just so tatting

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Over the past few weeks I had been receiving versions of the DAL 2025 challenge and I was feeling very inspired and motivated, itching to design/tat. While I couldn't focus on adding another round for my own DAL version, I picked up a motif I had worked for the glossary and decided to tat around it. My aim was to keep it simple.

For many samples I have been using Anchor knitting cotton size 10. This is very thick but smooth and a bit loosely twisted. Sometimes it is necessary to be attentive while tensioning the stitches to keep them uniform. Nevertheless, I do enjoy tatting with it. The disadvantage is that it is difficult to use such thick pieces in SOUP tatting. So I am happy that this has now become a good size for a coaster (9cms across).

Sharing the pattern for the Just So Coaster if anybody is interested. I was simply winging it but it lays flat.

• It can be worked continuously in one pass by climbing out with mock picots, split chains and split ring. Trace the path before you start. Otherwise, enjoy working as individual rounds and play with colours. 2 shuttles are required only if you wish to tat it in one pass. 
• Count for each round is marked in a different colour.
• It starts with a central ring with long picots, followed by two rounds of chains lock joined below.
• The 3rd round is a scroll with rings and chains. I wanted the smaller rings to overlap a wee bit but they ended up only squished together. Both small rings are joined to the same picot of previous round while the large ring is joined to the hidden picot above the lock join.
• Again a chains-only round with medium sized picots. 

There are pics for individual rounds - WIP and/or completed. However, I doubt they are needed and would take too much time to notate. Hence I hope the inked count along with my notes will suffice. 

• And if working as separate rounds, it is a beginner pattern with only rings, chains, picots, picot joins and lock joins and each round can be worked with a ball and one shuttle, CTM.

I deliberately have picots on the last round in the event I feel like adding one or more rounds. 

Feel free to extend the design to more rounds, if you wish, but do share it with me. All my contact details are on the top right panel of my blog.

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UPDATE (3rd May, 2025): Round 5 is shared here https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2025/05/comfort-tatting.html and end Round 4 with a split chain for continuous tatting. 

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I hadn't intended for the scroll round to be so overwhelmingly ecru. So it lay around for some inspiration. It was a happy coincidence that I bought new threads from a 'new to me' online store. I needed more contrasting colours in this knitting cotton to work on the samplers and as soon as the package was delivered my mind was made up with this maroon shade! 

Since it was my first time with this store, I bought single balls/sets of different types of threads/brands so that I know what to expect in future, except for the six knitting cotton shades. And I am very happy with the quality and service and will definitely be going back for encores ;-D It was nice to see they stocked size 40 threads too, albeit in Red Heart, since Anchor has stopped manufacturing it. The other balls are all Anchor - size 20, perle, etc. More about the 'cone' threads later.

So this is my knitting cotton palette for now. Bottom row are the 4 shades I have had for a very long time (there are at least 6 more balls of ecru, bought from my local shop at least 10+ years back). I have already used all shades in my recent samplers, giving new life, energy, and colours!

Happy Tatting! Thank you for inspiring me!

all tagged and bound

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 I was a good homemaker/tatter this weekend! Continuing with my taming the silk spools idea, I tackled my size 20 stash!

See, all neatly bound and tagged!

There is one drawback to this system. I generally wind leftover thread back on the ball. And sometimes I use these lengths for experimentation, practice, or learning. The paper sleeve keeps them tucked away and hidden now.

The advantage, though, is that the tag is so easy to cut and tape back, especially now that it is all organised.

And this time I wrote down the shade number. I will no longer have to peer inside with a booklight to read the tag inside.

Ruth Perry shared her method - she slits the empty plastic tube from a used ball of thread and inserts a new ball into it - it acts like a broad clasp or bracelet! 

Unlike Lizbeth, these threads are wound over cardboard tubes which I sometimes use for leftover thread. While it will work, I didn't have the numbers required, plus being thicker, they'd take up way more space than the paper sleeves I used.

Since the majority of the balls are of Anchor, I didn't need to write that down, except on the few Red Heart balls.

Here they are, back in their box. I used to stack each ball separately, till the numbers surged and the entire pile would get disturbed when trying to reach a colour at the bottom! So I bagged shades of same colour together, in those potato mesh bags. Now I merely pull out the entire bag of, say, blue/purple, and choose the ball I need. 

This is the largest container that hubby had bought extra knowing my penchant for stocking ;-P A bit of size comparison with the Pony shuttle on top.

I completed this mundane task while watching a movie each on Saturday & Sunday ;-D This really needed to be done since the mercerized cotton tends to unravel unlike perle cottons, and I feel happily satisfied.

for want of a needle

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 a load was bought!

See that little fella on bottom right? Yup, that's the reason this basket is overflowing. But who's complaining?!

My size 24 & 26 tapestry needles were down to 1 or 2. I use these for hiding ends in finer threads and also for beading.

As long as I was ordering the needle set, might as well add a few more items to my basket. This is called efficiency ;-P

All from my trusted online store - Pony Craft, and trusted brands Anchor & Pony. (no affiliation, simply an endorsement from a very satisfied customer for decades). 

Even though some items were 'sold out' or not listed, I enquired and they filled my order splendidly!

The jumble includes pearl crochet cotton size 8, mercerised size 40 & size 20, and knitting cotton size 10. So far I had knitting cotton only in cream which I used for tutorials. The contrast colourways I used were not of same thickness. Now I have 3 balls in contrasting colours, so watch out ;-P

This is the same wicker basket for which I want to tat a square mat. Remember Ruth Perry's bookmark that I wanted to expand into a square? Can't say when I'll get back to that project. I decided to discard that colour and have chosen a different palette for it. 

Doing the happy dance, but also secretly wondering Where I'll store all these (there's a lot of eye-rolling from you-know-who ;-P). And unfortunately they didn't have tapestry needles. These are coloured eye Chenille needles, but I think they will work fine. Will keep an eye out for the tapestry set, LOL.

up-lifting Anchor

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Anchor aweigh!

Tatting away :-)

I just Had to share my excitement with you. I had a huge shipment arrive yesterday that included mainly Anchor and Red Rose threads and a smattering of sewing/knitting/crochet accessories. Yup, still doing the happy dance ;-P

These are some of Anchor Pearl Cotton size 8. Absolutely gorgeous colours, silken, sheen, and soft texture. It’ll be my first time with these. I saw them first in Usha’s tatting and now bought all the shades that Pony Craft Store has. I started cataloguing and counted 67 balls (10 gms each; Art 4591)!

These are top-ups or new shades in Anchor size 40 and size 20 (20 gms each; Art 4054).

I think the Anchor 20 balls I’ve been buying since 2013 from my retail store and another online store were fakes (or has Anchor improved it’s quality since then?)! No wonder I kept ranting – they are thicker than the ones here. But I had no way of knowing coz the labels and price were exactly the same.

Oh well, a huge weight lifted off the Anchor brand now! Uplifting Anchor, ahoy ;-P

Now these are new entrants Red Rose metallic threads size 20. There are over 20 beautiful shades - solids and variegated - in the online store. Each ball is 100 gms!

Here’s the whole thread stash straight out of the carton, including Anchor assorted embroidery threads – a pack of 25×2 shades (8m each; Art 4624). Sorry for that blurry image.

Over time I will do some proper thread/brand/size comparisons. For now, I need to catalogue and find storage bins and space, sigh !

But watch out for my first metallic medallion tomorrow ...  

stockPINing ! keePINg track

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updated : Mar 8, 2017

Irrespective of the size of our stockpile, do we ever stop pining for more ?!!! As our stock grows larger & more diverse, greater the risk of messes, misses, & mix-ups … of losing track. I finally heeded the clarion call of my thread stock as part of our monthly Pinterest Challenge – my stockPINing !  

" One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is 

constantly making exciting discoveries"

- AA. Milne

Yes, I so did !!! A few of my discoveries as I waded through my stash, organizing & cataloguing the threads….The pics don’t show the number or size of containers or the stuffed stuff inside ;-p

 Discovering new shades & the ease of choice !

i) Embroidery Threads

It all started last month, with my cross stitch bookmarks. With all skeins cramped into one box, & the patterns needing many colours, I found myself spreading out the skeins on the bed – not a good sight at all !

First sorted skeins according to colours. Then simply tied a knot at tip of each strand, cut off a very short length & glued it to the page, along with details. Slow-going, but with immediate results. Not only did it help in choosing colours for bookmarks, but for the Floral Fantasy Doily ! 2 shades of light green were Very similar (2nd coloumn); but I could locate the exact shade I wanted because of the catalogue. 

 Discovering the mystery of the zero !

ii) Mercerized Crochet Cotton (Size 20)

For the last 30 years, I have used only Anchor MCC (from Madura Coats), bought at various shops & now online stores. As my stash grew, it always perplexed me that some threads seemed thicker than others, despite the size number being same. Also the shade numbers – some had a single 0 before them, some had two zeroes, while many of my vintage balls didn’t have any 0 before the shade number.

I put it down to different stores, different years/decades, & so on. In fact that is how I entered in the catalogue. TILL the shade column & the tatting alongside threw up this interesting fact : the 0 digit represents the thickness within that size !!!!! Now I know which balls can be used together in same project.

Also noticed that the shape of ball with single 0 is different from the one with 00 (which is squatter with thicker thread) !

Discovering doodads & forgotten ideas !

iii) Mercerized Crochet Cotton (Size 40)

Buried deep under the balls of crochet cotton threads, I found tatted scraps - possible design ideas, little doodads/doodles, first trials, etc. It was quite amusing. (forgot to take pics)

I tatted little 5-petalled flowers to glue for reference. And devised this to speed things up (instead of cataloguing each colour individually) – pull out a short length of thread from ball & finger-tat the ring with thread still attached to ball. When all were tatted, I simply had to snip off the flower from each ball & glue to page, adding details.

Discovering amazing threads !

iv) Silk & Metallic Threads

I had totally forgotten about spools of metallic threads including gold & silver ! These are unmarked, so I have no idea of the brand.

But even more amazing & nostalgic were my Mom’s machine embroidery silk threads in wooden spools. They date back to at least the late 1940s, early 50s !!! It was mesmerizing watching her skillfully maneuver the embroidery hoop with her left hand at a hand crank sewing machine ! I can’t do with 2 hands on my electric pedal machine with it’s multiple decorative stitch options !

Strands of these threads were difficult to glue down, hence practiced some Hanging Cluny Leaves to display the colours better. A few got stuck while pulling, thus disfiguring their shape.

Discovering forgotten/misplaced balls !

v) Crochet & Knitting Cottons (Size 10 & above)

 

These are big balls taking up much space. Hence, I used to store them in the closet, in bags, not in transparent boxes. After I’d completed the table cloth edging, I was under the impression that the size 10 variegated blue ball was all over. So imagine my delight when I discovered 1 entire, unused ball ! Now even the balls are stored in different places, a quick reference to the catalogue will tell me that I do have more ! How useful a clue is that ?!

Discovering quality beads !

vi) Beads & Findings

For the first time last year, I had ordered in some gold & silver beads & jewelry findings to use in my tatting (and they worked beautifully). All the rest of my bead stash (mostly pearls, transparent plastic, & some wooden beads) & some rhinestones, sequins, etc. were stuff I took off discarded decorations, mementos, dress materials, etc. Couldn’t bring myself to throw out the colourful embellishments. But while some of these were good, some were irregular in shape & hole size, making them difficult to use … which was fine since I didn’t tat much with beads.

Last month I finally ordered some other beads & pearls from an online craft supplies chain. Amazing ! The seed beads have proper sized holes which can be strung through even size 20 thread. And here I was struggling with stringing, thus limiting my choices ! You might see many more beaded projects now ;-P

Seen in the pic is a snipping of the invoice with relevant details of my latest bead acquisition and a sampling of my stash…. I still have to prepare a proper page with new & old bead samples taped & buy a larger bead container.

vii) Sewing Threads

 

These are old pics (top view with open drawer & side view of entire organizer) of segregated sewing threads, organized for many years now. They are in an A4 size file cabinet with 4 transparent pull-out drawers from Staples. The lowermost was the perfect height for sewing thread spools ! All not-in-use reels are stored there in broad colour-groups, and can be picked out easily. The 3 upper drawers are used for other sewing-related supplies.

viii) Wool Yarn

Remember these quick yarn shade samplers I made, inspired by crochet bloggers ? They did come in handy for the colourful stashbuster Memory Afghan, but how pathetic are they ?! 

Come winter, I will sit down to prepare a proper one-page catalogue for my wool stash too.

UPDATE : My wool stash is now organized (Dec, 2016)!

Now if only I can catalogue my book collection. Believe me, I’ve tried many times, but new books kept getting added before I could sort them out. I have also tried to take pics on my cell phone but not every shelf is well lit.
And of course my fabric stash - that is indeed a major task.

Despite all the sniggering at my spread-out stock, it was ‘his’ idea to place each sheet within a transparent sleeve ;-p Love the idea – makes them so durable despite all the handling & referring !!!

These took time & patience to put together. But the advantages are so worth it, and already showing. Besides, some old threads also brought back memories of embroidery, card-making, crochet, tatting projects done before my marriage. Long time !
It also brought home the fact that the quality of Anchor (Coats) threads has decreased over time - they were finer, silkier, brighter in colour before !

As usual, my pinterest challenge is merely utilitarian & boring. For a glimpse into some amazingly creative challenges, click on the names of my fellow pin chicks … they are always so delightfully inspiring !

Suzanne

Margaret

Carollyn

Imoshen 

Margaret (2)

have a great time :-)