So, as mentioned before, I’ve been looking for new, more complex patterns to try tatting. Part of the problem I’ve had so far is that I really do better if I not only have a diagrammed chart, but also the written out instructions, so I can bounce back and forth when I’m not sure I understand something. So far, I’ve only yet found one pattern on Pinterest that satisfied that criteria. It was an edging pattern that I don’t really like all that much by itself, but it had the written instructions and two charts, which was awesome, so I did it in a couple of repeats before deciding I really don’t like that particular pattern. I don’t know if it really counts as more complex…it’s still simple rings and chains, and simple joins, but it was more complex to me in that the configuration was different from the bookmark that I’ve done umpteen times now.
There is a pattern I really want to try very badly, and I can’t find it anywhere: Mary Konior’s Corn and Chaff pattern. It’s gorgeous, at least to me, and I’ve seen it pop up any number of times on Pinterest, but there’s just one problem. The only books that the pattern can be found in, while they can still be purchased on Amazon, are priced well into the realm of the ridiculous. Apparently the author passed away, so there will be no more books forthcoming, obviously, and I’m not either willing or able to pay $100+ for one book!!! I tend to think twice or three times when a book is $30, but there’s a far better chance that I will buy that book than there is when the book goes past that, which is my personal limit. Which kind of sucks for me, as the pattern itself has never yet popped up anywhere, and I don’t yet have enough experience to reverse engineer it from a photograph. So I keep eyeing it and sighing over it, and hoping that at some point, someone will put it online where I can see it!
I did have some fun with my allowance this month, so the shuttles are breeding again, and I ordered some Japanese cro-tatting hooks from Lacis. Not the expensive ones, which are about $60 for four hooks, but their own, much less expensive brand! And the gripfids and some cord for ply-split braiding. And I sent an email asking for help with making my own cord, since I am apparently doing something wrong when I try it myself. The Lacis cordmaker I have will do the job, but I need to figure out how to do it correctly, which is the issue here. There are actually better cordmakers available, but the least expensive one is $119, and you still need a drill to operate it, which is easy enough to get, and get with your wallet pretty much unscathed–it doesn’t have to be a high end drill, after all–but it’s that initial outlay of money that isn’t an option right now!! This girl is on a budget, and probably always will be. Vet techs may be happy and love our careers, but we will never be rich. (Which actually causes a rant I may have posted before: doctors and nurses only have to learn one species of living being, where we have to learn all but that one. And in a general practice, we are the anesthetist, the X-ray tech, the lab tech, the janitor, the receptionist, and a zillion other things at once, and we don’t get paid anywhere near as much!!! Grrr…) But I digress. So I’m waiting to hear back about what I may be doing wrong. With all the yarn and floss in my stash, it’d be much more cost effective to make my own cords!!!
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