(Re)Learning to Tat

 Those miserable scraps at left are the result of my learning to tat.....again. Actually, I'm almost pleased by this.


I have been curious about tatting since I was in high school. During my freshman year, we had a German exchange student, Karen Volker who was the buxom, sexy, blonde of the high school boy's dreams that year. She was a sophisticated 16 years old to my lowly 14 years. She had a German accent. She could act!  Woecakes and jealousy. She was the student aid in my first year German class. Poor girl must have been bored to TEARS! I don't think I ever had a real conversation with her all year. What I DO remember is that she started tatting during class. That got me fascinated. In German, the word for tatting is Schiffenarbeit. It means "boat work" and refers to the shuttle used.


I did learn how to make the basic tatting double stitch many years ago, probably as a college student. I never did much with tatting, though. I did buy some books, which are collecting dust in the basement. The problem is that classic, Victorian tatting patterns are just horrific. They are poorly written and the designs simply say "outdated, fussy". I simply could not find anything I wanted to make enough to bother.


Admittedly, I did not see the potential in tatting.  Next post will have more info.

Leaf Concept for a Baby

The photo at left shows a project I made up on the fly. It is a small baby blanket/receiving blanket.

I made it simply from a pattern for a decorative small leaf. Now that I think about it, the shaping is very similar to that for a shawl. In this case, I just kept increasing far, far beyond the size of a normal leaf. This became truly mindless knitting. I made the project the size of a receiving blanket because that was the smallest size that fit within a reasonable standard.  Final dimensions are about 28" across the center of the leaf. I think it is perhaps 40" long. Those numbers are guesses. I knit the leaf to get a gauge of at least 28" 

I used Red Heart Recycled yarn for this project. Originally, I bought the yarn for a leaf-themed baby sweater that I am just starting. The blanket part was a sudden inspiration. Baby things get made in acrylic yarn so that they are machine washable and hypoallergenic.

For once, I have no recipient for this gift. I may just keep this one myself for a while. I am hoping that the next couple of baby projects are pretty special.

Baby Update

This is a pleasant update. Someone I knit for was kind enough to send me a photograph of my project in action! I am thrilled. This sweater clearly has room for some growth.
Knitting for an appreciative recipient makes it worth while.

Lazy Enough to Be Efficient

 I've been quite busy, knitting rather than posting. The last post, three months ago was about a baby sweater I knit in four days. Immediately after I completed that sweater, I learned of another baby, this one born prematurely. I set about knitting a second sweater which is shown at the right.  I have also started working on a baby blanket and sweater set with a leaf theme. I have now remembered exactly why I HATE baby blankets. This one is half done. I can sensibly photograph it soon.

Four Days Baby Sweater

Now it can be told. The men in my household are all taciturn. It's hard to get vital information out of them.
James came home from school in early February and mentioned that one of his favorite teachers, a mentor, had departed for paternity leave.
That was all the information I got. No gender, no name, nothing. I went to my "gift" stash and found a pair of baby legwarmers. Not right. I searched through my yarn stash for gender neutral yarns and settled on a navy blue acrylic. I four days, I completed a sweater/jacket in the 6 mos-1 year size. I actually looks good.
Present delivered and I think the recipient was both surprised an pleased. I'm determined to knit a small stock of these to have ready. My only problem is choosing colors. I get totally indecisive about color choices for babies. I want to choose something other than the traditional pink/blue/green/yellow. What works?

Metro Bauhaus

I'm STILL not sure what to make of this project. I love the colors. They are exactly what I like to wear. I love the look, which evokes the Bauhaus School of Design. The pattern I used was called Metro Cowl, which specified laceweight yarn on a size 8 needle. That does not work for me. I substituted a worsted weight yarn and got something different than the pattern. The main difference is the width of the stripe. Obviously, the laceweight yarn would produce finer stripes. Even so, on size 8 needless? For me, the laceweight yarn that I have purchased is quite fine, like a crochet cord. Putting that on size 8 needles produces a loose mess. Worsted weight yarn knits up nicely but changes the look and texture. The original cowl had a red zipper sewn in. Instead of a zipper, I added a red strip. I did this because my neck is short and a zipper, especially an open zipper, would be abrasive and uncomfortable near my skin.
I ended up knitting a full lining for the cowl, to make it warm and to prevent the fabric from rolling. It may work.

Knitting Under Any Circumstance

January was not a good month. On January 5th, I was in an auto accident. Luckily, no one was injured. Luckily, the accident happened in the parking lot at work and the weather was mild. Also, the accident was clearly not my fault. I am grateful for all of that. Really.

Still, it WAS an auto accident. My car is still not fixed, some five weeks later.....

How does this relate to knitting you ask? Well....
After the immediate flurry of accident-related duties involving insurance and phone calls and the other guy driving away, I was left waiting for the tow truck to collect the remains of my car. While I was waiting, I sat an knit on these fingerless gloves. I'm sure I was a sight to see, sitting in a crashed car, knitting away. Frankly, the knitting kept me sane. It also kept me from visibly freaking out while my body figured out just how stiff, sore and grumbly I was going to be the next day.

My car is old, but not quite worth totalling. I'm on my second rental contract. Ouch. At least my hands are warm. The pattern used is Jacoby, which I have knit before and will knit again. Easy and looks good in sock yarn.