Sunbonnet Sue Number Two

Since yesterday's Sunbonnet Sue ended up with a ring wrong-side forward, I knew that I had to do another just to prove that I really could tat her.  I'm still not in love with the pattern, but it tats up so easily (i.e. no natural stopping point so I don't really feel the need to put it down) that I might make a few more.  I guess that depends on if anyone on my Christmas card list voices a fondness for Sunbonnet Sues.  I'm a tad old-fashioned or something, so I'm used to people not agreeing with things that I like.  *shrugs* It happens.

She's done in Lizbeth size 20, Harvest Gold (699) and Victorian Red (670).  I think that I might try silver and blue for the next one again, but with the silver on the outside and blue for the chains.  I'm trying to keep her Christmas-y so I'm avoiding the flowery threads that seem like they'd be a good fit. 

I started a very scary (to me) pattern today, too.  Hopefully, it will work out okay, but thus far it's only confirmed that I *hate* super large rings. (Is there any way to make a ring of 36 stitches look neat?  I haven't mastered that skill yet.)  

Hope you're all having a lovely day.  The Giants are getting slaughtered, so it's probably about to become a cruddy night in my household. :-/

♥,
Stephanie Grace

Christmas is Coming...

I realized that Christmas will be here before I know it, so I've been trying to focus on the little trinkets that I'll include in the cards I send out.  I bought Christmas cards on Halloween ... I'm as bad as the stores when it comes to rushing the holidays.  (Note: I'm generally miserable from now until all this holiday stuff if over.  I don't observe Thanksgiving and I hate Christmas.)

My plan is to mainly make snowflake ornaments, but I also want to do some other ornaments and, hopefully, some bookmarks if I can find a few patterns that I like and can tat quickly.  I just bought Tat's Where I Stopped by Nancy Tracy, but I'm a bit iffy on some of the patterns.  Does anyone have the book?  How do you handle patterns like the leaves bookmark?  I never trust just knotting and cutting, but I also wouldn't want to use glue on a bookmark.  I iz confoozed. 

I have had this pattern printed for literally years.  I've never been brave enough to try it for some reason.  It's a lot easier than I imagined, but I found the directions to be wrong in several places. 

Sunbonnet Sue; Big Book of Tatting, pg. 19

I used Lizbeth size 20 in Sky Blue Medium and Silver.  It's not a bad pattern, but I should have paid more attention.  My initial ring has the wrong side facing forward because I flat-out didn't realize there was no RW before adding the ball thread.  *rolls eyes*  It was my third time starting, though, so I just went with it.  

This is another "December Motif" by Joelle Paulson from leblogdefriole.blogspot.com.  All of the beads are pink, but none of them look like it in the scan --and the seed beads, in life, look white if you don't look closely.  They annoy me.  They're so pink together, but turn white on thread.  >.<  The thread is Turquoise Light --Lizbeth, Size 20, of course. 

Well, that's it for now, but at least it's something. 

♥,
Stephanie Grace