Last Post of the Year

Merry Christmas everyone!  Thank you so much for another wonderful year of blogging and sharing with all of you.  Your contributions are invaluable and I so appreciate all your comments.

For a bit of fun, I made a collage of 2015 in tatting. This is not everything by any means but I chose just one photo from each month of the year.

And here is 2015 in "other crafts"

again just one photo from each month

Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

With all my best wishes to all of you as always,
Frivole

I Still Love Squares!

…so when Sophie from "La Navette aux Bijoux" contacted me to ask if I'd test-tat her pattern, I was happy to oblige.  Isn't it nice?  I like the play of chains in this celtic design and how they wind in and out of each other.  She has made even prettier versions with beads but as I am very short on time, I tatted mine without and also to see how the size would work out as I didn't have the thread she recommends in the pattern.  You should go see the beaded versions on her blog, they're beautiful.

Not sure what made me choose two shades of grey… I should have gone for something a bit more cheerful!!  I definitely plan on trying it with beads too…. but when I have my Christmas presents done!

I wish Sophie all the best of success with this lovely design.

As always,
Frivole

And the Random Number Generator Says….

Comment number 43 is Kathy Niklewicz!

Congratulations!

I'm very pleased to be sending you the shuttle.  

The church clock is striking midnight as I write this.  I really wanted to do the draw on Sunday as I'd said and I worried I'd run out of time!  Phew.  Where did the day go??  But we have a winner and thank you to everyone for taking part.

I'm making progress with my GIPs and have now completely finished the owl blanket (eyes, beaks and all) and have also today finished a pair of nice thick hiking socks and started another yesterday.

Going back to the tiny snowflakes of two posts ago, I'm really enjoying them and have made more.  I particularly like this version (the regular rings and chains one) with one Swarovski crystal in the middle.  Looks just great and a perfect tiny snowflake… especially when stiffened with a bit of diluted Sparkle Mod Podge.  The 4mm crystal is just the right size for the snowflake and I do like the extra sparkle too.

Rather sweet, aren't they?

So if you're looking for a really quick little snowflake to make for cards or to decorate gifts, I hope you'll enjoy making this one.  You do have to block it to get the nice snowflake shape:  I pin mine to a little piece of cardboard with a blocking guide on it and leave it on the radiator for a short while.  It doesn't take long really and the result is well worth it in my opinion.

Best wishes,
Frivole

My Gift….

… to you!  Yes, it's that time of year again, time to share joy and happiness with family and friends.  Well, I try to do that all year round but now is a good excuse for a little extra.  I'm having a draw for one of my shuttles.  All you need to do is to leave a comment to be entered.

I've chosen Holly & Wild Rose.   I hope the winner will like it.

I think I will leave it a whole week and hold the draw on Sunday the 13th of December.  

Then I can ship straight away on the following Monday,

hoping the winner will receive it in time for Christmas!

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who visits my blog for your comments throughout the year, I really appreciate it and all that I learn through our interactions.  

I have started decorating the house and playing Christmas carols on the piano (I like to play the first one  on the 1st of December)… I have also made our "Stollen" (a quarkstollen based on a recipe inherited from my mother-in-law who had it from a German friend a long long time ago).  It's a favourite in our family and I always particularly get pleasure in seeing all the lovely ingredients in my huge Mason bowl.. all the fruits and nuts and lemon, and vanilla, and rhum…  Mmmmm!  Smells great even before you bake it.

On a last note, I'm starting to feel rushed now as I have many unfinished GIPs!  (gifts-in-progress).  Some of them are very nearly done but some I am just starting… how many days are there left??

I'm sure I'm not the only one and many of you are in the same boat, furiously knitting, crocheting or tatting away!

Here are some of my GIPs… plus some that are not even started yet!

I hope you are all enjoying your holiday preparations… and don't forget to leave a comment to be entered for the shuttle draw!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Quick Knitting

I don't know why but in spite of all the things I have on my "to-do" list, I suddenly felt the urge to make this chunky jacket.  It's made on 8mm needles so I thought it'd be really quick and keep me warm and cosy as the weather is getting miserable and cold (lots of rain and wind here!).  I started it on Thursday and finished it last night.

The wool is Drops Andes, a wonderfully soft and comfy blend of wool and alpaca.  The colour is a bit brighter than I was expecting but I do like turquoise and wear it often.  It's just a bit bolder than my usual turquoise.

What I really wanted to write about in particular and share with other interested knitters is that I made this in the round first of all (I always work in the round with circular needles wherever possible) BUT the best part is THE SLEEVES!  I tried a new method for the first time:  top down with short row shaping.  It's wonderful. What a revelation.  No sewing, easy and perfect fit.  I'm a total convert and will definitely be knitting more sleeves with that method.  I highly recommend anybody to look this up. Especially with chunky yarn like this where a seam would be bulky, picking up stitches and knitting down from the armhole looks much better.

(Apologies, not great photo from my phone above)

Pattern is Berroco "Nimbus"

(A free pattern)

Sleeve work in progress

Finished sleeve and how perfectly it fits the armhole.

You can't even see where I did the wraps.

It just looks smooth and fits so well.

If anyone's interested, this blogpost by Knittyprofessors

explains how to convert the whole pattern to knit it in the round

and to use the top-down method for the sleeves.

So that's it.  I just felt I had to share my discovery and possibly inspire knitters to try something new.  It's well worth it!  I'm wearing it now and it is wonderfully warm and cosy.  Happy.  :-)

Right, back to shuttles and gift crochet and knitting and tatting!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Tiny Snowflakes

As I mentioned before I wanted a tiny snowflake and here is what I have come up with.  They are a bit fiddly to make due to their small size but I like their shape.  Can you see how I managed to get an hexagon in the centre again?  Just like a real snowflake.  These really benefit from being blocked to stretch the picots at the end and give them their pointy shape (a few pins and a quick puff of steam from your iron - quickly done!).  I placed the shuttle in the photo for size reference.  They are made in size 20 thread.  Two of them have an added metallic filament and two don't.

I won't be making an "official" pattern for those… it's hardly a pattern really… when you want something that tiny, there's not that many stitches you can put in there!  But if you'd like to make some, here is how:

Wind half a metre or so of thread onto a shuttle, do not cut from the ball:

SCMR2-1---1-2 (the first and third picots should be quite small and the middle one longer)

C2

Repeat 5 times.  That's it.  Simple, n'est-ce pas?  You must make sure to pull everything really tight so there is no floppiness and no gaps anywhere. Join the last chain back under the first SCMR.  It helps if you put a paperclip before starting the first chain so you can find a little space to join to.  I've just tied these with a tiny reef knot at the back, I didn't sew ends in.

Using SCMRs instead of rings is what helps make an hexagonal shape in the centre.

After writing this up, I thought about it again and wondered what would it look like with just normal rings and chains… and guess what?  It's nice too!  In fact, using regular rings and chains produces a little star in the centre instead of an hexagon which is also life-like and pretty.  So there.  Incredibly simple if you want to make tiny snowflakes:

R2-1---1-2, rw

C2 (BUT, make it like this:  2nd half, 1 full stitch, 1st half as when tatting FS/BS, this fills the gap under the ring and makes for a neater finish).

This is what it looks like blocked above,

and unblocked below.

You can see how stretching the centre picot

really helps give it a more "snowflaky" appearance.

Don't pull them too much though

or you'll stretch the centre

and the "star" will be less obvious.

I even tried it with a crystal in the middle (centre row right in the photo below).  To conclude, both versions are pretty but I think most people will find the simple rings and chains version easier to make than the SCMR version… though I'm personally partial to the latter because I like the hexagon, and I think perhaps the SCMR version is just a little bit "sturdier".

I hope you'll enjoy making these tiny snowflakes, really quick and easy.

Best wishes,

Frivole

And the Winners are...

Beth, Maria, Happy Dogma, Moopsee and Julie!  I have emails for Julie and Happy Dogma but Beth, Maria and Moopsee, can you please contact me with your emails so I can send you the pattern!

I have also received another Kreinik thread which I can highly recommend:  it's Blending Filament 032 (Pearl).  It looks a bit "golden" on the reel but has a very similar effect when tatted up.

It's Kreinik 032 on the left, Kreinik 5760 in the middle, and DMC 4300 on the right in the photo below.  They all work well to add a lovely subtle sparkle to your snowflakes.

And with all this pattern testing (two snowflakes in quick succession), I've been tatting up a storm!  Which is good because I now have enough snowflakes for my Christmas cards.  I have even more than when I took the photo.  I've also been working on a mini snowflake design - that's the tiny snowflakes you can see in the photo below.  It's not quite there yet but I thought it'd be nice to have a really quick little pattern for when you have just a bit of thread left on your shuttles.

Best wishes,

Frivole