45 Years Later I Caught On

When I was about 12 or so my maternal grandmother attempted to teach me tatting with a shuttle. After an afternoon of me creating nothing but immovable knots we both gave up in frustration. Fast forward 45 years and something finally "clicked" and I got it! I credit the wonders YouTube and modern technology for finally bringing instruction that I could watch over and over until I understood that oh so important "magic trick" for flipping the stitches. It's the very first thing you have to learn and it is the stumbling block that prevents many beginners from ever going any further.

Perhaps you are wondering whatever made me try again, so many decades later? Chalk it up to not being able to pass up a freebie. Dover publications offered to send a new publication, "Tatting with Anne Orr", free of charge, in hopes that I would do a book review. I don't accept all such offers, only the ones that interest me and might interest my blog readers. This one interested me since I inherited my grandmother's bone tatting shuttle. 

The publication arrived and looked great, but I couldn't find Grandma's shuttle! I had promised to do the review though so I borrowed a shuttle. Within a day I was addicted and ordered a pack of plastic Clover brand shuttles of my own.

How was the book? It's a great pattern book, but not one to learn by. Really, to learn tatting you really need either one on one instruction or a series of great videos like I linked to above. Once you learn tatting though, this is a wonderful book containing over 50 edgings, 40 medallions, collars and yokes, doilies and more. 

I've started a little reference file for myself by making 3x5 sample cards. The intent is to eventually do a 5" sample of all 50 edgings. 

Not all of the edging instructions are perfect though. This one needs adjusting or,

worked as written, it curves into a medallion rather than forming a straight edging as pictured in the book. I have found that several of the edgings have been photographed face down too, so that the photograph is going in the opposite direction to what you will be working. Very confusing!

The other book in the photo, "New Tatting", by Tomoko Morimoto, is one that I purchased. It's got great, clear instructional photos, including help with that infamous "flip" that is so important. I'm not impressed though with the admonition to finish off by GLUING the ends! Seems sacrilege to me! Grandma would have been appalled. I'll continue to neatly and invisibly sew the ends in thank you very much.

Once I had the basics down I wanted to try patterns that had more advanced techniques Some required learning split rings. Seemed daunting at first, but once again with those YouTube videos I was able to figure them out. 

The next challenge was to learn to add beads. The video I watched mentioned using "strivers" made of paperclips to hold the beaded picots in position for later joining.

It took some wise advice from a Ravelry forum member to clue me in that I didn't need to leave the strivers in place. They are just needed until the picot is measured accurately, then can be removed. D'oh. Well, working without all those dangling paperclips sure makes it easier!

Now that I'm addicted to yet another fibre related hobby I, of course, craved some quality equipment. Luckily this hobby does not require nearly the expense or storage space of my weaving addiction.



I ordered these handmade beauties from David Reed Smith. They are, from left to right, 2.25" brass tipped shuttles in East Indian Rosewood, Figured Walnut, and Pommele Bubinga. The device at the bottom is a "reversible hook" in Kingwood.

I SO love having quality handmade tools. These are FANTASTIC!!

PS: All links are provided for your convenience. I receive no compensation for your "clicks".

The Lego Animation Book

My nine year old granddaughter, Kaylen, has been enjoying LEGO bricks for years now. She doesn't really "play" with them. She's more into the building aspect. In the last year or so both she and her younger sister, Kenzie, have also started to use iPhone and iPad to do some story line type photography using dolls in dioramas. 

When No Starch Press contacted me asking if I would be interested in doing a review of a new LEGO animation book I jumped at the chance. This sounded like something that would interest my granddaughters and I could pass the book on to them!

After spending an evening looking through the book from cover to cover Kaylen gave the publication a thumbs up. She reported that it had lots of interesting things she would like to try and she was even able to describe some of the less involved techniques in her own words, which indicates to me that she understood what she had read.

Kaylen did mention being a little disappointed that the book did not give her a step by step walk through with all the photo-steps necessary for a complete beginning to end story, but we had a chat about that. She agreed that part of the fun was telling your own story, not just recreating someone else's idea.

My opinion of the book? I think it might be of more value for a teenager or adult interested in using LEGO bricks to practice stop animation photography. The text is necessarily involved but it's very wordiness tends to cause a child of Kaylen's age to glaze over. I think she was mostly interested in the pictures and only read the instructions for the more basic concepts or those she found particularly intriguing. 

I provide the occasional book review solely for the interest of my readers. The links I provide are for your convenience only and I receive no compensation other than a free copy of the book I am reviewing.  I am under no obligation to publish only "good" reviews and I report as I see fit. 

If You Crochet

Crochet is one of many textile related hobbies of mine. Recently I received "Indispensable Stitch Collection for Crocheters" by Melissa Leapman for review.

This collection of 200 stitch patterns is a great resource for those who are already comfortable with crocheting and would like to add variety to their favourite tried and true patterns with some new stitch options. 

Each stitch pattern is represented by both written directions and a universal stitch diagram. I really like this format. I find that, when I'm first learning a new stitch pattern, written directions are the most reassuring, but once I've worked through a stitch pattern once it is easiest to follow along with just quick glances at a stitch diagram. This book provides very clear directions in both formats. The handy reference guide at the back of the book also shows detailed how-tos for each stitch variation, from the most basic to very advanced.

Although I received this book free for the purpose of writing a reveiw, no other compensation has been given and I receive no commission if you decide to make a purchase based on my review.

Fiber Arts with Kids

A while back (shamefully long ago) I received, for review, a book by Laurie Carlson. It's full of great little fibre arts projects to create and explore with kids age 9 and up.

My initial response was very favourable. There are fun sections on spinning, dyeing, weaving, knitting, crochet, and braiding. It wasn't long and I had chosen a project to do with my 9 year old granddaughter.

She had great fun creating what was meant to be a woven cup basket. I don't think she ever fully finished it though. The instructions for finishing it off were a little vague. And with this we come to one of the difficulties with this publication.

There has been an attempt in this book to cover numerous different crafts. Even though it is a substantial book of 148 pages that is not nearly enough to adequately teach that many crafts! For instance there are only 6 pages dedicated to learning the rather intricate craft of knitting. Of those six pages one is a description of how to make your own knitting needles. More space is taken up by a paragraph or two of knitting history. I'm a very experienced knitter and I can tell you that I never could have learned to knit with the vague, brief instructions written here. I don't think any adult could, let alone a child. The same brief coverage is seen for all of the other projects, and yet ---- 6 pages of text were used to describe various fibres.

The other problem I see is the lack of child appeal in the way the projects are presented. The only colour is seen on the cover. All of the projects within the pages are represented by simple, black and white line drawings, as seen above. There is no wow factor to draw a child in! Let's face it, books and crafts have some pretty tough competition these days! Kids have the world of the internet, television, and video games at their fingertips. A wall of text and simple, colourless line drawings just cannot compete. Even the 2 pages dedicated to the colour wheel are done in very boring to the eye black and white line drawings. 

Does this mean I think the book is a total loss? No. There are plenty of simple projects to keep a child busy during those long summer months --- if you can pull them away from the technological distractions long enough to engage them in using their hands to create something. Don't expect to hand an enthusiastic child the book and have them learn a craft on their own though. There will definitely have to be lots of additional instruction given by an adult already experienced with each craft, and for most of the crafts, access to supplemental material, such as YouTube's instructional videos. 

I don't recommend this book for the target group, which is supposed to be children ages 9 and up. I would, however, give a guarded approval of the publication as a resource for adults interested in teaching children fibre arts. As a source for small project ideas to create with children it has merit. I could see camp councilors and youth group leaders keeping it as an inspiration and reference book.