Tat It And See: Wednesday 9th February

Back to another grey dull day here in England.

First in today is Kay Lynn and Aonghas. This is what they have to say

"Dearest Jane,

Well, you've been tricky once again! Mom and I had to change our guesses again. And here I've been playing with my favorite dragon toy the whole time we've been making our guesses on this TIAS. Barney, my favorite purple Go Dog Dragon toy, helps me think....but he didn't reveal any secrets. Is he in cahoots with you? Well, Mom and I agree that this TIAS mystery looks like a dragon. Is it Puff, the Magic Dragon? I hope so, as I like him. Guess we'll see what the next day's TIAS segment reveals as we KNOW you won't tell us. Ha!

Love,

Aonghas and his momma, Kay Lynn"

Too right, I never tell til the last day!!!

Next into the inbox is Mary Ann who says

"Hi Jane. I haven’t had time for tatting these past few days, but I’m caught up now. I think we have a flyer in the making! Mary Ann "

Don't worry - no rules to say you HAVE to do anything in any given time slot!!! Thanks anyway for doing it.

Bev is next and she's hoping to please her grandson with what she thinks is going to be a dragon! I wonder!

"Hi Jane

In my first post I was hoping for a dinosaur. I think my three year old grandson will be happy with a dragon. How close is this!

Bev"

Next to arrive is Irene who says

"Hi Jane,

I have caught up now! This is fun! I loved doing the lock chain, it's a new one for me! I still think it's a dachshund.

Ready for Day 13!

Irene

West coast of Canada"

Lock chains are even prettier when you have two contrasting colours. They're a real favourite of mine!!!! Glad you learned something new too.

Carol is in next and this is what she has to say

"Hi Jane:
I still am guessing dragon.
Always, Carol in NW Indiana USA
blogging as Lelia at Stitches of Life II
https://lelia-stitchesoflife.blogspot.com/"

Patricia has now sent in Mary Anna's day 12 too.

Marina is next into the inbox and she says

"Good Evening Jane! I was days behind and finally caught up this evening. Its a shame when life gets in the way of tatting!

I initially thought the little critter was a seahorse, but maybe it's a little dragon or dinosaur? We shall see!

All the best,"

No problem with it being 'late' as there isn't a 'late' anyway!!!!

Madhur is next into the inbox and she says.

Once again I'm stumped in sending my day 11 as attachment to the mail.

So shared the picture on messenger. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience being caused.

I'm wondering why a few people have missed the instruction of "lock chain".

I see that the impact of lock chain is more prominent in the variegated version

Lots of love

Madhur

Jenni is back with her day 12 again. She missed the fact that this was a lock chain (along with quite a few others) but if anybody else has made that mistake it's not a huge problem. Just undo the last 15 doubles and change them to a lock chain. Instructions can be found here.

http://janeeborall.freeservers.com/LockChain.pdf

This is what Jenni said

"Not going to undo all of it. This thread will just shred!
Now I know what a lock chain is!!!

Jackie is back too with her amended day 12. Believe me, Jackie you're not the only one who missed it was a lock chain. In fact I went into total panic when I saw the first one done as a chain as I thought I'd put it wrong in the pattern!! I was relieved to see that it wasn't me and BC3!!!! Jackie says

"I must admit l was confused by your message and felt sure l had done lock joins and checked and they were ok. I checked your techniques page to see if l did them the same as you and l did.

Then it dawned on me that it was the chains that were wrong and not the joins!

Silly me. It all became clear that there was a reason why the chain lines were dotted!

Anyway, l undid it back to ring 29 and did it again. Correctly this time l hope.

I'm so stupid sometimes! I'm attaching the amended version hoping that it's ok this time."

Looks perfect now Jackie.

Carol is next to arrive and she says

"Hi Jane,Almost caught up after my bingle and retro tat escapade. No guesses tonight.

Carol

Well done on that, Carol.

Jenni is back once again with another day 12 and this is what she has to say

“Just looked back at one of my designs from years ago and wow.......locked chain kind of but 2 flipped 2 unflipped!!! Didn't know what it was called back then!

For my transgression of yesterday and the consequent thread shredding..I thought I had better start again because I really want to finish this one!

Have a good day.

Jen”

That’s what I’ve always known as a Victorian set, Jenni. Problem is nowadays new designers come along and call the same old thing a new name. Very confusing.

Next to arrive is Alicja who say

“ Hi Jane, I’ve just realised that I made some mistakes

but I’m going to finish it, the next one will be better. LoveAlicja”

No problem, Alicja. I will tell you how to do a quick fix.

Katie (who is making SIX TIAS) is next to arrive and she says this

“ Hi, Jane,

I'm particularly inspired by two fellow TIAS tatters who, like me, evidently confused "lock chain" with finishing a chain with a lock join. Jenni redid the last 15 ds in the chain, declared that's enough, and you also told us that would be an appropriate fix. I took out the 15 ds on the six critters, thinking I'll finish up later. Then this morning, I read Jackie's response who took out all the chains back to the tail and re-tatted with the lock chain. Well, I did the same with one of my cuties. It took less than an hour for me to de-tat. Not too bad, I thought. Then I lock chained around the tail and up the back. I really like the effect. Hmmm, now will I do a "Jenni" or a "Jackie" on the other five? Who knows? But many thanks to you, Jenni, and Jackie for helping me get sorted and improving my interpretation of tatting instructions--or "destructions" as you sometimes call them!

All the best,

Katie V in NC USA”

Well done, Katie but it’s up to you whether you take out all of them or not. Personally I’d just replace the 15 with lock chain of 15!!!

Marco has just arrived with her day 12 and she says

“ Hello. Here is my Day 12.
Greetings Marco”

Now this next message I find so interesting as when I was about 11/12 I went on a school trip to Belgium and a side trip was to Bruges where I was fascinated watching the ladies in the street making bobbin lace. I returned to England and I remember going on and on about wanting to make lace like them. At the age of 13 my gran was learning to tat and she taught me at the same time. I did eventually learn bobbin lace but I much prefer a lace that I can curl up in my chair and do!!! Sorry, I digress. This is what Maria told me when I mentioned why I learned to tat.

“hoi Jane,
what fun! I also started making lace by watching the lacemakers in Bruges work. Tatting I saw someone do it and ...I was sold...
Tatting I saw someone do it and ...I was sold...”

We must be relations, Maria!!!