Improvisational tatting and Red Hat!

I know that I'm not old enough for the Red Hat crowd, but I was drawn to the red and purple tones for this batch!  Which I have named Red Hat.

I really like how this batch came out.  This is more what I was trying for with the Blue Tango, but I went too far by adding the blue.  

This little motif I just kind of tatted on a whim.  I wanted to show off the thread but didn't know what pattern to go with.  The center round was inspired by Jane Eborall's style with the split rings.

And then I just kind of winged it from there, utilizing what I learned from Mary Maynard's Tatting a 4 Square.  If you haven't noticed, it's one of my favorite tatting books.  

That being said, all the stitch counts between all the picots are 4, so you could probably figure out the pattern, just by the picture.  Heck!  Maybe one of you will come up with a 4th round for it, staying within the same (4-4) fashion. 

Is that a challenge.... Possibly!

Oh, and I paired the Red Hat with Lizbeth's Seagreen Light, on the third round in case anyone wants to know. :o)

Hand Washing a Tatted Doily

Recently, God's Kid discovered that one of my colorways (Queen Anthias) was bleeding color when she went to block it.
This of course caused concern on my part of many levels.  1st a business related level, I would hate to be selling something that wasn't top notch.  2nd a personal level, I am currently tatting a doily that I hope will be an heirloom, as it is going to be a wedding present and it has some dark pink thread in it, used with the exact same dyes that were bleeding on God's Kid's bookmark.

I fretted over this tremendously as I formulated a battle plan.  I considered cutting the whole section out and replacing it with another thread.  But, I said.. "No!"  I must have faith in my own product enough to carry this thing out and then wash it.  So, that's what I did!

Here is the doily, which may be finished at this point, I don't know, before washing.

And a close up of the row in question.

So, I started by prepping the area.  I picked up some Shout Color Catchers for a little added measure, I put two of them at the bottom of my "washing tub" (rubbermaid container) and I had the Dawn nearby.

I filled the tub with hot, but not boiling, in fact, I could have gone hotter.  This tub is pretty shallow, so the water cooled off faster than I would have liked.  It started out uncomfortable to the touch though.  I went ahead poured plenty of Dawn in the water (hence the suds)

Plopped in the doily

And because I was being obsessive.... threw in 2 more color catchers... lol

But... the color catchers didn't get a chance to pick up any loose dyes.  Which is about the point that I really regretted wasting all those sheets of color catchers. 

Then I poured off the water..

Rinsed it off and spotted it dry on a paper towel

The paper towel was clean as well.

So, my conclusion is that if you have one of my earlier colorways, to maybe use some color catchers when you wash them.  Or, use them anyway as a precaution.  

I think my method of cleaning the thread has probally gotten better as a whole which is why this one didn't bleed and the Queen Anthias did.  The scientist in me knows though that it could be a great many things.  We tend to have soft water, so I have no way of testing how the dyes hold up in harder water.  

This is something I would really like to know though.  

Also, feel free to comment with your suggestions on either how you wash your tatting, or ways that I can continue to test the colorfastness of my own.

Thanks!

<3

OH!! And thank you so much to Martha for helping me out by sending me the Silver thread I needed to finish up on the silver row on the doily!  You were a life saver!

I did eventually find the silver thread.... 

Apparently Layla had knocked it unto the floor and then proceeded to play with it under the coffee table lol.

AND!

Another big thank you to Ladytats for the Rhubarb!

I can know say that I baked a pie and had rhubarb pie, both of which I am really excited about!

Rhubarb pie

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Anyone want to send me some silver??

I'm working on the "Wedding doily"

And I'm about to run out of the silver on my shuttle and I can't find the ball anywhere.  

Does anyone out there have some Lizbeth size 40 silver that they wouldn't mind trading some yardage for an equal amount yardage of one of my other solids?  Or even one of my HDTs?

I really only need a few yards.  At least 5 yards just to be safe. 

I would prefer to trade with someone domestically since I'm getting anxious to get this thing done.  Of course, I could search the house for my silver ball, but I don't want this doily turn in to one of those doilies that lies around unfinished for whatever reason. You know what I mean?

Thanks!  I'll take the first offer I get!

Back from Myrtle Beach!

 Whew!  Myrtle Beach was a blast!  I really did not want to leave!  But, I am glad to be back!

I didn't get any tatting done on the beach, but I did take quite a few pictures!

Livi's first view of the ocean and she loved it!

We made a squirrel friend at Barefoot Landing!

We went out for seafood.... and this series of pictures came about:

Chris went for a classy shot beside a lobster topped truck.

I followed with getting my head stuck in said lobster truck.

And, my "baby brother" got a good butt pinching!

My "little brother" (he's older than baby brother) found this cool crab!

This is Livi with her cousin Dylan.  This trip was their first time to meet and I haven't seen Dylan since he was just a baby.  Dylan has autism so, we weren't sure how he and Livi would get along.  But, they ended up being best buddies and Dylan keeps asking when he'll get to play with Livi again!  Isn't that sweet?  Too bad he lives too far away for us to be to see them often. :o(

But, on ward with the pictures!

My goofy girl with my big (half) brother in the background!

Me! Enjoying the beach!

We also visited Ripley's Aquarium which was so much fun!

They have this one tank with a tunnel going through it so that the fish can swim all around you.

This is a shark swimming over my head.... AWESOME!!

Livi and Dylan held hands for most of the visit!  

Livi liked looking at the horseshoe crabs, but she wasn't too keen to actually touching them.

She did almost get head bit off by a shark though!  That was a close call!

Her favorite may have been that she got to see a real live mermaid!  She LOVED the mermaids!  In fact, she collected a bunch of shells that she intends to make them a hair barrette with since they are stuck at the aquarium!

Livi and Dylan show off their toys and take one last photo before Dylan had to go back home.  They were only able to stay for a couple of days. 

Livi loves her "Uncle Me", my little brother.  She loves "Uncle Wa" as well, but he lives with us so she sees him all the time. But here I think Uncle Me was teaching her how to play Plants vs Zombies.  (GREAT! lol) 

Livi REALLY loved the pool!

She really didn't loved waiting on someone to take her to the pool!

We did a little miniature golf as well.  

AND we made it to the Skywheel!  It was so much fun!

Chris and Livi, ready for take off!

The view was wondeful!

Then, at Ripley's Believe it or Not:

Livi took a photo with Optimus Prime, who is made completely out of car parts.  Chris liked him particularly.

Livi really misses Toodles! She's been complaining for quite some time now about needing a dog.  So, she was quite taken with this dog that made out of nuts and bolts.

On the way back home, we made a little detour to visit my brother and Dylan.  Dylan had been wanting to see more of Livi!

My Mom, Livi, my dad and Dylan

Dylan said Livi had soft warm hair.  He kept petting her for about the entire we were there!

Chris got to fire this old gun of my brothers.  It takes forever to load or he probably would have taken more shots.  This was a very heavy gun, which meant there was virtually no kick back.  Chris was impressed!

It left quite a hole!

So, now that we are back, I finally finished the raspberry round of the doily I'm working on and another round.  This one is cream and daffodil.  

Well, I hope you enjoyed that synopsis of my little trip!

To kick things back off in the shop I've reactivated the "freeshipping" coupon.  I plan to leave it up for a few days!  Like before, all I ask is if you are international, that you spend at least $14 to use the coupon.  :o)