Tat's a lot of plot bunnies

I enjoy tatting, writing, and other crafts.

[minthare]

Hello, tumblr! I'm Minthare, a shuttle tatter and writer. The primary purpose of this blog will be crafts, writing, and the occasional reblog of other things that I find to be nice.

I've been tatting for thirteen or so years, so I'll be sure to share pictures of whatever project I'm working on from time to time. I do dabble in other crafts (primarily knitting and crocheting), so I may share those as well.

I'm also a writer! While admittedly still unpublished, I may post some of my writing from time to time if I see an interesting prompt I want to fill.

Feel free to send me asks! I might not be quick to answer them, but I'm happy to engage with fellow crafters, writers, and anyone else who wants to talk.

[aqlstar]

Some kind of yellow ribbon in progress

[tenacioustatter]

I love this! I almost forgot that you can put beads on the core thread instead of on picots.

[minthare]

It's been a while, but I haven't had much time for tatting recently until now.

As I recently made a bluesky account, I thought I'd crosspost a couple of snowflakes I made today both there and here.

I like making snowflakes to give as winter gifts to family and friends, but I always procrastinate making them until the last second, no matter how often I tell myself that "This'll be the year I get them all made early!".

I still have a dozen or so left to make, so wish me luck.

These two snowflakes can be found in Vida Sunderman's book Tatted Snowflakes. I decided to be fancy and pull out my size 80 thread again so that they could be nice and dainty.

I haven't decided if I'll stiffen them or not. I don't usually stiffen the various motifs I make, mostly because I'm always misplacing my straight pins, and my cats have a tendancy to get into whatever project I don't want them messing with.

Over all, I think they look good, though I probably could have taken better pictures.

[minthare]

I've been playing around with size 10 thread crochet thread again recently, but that's not what I've decided to share with you today.

Nope, instead, here is a pair of earrings done in size 80 Lizbeth thread with some clear seed beads. The pattern is from Tatting Jewellery by Lyn Morton.

I don't work with beads very often, but I like how these earrings turned out. They are little, only about 3/4 of an inch across, but I knew they wouldn't be very big when I decided to use size 80.

I quite enjoy working with size 80 from time to time, as the final pieces always look so dainty and feel really nice to hold. It can be a pain sometimes if my tension is a bit too tight, and of course sewing in the ends is always annoying, but size 80 is much better to tat with than sewing thread.

Don't try tatting with sewing thread.

I would tat this pattern again, though my next project from this book is probably going to be a different bracelet pattern. I've got a variegated green thread that would look nice with this yellow, and I'm still in a mood to use some beads, so why not?

[tenacioustatter]

Finally finished a necklace I've had sitting around in progress for months. It's the first piece I've finished using size 80 tatting thread and it was a fun challenge.

[minthare]

Okay, since I mentioned it in my previous post, I figured I should tat another of Anne Bruvold's Flying Minor Norwegian Dragons and share it with you.

I picked out a fun variegated Lizbeth thread in size 20 to use this time, though I did briefly debate on getting fancy and trying to make a mint dragon with black thread scattered here and there to make it look like mint chip ice cream. Perhaps I'll do that next time I tat this pattern.

One of the things I love about this pattern (other than it being a dragon) is its use of split rings. I really like making split rings— which, for any non-tatters out there, is a ring you make using two shuttles, which means you can have the shuttles be at a different position than their starting point when you close the ring. A regular ring is made using only one shuttle, and has the shuttle return to its starting point when you close the ring. Split rings are great for climbing out of one row in order to start another, or for when you want a row of rings without any chains or bare thread connecting them. You can see fourteen split rings making up the body of the dragon from the base of the trefoil at the end of the tail where the neck meets the head in this pattern, along with four split rings in each wing which were used to climb out of each row.

I'm not sure what I'll make to share next, but if anyone has any suggestions, I would be happy to hear them! So until then, I wish you the best with your crafting endeavors!

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

No matter which textile craft you look at, it has weaving in ends, and everyone hates it with a burning passion.

[minthare]

Alright, so here is a Chinese dragon that I tatted. The pattern is from Flights of Fantasy by Martha Ess, and it was easy to follow both the written and diagramed pattern in her book. I really like when tatting patterns are available in multiple forms, as sometimes I'm too tired to keep track of where I am in a written pattern, or I want a little more explanation on what to do next than a diagramed pattern provides.

I don't work with beads very often, but I think the one I used here goes well with this thread (which was size 20 Lizbeth thread, if anyone was curious).

While this pattern hasn't captured my heart like Anne Bruvold's Flying Minor Norwegian Dragon, I would certainly make more of these dragons.