Oversized Tatting

I've been getting back to my tatting now that my house is fully trimmed and all preparations for the holiday complete. It feels good to sit cross legged on my studio couch with movies playing on my laptop and just tat.


I had a little triumph yesterday. I picked up a pattern that I tried when I first started tatting. At the time, I had to set it aside realizing that I wasn't quite ready for it yet. So I decided to try it again and got through it without any trouble at all. It was such a good feeling! The pattern was for a tatted turtle and it's really cute. I forgot to take its picture, so I'll have to do that tomorrow. I'll come back and show you. The light is pretty bad for taking pictures today anyway.


So after my turtle triumph, I just started goofing around when I decided I wanted to make a giant tatting needle. I happen to be the weird sort of craft woman who just happens to have a vise set up and a drill plugged in, not to mention an assortment of wooden dowels handy. I started out with a 1/4" dowel. That's what I used for the green tatting in the photo above. I don't keep super bulky yarn around, so I had to twice double my yarn to make it thick. Even so, I decided my quarter inch needle was a little too giant.


Back to the drill I went, this time with a 3/16" dowel. I still had to layer up my yarn, but the width was much better. I sat down and tatted this chunky, asymmetrical necklace. I'm going to have to spin some super bulky yarn, because the hardest part of this project was working with four strings at once.


I have to say that oversized needle tatting is a little too much fun. It's amazing how fast the afternoon flew by. I always feel a bit guilty when I indulge in my hobbies all day. I guess I am on Christmas break and the kids seemed happy to have a chill day.


So before I go off and make a nice dinner so I can feel like a proper mom again, here's a couple more pics from my playtime:




Have a great night!