How I survive

Two posts in two days?  It's like Christmas, I know!!!

One of the more difficult things for me when it comes to being a production tatter, is when I end up having to make the same things over and over and over.  And Over.  You get my drift.  Certain designs in certain colors just fly off my displays and it's hard to not get bored at times.  My strategy to combat the tatting doldrums has been to add some new aspect to what I do every now and then, something to re-spark my interest and creativity.  This year, I took myself up to Fusion Beads in Seattle, and purchase the tools and materials to start doing some wire work, and also make my own custom findings.  So far, I've been playing around with brass, copper, and bronze.  Eventually I will add some precious metals into the mix.  It's been fun, and here is one of my experiments-

 Kinda hard to see, but the bead hangs forward of the flower. It looks better worn I think.

 Terrible Iphone pictures, I apologize.  Below is me playing with some patina solution on brass.  More fun.  Still learning.

  One good thing has come from all this metal work... I'm just a terrible snarly beast once every 28 days...ehem, and beating on the bench block has become a very theraputic solution for me hahah!

Also, all this metal makes me want butane torch to do some more damage with.  Perhaps a metalsmithing class is in order before I go that far.  Or not. :-P

A booming season

Hello Tatters! Summer is here which means I'm eyeball deep in tatting thread of course :-) July and August are my busiest months down at the Farmers Market. I'm making jewelry in every spare moment... In fact, this weekend we are going camping, and a good portion of my supplies will be coming with me.
  One thing that has been happening at the market, (and elsewhere), is that more and more people know what tatting is! I love it when someone from my generation recognizes it, because that means our almost lost art is not going to be lost after all. 
  Well, I'm off to take care of some things around the house.  If I manage to get enough done today, I have half a mind to do a batch of hand dyed thread (gasp!).  It would be good to get back into it.  I still have one of Dr. Vonthreadmore's contest winners that I haven't done yet, and I am all out of some of my favorites as well.  I have been itching for some more Getaway because it has been such a good summer color. 

Well, I'm off now.  Here's to me blogging more. And updating a bit around here perhaps?  Sheesh, that profile picture is probably three years old.  I've got long hair now!

Bye!

Where has all the time gone!!!

Well. Look who decided to drop in and post on her blog! Thank you to the kind friend who sent an "are you still ok?" email this past week :-). It has indeed spurred me on to update. I can't tell you how out of the loop I feel at this point, I haven't been involved in any of the online tatting communities in the better part of a year, and I am even taking a year off Shuttlebirds. I am still tatting, and plan to do the Farmers Market again this year. I haven't designed anything new in quite awhile though. I don't really have time to just sit and doodle with thread like I used to. We have started homeschooling this year, and that takes a serious chunk of time out of our day. I really love the time I get to spend with our girls, and I wouldn't have it any other way. If I could wave a magic wand and make myself more organized in other areas, I'd be thrilled. As is, I take it one day at a time. It is definitely the priority around here, so some things had to be shuffled to the side... this blog, even my band for the time being have fallen to the wayside for the time being. Dr. Vonthreadmore doesn't speak to me anymore. She says I don't deserve her. I hope to be back in the dye studio this summer when school lets out for us, I actually need to do some thread for myself soon. Until next time, Happy tatting! I can't promise regular updates, I have many projects that take priority. Such as getting the Etsy shop back in order as well. I know this was just another quick update, and I do miss the tatting community as a whole. Life comes in seasons! Best wishes! Krystle

In summary........

Just a succinct post to let you all know that I am still alive and tatting :-)

This picture actually sums up the life of a production tatter. I am doing quite well at the Farmers market this summer, which in turn generates quite the display of sewn in and trimmed ends. This pile is from just the past three days.

Cheers!

The Studio

Big things are happening here at our house this month as we prepare for the onset of Kindergarten!  In evaluating our use of space, we made a major change by moving our dining room to the room on the other side of the kitchen (it's the back half of the garage that was built out before we bought the house).  It used to be the "play room", and will now serve dual duty as the School room/ Dining room. Our former dining room is now my studio!  The change is still in progress as I sort out storage solutions for toys, school and art supplies, and business/office type stuff....but I plan on having a whole lot of fun doing it!  I'm going to make giant fabric covered cork boards for the school room and studio.
  Right now the studio consists of my big orange Ikea futon with my trusty Ott light, an awesome lift-top coffee table for my workspace, and an office area with a desk and chair for my laptop and other home office type stuff.  My tatting corner chair has remained in the living room (which now looks like a living room and not an overflowed bead and thread pile...).
  All of this moving around requires me to go through all the toys, all the craft stuff, and even all of my little hidey-holes full of things I didn't want to deal with, so I will be working this out for the better part of the rest of the summer. Better now than two days before our school year starts though, right?

The picture is a little snapshot peek into my new studio.  Having dedicated space that does not interfere with the regular workings of the home has been monumental.  I'm able to lay out work on my table and work assembly line style.  I've gotten some nifty velvet trays to keep work sorted on my table.  All my bead boxes are under the coffee table, within reach.  I should say that I've done some serious damage in the bead aquisition department lately.  I'm officially on a bead diet.

Anyway, Dr. Von Threadmore  is of course plotting to see how she can manage a takeover of the new workspace.  She knows I won't allow it, but she also knows that if she kicks loud and long enough about it, I'll probably break down and let her do some thread.  She is chomping to do another batch of Getaway, as well as start her formulations for the second of her contest winners, Aurora Borealis.

Summer!

Hey everyone. Just dropping in for a quick update! I'm in market mode, and it is keeping me busy. I plan on doing a little photo tour of my booth soon, but until then, here is a little sneak peek of the new designs I have been working on!

Ask and ye shall receive

Click HERE for the LHPJ tutorial!

LHPJ

Just dropping in for a little update :-)

 Ladyshuttlemaker recently mentioned my method of performing the Larks Head Picot Join, and I would be thrilled to share my tutorial with you all, as soon as I find free PDF hosting somewhere.... That being said, if you know of somewhere I can load my PDF document so you all can retrieve it at your leisure, please do let me know.  Until that time, feel free to drop me an email and I will send it your way.

Threads ready!

Thunderheart

available in sizes 10, 20, 40, and 80.

Getaway

Available in sizes 10, 20, and 40. I was having an off day apparently, when I would off the size 40. Usually I do 50 yards in that size but I ended up winding off 40 yard skeins, so the price on that size reflects that.

(click the pictures to visit the threads :-)

Sneaky Peeky

Pretty darn close.