Craftree Forum Tree > InTatters Forums for Shuttle and Needle Tatting > Pattern Notes and Help > Lost in Translation - Julia E. Sanders errata
Thread created on 1339510110 by wodentoad.
Status: Open thread, open to all.
OOPs... Not a good sign... I've been working on my neighbor's machine. She can't get the "clutch" to work properly -- it keeps spinning the bobbin rewind-- instead of driving the needle up and down.. She also had to do hand stitching.._. gave up and paid to have the BLACK skirt taken in.
Not sure why I didn't get notice of the reply. Anyway, I'm listening to some soft cello music while the boys are camping and working on the LONG chains again. I'm in the70s of the third chain now... fourth? I don't even know anymore! At least I have left evidence and stitch counts for when I get back to those crazy corners on the next row.
Best thing I've done for myself at this point is to make little flags that I can loop around the joins to trim down the number of recounts I have to do. Now all I have to worry about is each set of ten and the last set of eight. I did manage to dip both my shuttle and a section of the latest long row into my coffee today, but it seems alright, and the whole thing will need a wash eventually anyway.
Even now, I've been contemplating my next huge project. I'm thinking a large rectangular something that I could conceivably hang as curtains at my mother's house, or possibly another large round doily. I saw one that would look lovely as a tree skirt in one of my books. I also have this roll of white 10 that's as big as my head and is begging to be used for something grand, and it has two little sisters in ecru and a girly variegated. My next little projects on the docket are the seven round handkerchief edging and the beaded bag from later in the priscilla book. I'm thinking of doing it in black, since I have the black beads.
That being said, though, I have to focus. There's a long way to go, and I still need to type up the pattern and curate the pictures from Lacy's amazing journey. And I need to make a friend in the Quad Cities to go and visit a friend of mine.
in reply to wodentoad's post:
Wow... I am so amazed at your stamina! 
The sheer scope of the project is amazing. Patience must be your long suit.
Persistence is key!!!
As I often tell people who tell me they don't have the patience for handcrafts, I do it because I hate sitting still. I still can't stand staring at my phone, and handcrafts are a great way for a shy person like me to break the ice with strangers. It's not persistence so much as boredom and a love of large things.
in reply to wodentoad's post:
Ditto, Erin. When people exclaim at the patience I must have, I just laugh. Patient I am not, nor ever have been.
Listening to music helped calm my inner beast when I was learning to tat. Again, the lack of patience plagued me. I'd never before met a craft I couldn't learn from a book and master beginning techniques in two or three hours, so I was ready to hurl my spanking brand new shuttle into walls, the garbage disposal, the toilet -- things like that. But a whole bunch of classical music softly playing in the background helped focus me. Didn't help my fingers one bit, but at least I kept calm till I could get back to work (I worked in a craft store) Monday and ask the teacher there what I was doing wrong.
Love of large projects runs in my blood too. Would you please share your tree skirt doily pattern? I've thought about that before, but getting it around the bottom of the tree has always stymied me. I'd like to make one with the centre hole large enough to slip over the trunk, or one that is unclosed from the centre out, so that it can be fitted around the tree.
You seem to be more organized than I about keeping your place. I like your idea of little flags for that. I've used tiny locking stitch markers from my knitting tools, but gave up on those as they can drag on tatting. (One reason why I also avoid using strivers.) What is your process for making the little flags? I just tie a length of contrasting thread at points where I need to do something special or to help me keep count.
I keep my coffee pushed well back from my working area and am careful to sip my coffee only after putting everything down. But dunking a shuttle or two in hot coffee might help tighten a couple of spreading points. Have to mull that over a bit. Thanks for the tip. 
Here are the last two where I keep them looped over my tiny scissors. They are a tag with a hole punched through and a loop of thread tied through the hole. I loop it around the join like a luggage tag.
Clever! And minimal drag on the tatting. I really like that idea. Thanks for sharing.
in reply to wodentoad's post:
That's great! Must remember it... Basingstoke.
They do say "Insanity is the mother of invention!" And those recounts were driving me crazy!
I should also add that these are made out of notecards because it is a bit heavier. I have also thought about cutting up a milk jug to make even stronger, rounded ones if I have to do a large project like this again.
Back again, having finished a show on Netflix AND having finished loop 4. I am now halfway done with this row.
As noted elsewhere, I do have it written currently through Pg 6 of this forum, aka, the insertion panels between the 200 rings in a Google Doc. I am making a color coded chart for the more complex parts using my photos. The rings and chains have become mindless at this point, but I do keep my reworked version of the two row border in my travel bag, to remind myself of what's next.
I am not working as fast as I would like, but with steady work, I expect the row to be done in late March or April. Only 512 rings and chains to go!
Would you please share your tree skirt doily pattern? I've thought about that before, but getting it around the bottom of the tree has always stymied me. I'd like to make one with the centre hole large enough to slip over the trunk, or one that is unclosed from the centre out, so that it can be fitted around the tree.
I just realized that I'd missed this. This is what I get for reading craftree while the toddler is climbing into my lap every few minutes.
My thoughts on tree skirts are not using a particular doily, but making edits to existing doilies to either leave a hole in the center--which would be enough for me and our 4ft (120cm) artificial tree, or to end circular rows at one point, and then sew or simply layer the doily over a festive solid color cloth. We have a red fuzzy acrylic one that we have used for years. We bought it at a discount shop with a few ornaments, and I've long thought of dressing it up, but my husband likes it unadulterated. Hence why I thought of layering.
in reply to wodentoad's post:
Maybe you could use a doily pattern that was meant to be stitched onto a linen centre - and then just omit the centre? The doily from Priscilla Tatting 2 (the one Frivole called the Victorian Trellis Doily) is one such doily. It's rather small for a Christmas tree, though - unless you use Size 3, perhaps...
I made our tree skirt out of a large piece of red felt the year we got married with the intention that every year I'd tat a new snowflake to sew on it (I'm actually a couple of years short -- it works best if I remember to do a snowflake in, say, July. Things get a bit busy if I wait until December)
in reply to shindeco's post:
That's a really cool tradition. I started a Snowflake exchange every December with my local guild, and I've started hanging the snowflakes I get in my kitchen window - only two so far, but it makes me smile when I see them.
That sounds great! I love traditions like that. I have a tradition for the last five years that I will finish my Tea Cloth each year. 
in reply to wodentoad's post:
That's a GREAT tradition! 
I like @shindeco's tradition, too - actually sounds do-able...
Drive by update! Five of eight loops of rings and chains done. Three left to go!
Yeah!!!!
I just caught up on this entire thread - 6 years worth! Wodentoad, you are simply amazing. I have wanted to work this tea cloth pattern for years, and have worked samples of several of the individual medalion/motifs, but had so much trouble with the pattern errors that I gave it up as a bad job! I worked a couple of other patterns from the same book, and found that I simply could not achieve anything that looked like the photographed samples using the instructions as written for any of them. Your achievement has that much more meaning for me as a result. If you publish the pattern set you have worked out, I will. tat this in size 80 thread in multiple colors and send the result to you once it is finished. That's a promise! Also, I would gladly offer to provide the linen inserts for your cloth. I have quite a bit of it in different weights, as I do historical re-creation costume sewing. Send me a private message for address details if you'd like me to follow up on this for you. I do a nice hand-rolled hem, and would love to see your finished cloth get the quality of insert it deserves!
