Taking a Chance

Well, I'm sending this off in the mail to my mother-in-law today, and I'm risking her seeing it here before it gets to her. I can't help myself, though -- just have to post it. This is the same pattern as the snowman ornament I did earlier except that I used size 30 thread instead of 20 and adjusted the stitch count to make the rings and chains big enough. FYI, these chains are 8 ds long and the rings are 5+5+5-5. The hanger is a chain made of 32 beads separated by 2 ds.

Quantiesque Snowflake

This pattern was a very generous gift from Jon Yusoff to the tatting community, and it came in very handy at 4:30 this morning when I was awake long before everyone else in my household and needed something to occupy myself.

Hankies

Continuing in my vintage mode (do I have any other?), I have gathered my latest musings into one worksheet for myself. I have worked out a couple thread sizes, patterns, and spacing on the hankies from Handy Hands (I'm sure you can buy them elsewhere; mine come from HH) that I enjoy in my "mindless" tatting time. I'm thinking that now I can mix and match colors of thread and hankies and possibly even troll around my local area for potential orders. Maybe this is obvious to some veteran tatters, but it is an accomplishment for me.

#50 Ornament (challenge finished!)

I recently joined the Yahoo group for Workbasket Magazine, and there is a discussion about crocheting around holiday card cutouts. I decided to play with the idea with tatting, and here are the results.

#49 Holiday Snowflake

I've made a handful of these little snowflakes to tuck into holiday cards. They tat up in a jiffy and are a nice little add-in. The pattern is "Ribbon-Floss Snowflake" from Vida Sunderman's Tatted Snowflakes. I used size 20 Hakelgarn again. That seems to be a good snowflake thread for me.

A Letter from 1947

Today I thought I'd share another treasure from the boxes of things I got from my Dad. I wish there was an envelope accompanying this letter so I could be sure, but I'm assuming that this was addressed to his mother or perhaps his grandmother. I would also love to have the first part of the correspondence. We can only speculate about that. The letter is hand-written, of course, but I will try to reproduce it as closely as possible for you.


Conewango Valley, N.Y.
Oct. 9, 1947

Dear friend:

I received your card last week but have been having silo fillers and since them my little boy has been rather sick and required so much attention I couldn't possibly write a letter.

I'll tell you the articles I make and the prices I charge:

pillowcases 42" plain tatted edge $3.00
hens & chickens edge 3.50

doilies oblong $2.00
round $.50 $1.00

handkerchiefs cotton with tatted corner $.49
linen " " " $.69
linen with corner & plain edge $.89
linen with hens & chickens edge $1. 29

baby bonnets $3.00
baby dress - plain tatted trim $1.00
baby slip " " " $1.00

tatted corner for handkerchief $.25

I always have orders ahead. I'm swamped with orders now just before Christmas. Lately I've been getting colored linen handkerchiefs and put white corners and a white edge on for $.89.

I do have patterns for collars. Do you have any tatting books? I guess I have all the books they've sold for the past 14 years.

There are two collars in tatting book no. 159. There are four collars in tatting book no. 183. There are three in tatting book no. 141. These three books are by "The Spool Cotton Company" (O.N.T. & J. P. Coates). There is also one in book no. 111 by the same company. These books are $.10 each and I'm sure the address of this company is New York City.

There are three collars in The Star book no 30. The address of this company is "The American Thread Company. Design Studio, 260 West Broadway, New York, 13, N.Y.

I hope you'll gain some benefit from what I've told you.

Very sincerely,

(the letter is signed, but I don't want to publish names without permission, even though I don't know the person)