My Knitted Bag Holds Tatting

I've been tatting a little bit this summer, a shuttle is much more portable than a pillow and bobbins. I found the pattern for this knitted lace bag on KnitPicks.com. This one is made with #10 crochet thread and I love how it carries everything I need.
As you can see, I've got 3 balls of #80 thread, scissors, measuring tape, and 3 shuttles. Oops. Where's my Aero shuttle? I don't like to tat with it, but it's got the nicest crochet hook on the end. Excuse me, gotta find my shuttle before the dog does.

First Quarter Done!

I just finished the first quarter of the little motif, and am taking a break before turning the corner. I hesitated to use this picture. Darn that camera, it clearly shows how bad my fans are. Oh well, it is a practice piece and I'm learning a lot. The half stitch diamonds were tricky, and I spent a lot of time tensioning my threads. The rose ground challenged me at first, now I don't need my cheat sheet. I'm not sure how to turn the corner. My first impulse is just turn the pillow, do the fan, and then start on the diagonals again. Rose ground, fan, diamond, rose ground, fan. etc. It seems too easy, and I'll think it over just to be sure. I like the way bobbin lace is logical, the threads have to be in position for the next section to work. There is so much to learn, so many more kinds of lace to try.

New Project - Practice and Learning

I have been busy tatting and knitting, but started a bobbin lace project yesterday. I was surfing the Digital Archive of Documents Related to Lace, and found IOLI (International Old Lacers Inc) magazines dating from 1967 to 1981. I browsed the magazines and found many prickings and interesting articles. The article you see has 4 square motifs, and general directions on how to make them. The book I was learning from didn't have anything like this, so I was happy to print this give it a try.

The original pricking was 15 to the inch, and I enlarged to about 115%. I'm using Gutermann silk 100/3, and probably didn't need to enlarge it at all. It seems loose to me, but I've been working on tape lace lately, and those pieces are much firmer. I'll continue with this as it is, and realize it may be a practice piece rather than a finished object.
I have done a tiny bit of rose ground in a bookmark, but it's been awhile, so I had to look it up in my book. I was confused when the bookmark didn't look the same as little design, so I looked it up in 'The Book of Bobbin Lace Stitches' by Cook and Stott. I didn't realize there were so many variations of rose ground, 16 listed! I studied the diagram, and my first section of rose ground went well enough.
Now I'm ready to do my first half stitch diamond. I have 8 more pairs to add in, it looks as though it will work out.
I was impressed with the magazines and now am a proud member of the International Old Lacers. I received my first issue last month, and there is a nice pricking for a bookmark, plus hours of lace related reading. Their 2008 Convention is going to be close to my home, it would be wonderful to go, but I am not optimistic about finding enough spare cash.