Merry Christmas Everybody!

And a happy New Year! ^_^

Not really that much to report, I'm staying in with my family for a really nice, quiet Christmas that'll be about as white as you can get in Cancun...it's times like these where I grow nostalgic for snow--but then I remember what snow's actually like and the second thoughts make an appearance. 

>_< 

Speaking of making an appearance,

Check out Lotusness! Three rounds and hopefully more on the way.

^_^

So, I went a little nuts... o.0

But I gotta say that now I have a pretty good stash! 

I should be set until the next ice age.

Oooooh Yeah =D

First of all: Lace (making) Adventures has reached 10,000 page views!

YEAH!

Second of all, Scrappy's back and read to rumble! 

I'd like to take this time to announce that Scrappy has graduated to the Mega Projects! More specifically, Scrappy is now what I like to call a "forever doily" --> as in, a doily that is considered to be unfinished until I'm out of ideas or is too big to hold onto. 

By big, I mean BIG.

Though the Scrappy of today may only have 4 rounds, the Scrappy of the future may have twenty or even more O_O.

^_^ 

Yellow Dye strikes again

I should've seen it coming. 

The light blue from before is now Pine Green.

Mark my words, one day I will get that teal/green/blue color!

Better, but not quite right either... 

This one actually turned out the way I wanted it to! 

^_^

Guess who finally made it to Etsy?

Daisy!

It took me a while, but alls it needed was some blood, sweat, and tired eyes.

^_^

In an alternate universe I'm sure it's deliberate.

What? You ask.

The fact that I can't remember the last time a dyeing session went according to plan.

I'm sure it's a conspiracy.

The Proof

First up: Blue 1 and Blue 2

These correspond to our first two colors in the color palette below. 

I was sad to see that in Blue 1, only a tiny quasi-microscopic hint of purple made it out... 

Both are up for overdyeing. I have this obnoxious pink that might just make a purple out of that navy, while the light blue is the right color, just a shade too light. It's getting the same bath as before.

Next up: Egg Yolk

I kid you not, my yellow dye is strong... I keep forgetting that.
>_< 

This corresponds to the one variegate that could've been... 

Last but not least, a complete miss...

Peridot

My camera refused to take a good picture of this thread, so I had to fudge with the colors of the image a little, but this is pretty dang close. The real one is a little more yellow, giving it a gorgeous golden hint.

And it was supposed to be grey.

What I'd originally had in mind...

Despite the fact that they were all pretty different than what I was going for... I have to say that I like them. If the two blues weren't practically identical to threads that I already had I wouldn't even bother touching them. As for Egg Yolk and Peridot, I gotta say that I really like them.

^_^

Update!

I'm keeping the dark blue!
It's henceforth known as Berry Bubble Gum.

^_^

I haven't forgotten!!

Le Masterpiece is still in the works!

I have to admit that I have the hardest time photographing Le Masterpiece. I don't know if it's the size or the color of the thread, but let me just say that the thread is a much prettier green than you see there! 

Considering that I've been working on Le Masterpiece since... oh about April of 2012, I'm hoping that I might be done by 2016. >_<

^_^

I just freaking fell in love.

First of all, I'd like to thank the fine author of N e e d l e p r i n t for posting about this. 

Second of all... oh my freaking goodness.

"Blue Lotus Flower" from Art of Silk

Forgive my nutty summary of the whole shebang (I'm too busy flipping out to be able to manage significant higher cognitive function), so here's the watered down version:

This guy: Christopher Leung  went to China way back when (more like a few years ago, but you get my point) and discovered Su Embroidery (see above example O_O). He's like some super computer guy (I'm sure that's the technical term, coming from a computer family myself), so he started this company where they take hand designed and stitched works of silk embroidery art by super crazy master embroiderers and recreate them perfectly (I mean freaking perfectly) with machines. The point? Making beautiful silk art affordable.

This video does a better job of explaining than I do:

O_O

What could've been...

I've decided to scrap Trumpet.

If you recall, I brought out Trumpet to see how tatting thread would work in needle lace (especially since my eyes suck), this being before my dad brought back a magnifier from Dallas--I used scraps, hence the different colors.

I hate to admit it, but this was one of those that you absolutely dread working on that eventually end up causing a shudder to go down your spine whenever you look at it.

The thicker thread, which was great for visibility ended up making it harder to fill in small places, to get into tight places, etc., etc.... 

So I decided that it was time to lay Trumpet aside.

Speaking of which, I've decided to start a slideshow of all the projects that have either fallen off the map, I've grown to despise, or I've otherwise discontinued working on.

I shall call it: Rest in Pieces (RIP vs. WIP)

First up--This sorry fellow:

I was feeling it, I was really feeling it... and then I wasn't. 

The next thing I knew, it started curving -- but wait, I could try to use it on a Christmas ornament! 

But then it wasn't curving enough. 

*sigh* 

But his memory shall live on! 

He's since been scrapped, and his thread reharvested for use in Scrappy.

^_^

...............

I'm so sorry to hear that Jan Stawacz recently passed away.

God bless and rest in peace! 

Look who's back!

Scrappy! 

It's been a long time since I've pulled out Scrappy. Though, I'll admit, it's been on my mind for a while. 

Finally, though, this weekend I realized that I had enough scraps left over from other projects to--quite possibly--come up with two or three rounds this time instead of one. 

Funny thing about Scrappy, the fact that I have a "limited supply" of scraps has actually saved me from myself. I've been learning to appreciate the simple things so I don't go nuts and end up having to chop off a botched round.

I'm saving the crazy for the next round.

^_^

And look! I finally did something with Lotusness! 

Honest to goodness, I was so relieved this round turned out okay. I've been staring at this thing for what feels like months with nothing to show for it. 

I really want to make a doily out of this one... so now I just have figure out what to do next. >_<

^_^

So maybe not....

Though an infinity scarf it is not... I still think it's pretty neat ^_^

As it turns out, I bought the wrong kind of needles >_< According to the tutorial I found on YouTube, I needed circular needles with this super extremely crazy long cable whereas mine were what I'm assuming are your average standard size.

However, in my defense, they didn't even have the right kind of needles anyway... =/

But still! I'm guestimating that I'm about halfway done with this scarf (I'm just knitting with no predetermined amount of rows =S ) and then it's on to the grey!

^_^

Scarves and Evelyn ^_^

Essentially, I'm making my mom and I scarves--however, not just any scarves.

Infinity scarves.

I saw them on a blog a while ago... (sorry, can't remember which one) and since then have seriously wanted to make some.

So, behold! The supplies... 

At first, I thought they were the same kind of yarn... apparently not, but whoopdeedoo. The grey, (Soft) is softer than the red (Soft Yarn) but they're both still pretty nice. There's more red than grey by about oh... forty yards or so, but hopefully it'll be enough.

I'd also like to point out that these are my very first circular needles ever.

Also...

I'm almost halfway done!

^_^

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOO HOO!!!!

5000 PAGE VIEWS!!!

^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ 

Daisy Daisy Daisy

Now I can say that I've actually done something.

^_^

Super Speedy Daisy and Evelyn ^_^

So, all in all, not too much progress...but still something ^_^

School...

I'm almost done with high school--this is essentially epic because I started high school allover again online when I was 16.

I'm sooo close, I can feel it already--so please forgive me for not having posted anything lately!  

I have worked on Daisy a little bit, and on the pattern for Evelyn's Doily.

(yes, there's gonna be a pattern O_O)

Aside from that, not much else has happened here on lace (making) adventures...

*sigh*... >_<

Ah... clothespins ^_^

For those of you who don't know yet, I live in Cancun--way way way way south of the border in the tropics. The seasons are a little different here, but one thing for sure is that come September (and by now practically October) things are still pretty hot and muggy--emphasis on the muggy thanks to Hurricane season. 

Though we never get really cold whether, a drawback (kinda serious if you have breathing problems and a textile oriented hobby like someone I know...) is a giant petri dish for various forms of mold and mildew. 

Thanks to Lysol, I can keep it at bay but there are times, like now, when drastic measures must be taken. 

My mom suggested this after I spent two days trying to air out that foul smelling piece of canvas. The blinds have a little chord that you pull to rotate them or pull them across the window, so I figured, what the hey? 

I think it's working. I gave it a test sniff earlier today and the smell has gone down considerably. 

And yes, those are hot wheels. 

^_^

Meet Daisy

Daisy here came to be while working on a certain other pattern. At first, I thought I'd add some more rounds to it and make it a more complicated repeatable--but then I thought, well heck, it's already like two inches across! 

Also, Duna's been hobbled.

Right now, there is a very strong chance that this is as far as it goes. The other rounds just didn't do it for me
-_-

But I like it better this way! 

^_^

New background ^_^

As you can see, I have a new background. Originally, though, it was in a different color (mostly different shades of orange/peach-ish on a light grey background) but I didn't really feel it so I went the less-is-more route and so far I like it waaay better. 

^_^

I reiterate: Oh, to be perfectly organized!

The good thing is that I finally seem to be waking up a little. Here in Cancun, we've been having a lot of rainstorms and heavy cloud cover vs. the bright scalding sunshine we normally have and I'm pretty sure that it's having at least a small effect on my energy levels. 

Anywho, the good thing was that over the weekend I took advantage of the fact that I had an excuse not to do anything else and actually did something! 

First of all, I did get a little bit of work done on Le Masterpiece.

At first, I was enjoying the relief that came from doing the wheels instead of constant corded brussels (this was before I got the magnifier ^_^), but now I can't wait to go one to the next step--muahahaha!

And then I went a little crazy on Doodleplex.

Now I'm seriously happy that I decided not to try to make it symmetrical in true doodle fashion...because I'd be blowing a gasket right now.

Here (hopefully) you can see what I was trying to go for. I used different colors for the french knots to see if I could get a sort of gradient affect...but I decided that it was approaching overkill (if not already there) and went on to the next thing--a questionable satin stitch archy thing. 

The thing is that... apparently... it's recommended to go about doing padded satin stitch a slightly different way... but then again, how boring would life be if you didn't do things the hard way and give yourself a migraine? 

My point is that last night, while waiting for some caffeine to wear off at a certain hour of the night, I watched Mary Corbet's video on how to do a padded satin stitch.

I'll admit that things might've gone a little better if I'd watched it before... >_>

Anywho, during the same bout of insomnia, I decided to take a shot at some interlocking rings and chains with my brand spanking new tatting needles. 

I must say, I think it went along swimmingly before I got completely frustrated and decided to try it again when it wasn't closer to sunrise than sunset.

^_^

Another Milestone!

Tonight, I checked my stats--and I've reached 4000 page views! 

Wooooo! 

(3 slideshows) So... I came up with my own needle tatting techniques... i think

I say I think because for all I know, they're already out there and I just haven't found them yet... and they probably are--but it'd be kinda cool to think otherwise, huh? ^_^

The first thing that kinda stumped me when it came to needle tatting was a way to do thrown off rings, or "floating rings". I remember seeing a video out there, but it had a result similar to mock rings with shuttles. 

I'm a little OCD sometimes, so... that kinda bugged me.

Therefore, I thought I might as well take a crack at figuring it out. 

Tada! Floating Rings (Thrown off rings) with with a smooth chain underneath!
(Click the little speech bubble button on the bottom left hand corner of the slideshow for the instructions in the comments)

As you may have noticed, making floating rings requires cutting the thread supply off from the ball... Now, in shuttle tatting, I don't have this problem because of the supply on the bobbin--so I hit the internet again. I found some good tutorials, but I still felt like seeing if there was a different way for variety's sake:

Adding thread to tatting with the magic thread trick!

And lastly, because it seriously bugged the biscuits out of me when I had a piece of thread left over on the needle afterwards, I give you: 

How to start tatting with a left over thread!

I have no idea if these techniques will work for you guys, but I sure hope they do!
All I know is I'm having fun over here.
^_^

Oh to be perfectly organized...

For lack of a better explanation, my time-management skills have, frankly, sucked massively for the past few days. 

Granted, it's been a little hectic down here. My dad left on a trip to and came back from Dallas in the space of about five days, rain storms have sapped me of energy, my dog got sick and I had to take him to the vet, more storms rolling in and we have to get prepped for them, had a midterm to turn in, yada yada yada...

Anywho, I have managed a little progress here and there.

First of all, I've finished the buttonholing on the inside of Le Masterpiece: 

I've also done a microscopic amount of work on Doodleplex (I'm talking like... three stitches, max).

No progress on trumpet -_- haven't exactly gotten around to trumpet for some reason. 

I think the most I've managed to do on any one project would have to be Evelyn's Doily. 

Oh! and I've been practicing my needle tatting. Unfortunately, though, I accidentally threw away most of the practices I'd made during a little cleaning incident =S but I do still have a couple!

I think I still need some practice.

^_^

Because: I'm nuts, and my dad and cousin are aweeesoommme!!!

First of all: look look look!!! 

You: Karla, is that what I think it is? 

Me: Yes, I dare say it is. 

TATTING NEEDLES AND A MAGNIFIER!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

First off, I'd like to give a shout out to my dad and my cousin, Sheriesse and say THANKS for schlepping out to Hobby Lobby during Labor Day weekend ^_^

Second: I can do needle lace without going blind now!!!!!! 

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

My dad brought these from Dallas (no tatting needles in cancun =( booo!) and I've even started practicing a little! 

^_^

***

And now... I'd like to announce... the LAST ROUND OF EVELYN'S DOILY!!!!

(Theme song from space odyssey 2001 plays in the background... lights dim)

 TA DA!!!

I've gotten a little farther since taking the picture, but this is basically proof that I'm absolutely nuts. Five bucks I"ll be moaning and groaning about it within a week or two.

But it's worth it.

^_^

Originally, though, it gave me a heart attack. The first side came out looking great, but when I got to the second side...

It turns out I had the stitch count wrong in about 3 places >_< 

But now that's all fixed and everything's looking great!

^_^

More progress!

I finally got started on the wheels! For me, this is more than fantastic because (aside from the fact that I'm farther along than I'd thought I'd be) it's sooooo much easier on my eyes! 

 Doodleplex is also coming along nicely. I'm hoping to start phasing in some softer colors, though. 

Microscopic progress on Trumpet, but progress nonetheless!

^_^

Doodleplex decision--Mega Projects

I have recently decide that I will make Doodleplex an ongoing mega project that may or may not take years to complete--covering that entire piece of canvas (and it's big...ish)

As such, I am now (or soon) going to create a page entitled "mega projects" that will include large projects of the needle lace/tatting/bobbin lace/embroidery and any other craft variety that I choose to undertake in the future. 

^_^

Hee Hee ^_^

Slow and steady, but I'm getting there!! 

I expect that I might be done some time before 2020--but that has yet to be seen. 

Also, more doodleplex!!

You may not be able to see, but I've decided to branch out from the chain stitch and have now tried both french knots (the light blue dots)  and satin stitch (the red archy things). 

For the archy things on the left side, I tried them normally without padding. Thanks to one of Mary Corbet's recent posts about splitting floss, I got the idea to combine several strands of sewing thread to "make" embroidery floss. I used two strands for the one on the bottom left, and four for the rest. 

On the left-hand side, I took a shot at "padding" and found it way easier.

What I like about Doodlplex is, since it's just a massive embroidery doodle, I don't have to worry about it being too perfect or symmetrical as that would defeat the purpose.

I like that. A lot.

^_^

More Doodleplex

Call me biased, but I like it. 

^_^

doodleplex

Ever since I posted about tambour beading, I've had embroidery stuck in my head. 

Now, granted, I don't have an embroidery hoop or any of those fancy tools, but I do have a lot of thread. 

I give you: Doodleplex

It's nothing super fantastic or uber symmetrical, but I figure it'll be a good project to whip out every time I get that embroidery itch. 

My plan of action is to essentially draw random shapes and lines spiraling outwards until the entire piece of canvas is filled (It's a big piece of canvas, so it'll take a while). My hopes are that it'll end up looking like one of those doodles you draw in the back of your notebook during a boring class that looks like some sort of massive... thing by the end of the year.

^_^

Woooooo! R5 Done!

Because that's just how I roll.

Now, I just have to figure out if I leave it as is, or add another round. 

I might even still scrap this round. o_0

Opinions? 

^_^

^_^

I don't really have much to say about these guys, other than: check it out!

As you can see, I'm almost done with this round of Evelyn's Doily--and to be honest, I think it might be the last one. 

O.O

Yay for lotusness! 

^_^

O.O Tambour Beading O.O

About a year ago, maybe longer, before I quit needle lace, I frequented a bead shop in downtown Cancun. While there, I showed a few pieces of needle lace that I'd made to the owner (people get really chatty and share lots of info here haha) and she told me that she saw people doing the same kind of thing in some French movie that I could find on YouTube.

So, I looked up said French movie, called A Common Thread in English (Brodeuses, in French) about a pregnant girl who starts working for a woman who does embroidery for fashion designers, and I saw the most bizarre technique that stuck with me for a while.

Oh, and before I forget, there wasn't any needle lace anywhere in it =P

Anywho, back to the bizarre technique.

They had this huge embroidery frame stretched out (and I mean huge)--it's the second one shown in the video, even though the whole video's about tambour beading--and they were poking at it over and over again to make this huge pattern.

Here's what I mean:



The whole movie was really cool because they had a lot of really pretty embroidery, and the video I saw had subtitles in Spanish, so I thankfully could understand the storyline and such--but if I'm being honest with myself, I was more there for the embroidery.

My point is that I didn't know what that technique was, and despite googling myself into a wall I couldn't find it.

Since then, I've seen a sprinkling of youtube videos showing the same technique, but under different names that yielded nothing in google--at all. And then yesterday, I found a video by a professor at the University of Kentucky while I was looking at another video on tambour beading (even though at this point, I still didn't know that's what it was called).

And voila!

I feel like a cat that finally caught that little squiggly dot of light =D

In the few hours since them I've gone on a crazy mad nutty hunt trying to find pictures and info--I even started a pinterest board.

^_^ 

So far, so good

^_^

My progress thus far

Essentially, my plan had been to either tat/study all day today.

Neither got done--and I'll tell you why.

About a week ago, my iTunes decided that it would be a fantastic idea to go absolutely ballistic and:

1. Switch around the names of all of my songs
2. Refuse to organize them by any category other than genre

So, me, being a fabulous mix of: worry wart, chicken, mildly more computer proficient than average, stubborn as he** and seriously pissed off, decided that I'd figure out how to fix it and be on my merry way. 

Long story short, I reinstalled iTunes--twice, moved about 70% of my songs to my cloud drive (sans cloud control panel since my poor little first gen iphone is too old to have it), leaving the rest because I decided last minute that it would be better to just backup the library and so on. Finally, after the second reinstall, I decided to try to create a new library.

That worked, but the problem is that while it gave me access to those songs on my cloud drive, I now had to sift through my back up to figure out which songs I had missing. 

I just finished, and it's almost 1:30 in the morning. 

-_-

Good thing is that as far as I know, all is merry and well!  

^_^

So...

I got over it. 

After taking a good, long and hard look at it, I've decided to keep on with this round of Evelyn's Doily.

^_^

Okay, see here's what I'm going to do.

I did this with duna (btw, I'm probably gonna scrap that last round, too), and I'm gonna give it a shot with Evelyn's doily. 

Since I still have enough room left on the round to leave me more than a few repetitions of the "motifs", I'm going to cut the shuttles off (leaving enough thread to connect back onto, of course) and start working on the next repetition with a whole new design. 

If it doesn't work, I can just reconnect with the original version. 

If it does work, I'll scrap the original version, and try to do my best to save as much of the thread (a considerable amount, mind you) that has already gone into the round. 

Hopefully, I'll have pictures of it by saturday. 

^_^

Return of the needle lace?

So, a while ago I found that big piece of canvas that I used to practice my needle lace stitches on. (Yay!). At first, I was like "eh" -- I'd given up needle lace, right?

Enter a topic of my last few posts: needle lace with tatting thread 0.o

Before embarking on any sort of project, I decided to give the ol' stitch sample routine a try.

Not too bad, huh? 

As you guys know, my eyes aren't exactly the best on the market--which means that I was very happy to see how much larger the stitches are with tatting thread. 

I can actually see them! 

To give you guys an example of what I mean, observe: 

There's a little bit of a difference, if I do say so myself. 

The second sample (on the left) is in Gutermann #50 thread, and it has the same number of rows as my #30 Omega tatting thread.

O.O

Bolstered by these results, I decided to whip out one of my old (and barely started) needle lace projects. It only had the outline, so it wasn't too hard to rip out and redo. 

I'd like to point out that I'm using the scraps from my previous tatting projects, so this will probably end up looking like a hungover rainbow. 

^_^