Fly doodle

Goofy little doodle; you need one black bead and a remnant of thread. Slide bead onto thread, position on ring thread.

Ring 1:   3 --- 1 --- 3 , slide bead into place (beaded picot), 3 --- 1 --- 3, close ring.

Ring 2: 20 ds, close ring; tie bases together, finish off.

--- = long picot for the wings

In other news, I am getting ready for the most driving of my life - we are taking a mother-daughter cross country road trip! All the way from Idaho to New York, DC,  the Atlantic Coast, and then back home. I am mighty nervous - I hope our car holds out!

New Pattern: Quick Heart

This heart tats up really fast. I am not a fast tatter, and I can do this one in well under one hour. The one on the left (two color, peach and tan) was done earlier, and the only difference is the picots on which the tip is joined.The smaller heart is made exactly to the pattern.

Pattern:

Ring 1: 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 (7 picots) All rings have this basic pattern and only vary in where they are joined.)

Ch: 4-4-4-4-4 (4 picots - center chain)

Ring 2: 2-2-2j2-2-2-2-2 (join 3rd picot to 5th picot of the first ring.)

Ch 4-4

Ring 3: 2j2-2-2-2-2-2-2  (join is to last picot of the previous ring for all rings except the clover)

ch 4

Ring 4 (same as Ring 3) , ch 4, Ring

ch 4j4 (join to last chain.)

Ring, ch 4j4 (join to center chain), Ring, ch 4j4-4

Clover: Ring  2-2-2j2-2-2-2-2 (join to 5th picot on the last ring), Ring 2j2-2-2-2-2-2-2, Ring 2j2-2-2-2-2-2-2
ch 4j4j4
Ring 2-2-2j2-2-2-2-2 (join to 5th picot of last ring)
ch 4j4, Ring, ch 4-4, Ring, ch 4, Ring, ch 4
R 2j2-2-2-2-2-2j2  (last join is to the first picot on the first ring.)
Ch 4j4
Tie ends into base of the first ring, finish off.


My picots are fairly long on this, and if someone makes tiny joins, it might cup.

Suncatcher Pattern

 Just for Stephanie! :0)

 This is another easy pattern, basically just clovers and chains. It has the never-ending-outside-chain with mock rings in common with the Kira's Star pattern.

One shuttle, wound CTM, and one charm, bead, or prism.

First Round: Clover: R 3-3-3-3-3-3, R 3j3-3-3-3-3, R 3j3-3-3-3-3
Ch 3-3-3-3-3-3, ***repeat clover, joining 3rd picot of first ring to 3rd picot of last ring of previous clover.
ch 3j3-3-3-3-3 *** Repeat section 5 more times.
Last clover: same pattern, join last ring to first ring of first clover by middle picots.
Ch 3j3-3-3-3j3, tie into base of first clover.
Total of eight clovers and 8 chains.

Second Round: Thread charm or bead onto ball thread, (or you can attach it with a join later), thread through outside picot of any third ring , wind shuttle CTM.
***Ch 4-4, shuttle join (sj) to next available picot, ch 4-4, sj (to top picot of middle ring), ch 4-4 sj
ch 4-4, sj, ch 4-4-4, sj to top picot
mock ring: ch 4-4, sj to same picot
ch4-4-4, sj.***

Repeat *** section 3 more times, tie into starting picot.
On any one mock ring, slide charm or bead onto picot for a "dangle"
I attached a bead ring and a swarowski teardrop crystal bead for the "dangle".
My example is tatted in Liana size 20 in mint.

If you use beads, or attach a tassel or Angel charm at the bottom, this would also make a nice Christmas ornament.

Takes quite a lot of stiffening to keep it's shape. I don't particularly like the charm on this one, but I haven't made it recently, and so I don't have any prettier pictures. Just keep in mind that the heavier the charm/beaded dangle, the easier the suncatcher will pull out of shape from the weight, so I wouldn't suggest really heavy, big glass beads.

Button Cross

This pattern is very easy and quick to tat up. I've made these in size 10 crochet cotton for Easter or Christmas gift tie-ons.

clover: R 4-5-5-4, R 4j5-5-4, R 4j5-5-4

chain: 5-5 join to any hole of button 5-5

repeat clover

ch: 5j5 join to next hole in button 5-5-5-5

repeat clover

ch:5j5j5j5 join to next hole in button 5-5

repeat clover

chain: 5j5 join to last hole in button 5j5

tie into base of clover and finish off.

Adjusting the tension in the chains so that it "sits" right can be a bit tricky. I haven't found any perfect solution for that though...

I've also made this into a pendant (with a tiny mother-of-pearl button) - just attach a jumpring to the top picot, and run a ribbon through it to hang.