The Other Random Walk

It strikes me that it would be useful to have a post of basic tatting information I can point anyone who's interested to. So....

Basic How to Tat Info:
http://personalpages.tds.net/~tatting/
http://www.tatting.net/techniques.html
http://www.georgiaseitz.com/

Online Tatting Class & Much More:
http://www.georgiaseitz.com/

Another Lots of Stuff Site:
http://www.e.n.e.btinternet.co.uk/

Places I Have Purchased From:
http://www.hhtatting.com/
http://www.ds9designs.com/index.shtml
http://www.tatsall.ca/tools.htm

Lists of Tatting Links Online, Some of Which Are Broken:
http://www.craftsitedirectory.com/tatting/index.html
http://m.webring.com/t/E-Tatters-Webring?sid=17
http://home.earthlink.net/~frmuse/alison/index.html
http://home.netcom.com/~ntrop/mimi/tatting.html
http://www.sandbenders.demon.co.uk/tatting.htm
http://www.tatting.de/dol/index.htm

Meme from saija:

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me. It will be about or tailored to those five lucky "victims."

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- what I create will be just for you.
- it'll be done this year
- you have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a poem or story. I may make something all craft-y like. I may cook you something and mail it to you - though probably only if you live on this side of the globe. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to put this in your journal as well, if you expect me to do something for you!

P.S. If I don't have your snail mail, you'll need to send it to me, so drop me a message.

(written in bits while waiting for my code to finish running)

The black-and-turquoise bag is into the sides now, thanks to U., who did the base for me. She forgot to bring something to work on for Sunday dinner, and was kind enough to work on the bag for me.

I also started R. & M.'s wedding sampler. It's little bits of color, and lots of backstitch. I use doublerunning stitch instead of backstitch most of the time, since I like it better. It's nice to embroider; I've been knitting more lately.

I "fixed" my sewing machine, which was upset about the tension difference between the bobbin and the main thread, and the two different types of thread, I think. I can finish some of my (long overdue) Christmas presents now. When I'm done with those, I may sew some clothing. I've picked up some Folkwear patterns I'd like to try out.

I'll be ordering from Nordic Needle sometime soon, probably. Hun broke one of my Q-snaps by accident, and I need the replacement parts. There are some other things they have that I'd like.

Book finished: Sunshine by Robin Mckinley. Reread. Good, but not having the place in my heart that her Damar books do.

(Gah! I just lost the post)

I've decided to do Thing-a-Day this year. Commit, for the month of February, to spend a half hour each day making something. I have a bunch of calligraphy stuff that I never use, and that is what I'll be doing. This means I have to clean off my desk (good!). It will be nice to make a large-ish commitment, and keep it.

Played Dragon Dice over the weekend with D. & J. Very fun. I need to get a few more dice to give myself more options with the dice I have, but I have a variety of dice (Thanks J. & M.!), and I expect to build the collection gradually. I'm playing with a coral elf and firewalker army right now, because I only have 2 dragons. I'm planning on acquiring a few more dragons, and terrains. I need to learn how to play, and not just dump money into, "Oh! Shiny! Must have!"

I just finished a red-and-black string bag for myself, which I had started a few days ago. Now for a turquoise and black one for D.

I don't fell like making anything that requires a gauge swatch at the moment.

Code is going ok, debugging is frustrating. Getting the right trend in the data, at least.

Tommy is sitting in a basket on the clean laundry.

So, I crocheted a bottle carrier for my liter Nalgene bottles.

I'm assuming you know how to join, then go up a round.

Using worsted weight cotton and an H hook:
Chain 20, join.
Single 20 around the chain, join.
Single crochet 2 in each of previous round. Join.
Single crochet around. Join.
Single crochet 2 in each of previous round. Join.

Circle up the side in spiral, using a size F hook. (I had 51 stitches around). Stop when it's the height you want it.

Chain 250 for the strap. Go back and forth 3 times to make it about an inch in width. End the crochet.

Opposite the place where the strap joins, attach the yarn, and crochet about 4 single crochet. Go back and forth until your loop is a nice length doubled over. Slip stitch it down to make the loop.

Tie the strap through the loop in order to adjust the length to your taste.

A nice one is here.

A nice absorbent coaster, which will not stick to the bottom of your tea mug and drop off, spilling tea all over your keyboard.

size G hook. Worsted weight cotton - lion cotton, or lily sugar 'n cream. Use the thicker end of worsted.

Chain 17. (15 plus 2 to turn)
Single crochet back and forth for about 18 rows, til you have a square.
Single crochet across one more row.

Crochet around the outside, putting 3 or 4 single crochets in the corners to turn.

So, I'm knitting a shrug using Caron yarn and pattern. It was too big, by a lot, and I didn't have enough yarn to finish it. I have now ripped back to the arm length I want, and I'm ignoring the desired back width. I can always do something like make the circular collar bigger, or pick up a panel and lengthen the back, I suppose. It's very exciting, because I have a mindless project to work on.

I have finished the chemises and skirts for the wedding on Saturday. Thank goodness!

I'm planning to use August to focus on the schoolwork much harder than I have been, catch up on already started projects, and clean and organize the house.

A friend wants to dress up steampunk later this year.

I said I'd help, as much as I can, so here are some helpful (I hope) links.

First, I'm not horribly clear on exactly what steampunk is. I am operating on the assumption that Victorian era clothing (1850-1901 ish) is what is needed. So:

The Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild (GBACG) has an online pattern review, which is a great reference for specific patterns, and for thee names of pattern companies.

In the big US patternmakers, you want to look under costumes, then Civil War and Victorian.
Here are the links to the costume pages:
http://simplicity.com/index.cfm?cat=4&type=19
http://www.mccallpattern.com/list/costumes/page-1
http://www.butterick.com/list/costumes/page-1

If you want either of these two blouses I'll give you may patterns, since I'm never going to make them.

Folkwear has lots of interesting patterns. I've never made one (though I own several), so I cannot advise you how easy they are to follow. They are generally full of lots of information, including historical stuff.