Thursday, April 28, 2011

Snivelling Over Stash - Again

#5 Motif Challenge
Pattern by Myra Piper
Thread: Altin Basak  pink and Cébélia beige

Oh, the stash of Cébélia.  I have been complaining about this thread  for about  as long as I have been tatting, though I kind of like the #30, of which I have two balls: white and ecru. 

But the #20 Cébélia  is so... sort of  thickly soft and fuzzy.  However, I have lots of colours. And I admit the balls have diminished quite nicely, but, there is still a lot of it.  I would love to be able to get rid of it all and replace it with my new favourite thread: Altin Basak!

Than you , Margaret,  for reminding me how lovely this thread is.  It is smooth and easy to work with and the saturated colour and the slight shine are very pleasing. I am working on one of your samples now and it is going to be a sweet piece.

Suneeti had sent me some in pink, which is the chain colour in the motif.  The variegated is a  sample from Margaret.

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This pattern looks fairly straightforward, right? Well, not to me! It elicited "alter-English-trucker-talk" throughout the tatting process.

The old dyslexia grabbed on and held tight as I re-tatted my way through this.  But, you will notice, please, the lack of beads or metallic or indeed anything but regular vanilla tatting!

I am practising 'quality' stitching, keeping my promise, and by Jove,  I do see results!. Even after almost shredding whole sections of thread, it still looks pretty good!

Next on the agenda: rout out Georgia's gauges and pretty-up the picots.

**An afterthought:  Oh, ya -  I ran out of thread and had to add some - can you see where?  I think I have perfected the surgeon's knot! : ))

9 comments:

  1. I find Cebelia size 30 better too. I wish there were more colors. I also like the Altin Basak solids. I am not fond of the variegated ones. They just never tatted up very nicely for me except one color that is very bright. The motif looks perfect. I see no evidence of shredding!

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  2. This is very pretty, Fox. I am so glad you are happy with it too. I love the Altin Basak threads too.

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  3. Cebelia 30 has always been my favourite! Be careful, though, of the really dark colours of Altin Basak - sometimes they are not dyed all the way through to the core, and you get little white spots, especially if you have to unpick.
    Do you crochet? - Crochet uses at least three times as much thread as tatting, and with a doily pattern or two, your stash of 20 will vanish.

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  4. What a nice pattern. I have recently picked up Myra Piper's Tatting + have not selected a pattern to try.

    Lovely tatting!

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  5. Thanks for the comments. : )

    Maureen - I used to crochet all the time, till I found tatting two years ago. Now I do nothing but tat! I get too bored with crocheting.

    So, I will have to find a more creative way to diminish that Cébélia stash.
    Fox : )

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  6. Love Cebelia threads as well. I think they tat up a bit better than Liz thread, and they don't tend to be too terribly twisted. AND -- they are easy to dye! ^^

    Your tatting is pretty! I can't find the knot..

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  7. This is a pretty motif. The colors make it very spring like:) I've only tatted with Cebelia 30 and I'm not too crazy about it. It sounds like the larger threads are even worse. I've never tried Altin Basak, but as a rule, I prefer the smaller threads.

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