A bit of unusual stuff

Strange Unusual things are happening.

Moe, who is seldom sick. has been running a stiff fever because of having strep throat. Augmentin pills are huge!

It's been raining every other night, but not for long I think. But long enough to grow some awesome mushrooms! This one is at my office.

 Vader has been displaying strange poses. and showing his fat belly. No, not strange  - this is normal for him!

Cisco has been a sink cat. (He likes to drink out of the steel container this way.)

And something eggplant-colored appeared at my house. Wait - something eggplant?

Craig's List provided a new-to-me 2009 Honda Fit Sport, in Blackberry Pearl. (We needed a second car, and this was a steal.)

Will wonders never cease?

UFBS project

Not a UFO - a UFBS! An Unfinished Blinged Shuttle project!

You may remember that a sub-set of the Palmetto Tat Gals has gotten together for an overnight or two to tat and chat and giggle and other things. (Like eat.) And you may remember the occasion when we blinged shuttles. Note - this was also the event which resulted in The Lamp Shade Photo.

Well, when I returned home after said outing, my stash of partially blinged shuttles was put into a bag. Where they stayed for months and months. Unfinished. Sad, really. A waste of good shuttles.

This past week, those six sad unfinished shuttles were found. And they are sad no more. For I broke out the Mod-Podge and my x-acto knife and finished those suckers!

I trimmed up the edges and slapped 2 coats on Mod-Podge on both sides. They're all shiny and cute now! If you look (click on the picture), you'll see that the middle one on the right has a teeny-tiny Stumpy on it. Most are embellished with paper, but the one on the bottom right is cloth.

And here are the reverse sides. Some have sparkles too. I'm happy with these! I'm not ready to sell any, but I'm perfectly happy to use these myself. And I have no UFBS projects left. For now...

I did tat a little something, earrings for my friend SC's birthday. She was delighted....

How to tat the stacked dimpled split ring

I recently got a request for information on the stacked dimpled split ring. It's how you tat the bottom of the below cross.

Heart's Afire Cross

I taught this pattern at Tat Days 2011. My students had a good time with it, and everyone completed their crosses. If you want the pattern (which has complete instructions), you can get it from the Palmetto Tatters folks.

But some folks want to learn just this one technique. And I feel charitable.
  
So - here are the instructions for the Stacked Dimpled Split Ring. You can't do it following normal instructions, as part of it is tatted backwards. Really...

Here goes:

For a dimpled ring  - insert paper clip in the middle of the dimple, then use that to close the first half, then close the second half. If you've never tatted a dimpled ring, check out Lady Shuttle Maker's great instructional video, here.

Begin.

R1 2 - 14 vsp 3 +(vsp) 14 - 2.

When I was trying to make this work

Allow a mock picot, then stop and read the below notes.

Notes on tatting stacked dimpled split rings.

When I tat split rings, I use the "dead spider" technique for the second shuttle. So, the second shuttle tatting is done in reverse order. And the reverse order is the ONLY way to tat this and make everything lay properly.

Start with SR2.

Begin with first shuttle.  Leave some space between the prior ring - about the estimated depth of the dimple, for a mock picot.

Tat the second half of the dimple - 2nd half of ds, 1 ds.  Stop Tatting With Shuttle One.

Switch shuttles and tat the entire second shuttle portion.  Remember that I tat backwards here - so the 2nd half of a double stitch for the 2nd shuttle is really the first half of a regular ds.

Second shuttle: mock picot, 2nd half ds, 1 vsp 2 + (to left picot in ring above) 12 – 2.

You are done with the 2nd shuttle.

Slide open the space between the 2 split double stitches. Put a paper clip or safety pin here.

Switch shuttles.  You are now using the first shuttle.

With first shuttle, join to vsp made by 2nd shuttle, in front of mock picot.

Continue with 2 + (to right picot in ring above) 12 – 2.

Now take the paper clip and pull the 2nd shuttle part of the ring tight, then remove the paper clip and finish closing the ring.

*
(official notation)
SR2 2nd half ds 1 vsp 2 +(R above) 12 – 2/2nd half ds 1 +(vsp) 2 +(R above) 12 -2.
Mock picot about the depth of the dimple.
*
Repeat from *, for the desired length.

Last SR 2nd half ds 1 vsp 2 +(R above) 14/2nd half ds 1 +(vsp) 2 +(R above) 14.

Have fun!

Vader is getting to be a fat cat. And he doesn't care.

A bit of recent tatting

Here's a little bit of recent tatting. Yes, I still tat. Really, I do.

This is a snowflake I made for a Tat Days fundraiser. The pattern is by Teri Dusenbery, done in DMC Cebelia size 30. The beads are size 11, a purplish iridescent kind. I don't have a link for Teri, sorry.

And this is a lovely pattern by Fox, her Abigail. It's in Lizbeth size 20. I was going to use this for my fundraiser project, but it's not quite the right shape. It was a sweet tat though!

Vader doesn't give a damn about my tatting.

Ridin' the Crazy Train

DH, Moe, and I rode an old train today. And it was a lot of fun.

We drove up into North Georgia to Blue Ridge, GA, and rode on their old rail line - the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway.

We got our tickets and looked at the train. It's made up of older cars that have been refurbished.

Some cars, like this one, were open air. This would be great in the fall - but since it was so hot, I opted for an air conditioned car.

We were on car 332 - it was cheery and bright. Before it was refurbished, this car had a darker past. This was supposedly the very last rail car made under Jim Crow rules - designed for segregated seating of black and white folks. I'm glad those days are gone.

As we waited in our car for the trip to start, we saw a tiny train which sent us on our way!

The trip was not a long one, but the scenery was gorgeous. The tracks follow the path of the Toccoa River, which flows north into Tennessee.

Here's the basic path. This line started before the Civil War, part of the narrow gauge line known as the Marietta & North Georgia Railroad. The current line is staffed mostly by volunteers!

Here's a lovely home along the way. According to our guide, the home was owned by a railroad conductor who built the home and raised 11 children on the grand salary of fifty cents a day.

We saw a lot of pretty scenery as we made our trip. This is an ancient Native American fish trap in the Toccoa River, which flows right to left here. They put rocks in the river and herded fish into the V of the trap.

And soon enough we were at our destination. This little town is split by the GA/TN state line, so it's two towns in one.

The state line runs straight through the town, marked by a blue line. Moe's big dogs are in seperate states.

The town is quaint, with the Toccoa River running straight through it. Lots of rafting/tubing companies are based in the area. The town used to have copper mines, but they closed up years ago.

Other residents enjoy the river. We grabbed some lunch (sandwiches we brought) and browsed some shops.

This is just wrong. (The candies are feather shapes!)

After a two hour layover, we got back on the train and headed back to Blue Ridge.

We met the jolly conductor. What a fun job!

We were tired on the trip back - it was really hot that day, and we walked around for hours in it. (DH later told me his feet hurt. He was wearing shoes with no supports.)

Soon enough we got home. The train pulled into the station and we found our car and headed home.

Here's a little treat for you, a little movie I took on the trip. You can hear the train sounds well, and see the river through the trees.

A fun day - I recommend riding the rails!

Revisiting the Stacked Dimpled Split Ring

I had a lovely email today bringing me back to a technique I taught at last year's Palmetto Tat Days.

I heard from Claudia de Formosa, who's in Argentina. She has two lovely blogs on tatting - one for her own tatting, one for teaching. Both are in Spanish, but her pictures are so very clear that you don't need to know the language to understand them.

Claudia asked me about stacked dimpled split rings. I taught how to make stacked dimpled split rings last year at Palmetto Tat Days 2011, and also mentioned them on my blog.

Claudia didn't get to come to Tat Days, as it's a looonnnggg way from Argentina and really expensive to come that far north. But she's a smart tatter - she figured out the technique by looking at my pictures!

See what Claudia made! Doesn't her bracelet look great?

Back from a brief break

First off - registration is open for Palmetto Tat Days 2012. I'm teaching! Come and have a great time. If you've never attended a tatting conference, let me say - you're in for a treat if you come.

I'm back from a short overnight jaunt with DH, sans the Stooges. We headed up the hill from Hotlanta, in the sweltering heat, to Chattanooga, TN.

Unfortunately, it was sweltering at our destination too. Thank heavens the car's AC is now fixed!

DH and I managed to have a good time despite the heat. Nice room, with a comfy bed. We were told the room had a mountain view.

Oh well! Who looks out windows in hotel rooms anyhow? The AC worked, that was important!

We did see lots of things. We went through a long tunnel at Tunnel Hill. Kinda cool. And narrow - one lane.

For those not used to driving in the South, See Rock City signs used to be everywhere.

I decided we should drive up Lookout Mountain. So up the hill we went. We did not See Rock City, but we did go past Ruby Falls. I was really amused when DH thought Ruby Falls was a place to mine rubies, instead of being a tourist trap. Lots of folks were being sucked in at Ruby Falls, but not us. We journeyed on, up up the hill and stopped at...

The Incline Railroad.

Where we just watched the train go up the steep, steep hill, choosing not to ride it. Great view though!

We weren't done yet. We went a little further up the hill, to Point Park, on the top of Lookout Mountain. For those that don't know, Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain were big parts of the American Civil war. The battle of Lookout Mountain was known as the "Battle above the Clouds".

Lots of things to see at the park, which is run by the National Park Service. There were cannons. I think these are the kind referred to as Napolean cannons.

And memorials. This is the New York Peace Memorial, which has a Union and a Confederate soldier shaking hands on top.

And lots of great views, like this of the Tennessee River. As you can tell, the extreme heat made the day hazy.

We got reminders of how many soldiers were killed or injured in this battle. This is just the Confederate casualties.

For Civil War buffs such as DH, this is a great spot to visit. The visitor's center houses a huge painting called "Battle Above the Clouds" painting by James Walker. It's 13' x 40' - very large. It was commissioned by the winner, General Hooker (center on the white horse).

After we left the park (and consumed a lot of water - hot hot hot!) we went down, down the hill. I remember a friend burning her brakes out on this hill years ago, and I wonder how. It's steep - but not as bad as going to Mom's place! I just gear down.

The other adventure we had in Chattanooga was a river ride on the boat River Gorge Explorer. It makes guided tours down the Tennessee River, and you learn about the river, wildlife, and Civil War history. Since it's a catamaran with jet engines, the boat is FAST.

And comfy - air conditioned! DH and I were glad to beat the heat.

We got to see wildlife. This is an osprey nest, with adults and fledglings on the nest. We saw a lot of herons, egrets, turtles.

The guide was a biologist who specialized in shellfish. He showed us some neat mussels. The interior of this large native mussel is pink - isn't it gorgeous? I recommend the boat ride - it was fun.

And yes, I did a bit of tatting. I bought an old timey cloth doll at a fair recently, and have given her some tatted edging on her blouse. I'm adding some hair to her (using embroidery floss), and then I'll give her to my little niece Kara.

What are you doing this summer?