Saturday, October 22, 2011

More M's: Martha, Mrs. Mee and Murderous Mistakes


Oh, yes.  These are Mrs. Mee's pesky pearly picots that I learned to tat in Martha's new book - which is fantastic, by the way.  Lots of fun tatting in there, thanks to the creativity of Ms. Ess.

My attempt at the picots is certainly not stellar, but the overall effect can be clearly seen and I find it rather pleasing!  I was lazy and eye-balled the picots instead of using a gauge, ( which I can rarely spell either!) for I find them frustrating to use.

In this case, I should have.  Also it would have helped to have read the instructions straight through before beginning, as the picots should be a bit shorter; had they been, the end result would have been better.  Next time!

Un-tatting #16 Finca thread is absolutely crazy-making!  I thought I would go mad trying to get a couple of rings un-tatted, but the Tat-Pic was magnifique, and I got through it.  Love the thread though - a bit on the soft side, but  lovely to tat with.

Then I tried the broomstick lace technique.  Love it!  Thanks, Martha.  The next one I tat will be one of the bookmarks that employs this trick.  Very pretty and challenging, yet not a hopelessly difficult skill to achieve.


________A bit of a non sequitur_______  
I thought I had forgotten how to tat a 
single shuttle split ring and PANICKED!  
Yup, I got all shaky and everything! 
 Rushed to YouTube and 
found a video and... 
whew!


_______Then______

The Delica Bead Experiment
A couple of days ago I posted about my new Delica beads.  I received an e-mail from JaneE, who was good enough to caution me to check out the "washability" of my new sparklies, lest I ruin something inadvertently.  She said:
Sorry, but there is a risk with laundering delicas!!  I noticed when I bought some off ebay that there was a warning on the packets so looked it up and lo and behold they're right!!!  Not a great risk, probably but I'd certainly not use them on an item of clothing that has to be washed a lot.  Here's a link http://www.beadage.net/glossary/index.php?term=delica-beads
So, I performed a little experiment:


No damage to the beads, no leaking of colours and no staining on the cotton.  I am very relieved. It may be that certain other colours will bleed, or other types of Delicas might react differently, as there are a variety of other finishes.  I had never realized there was so much variety in Delicas till I ordered some.

One other thing: Delicas seem to be more brittle than other glass beads, due to the way they are manufactured; they are definitely finer, so they may not stand up to machine washing very well.

___________LASTLY_____________

12 comments:

  1. So pleased that the experiment showed that there are no problems with your delicas. Phewewwwwwww!!!

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  2. Thanks, Jane! Yes, mine seem to be okay, but I still am not convinced that all the other types would be as good. i suppose one has to test them before using to be sure.
    Fox : )

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  3. You know, I've never touched a picot gauge? As clumsy as I am, I'm afraid that it would do more harm than good to try and use one!

    I have one word about your hat .... Ingenious!

    Ok more than one... I absolutely love it... I want one!

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  4. I love your hat design, brilliant, your cross looks lovely and I like the pattern, I have to save up for the book, its on my list by it will have to wait for while as I am now looking for a job now I am well enough.
    Love the beads, glad they went through the wash OK.
    Margaret

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  5. The cross looks great and no I don't use a gauge for my picots, far to lazy to! Also find it fiddly, but perhaps it is necessary with this book. Look forward to making the cross though. Good news about the beads though

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  6. The cross turned out lovely, even without the gauges. I only use them with very, very long picots, well, sometimes I use them;) I really love the addition to the hat - very ingenious! Great job!

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  7. glad all turned out well with the beads, and your cross is very pretty, but I have to say, the hat is absolutely beautiful with the new stumpy hat band, it is the perfect choice for that hat, and the colors compliment it perfectly! excellent job!!!

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  8. Thanks so much for the bead washing tutorial! A good test.
    And, I agree that the hat band is fabulous!

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  9. I like your cross Fox. I don't usually use guages either as I find them fiddly. Wow on the hat band.
    I need to put Martha's book on my Christmas Wish List

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  10. Oooh, I really like how pretty that cross is! And your hat looks great! :)

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