Hooks

Further to the last post when I talked about the Pop-A-bobbins there has been a major development with regard to the hooks for the shuttles.  Basically the wire used for making them is becoming almost impossible to source, especially in the gauge required.  So we are now thinking of ordering crochet hooks and I am so sad to say, mutilating them!   This will of course put the cost of the shuttles up, but on the other hand it means that "Im in the garage" can concentrate on making the shuttles even better, and he has another idea in mind on how to do that.  What we discovered when researching crochet hooks, is that they come in different sizes and these vary with manufacturers, so we are not sure what people will want,  if you have any opinions they would be greatly appreciated and will help with the final decision.  The thinner the better I hear you all shouting!  

I  tatted this square recently and it is going on something else I am making but you will have to wait and see what that is.  This is not my pattern but adapted from another, but I can't remember where from.

Before I close I must tell you of some interesting wood that is being used to make some shuttles, the colour is a greenish yellow, rather like a mustard colour.  When one is complete I will show you, but there is a very limited supply so very few shuttles will be made from it.

Pop-A-bobbin shuttle review

The most popular tatted related item to be invented in our house is the Pop-A-bobbin shuttle and 'Im in the garage' has been very surprised by its success.    Sitting comfortable on the chair below, and having a good old natter, are my very own shuttles, not many considering the different woods we have in the garage. The majority of these were made for me last year and it is time to request some more!

Since the Pop-A-bobbin shuttles made their first appearance here they have been sort after by many people, although not everyone.  Some criticisms are well founded, they are of course thicker and larger than an Aero shuttle, but they have to be because if the wood was too thin it would split especially with the continual use of popping the bobbin in and out each time.

The hook is hand made only because it really was impossible to get a manufacturer to supply hooks to us, so to keep costs down and without mutilating crochet hooks it was decided to keep to homemade ones.  However, the hooks are tightly fitted into a hole without gluing, they can be pulled out, but this is not recommended as they could break, so if people want to put their own hooks in it is best to buy a hookless one for this purpose.

Sometimes other bobbins are placed in the shuttle, instead of the original one supplied with it, they can then appear loose, or too tight, this is because we have found that bobbins do vary.  The plastic Aeros can take the difference because they are flexible, the wooden shuttles cannot.  To compensate for the looseness one purchaser puts hole reinforcement rings on them which usually corrects the tension.

The next shuttles will not make an appearance in Janes Etsy shop until August/September mainly because 'Im in the garage' is building a toy for himself and it is holiday time soon.  Sadly for the tatting world Pop-A-shuttles are not a priority for the garage man, and there is no way to motivate him unless his toy is taken away and he is locked in the garage all weekend!

Different woods are continually being sort after and our latest supply came from a very strange source, here it is -  mahogany, originally purchased to make coffins out of and yes we went to a funeral director to buy it.

Some of the wood is hopefully going to be made into a baptismal font for one of the churches, but the rest will not be wasted and you can probably guess what it will be used for!

Fandango Square

Our visitors from Singapore have gone and we are recovering after a really hectic week.  We visited Stratford-upon-Avon and went around the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, then on to Oxford where we went punting on the river Thames and looked around the Oxford colleges.  We travelled to Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire to see one of the settings for the Harry Potter films.  And finally a trip to the New Forest and a visit to a wildlife park where we saw some fantastic butterflies, so there was not much time for any tatting or looking at blogs. However, I did manage to see the clever design that Valerie Ho discovered from Jane's fandango bookmark. It just cried out for beads, Jane sent me the pattern to try out, although I added a button to the middle and these are the results.

Jane is working on updating the pattern for the beaded and buttoned version.

And because it is "Tatting Tea Tuesday"  here is a cup of tea, yes seriously it is  - Flowering Dragon Eye, green tea.

The colours seem to match the fandago square!

Time for some more shuttles

A batch of pop-a-bobbin shuttles will be travelling to Jane's home very soon, this is one of them resting on some sweet smelling thyme, a herb very useful in cooking.    The shuttle is made from yew.

The rest of them are in a crochet basket sitting in the garden, may be there is one that you would like?

Some Sweet Williams for Gina, can you smell them?

My son and his girlfriend arrive in the UK today from Singapore for a visit, so exciting especially as the same day he boarded the plane (yesterday) he achieved his 1st Dan (his name is Daniel)  in Aikido so he now has a black belt. This is what awaits him,  a belated Easter Egg, he is a big Star Wars fan, 'may the force be with you.' 

Geckos

I have always admired Jane's gecko pattern (Pam's gecko) but it was only recently, with the arrival of some wonderful threads from Sue-Anna that I manged to tat it.

The gecko is now framed ready to go into an art exhibition, the person organising the exhibition said any medium would do, so together with two other tatted pictures it will be on show in July, beside some very grand paintings.

This little one is from Marth Ess's book 'More Critters on the Block' and I made it when I first received the book in a hurry, so not very pleased with the result, could do better!

I had to photograph this metal gecko seen fixed to the wall of an alleyway in the High Street of a town, minus it would seem its left foot! Well when I say a town it only has one street in it a quarter of a mile long. The town is famous or infamous because Edward VII used to stay there in the 1890s bringing his mistress Lillie Langtry with him, although they discreetly stayed at different houses on either side of the river, but with a connecting footbridge.

Finally yes I have visited Tatskool home and seen the geckos which reside there, very impressive, never looked on so many at one time.

Buttons and Butterflies

Thank you to all who entered the give-away, and I hope you found it fun.  I can now tell you that there were 294 buttons in the teddy bear jar, and here they all are, so you can count them for yourself!   The winner is Patty C,  as she was the nearest, and yes you were right Patty there were lots of little ones hidden away.   Please can you e.mail me on popabobbinshuttle@gmail.com.

I decided that the metal clips on the top of the pew ends in this post needed to be hidden, or at least decorated, so I have made eight butterflies, they have not been sewn on yet.  Also six more button flowers are required to be made for the ribbons and then hopefully the pew ends will be completed, no idea when this is going to happen as my days are extremely busy at the moment.  The butterflies are doing a circle dance before they part company.

OR

OR

The pattern is Janes and it can be found here.  I have a container of beads that I have spilt over the floor at one time or another, they are all different colours and I nearly always use them for this butterfly so achieving a kaleidoscope of colours. It also means that the beads are slowly being used up, that is until I spill some more!

Button Moon - Mr. Spoon - Give-away

Please will you celebrate with me my 150th blog post.  However, I am sorry to say there will be no shuttles to give-away this time as I'm in the garage has been making a toy for himself rather than concentrating on tatting shuttles, boys and their toys!

So instead I am giving away this bag and Welsh Love spoon.  If you want to know about  Welsh Love spoons go to this link, notice this spoon has a carved heart and a cross.  Around the bag is sewn a length of tatting called Nelson and designed by Orsi.  
This is what the bag looked like when I purchased it.  It does seem to be a different colour but the sun must have been shinning on the day I took the photograph, it really is the same bag. I took off the bow and then attached the tatting and the buttons. Also my sister Jane Eborall was with me when I purchased it from Stratford-upon-Avon.

To make the give-away a little more fun and to enable you to win the bag and spoon you have to guess how many buttons are in this teddy bear jar.  Now due to the weight of the jar and buttons I cannot include it with the prize. So have a go at guessing how many buttons are in the jar, please note that you are only allowed one guess so that everyone can have a fair chance. The person to guess the correct amount (or nearest) is the winner. I'ts as simple as that. The jar is 5 1/2 inches in height.

Some of you know that I am rather fond of buttons and especially when tatting with them so this give-away has been inspired by a children's programme shown in the 1980s here in the United Kingdom -  called Button Moon and the adventures of Mr. Spoon and his family, it was very amateurish but the tune is quite catchy!  Watch it on YouTube 

The deadline is Sunday 22nd May to count the buttons in the jar and comment on this blog! 
Good Luck!