Completed hippos! Part 8

Saturday and two more have arrived making 91 in total.

Monday morning and 2 hippos arrived and they were followed by three more in the afternoon (96).
Tuesday and two more have arrived (98)!
Wednesday and number 99 has arrived.
Thursday and number 100 has wandered in.

The first is from Kate Huttar who said. " Greetings from the Texan circus hippo. Finally got him finished today, though he could certainly use some blocking...er....training. :) I'll get another picture once he is more under control (and with a different background), but I was so excited about his appearance, I couldn't wait."

The next one is from Stephanie who must be having problems with hippos. I think hers are breeding as this is the ...... I'll leave it to her to explain!!!

"Rosie the Pink Potamus (Petunia's younger sister) *insisted* on playing outdoors today without sunscreen. She's already turning a bit pink in spots. This afternoon I caught her sitting at the computer - looking at all the hippos online. Suddenly she screeched, grabbed MY heart-shaped box of Valentine's Day candy, and ran out of the house. I suspect she's on her way to you at this very moment. You won't have to entice her to stay, I'm sure."












Next hippo to join the bloat is Carol Lawecki's. Here he is in his very pretty surroundings - it almost looks as if it's snowing!

My worst fears have happened. The hippos are breeding! We now have hippy flower power hippos!! Stephanie's third one has arrived this morning!! This is the next part of Stephanie's story!! "Since Petunia and Rosie left home, Hyacinth, their younger sister, has been feeling very blue and lonely. Hyacinth the Blue Potamus just LOVES parades, so to help cheer her up, I promised if she would get dressed up in her prettiest outfit, I would let her go be PART of a parade. Oh, she is so VERY excited, there's even a hint of a smile on her face now....Poor Hyacinth was quite upset when the scanner smooshed her flower, but she is SO proud of that red bow! "

Next one in came via Diane Saunders. Her tatting student, Ruth made this one. Thank you, Diane and Ruth.

Mr. and Mrs. Karlheinz and Hildegarde Hippo-Potamus are on their way to the opera. Karlheinz is wearing his white bow tie and his favorite hat. Hildegarde has donned her diamond necklace and earrings. He wanted her to wear her large diamond earrings, but she prefers wearing the small diamond studs he gave her many years ago on her first birthday as "Mrs. Hippo-Potamus." They decided to look in on the hippo parade, since it was on their way.

This is a hippo from Diane Cademartori. She says -
"I'm sending a picture of the hippo that our dear friend Laura tatted for me. I couldn't figure out any other way to send it... I hope this way works! Not only did Laura keep me interested in this project by sending photos each step of the way, she also used my favorite color, blue!"

Diane hasn't been able to tat for a while due to a broken arm. Hope you're better soon, Diane and thank you to Laura for sending her a hippo!!!

The next hippo is from Inge-Lise and she says
"Ich have made a hippo. I am 51 Years and have tatted since I was 12. Living in Denmark. Hope you like it."
It's a super hippo, Inge-Lise. Thank you for sending it such a long way.

This next hippo has come all the way from Egypt. Wally Sosa sent him on his way to me. This is what she had to say!
"Aw... I forgot to send you my lil' Egyptian hippo. Here he is. I will play more with the pattern a little later and will try to make it more Egyptian. Lol"
Thanks Wally.

This next arrival is from Gale Marshall in Canada. Sadly the first time her hippo set out for the UK he got lost. Fortunately this time he arrived safely. This is what Gale says. " He's been pushing pennies so that I could watch the dollars! LOL" Thanks, Gale.

Number 98 is from Brigitte Nettles who said -

"Thank you so much for the Tat it and See tatting mystery! I worked along at a steady pace and finished my little Hippo the day after you posted the last part. It’s tatted with a Size 30 Star “Gem” mercerized crochet thread. For a while there I thought it was going to be a Rhino. I finally remembered to bring it to work with me today to get it scanned. My colleagues said it looks cute."

Next is number 99 from Anna in Poland. She said the following -

"I've taken part in your 'tat it and see' and I would like to show you my hippo. I've changed a little his head but I've noticed today that other people did the same with his hippos, so I've decided to send you a photo of my hippo too. I guessed that it would be a hippo on 7th day of project. :-)"

Number 100 has just come in from Emily Garland. She said.
"I have finally taken a photo of my hippo, frozen solid blue as you can see! ;) He has not even been able to twist his tail properly in this cold, and is waiting for a nice t-shirt or card to sit upon while he thaws."

Completed hippos! Part 7

Whoooopeee. Numbers 80, 81 and 82 have trundled in today (Tuesday).
Wednesday morning and number 83 has just arrived. This was followed in the afternoon by 84 and 85 and in the evening by number 86.

This hippo is from Eileen Roberts who has been struggling to get him out of her computer and into mine. Thanks to her son in law, Stephen, her hippo has now arrived. Thanks for persisting with getting him here, Eileen. He was well worth the struggle and you have also learnt lots of new computer skills too.

Next in is from Winnie van Vegchel who is another member of Riet's guild. Winnie said.
"I finally finished the hippo, although you wouldn't say it was one! Had some problems with it, but Riet told me to get on with it, and not to stop so near the end. I am sending you the picture, so you can see I did try! I did enjoy the project!"
Well done, Winnie. I love the colours of your hippo (and it DOES look like a hippo to me).

Dani the geek's hippo is now on her web site here.
Dani said that she'll blog it soon, but that I could have it first! She also said it was made with recycled string and that she had a heck of a time finishing the nose and changing strings at the same time!

Becky Snyder has been really busy and has done another hippo. A baby one to go with the big one!! She said -

"Here's my little one along with his Mom. I just haven't figured out who's the daddy yet!"

The next hippo to arrive is from Anna Jean who said -
"Since I live in Memphis, TN my hippo has been submerged in the Mississippi River for several days and has developed a case of the algae, hence his greenness. Lots of fun with the TIAS. " Thanks Anna Jean - he's great.

The next one is from Gerda Klumperman another member of Riet's guild. Thank you, Gerda - I love the colours of the thread.

This next one is from Stephanie who had a few problems getting Petunia to behave. Here's what she said.
"Petunia the Purple Potamus said she had a date with a gentleman hippopotamus this evening. I convinced her that a tiny bit of pressing with the steam iron would make her feel fresh and pretty, but when the first bit of steam hit her tail, she went screaming out of here. If she runs your way, grab her!" I caught her, Stephanie, and she's now being very well behaved.

The following two hippos are both from Gina Oschmann another member of Riet's guild in The Netherlands. Riet said that it seems to her that they are a he and a she but she doesn't know if it's true. I like the colours of these two and I'm sure they are related to each other some way.
They look as if they're talking to each other!!!!

Shirley Hill sent in the following hippo and said -
"I actually finished them on the last day as I was like a small child with a new toy and I could not put it down. (yes I did two one for me and one for you!!!!!!!!!!!
Goodness knows what I was thinking I forgot I could send it by email !!!!!!!!!!!!!! put it down to age!!!!!!!!"

Welcome to Tat it and See

On this blog the first 'Tat it and See' will begin on January 8th 2008.
This is where I'm going to release a pattern in 'bits'.
The worker will not be told what the finished piece will be although they may well be able to start guessing after a week or so!!!
Hopefully feedback will be useful to both myself and to the worker and from this I hope to develop my pattern writing style.

One of the new things I will be 'testing' for the worker is front side/back side tatting 'made easy'. By using italics whenever the tatter needs to start with a second half of the ds in an element of the pattern I'm hoping it will be easier for those (like me) who are 'new to' this modern method of working. The second part of an SR will NOT be in italics as that is the normal way of making it.
For example, a ring (on the right side) will be in normal type but if it is then followed by a chain after reversing the work then the ds on that chain will be shown in italics.
I did think about using coloured typeface but then some people might prefer to print patterns in black and white. We'll see - hopefully feedback will show what is easier for the tatter.