find it's quite similar to a size 20 Lizbeth really.  Softer though but still nice to work with.

Thank you F. (never know if people want their name mentioned online or not) for pointing those out to me.

Top is Anchor Freccia, and bottom two are Puppets Eldorado.

The top one is another I found on the same website and is by Anchor, it is called Freccia and is a size 12.  Here is where I got mine from:  Purplelinda Crafts.

Now if you like the firm twist of Lizbeth, you will find these softer and with less body but they are an alternative, come in a range of colours and are less expensive than Lizbeth (here in the UK anyway).  Lizbeth will always remain my favourite for best-defined knots and sharp tatting.... but then again, there is also DMC Babylo which is really growing on me for larger projects (that's the one I'm using on the Victorian Trellis doily).  I might as well give you the link for the DMC Babylo too for the UK readers who are looking for suppliers.  The shop is called SewandSo.  Babylo comes in 50g balls and in sizes 10, 20, and 30.

And finally, I've been taking photos and writing out the pattern for the first row of the trellis doily for those who are interested.  That will be in the next post.

Best wishes,

Frivole