will they notice?

That's another little room:

Dimensions: 18x20cm (about 7x8inch).
Thread for the runner is twisted silk, produced by "Tecnoseta srl".

The lace around the footstool is cotton, size 100, but I cannot remember which brand is (Anchor or DMC).

The frame is a line of split rings, each one is SR: 3-2-2-3/3-2-2-3, thread is DMC size 60, ecru.

Gosh! I glued the doily upside down!

But I'm pretty sure that the Smurfs won't even notice!

Actually, I noticed it only after I enlarged the picture!

Pattern is in Flickr:

Have you spotted how I've used the 1 eurocent?
Just in case you're curious, Italy no longer produces the 1 and 2 eurocent coins (since 2018, cash prices are suggested to be rounded to the nearest 5eurocent, but actually they're still used), they decided that they cost more that they are worth. I've learnt that 1 euro cent and 2cent inside are steel and outside copper (source for this info is Wikipedia - url consulted nov 20 2019).

Will we notice? Well... I've read that all those that are still circulating are estimated in 7 billion euros! We sure won't be short of them, any time soon 🙂!

Ciao,
Ninetta

P.S. The visual pattern for the "equilateral snowflake" is in Flickr:

sizing snowflakes

That's not about melting real snowflakes, till they reach the right size, even if that can sound like a solution!

I need more snowflakes, a little bird told me "25", wonder why! But the real problem is finding the right size to fit in a dollhouse!

Even that one looks a wee bit out of proportion!

Maybe, could it work like a suncatcher instead?
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
The maximum size, I think, should be 1cm.
But those tiny tiny snowflakes are so lovely that I cannot stop myself tatting after the first round, then I have to go and finish them, eventually they can find another "home"!

Thread is twisted silk, produced by "Tecnoseta srl".

❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄

In the next picture, motifs are near an euro cent, all tatted following Sharon Briggs' patterns, you can find her links collected in this post in her blog:
http://sharonstattedlace.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-results-are-in.html

Then, there's the Paisley snowflake by Muskaan (I've talked about it in a previous post); the little one on the left is the same centre and then I added a simple round with rings equal to her second round and chains are 6-6-6, that is really good sized for a xmas tree for the dollhouse. I can use that pattern in more colours.

But first, going to try more snowflakes' patterns, there are many very generous tatters that have shared their own patterns, both in books and for free, it's a snowstorm out there!

In next post, I will share a list of links for free snowflakes' patterns and - maybe, maybe... - a new pattern from my side that you all can size out...
🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

Ciao,
Ninetta

cachemire

It isn't a typo! That's how "paisley" translates in Italian, the words make weird journeys around the world and this one came into Italian from French during the Napoleonic era (according to Treccani online), after the shawls with the characteristic pattern, made with the light and soft wool imported from Kashmir, in India.

From India comes the pattern too, it's designed by Muskaan, you can read about it here:
https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2019/06/25-snowflake-challenge.html

Thread is twisted silk, produced by "Tecnoseta srl". There's a sewing pin near my tatting:

It's a pity that those Josephin Rings don't show well, it was tricky tatting. In fact, the first two ones are two mishaps. Then, from the third on, I  discovered that it closes better with another thread as an helper, that is a short thread folded in half and passed through the ring before pulling the ring's thread.

I thought I could have used that snowflake for my dollhouse, but now I realised that it's big! In the scale 1:12, it cannot be used as a little doily either, because the pattern has a lot of open space... I should find another home for it!

Ciao,
Ninetta

the music of tatting

Is the shuttle a musical instrument?

Lately, I've bought two spools of silk, that is produced not far from where I live.
I had tatted with silk before, but it was raw silk, that I washed myself, I was not completely satisfied because it was sort of fluffy and picots' effect was that the thread wanted to open like a fan.

Not this one!
It is beautiful, twisted and shining... and I discovered that twisted silk can be magical!

For once I was tatting alone at home, without TV, sons, in complete silence, I heard a sound that resembled a violin! At first I  couldn't understand the source.
It was the music produced by the silk, while I was pulling the tiny thread in and out of the ring!

I made up the pattern for the little doily. It was a sort of "tat it and see" but without Mrs. Jane who's got your back! I had to retro tat a couple of times, I also could reopen two rings, I'm really surprised how easy it was!

It's a very very tiny thread. Measuring it with my own "gauge", I could tat 20 ds to reach one centimetre,  it is a lot thinner than a size 100 cotton, that only need 15 or 16 ds for one centimetre of tatting!

I talked about my personal tatting gauge here: https://ninettacaruso.blogspot.com/2015/03/repetita-iuvant-at-least-to-myself.html

Well, I think that for now on, if someone asks me, I can affirm without any doubt that tatting is like playing music!

That silk is produced by "Tecnoseta srl", in Zagarolo (it is a city near Rome, they have an email: tecnoseta@gmail.com)
It is a twisted silk, technically they call that "twisted 2/3 T6", but don't ask me what does it mean!

Ciao,
Ninetta

dirty, already!

White and silk it's not a wise choice, it's already dirty, despite I always wash my hands before picking it up.
I like it and the pattern it's demanding but very addictive, I haven't tatted anything else in 5 days.

The dotted line is the growing direction for the pattern, it grows one triangle at a time, but at the end of every triangle I should decide what to do: the next triangle will double the size (and the time to tat it!). I'm lucky, very few mistakes till now.

Do you imagine that with some layered flowers? And a fringe with little shining beads? They can be added later, there's a ton of tatting to do before I reach a little shawl's size!

The idea of layered flowers come to me from a lace that I absolutely love, the Venetian needle lace, but I can't do it. When we went to Venezia, last summer, we didn't go to Burano (it's an hour from Venezia) for lack of time but I bought a booklet with a bit of that lace history and many pictures. I visited  Burano in 1995, at least I managed to go there once! I've had some opportunities to see the lace in person, for example last year in Zagarolo (I talked about it here in the blog: http://ninettacaruso.blogspot.com/2015/05/trapped-in-repetitions.html). I remember there is a piece also in Modena (north Italy) at the "Palazzo dei Musei" (a building from XVII c. that is itself a piece of art). I also bought a catalog there, many years ago (I found a review of that: http://www.annatextiles.ch/book_rev/rev2003/r2003gand/r2003gan.htm). In fact in Modena there's a unique collection with many cut pieces of handmade lace and fabric, collected during the second half of 1800, when the industry started to compete with artisans in patterns and techniques. Many fragments are clearly cut by scissors because industry owners used to exchange samples. If I remeber well, and I should check again into the catalog, just to be sure, there is no one piece of tatting.

I'm so sorry that the picture of the back cover of the booklet it's not as clear as I hoped!

Ciao,
Ninetta

doable

I'm trying to use up the silk I've got (hope I don't waste it), I'd love tatting something similar to a beautiful shawl I saw here:  http://www.georgiaseitz.com/younkin/younkin.html. Maybe, a cotton thread would have been more collaborative, but it's working, it's "doable". I can't keep that silk for ages, after all, waiting for the right project. What else all that silk would be for?

That silk was bought at the beginning of 2014 (http://ninettacaruso.blogspot.com/2014/03/got-into-mess.html) and I tried it single thread and also doubled. Actually the first time I didn't liked it single thread, too thin, but after having tatted a size 100, I think it's comparable (well, I can hardly see ds, I confess!).

In that pic it is near the Priscilla's border in size 100 DMC cotton, tatted last summer.

I haven't followed the pattern given for the shawl, because rings were way too little with my thread. I'm tatting rings 9-9 and chains are 6-6-6 (and short chains are 6ds), I'm trying to follow the flow of rings and chains, not so easy and I help myself folding in half what I already tatted and guessing what I should tat next, that works for me!

The big difference between the cotton and the silk, sigh, it's the smoothness: like me and me speaking in English! In this blog post I needed some of the lively and colourful words that Fox used about the Lizbeth size 80 (a teasing thread for me too, sometimes); English words that I can't recall in this moment, but that's due to my silly brain that doesn't collaborate, it insists thinking in Italian!

The silk easily frays and retrotatting is a mess (reopening a ring already closed is a mission impossible). I forgot to join at a certain point but I chose to tie a knot instead of cutting an hour of tatting.

I'm confident that it will have an end, or as a shawl for a Barbie doll or for only one shoulder of mine, but it will be done!

Ciao,
Ninetta

what am I doing?

1 of 5 earring, a photo by ninettacaruso on Flickr.

That earring in the photo is one in the set of 5 that I've posted 10 days ago. It's the simplest in the group, tatted with 2 shuttles wound with the white silk and DMC n.283 silver metallic thread. It's still soft, like the silk, but it looks very good, it looks like a real jewel. I love the softness of the lace and I don't like stiffening tatted jewellery, even if sometimes I did. Unfortunately I've run out the silver, I've got only one loaded shuttle, not completely full: I should try to put the pattern in the TatHelper, to see if I can tat another earring! Thank you, Aurora!

But, wait... what am I doing? There's a strange "candy" activity right near there ...

L'orecchino della foto è uno del set dei 5 postati 10 giorni fa. E' il più semplice del gruppo, fatto con 2 navette riempite con la seta e il filo DMC 283 argento metallizzato. E' ancora morbido, come la seta, ma è venuto bene, sembra quasi un gioiello vero. Mi piace la morbidezza del merletto e non mi piace inamidare i gioielli a chiacchierino, anche se a volte l'ho fatto. Sfortunatamente ho finito l'argento, ho ancora una sola navetta non completamente piena: potrei provare a far girare lo schema nel TatHelper , per vedere se posso fare un altro orecchino! Grazie Aurora!

Ma, aspetta... Che sto facendo? C'è una strana "caramellosa" attività proprio là vicino...

Ciao,
Ninetta

got into a mess

I've started another edging, the third. Oh yes, I've already 2 started, one is for the hanky in the last post (my mum likes the variegated green) and the second I'm quite sure it will be usefull a day, I'm going to finish both. I should draw both patterns in a bit clearer way than that doodle done with a pencil - a mess. There's also the third pattern, it's not written at all! Sorry, I'm not an organized kind of tatter (I think I've already said this), I've no lists for things to do, nothing that I've started has a planned end date, I've a lot of doodles and about the same amount of started inkscape's files... Usually I'm not in a hurry, but now I've to prepare a gift for a friend and it seems that I've nothing ready. Could be one of these butterflies framed for a special gift? Otherwise I could tat for her that last edging. What do you think about a black hanky? Do you think that is elegant or it's gone out of style?

I've another story to tell you: two weeks ago I bought a loose ball of pure silk, made in Calabria (south of Italy), it's not coloured and needs to be boiled with washing soap, then rinsed with vinegar to become white. But! I spent two days unwinding half of the spool (I bought it in common with a friend), then I had needed to make again a loose spool because I should boil it. Then, I don't know how it happened, I had to untie a bunch of knots... In the picture you see just the moment I was going to throw the ball outside the window... No, I didn't, but the silk it's not yet ready to be tatted. I hope I can try it soon, fingers crossed (not the thread, yup!).

Ho cominciato un terzo bordino. Si si, ne ho due già cominciati, uno per il fazzolettino ( a mia mamma piace quello col verde sfumato) e il secondo prima o poi mi tornerà utile, quindi li finirò entrambi. Dovrei scrivere meglio gli schemini, adesso sono scarabocchi a matita - un pasticcio. E poi ci sta il terzo schemino, che non ho appuntato da nessuna parte! Scusate, non sono per niente ordinata (forse l'ho già detto), non ho liste ne' scadenze, un mucchio di disegnini sparsi e altrettanti file sul pc iniziati con Inkscape (il software che uso per disegnare)... Di solito non ho fretta, ma adesso mi serve un bel regalino per un'amica. Cosa fare? Porto dal corniciaio una di queste farfalline? Oppure il terzo bordino potrebbe andare bene. Che dite? Un fazzolettino nero è elegante oppure fuori moda?

Vi voglio raccontare un'altra storia: 2 settimane fa ho comprato a metà con un'amica una matassa di seta fatta in Calabria, grezza, si deve bollire col sapone a pezzi e poi sciacquare con aceto - dovrebbe diventare bianca. Ho perso due giorni a sbrogliare metà matassa e poi ho dovuto riavvolgerla per poterla bollire. A un certo punto, non so come, si è imbrogliato tutto, un groviglio di nodi mi ha fatto quasi perdere la pazienza... Poi, invece di buttare tutto dalla finestra, ho risolto, ma ancora non la posso lavorare. Spero di provarci presto, incrociamo le dita (non il filo, però!).

Ciao,
Ninetta

80 cm of ds

80 cm of ds, a photo by ninettacaruso on Flickr.

That necklace is worked with 2 shuttles, filled with two threads, green (and yellow, for the flower) 100% pure silk (seta Faro) and DMC n.282 gold metallic thread. Beads were stringed in both shuttles.
The necklace's lock is a "button and loop" style fastening, with a little faceted green agate, that it's used to lock the flower, too.
The flower is removable, and it could be used on another button as well. On the back of the flower I sewed a rounded piece of imitation leather, leaving a little bottom hole. In that way, the flower could be used on another garment.
I like the way the flower came out, and I think I should make a tutorial for it. To not forget, ehm, mainly...

Questa collana è stata fatta con 2 navette, riempite con 2 filati, quello verde (e il giallo del fiore) è di pura seta, marca FARO,  l'altro è il filo metallizzato oro della DMC, n.282. Le perline le ho inserite direttamente nel filo delle navette.
La chiusura a bottoncino ha una piccola agata sfaccettata, che serve anche come centro del fiore. Per il fiore  ho cucito un pezzettino di finta pelle sul retro, con un'asola per la pietra. Il fiore si può levare e abbottonare anche su un altro capo d'abbigliamento.
Mi piace come è venuto il fiore, penso che dovrei fare un tutorial, principalmente per me, ehm...

Ciao,
Ninetta

a focal point

a focal point, a photo by ninettacaruso on Flickr.

I've tatted that necklace in the last 2 monthes, not continually, so I've changed my mind few times, thinking first at it as a bracelet, then as a necklace, now it became a gift, so I need a focal point that could be close to my friend's style, a little different from mine. That could be a challenge, we usually choose with our own taste ... What do you suggest for the center? Should I leave it empty? Or should I put somenthing rounded or squared, black? brown? I'm thinking to a semiprecious stone like amber, but I don't have any at home that could match.

It's worked with 2 shuttles, filled with two threads, brown silk (seta Faro) and DMC n.282 gold metallic thread. Beads were stringed in both shuttles.

 Ho avuto tra le mani questo lavoro per due mesi e nel frattempo, da braccialetto è diventato collana... adesso mi serve per regalarlo ad un'amica, così mi servirebbe qualcosa da mettere al centro del ciondolo che sia vicino al suo stile, un poco diverso dal mio. E' sempre difficile scegliere secondo i gusti di qualcun altro... Voi cosa suggerite? Devo lasciare il centro vuoto? O metterci qualcosa di rotondo o quadrato? Nero? Marrone? Sto anche pensando a una pietra dura, come l'ambra, ma non ho niente in casa che possa andare bene. 
Ho usato due navette riempite con due fili, uno marrone di seta Faro e l'altro oro metallizzato n.282  della DMC. Le perline le ho caricate nel filo di entrambe le navette.

Ciao,
Ninetta