Motif 8: Button bookmark

I wasn't able to completely give up the colour, but I did tone it down a little. This is Jane Eborall's elegant bookmark with buttons, done in DMC cebelia 20. Personally, I think it's much pretty to hide away inside a book.

The overlapping bits had me a bit worried, but it was a surprisingly restful project. The only problem was loss of portability. I had to sit a table so I could rest my shuttles on it. If I didn't I ended up with an impressive tangle.

It's a good think I like to untangle things. It was one of the first crafty things my mother let me do. She'd let me play with her knitting things and as punishment/reward, I'd get to untangle the resulting mess.

Motif 7: Unintended colour study

The plan was to make one doily, in one variegated colour. I was having ...umm... dye lot issues. So there was a change of plan, and now there are two doilies. This is the Scalloped doily from 'The Tatter's Treasure Chest', done a piebald selection of hand-dyed and store-bought unidentifiable perle 8.

I'm not sure whether or not I like these. I've been admiring the beautiful colourful tatting on other people's blogs, which is why I wanted to make some for myself. Now that I have them, some part of me can't help thinking 'lace should be white'!

Motif 6: Puffy flowers

I finished the latest of these a few months ago and forgot all about it. They're perfect for keeping my hands busy while I wait for downloads and other annoying computer things.

The one in the lower left corner is the Carnation Boutonniere from 'The Tatter's Treasure Chest', done with DMC 80 . The others are all variations on the design, done with unidentifiable crochet cotton from my local craft shop.


Here's one I made last year, made up as a hair comb for my sister-in-law. I'll probably do the same thing to the others, but as barrettes. The comb works great for my sister-in-law's lovely, bouncy curls. I have stick straight hair; I need a barrette.


I have an urge to make a baby bonnet. It's an illogical urge, since my kids (and all my friends' kids) are long past babyhood. Oh well, if I were being logical, I wouldn't be making knots in thread. Does anyone have any pattern suggestions?

Magic thread trick

I read about using floss threaders on Jon Yusoff's blog (also in Crazy Mom Tats) . I was so excited when I found some at a local pharmacy. Unfortunately, it didn't work well with my current project. Maybe the perle 8 was too thin and squishy. Maybe I had the wrong brand.

Anyway, it did get me thinking about other things to use for the magic thread trick. Here are two that I'm trying.


The one with a circle on the end is a needle threader. I've read about using them in other places (Teri Dusenbury's blog and as a tool here). The longer one is a twisted wire needle (used for beading). The eye is collapsible, so it pulls through very easily. As long as I keep my stitches loose, it works great.