Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Sock It To 'Em.....

There have been a lot of gifts for little girls lately:




It is lucky that I lurk around the dollar store and buy up all those one dollar batches of beads; there is always lots of choice!



Really, it is outrageous that I have such a collection, for I can never use all these up! (But it is nice to HAVE them, I must admit!)

The last item on my list of blogging bits today is a brag. Right - a big boast! Here it comes:


I HAVE CONQUERED THE TWISTED PICOT!

It is official. I studied the books, sat for hours doing one little motif after another and here is the result.

The first one represents the end of the process. The second one - well, you can see that little twist just sitting there daring me to try to banish it from my repertoire of tatting tricks! Well, I have.

Funny. This was so difficult for me to learn. I kept thinking I had it down pat and then another twisted picot would appear suddenly in the finished work.

What was most helpful were the line drawings in Tatting, by Cathy Bryant. I forget where I saw this book on one of the blogs, but I was so impressed with the discussion that I mailed away for it. I am so pleased that I did, for it is a super tatting reference - especially for beginners.

There is another item - I almost forgot: Gina had mentioned something about how much thread she uses to wrap around her hand when tatting a ring - that got me thinking. Here is the amount of space I need:



Does it differ from yours all that much? I'll bet there is a whole continuum of thread lengths out there around your ring-tatting hands!

Anon,

11 comments:

  1. Congratulations on conquering the twisted picot! The socks are adorable... I'm sure my granddaughters would love to have some. The dollar store, eh? I never thought to check there!

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  2. You have beads in your dollar stores? I must be looking in the wrong ones. LOL!

    Thread - I think I was talking about how much thread I wound on the shuttle to make the number of rings in the motif. I hate it when I have a yard or less left on the shuttle after tatting something - especially when it is something I've tatted over and over. It's usually not enough to start a new one without attaching a new thread and hiding ends so I take it off (now wasted unless I tat it off) and wind a new thread on.
    :-)

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  3. Diane, I'm sure they would! WHo wouldn't? Yes, the dollar store - check it out. They do not have fancy beads, but I can get lots of colours in plain, size 11(?) beads.
    Bargoon!

    Gina, My apologies! Perhaps it was not your blog I saw that on. I just checked and I cannot find the picture of the hand with the thread wrapped around it..... I thought it was your blog! So much for my great memory! : ))

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  4. Yay! Congrats on your accomplishment! ...the amount of thread you wrap around your hand looks to be about the same as mine.

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  5. Very cool that you figured out the twisted picot. That is one that I had to figure out on my own, LOL! I didn't have the luxury of the internet to learn new techniques or see which books to get! It's so wonderful to not only be able to share the new techniques, but also our conquering of them! Good job! :)

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  6. you think you had a hard time learning the twisted picot! After many years of tatting I forgot the trick! I had to relearn it! lol!

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  7. I am just getting back to tatting but I only use enough to let the shuttle go through easily. My large shuttle I use with heavier thread takes more thread around my fingers but not too much.

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  8. Thanks, Sherry! Nice to know ai am not out there on a limb all alone on this measuring thing!

    TattingChic, I am SOOOOO lucky to have so much there, available at all times. I do not take this for granted and appreciate every second online with other tatters and also when I look at the not-so-little library I have lovingly built in a year! Lucky moi! : )) xxooxx

    victats - that is horrible! I know the feeling, but I have only been at this for eleven months. Good grief! I hope that forgetting mode doesn't remain with me!!! LOL! : ))

    Hi, Trudy, I find those large shuttles confusing. I never seem to know how much to wind on them and I inevitably put on too much!
    Fox : )

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  9. And there must be a lot of lucky little girls wearing these.
    What an awesome collection of beads.

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  10. Susanne, Three little girls have been the lucky recipients of the beaded socks!
    So far! I love doing them p AND they stand up to the washing machine!
    The dollar store beads ROCK!

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  11. I have been connecting those flowers and my blog and did give instructions on how to make them but conveniently left out the twisted picot thing :) funny you bring it up here :) love the socks and I love to make my ring thread on the hand (at first start) a tad larger so I can tat half way round the ring before having to stop to add thread to it. That bring up another point of why I like small thread 80 to 100 because you have less stopping and opening up your hand to add thread.

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