Motif Five -- Maple Leaves

For another "Exercise Your Stash Challenge", here is a fairly new spool of thread, but still one I had forgotten about. This is YLI Long Staple Cotton. I first became acquainted with this type thread at the local quilt shop, back when variegated threads were hard (for me) to find. This is a fine thread, both in terms of size and quality. I would guesstimate this to be similar to a size 60 thread. If you find YLI thread, look carefully at the label on the bottom, since they make other threads, polyester and rayon, on similar looking spools.



Anyway, I came across this YLI spool in the vendor room at Palmetto in 2008. I thought this was a pretty green/gold/tan colorway. It wasn't until later that it hit me....Ayup, this is camoflage! (Well, next time I need to make a bookmark for a guy, I'm all set.) Since it made me think of leaves when I bought it, I dug out a leaf pattern. This is the Maple Leaf Motif from the Feb 1975 Workbasket as modified by Tammy Rodgers as modified a little more by me. This thread is a joy, just as nice as I remembered. I just need to remember to use it more often.







Here is the same motif worked with vintage Clark's O.N.T. Brilliant, which seems to be pearl cotton. It came from ebay. We used to search out vintage thread to get color variety, before our new Golden Age of Thread with all the new threads at Handy Hands plus all the gorgeous HDT from all our favorite dyers. With vintage threads, check carefully for dirt. Then work a ring or two to make sure it's not too brittle to use. If it passes those tests, then enjoy!

Motif Four--Slippery Heart

Here is another entry for my "Exercise Your Stash Challenge". This is a large ball which looks like it lost its label long ago. Judging by the texture, I suppose it may be rayon. I got it from Sherry, who was about to put it on the free stuff table at Hector one year.

I don't recommend tatting with slippery slithery threads, but you may find yourself tempted (Oooh, shiny! shiny!) She didn't like it enough to keep it, but I liked the pink and purple shades.

When working with slippery thread consider:
1) Choose a small project because you will get sick of it.
2) Choose a motif with few decorative picots, because the tatting will tend to loosen up and absorb the picots. Tatting tightly helps a little. After you are finished, take a hook and pull all the picots back into shape.
3) While working, double check rings before proceeding to the next element. The thread will want to relax and let rings open just a little bit, so give them one more tug before moving on.
4) Avoid Josephine rings. I'm not sure if this goes for all rayon threads, but this one got twisty and cantankerous.
5) Leave extra long tails for sewing in because the thread will likely fray at the ends. I hardly every tie and glue, but I suspect rayon threads might not stay glued.
6) The better the quality the thread, the easier it will be to tat with. (Well obviously...) I seem to remember YLI Pearl Crown Rayon being more user friendly.



For my project, I chose Peaceable Heart from Make Many Merrily by Karey Solomon. This is a very nice pattern worked all in one pass thanks to the use of split rings. Working with the thread was a bit of a pain in the butt for all the reasons above, plus the plies wanted to separate, and then both my magic threads broke and it was hard to cleanly sew in the ends.

But in the end I had a serviceable heart, and I do like the shiny pink and purple. I guess I'll keep that ball.

Motif Four and a Challenge

My closet in my new apartment has room to add another storage drawer unit (those cheap Sterilite ones) so this weekend I was able to reorganize my thread. Well! I had more thread than I thought I did. I had thread I had forgotten about. I can't say I had any that I didn't recognize, but some of it went a long way down memory lane.

I started to make a new resolution for using the thread, but then I decided to make it a challenge for everyone. I call this challenge: "Exercise Your Stash". Do you have a ball/skein with just a little bit left? Use it up! Do you have some exotic type thread you brought home and put in a drawer and never picked up again? Wind some on your shuttles and take it for a test drive! Then show everyone your work. If it was an out of the ordinary thread, tell how it worked out. This should be fun.

If you prefer, another version of the challenge could be "Exercise Your Library". How many tatting books do you own that you have never worked a pattern from?

To start off, I found a little wad of Caron Wildflowers, a little more than four yards. This thread is a little like a matte finish perle cotton and little like HDT. Back when variegated tatting thread was hard to come by, I would get some of this at the local yarn shop. I still do occasionally when the colors call out to me. The pattern is Spring Flowers Bookmark by Julie Patterson, available on the Ring of Tatters site. Edging style bookmarks are good for using up thread since you can make a strip and stop when the thread runs out. With tassel, this is six inches long, a bit petite, but good for a paperback. This is a nice easy pattern but still visually interesting.