Pattern Winners

Thank you to all of those who took part!  The Random Number Generator said:  13, 9, and 14.

So the winners are Victats, Jane, and Diane.  I'll be sending you the pattern today.  I hope you enjoy making Astrila!

And by the way, I want to thank Holly for her name suggestion for this pattern.  Sometimes I know straight away what I want to call a new pattern... but other times it's difficult!  So I was grateful for the suggestion and liked it.  Like Qanik, it's another word for snow in one of the Inuit languages (from what I was able to gather on internet) and it means "snow sparkling in starlight" - isn't that pretty?

Best wishes,

Frivole

Astrila

This one was a long time coming!  It was the original idea for my 2019 design but somehow I just couldn't get it quite right.  In the end, I finished Calixa first but now Astrila is finally ready (after so many tatted samples, it was a bit mad!).  Sometimes I wonder if some patterns just don't want to get written.

I really wanted it to look as much as possible like the Wilson Bentley photo I had chosen.

And here is the real snowflake photo:

I feel now that managing to publish two new snowflake patterns this year makes up a little for missing out one year and not publishing one for 2018 (though I'm still a bit sad about it).

If you'd like a to win a copy of the pattern, please leave a comment - I'll draw three names on Sunday!

Best wishes,

Frivole

"Organic Earrings"

... that's how my daughter described them!  I learned how to make these earrings from a lady at the last Tatting Day I attended.  They are very simple to make with just one shuttle.  The lady also showed me a different way of adding a bead to the centre of a ring.  I plan to make a new video showing this very soon.

There's not really a pattern for these, it's just a series of rings with a bit of bare thread in between.  I like the more "organic" look so nothing calculated and the rings fall this way and that.

I tried different threads and beads.  One daughter got one pair and the other ended up leaving with three!  The pair above is made with Lizbeth metallic thread.

Then I tried an ecru cotton.  I put rings with beads on one strand and just little flowers on the other.

Then added another two strands to each earring

so they have four dangling strands.

Then my daughter spotted a pair I had not finished and she said she like it with just one strand but a longer one.  So I made one more pair in Lizbeth size 20 (Charcoal colour way) and pale green Swarovskis.  She decided those were her favourites... but she liked all versions!

They move nicely when worn and have a lovely sparkle when using Swarovski bicones (or multi-faceted beads).  Of course they're also incredibly lightweight and comfortable to wear.  I'm off to make myself a pair! 

Addendum 16.04.21:  I have just seen a comment (my notifications were not working for a while so I did not always see all comments on my posts) from a lady who was showing how to make these earrings on her blog in June 2019, perhaps that's where the lady who showed me had seen them?  I do not know but they are certainly not my idea so here is the link to the lady's blogpost about these earrings:  https://agaszowopapierkowo.blogspot.com/2019/06/kurs-na-kolczyki-gronkowe-i-gotowe.html

Best wishes,

Frivole

Two More Pairs

I couldn't leave them alone, I had to make more after the first pair.  So one more for me in my favourite turquoise, and a pair for my daughter in forest green (her own colour suggestion).

I had to adjust the colour of the photo a little bit as the green (Lizbeth Evergreen) was so dark as to look not very green at all!

I used real freshwater pearls for the turquoise pair and black pearl glass beads for the green ones.

Yes, a lovely pattern.

Best wishes,
Frivole

Corina's Earrings

I'm a bit late to the party... as this pattern was apparently published 5 years ago?  Or maybe even before?  However, I have just discovered these earrings and thought how pretty they look.  So I made myself a pair.

A really lovely pattern by Corina Meyfeldt which can be found here.

This pattern is made with just one shuttle and is all rings.  Clever.  I made three-bead picots instead of one bead as in the pattern.  And I scaled mine down a bit (my rings have fewer stitches than the ones in the pattern).

I was wearing a check dress today and needed some earrings to match.  These are perfect.

I can see these pretty earrings are all over internet so I'm sure many of you have made them already... but if you haven't, I highly recommend the pattern.

Best wishes,

Frivole

More Earrings and Giant Tatting

As part of my university work, I've been exploring ways to make really big tatting... and also ways to use recycled/green materials.  One thing I tried is making my own yarn from old t-shirts which I then used to tat.

I ended up using two wood skewers taped together to make myself a big enough tatting needle for the yellow t-shirt yarn.

The red t-shirt yarn was even bigger!  For that one, I asked my son (who's very good with a whittling knife) to make me a really large needle.  

But really I'd like to find a way of making giant tatting with some kind of shuttle rather than a needle.    I'm putting some thought into that.

It's rather strange working on that scale... it doesn't really feel like lace-making anymore.  Still, it was an interesting experiment.  I have more ideas I need to explore.  In the photo below, you can just about see the tiny Mirabelle in its "normal" Lizbeth 20 size, next to the yellow one... just to give you an idea of scale.

I've also been making more tatted flower earrings.  I find variegated threads look pretty and very effective for flower earrings.

The day at Snowshill Manor was enjoyable (it's a beautiful property and gardens):  there were many visitors and I got to chat to a lot of people.  It would be lovely to think I may have inspired any new would-be tatters!  I now have plenty of earrings and snowflakes left over that will go into my Etsy shop.

Best wishes,

Frivole