While Travelling... Crochet Wrist Warmers

I was away visiting my family for a couple of weeks.  While there I saw in a shop a nice (very expensive) sweater made in crochet (with knitted cuffs and collar) and I really liked the stitch.  I took a photo and here is my take on the stitch.  I was just making a small sample which works better in the round because of the two colours and then I thought... this would make a nice pair of wrist warmers!  

Now, I like the look of wrist warmers but does anybody really wear them?

Please tell me if you do!

Best wishes,
Frivole

Pattern Winners

Quick post just to announce the winners of the pattern draw!  There were only 20 comments in the end, so (if my maths are correct) a 1 in 4 chance of winning!  Here are the numbers thrown out by the random generator:  17, 9, 2, 16, and 20.  

And these are     17:  Patti

                            9:   Mama Martin

                            2:   Anonymous

                            16: Anonymous

                            20: Tatterjill

Please could you contact me with your email addresses so I can send you the pattern.  Thank you!

And thank you for taking part!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Holly Snowflake

Thank you so much to my testers, Lavinia, Hallie and Jane who've helped me put the final touches to the pattern by checking that everything was clear and that there weren't too many mistakes!

We had some discussion about what acronym to use for unflipped reverse order stitches... UROS?? I see RODS used on internet but I wasn't completely clear whether for people that was just reverse order stitches or indeed unflipped reverse order stitches?  In the end, I decided to just spell it out to avoid any misunderstanding.

I suppose this one is a bit more unusual in its shape but I think a lot of people would be surprised to see in what an amazing variety of shapes real snowflakes come!  I'm adding the photo of the real snowflake that inspired this design below so you can see it again.

Photo of Real Snowflake
by Wilson Bentley

At Muskaan's suggestion, I tried the pattern with bugle beads (see below) but the silver ones I chose are not that noticeable (should try again with a different colour) but in the end, one of the things I particularly like about this pattern is the two delicate lines made by those long picots so I thought it was a shame to hide them inside a bugle bead.

Below is Lavinia's very nicely executed version in blue.

Something about the way she made the rings makes it look

a bit more... "condensed"?  I like it.

And here is Hallie's version

(I like how they are opposites:  blue on white above

and white on blue below).

Hallie's version looks more rounded

but also very pretty!

And finally, I placed the ones I've made so far together

to see what it would look like as a repeated motif.

Then I digitally repeated it.

It's not perfect done that way because not all the joining places touch as they should

but it gives an idea of the look.

Is anyone interested in tatting this one?  I will have a draw for 5 copies of the pattern.  Just leave a comment if you'd like to be entered in the draw!  I'll hold it on Friday (20th October).

Best wishes,

Frivole

P.S. I started answering comments but realised it will be easier to count entries if I don't answer!  So thank you for all your comments, they are all valued but I won't answer individually in this blogpost.  

P.P.S.  I've had so much spam lately that I've reluctantly decided to activate comment moderation on my blog for a while and see if that helps deter the time-wasting spammers!

New Snowflake for 2023

I actually started working on this snowflake two years ago but then was struck with tendonitis and had to put it aside for a while. I never picked it back up at the time so it didn't get finished or the pattern written properly.  It was still in note form.

When I did my demo (see previous post), this was the first snowflake that I sold and I had only one. So it inspired me to get my notes back out, complete the work, and have it as my 2023 snowflake.

I would like to thank Sue for her suggestion of naming it Holly which I think suits it very well!

Below you can see the photo of the real snowflake

I was working from

(photo taken by Wilson Bentley)

I hesitated as to whether I should join the points or not as they are not joined on the real snowflake but joining them gave the tatted snowflake stability. You can see below a sample I tried where I didn't join the points but it made the snowflake too "floppy". Do you think it looks more like the real snowflake though or not?  If so should I find an alternative where the points are not joined or should I keep with the model above?  Any input would be appreciated!

Just a sample, tatting not uniform
and I've just cut the joins!
The arms are slightly longer on this one.
Is it better or not?

I know I've not been so active on my blog in the last few years and probably not so many people visit anymore but might anyone reading this be interested in test-tatting the pattern?  I just need a couple of people who can try it quite quickly and get back to me with some feedback, it would be most appreciated.

Update 10.10.23:  Thank you so much  for all the offers of help, I'm good for test-tatters now!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Tatting Demo & New Lace Lamp

 I was invited to do a lace demonstration at a National Trust Property called Snowshill Manor this weekend.

Here is some of what I had prepared for the day:

I thought snowflakes in particular

would be most appropriate for a place called "Snowshill"!

And here is my table layout in the manor.  You can see the little lace lamp I made specially for the occasion but also to have a smaller "large lace" item that I could take with me when needed (my chair and large lamp are not that easily transportable).

I enjoyed creating the little lamp and would like to make more.  I'm also thinking it's getting near time to get my new snowflake pattern for 2023 ready!

What's keeping you busy at the moment?

Best wishes,

Frivole

Crochet Bag

My Mother-in-law came to visit a couple of days ago and she had this crochet green bag which I'd forgotten I made for her.  

The stitch still really appeals to me.

I'm going to have a search for the pattern now!

I can't even remember what the stitch was called.

This is when I'm mad at myself for not taking more notes on my projects.

I used an old-fashioned clip-clasp which my Mother-in-law really likes.

Otherwise, I've been busy tatting up snowflakes for a demonstration I'm doing on Saturday and working on a small lamp using my large lace.

What have you been up to?

Best wishes,

Frivole

Mark Myers Pumpkin revisited

Back in 2012, I posted this photo of Mark Myers' pumpkin pattern which I had tatted.  Unfortunately, the link didn't work anymore but a reader kindly gave me a new link from the Wayback Machine which works.  So if you had been looking for this pattern, you can find it here.  I know it's still summer and you're probably not thinking of pumpkins yet but hopefully, you'll be happy to have it come fall.  Mark Myers (aka Tat-Man) has many one shuttle designs and this one is no exception and a creative way of achieving the pumpkin shape.

Thank you Sarah for providing me with the new link!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Hanky Edging Completed

Here it is, the handkerchief with the one-shuttle edging (pattern on my Patterns page).

It's been all wrapped up and given away already.

Best wishes,

Frivole

New Gift Hanky

Someone has a special birthday coming up and she likes pinks so I'm making the one-shuttle edging again (see link on the pattern page).  I didn't have a lot of time and this seemed a reasonably quick pattern to make.  The colour of the hanky is an unusual shade of pink but I found I was able perfectly to match it with Lizbeth's Shell Pink Lt.

I started work with one of my usual favourite shuttles...

but then found that because all the thread is coming from one shuttle only

I was having to refill too often so I opted for the larger Starlit

(I added a hook to mine for efficiency when making joins)

I now hope I'll be able to complete the whole edging without having to refill again.

Back to tatting!  I need to get this finished soon.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Hanky Edging Completed

I finished the green edging for my mother-in-law.  It's simple but effective and the shape appeals to me, like little shells.

I attached it to the fabric edge as I went along.

This meant improvising on the corners depending on where I was at on the

pattern as I got close to the corners.

You can see these two corners are not the same

but it works fine and is not noticeable when you look

at the hanky overall.

The colours are like those of snowdrops that are blooming all around at the moment.

Spring is in the air!...

Best wishes,

Frivole

New Handkerchief

My mother-in-law really likes hankies and always has one in her handbag or her pocket.  It's been too long since I made her a new hanky so as her birthday is coming up, out came my shuttles to tat an edging.  I was going to go for something more complex but in the end the shape of this simple design appealed to me - it's from Ann Orr's Tatting Book No. 35 revised.  I am tatting it straight onto the handkerchief, attaching it as I go.

Best wishes,

Frivole

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (and apologies regarding patterns)

Happy New Year everyone, I do hope you had a wonderful holiday with family and friends and that 2023 is off to a good start!

I want to start my blogging new year with an apology:  over the last few years I've regularly had people contact me to say they were not able to access my free patterns.  I couldn't figure out what the problem was so I sent patterns to people who emailed me directly but...  I had not visited the gmail account linked to this blog for some time and have just found many many emails from readers asking for access to patterns and I didn't know they were there and I didn't answer them!

So MANY apologies to all the people who contacted me via the google docs system to ask for access to patterns and I unwittingly ignored you!  I have now re-uploaded all the links on my patterns page and I'd be grateful if people could test links and tell me if they now work.

Also if you ever need to contact me or still have problems accessing my free patterns, please do so via the "Contact Me" link in the right side bar of this page rather than through the links at google docs.

Again, I'm sorry to all the readers of this blog who didn't receive a response from me regarding patterns, it was really unintentional!  

I do hope it all works now and I would appreciate anyone testing the new patterns links and letting me know!

Very best wishes to all of you,

Frivole