Birthday presents

I treated myself to some birthday presents and it finally arrived a few days back. Here are what I got for me, moi, myself .... he he he....

 

They are a few tubes of seed beads, several strands of glass beads and a couple of strings of mother of pearls from Foxyfindings.com

Even as I have not gotten over the excitement of receiving my orders, I received this 'treasure chest' from Ellen as my birthday exchange gifts.

 and it opens up to show these

 

I am also fortunate to receive one of Ellen's birthday card because I've admired many of her handmade cards that she had shown in her blog.  There are also aphabet cutouts that spells my name.  I don't how I am going to use them yet.

 

Ellen has included a pretty bookmark and several tatted motif with magnets.  Very clever idea.

Thank you Ellen

Wrap stitch With Needle Pt 2

Finally managed to get some photos taken on the wrapping stitch with needle. Unfortunately, the picture is a bit fuzzy.

This is after Step 2 where the double stitch is loosely formed over the plastic ring.

After making a few more of the wrap stitch, make a knot with the ball and needle thread. Then take the needle and make a ring as normal. make sure that the first double stitch formed on the needle is tucked very close to the plastic ring. Close the ring as normal.

Here is a picture showing two tatted rings made on the outside of the plastic ring with a few more wrap stitch between the rings.

Sorry about the fuzziness of the pictures, but I think you can sort of figure it out.

Wrap-stitch Round a Plastic Ring With Needle

I wonder ... has anyone done it this way before? Or, have I stumbled across something new!

I received an e-mail from Alan asking if the patterns in my book, Tatting With Rings can be needle-tatted. Well, the patterns in my book were developed with shuttles. My only experience with needle tatting is limited to the basic rings and chains, but the thought of using a needle with the plastic rings gives an interesting challenge. I gave it some thought and started working on this idea that I have. I think I may have got it.

I am going to share the steps here. I would appreciate very much if they could be tested out by some of the needle-tatters among us to see if it can actually work.

Step 1 - making the first half of the double stitch
With the needle threaded, pull a loop of the needle thread up from under the ring and slide the needle through, pulling it all the way. You will get the thread looped round the ring as in the diagram above.

Step 2 - the second half of the double stitch
Bring a loop of the needle thread down under the plastic ring and slide the needle through, pulling it all the way.

You have made the first double stitch over the plastic ring.

It you continue making the double stitches this way, you'll find that the ball thread will be on one side of the double stitches and the needle thread on the other end. From the little that I know about needle tatting, both the ball thread and the needle thread must be at the same position to make the ring or chain. In this case then, the ball thread should move along with the double stitches.

Step 3 - moving the ball thread along
It is so simple! I can't think why it did not occur to me before. I think my brain cell has taken to running off, like Jane's, :)

To make the next double stitch, lay the ball thread along the outer edge of the plastic ring. Then, repeat Steps 1 and 2. This, in effect, means that you are making the double stitch over both the plastic ring and the ball thread. Make sure that the ball thread lies on the edge of the ring when you tighten the thread to neaten the double stitch.

The different colours used in the diagram are for illustration purposes only.

Now you have two double stitches over the ring looking like this.

To make the outward tatted ring, tie a knot with the ball and needle thread and make a ring as you would normally do with a needle, bringing the double stitch as close to the plastic ring as possible.

After making the outward ring, make a knot again to switch the position of the two threads. Repeat the steps for the next set of double stitches over the plastic ring.

I would love to hear what needle-tatters think of this.