Needle tatting - My first try.

I get quite curious about different crafts from time to time.  I've always liked the look of tatting - it reminds me of some of the more delicate Irish crochet.  Quite a while ago I tried out shuttle tatting and just couldn't get on with it.  I found it very unforgiving, its tremendously difficult to recover from mistakes and I found joining threads almost impossible.

I persisted with it for a while but in the end gave it up as one of those things I just couldn't really get the hang of properly. 

Then I found out about needle tatting, the first challenge was getting a needle - they are almost impossible to come by in the UK.  Not that they are expensive or anything, just no-one stocks them .... shuttles I could find everywhere, but not needles.  I managed to find them through an online shop (http://www.tatting.co.uk/) and they were delivered yesterday.

So last night I thought I'd give it a go ... and its much easier to get the hang of (so far!).  With the help of some videos on You-Tube by TotusMel and Agasunset I managed to make a little flower - what do you think of it?

I know its not the neatest thing in the world, but I don't think its TOO bad for a first attempt.

I got a commission!!

I am generally wary of comissions, I've had a few where I have put in an awful lot of effort even going as far as purchasing yarn and the whole thing falls though without as much as a single penny coming my way.

Anyhow, I was contacted at the end of last week by a lovely Etsy buyer.  She saw my bluebells crochet pattern but doesn't know how to crochet herself, so she asked if I wouldn't mind making some for her.

So I did :)

These are made using 100% cotton 4ply yarn



When I've made them before I put a brooch pin at the back, but this time they are for a 1 year old, so (for safety) I have left them just as they are.

As I always do, I have attached one of my little Walnut Baby tags on a piece of yarn.  In this case I used that to hang my bluebells for one of the photos.


And finally I boxed them up for their trip to their new home.



Its nice to get out one of my patterns and try it out again.  I was trying to think what else I could do with them if/when I make them again, other than make a brooch - but what else?

Irish Crochet Twist - Complicated!!

I am attempting to crochet this "floweret" that comes from a very old DMC crochet book.  I wanted to try to create the loop motif & thought that this was a fairly simple example to start with.

Well the complication comes with the way the pattern is written.  Here is a section of the pattern as an example.

Make a ring with the cord foundation and crochet 15 plain stitches on this ring continue over the cord foundation and make 1 plain stitch on the stitch of the ring on wiich the plain stitch that preceeds the little ring is set.

It took me to read this quite a few times to try to understand it ... I'm not 100% sure that I do even now, but I am trying to create my floweret regardless ... Once I have finished one I'll post a picture & you can let me know what you think .. did I get it or not!

Irish Crochet Necklace - Old Rose & passion flower

Walnut Baby shop

I started by creating the passion flowers, really I wanted the challenge of creating the roll (or Bullion) stitches & the clones knots that are required for the center & the pistils.

They are quite tricky stitches and more so when using fine thread.  This particular necklace is created with No 30 crochet cotton, so not the finest my any means - but fine enough !

I decided to create an Old rose this time rather than the more traditional Irish rose

It love the lacy petals, I think it creates a beautiful and delicate centre for this piece.

I finished off with a sprig of open work leaves & joined the flowers with little double leaf motifs.

The chain of the necklace is quite plain, but given the complexity of the motifs I thought that this was best. 

This necklace has a tie closure so that the wearer can adjust the length to fit.  When using a tie closer I like to add little crochet covered washers to the end of the chains - this adds a little weight to make the ends hang nicely, otherwise they are prone to curling up.

Christmas flower necklace

Walnut Baby shop

This flower didn't quite work as expected, but I prefer the way it turned out in the end. It, in theory, should have been much flatter - but I tend to work my crochet quite tight so in the end it became quite 3D.

I prefer the fact the petals stand up from each other it makes the whole flower much more real.

The flower itself reminds me of a poinsettia, which is very much a Christmas flower in the UK (perhaps the rest of the world too??).

The dark red and pink thread also helps with the Christmas theme.  Again, this is no 80 crochet thread.

The necklace "chain" is made with crochet over 2 strands of padding cord & I finished off the necklace with an iridescent flower button for the closure.

Christmas Irish Rose Brooch

Walnut Baby shop

This is created using No 20 Crochet cotton for the main body of the rose. To make this brooch a Christmas Irish rose I added in DMC Metalic embroidery thread in Gold.

Initially I started creating a standard Irish rose and when I reached the fifth layer of petals I then added in the Gold thread. Then again on the sixth layer of petals I added a final row of Gold.

To finish off the rose I created a center in gold thread as well.

This particular thread is quite difficult to crochet. It tends to split into the individual strands and takes quite a bit of patients to keep the work neat and avoid stray loops.

The thread itself is quite course to work with and it can bite into your fingers when working with it. Fortunately in this particular piece the amount of working with this thread was limited so I managed to avoid too much damage!

I think the effort was worth it in the end, the gold thread catches the light beautifully. I think that it turned out to be a really pretty festive brooch.