Sunday, December 22, 2013

Making Tatting Go Faster, Reading While Tatting




This is the December Motif by Frivole.  She has many excellent snowflake patterns, some for sale and some for free.  This is probably the simplest one.  Sorry it's such a poor scan.

I needed to make a lot of snowflakes for gifts, so I looked for strategies to make the work go quickly.

First, I chose a pattern pretty enough to be interesting, but simple enough it wouldn't take too long.  

Next, I used a bead spinner to add a lot of beads to my ball of thread.  For each individual snowflake, I only had to count out the number of beads I needed and wind the shuttles, pushing the extra beads further up on the ball.  I measured the amount of thread on each shuttle for the first snowflake, and then knew just how much to wind on for each of the rest.

And then to make the working feel like it was going by quickly, I used my new favorite activity, reading while tatting.  Well, not exactly reading, but listening to audiobooks.  It's a lovely way to do 2 things at once.  Don't audiobooks cost a lot, you may ask? Not necessarily!  I discovered that I can borrow them with free downloads from the library without even leaving home.  I use the North Carolina Digital Library.  Check with your local public library to see if you can get them too.

10 comments:

  1. Very nice! I really like the look of the many colored beads instead of just one bugle bead. Gives it a nice pop! Listening to audiobooks is what I do too. I can't watch t.v. while tatting, so audiobooks are a nice way to keep the brain entertained.

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  2. Ah, I can imagine listening to a book while tatting, but not reading one! Good strategies for 'production' tatting. A bead spinner sounds a great idea.

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  3. Yes she does some lovely snowflakes, This is a lovely design and your beads look very colourful on the snowflake.
    Margaret

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  4. Hey that is beautiful and thank you for that like link I will try this because I can really get into reading and don't have 4 hands! also love the snowflake nice bead job! PS have your read the "Josephine B." books by Sandra Gulland, there is a set of three, and boy I put down my tatting for those!

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  5. I love the multi-colored beads, like the snowflake sparkling in the sun. What a brilliant idea to put all the beads for several snowflakes on the ball at once!

    I always either listen to audiobooks or watch movies while I tat. It does make it go faster, especially for repetitive motifs.

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  6. Aha, aha! My favourite trick! I have been downloading books for years and Mac is now more available in the library. For a long time you could only get PC audiobooks.

    Now, I am addicted to Netflicks and Doctor Who! Sure makes tatting a pleasure, but ensures a bit of in-tatting!

    Have a lovely Christmasm Martha.
    Fox : )

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  7. ps Love the beaded snowflake.

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  8. Nice snowflake. I like Frivole's patterns. They work up very well.
    My kindle will read to me which works really nice.

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  9. The snowflake looks great. Nice idea about listening to books while tatting. My problem is my husband is not into the same books I am!

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  10. I love this pattern, and I love to listen to audiobooks while I tat! :) It's fun to see what we tatters have in common! :) Beautiful snowflake! :)

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