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Saturday, April 21, 2018

Vancouver Shopping, and Dropping the Shuttle

April 20, 2018

I will start right off in true Canadian tradition: With an apology.  I've been absent, but I have been busy for sure.  I had minor surgery on the 16th, my dog AND my cat have dental issues that need attending, and my daughter is having issues that have me concerned (she will be fine, but I'm the mom, so I worry.  It's written somewhere in the "handbook" that it comes with the territory).  Family first, as they say, but it took me away from my promise to find resources for Canadian Tatters.

So, my fine-feathered friends, I have another one for you!  I introduce to you: Dressew Supply, located on the mainland of British Columbia in Vancouver.  Now, I'm informed they don't do mail order OR online sales, but I'm also told they are absolutely stocked to the rafters with notions and many things a tatter would love.  Apparently, their prices are extremely reasonable and their staff is very knowledgeable in a great many crafts so that if one isn't able to help, someone else on staff likely will.  They are located at 337 W. Hastings St, Vancouver, BC in the heart of Gastown.  While they don't do mail order or online sales, they do come highly recommended by several people.  If you were to call them at 604-682-6196 and asked if they have something, I'm pretty sure they could tell you and you could plan your trip. Their website is www.yelp.com/biz/dressew-supply-vancouver and if you wander over there, I'm sure you'll see lots of wonderful reviews, just like I did.  According to David (who was my very kind contact at the store) all their Facebook and Twitter posts originate at their Instagram account, which is @dressew.  You have several ways to contact these folks other than just on the phone.  


Photo of Dressew Supply - Vancouver, BC, Canada


Look at this!!  It is an entire wall of BUTTONS!!  I see Ice-Drop coming out of my ears!!


Just those buttons are tempting!!  Can you imagine all the wonderful tatted musings you could come up with with just those buttons?  I sure can!  (I have a thing for pretty buttons) Give them a look!! 

On a different note, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce some of the newer tatters that might be wandering in here to a  technique I once considered a "waste of time".  I must be getting mellow in my old age because I now swear by it, and that is "posting" your shuttle.

First, it's a technique where you put your shuttle through the ring before you close it.  Just take the shuttle from the top of the work to the backside of the work by dropping it through the ring you're working on and THEN closing the ring.  It is that simple, but has an amazing effect on your end product.

I know, "what the heck does THAT do?"  Well, for one thing, it moves the stitches into better alignment with each other so the ring closes better.  An added plus is that the ring is easier to open in the event you make a boo-boo that needs repairing.  Look here what it does for a ring.  One is not posted, one is posted.  Can you tell the difference?



         
                                                  Non Posted                                                       Posted 


The next thing I noted in this "what the heck does THAT do?"  answer was that subsequent elements were easier to butt up against the previous (you know, removing that awful gap some of us seem to always have between a ring and a chain coming away from it?).  Again, look here; one is off a ring that was posted, another isn't.  I like the look of the one off the ring with posted shuttle better, don't you?


          
                                         Not Posted                                         Posted

I don't know why I hadn't noticed any of this before, and I can't explain it.  I just know that one day I was tatting recently and put my shuttle through the ring for some reason before I closed it, and the ring closed smoothly and COMPLETELY!  I really didn't think anything of it.  The chain that came off it butted up really close to the ring, too.  The next ring I did the same way I always had, without posting the shuttle, and it didn't look as good.  "Hmm...what did I do different on that last ring?"  Why had I not seen that difference before?

Here's the other bonus:  The rings truly ARE easier to open.  There's no twisted bit at the base of the ring to struggle around.  I've opened rings I noticed an error on 2 or 3 back and they opened like a dream.

I now make a very definite effort to remember to post the shuttle and I curse myself when I have to open a ring to do that, cuz it's not as easy to do if you haven't posted the shuttle beforehand.  It really does make a difference!  I will try to show something with trefoils for my next post because the effects of this are far-reaching.  Until next time, my friends!


Happy Tatting!




Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Good News for Eastern Canada Tatters!

April 11, 2018

Oh my gracious, I'm so excited!  If I wasn't already in a chair I'd need to sit down.  I found a store in Eastern Canada that sells tatting supplies, and they have stores ALL OVER Nova Scotia!

Atlantic Fabrics has been serving the sewing and crafting community in Nova Scotia for a whopping THIRTY-THREE YEARS!!  When I lived in Nova Scotia (more than a few moons ago) I shopped at their store in New Glasgow.  They had so many things in there, and a crafting department second-to-none.  The really nice part of it was that if one clerk wasn't sure what you were asking about, another one would be available to help you with the information you were seeking. They are located in Halifax, Dartmouth, Bridgewater, Truro, Greenwood and New Glasgow.  Their website is atlanticfabrics.com and there are certain parts of it that are currently "Under Construction" because...

...THEY'RE GOING TO OFFER ONLINE SHOPPING IN THE COMING MONTHS!!

Folks, Eastern Canada will finally have a wonderful source of tatting materials available and you won't have to travel very far!  Open up your computer and you'll have a wealth of supplies at your fingertips! I hope the folks that are reading this from the Maritimes are seeing this.  I might be living out here on the open prairie, but I miss the Maritime provinces.  I'm so glad the needs of my fellow tatters are starting to be met the way they should.  

When I lived in Nova Scotia, I lived in a teeny little place called Bickerton W., I worked at Sherbrooke Village, and I'll tell you this for free:  it was a royal pain trying to keep my craft cupboard supplied.  I had to travel at least an hour to Antigonish, and even further if I wanted to go to New Glasgow (where the better supplies were, I'll be honest).  You better be sure you had a whole day and a list of everything you wanted before you went cuz you were hooped if you forgot something important.  Soon, that won't be an issue.

Thanks to the wonderful folks at Atlantic Fabrics for getting  back to me so quickly with the "okay" to post their store details here, and thanks for continuing to serve the needs of the crafting community in Nova Scotia!

Okay, now I need to go have a cup of tea and pick up my own tatting before I explode.  This was great news!


Happy Tatting!

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Another Hopeful Resource gone.

 April 3, 2018

Oh, my goodness!  I found a treasure trove!  This website lists lacemaking guilds and groups in Canada!!  I just about choked on my tea, I was so excited!  Have any of you found this?  I don't know how recent any of the links are, but this will prove extremely helpful in getting Canada properly onto the tatting map instead of just out here on the periphery.

http://www.arachne.com/guild/canada.html

There were all kinds of them and I just didn't have time to look at them all, but it was exciting nontheless.  If anyone with an internet connection at home and with time on your hands could go have a look at it and get back to me, I would truly appreciate the help.

I heard from another tatting resource.  They were very excited to be listed on our little corner of the website.  Stitch-it Central in Ingersoll, ON has been in business for quite some time, and Cindy, the kind lady I contacted, has written a little something for our blog:

Stitch-it Central started over 10 years ago when Maria Santos wanted to take her love of cross-stitching and be able to share it with more people, and meet some new friends.  The company started small, in the basement of their house with a small inventory, a small group of stitchers and a couple new customers popping in to check out the growing store.  It wasn't long before the inventory and the stitching group out-grew the basement location and Stitch-it Central found a home in the quaint little town of Ingersoll, Ontario in 2013.  We began catering more to the crafts that customers were asking about and soon expanded into needlepoint, rug hooking, tatting, yarns, quilting and even custom framing!  Proudly Canadian and boasting a website with over 50,000 products and a physical store of over 3000 square feet, we are meeting new customers and making new friends every day, all while sharing a love of hobbies and crafting.

We have a great selection of tatting supplies, including shuttles, needles, gauges, bobbin cases, books, threaders, and a wide variety of Lizbeth threads in different sizes.  

Please visit us at www.stitchitcentral.ca, come to our store at 189 Thames St. S, Ingersoll ON, call us at 519-303-1563, or email us at sales@stitchitcentral.ca.  You can also visit us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Stitchitcentral/?ref=bookmark

Their website seems very well laid-out and easily navigable.  Their selection of tatting tools is impressive, and I may invest in one of those threaders they have featured.  I can never seem to find one that will hold up to threading size 20 Lizbeth through the eye of the needle I use when I do break down and hide ends.  I absolutely HATE hiding ends and will find a creative way to insert a split chain or split ring into my work just so I can climb from one round to the next without cutting and tying!

You know, I need to sincerely thank everyone that has stepped up to volunteer as a mentor, consented to let me list their shop here, spread the word, or even just given encouragement. It's all very hard to put into words. This is truly important to me; something I've wanted to do for a long time.  It is both heartwarming and humbling to be part of such a wonderful group of people. Gives ya the warm fuzzies, it does!


I'm afraid tonight's post won't be a long one, sorry.  I twisted my knee on the ice yesterday evening while we were hurrying to get our dog to the dog wash in town (hey, everyone needs to have a bath before they go to the doctor, er, vet).  Nothing serious, but I broke out the ol' cane and have been taking steps rather gingerly today.  I need to get things ready to go back to work tomorrow.  Ah, why can't it be a 2-day work week and a 5 day-off situation?  I suppose it just makes you appreciate the time you do have.  Okay, the ice pack and the Tylenol are calling my name!



Happy Tatting!

Sad update, dear Tatters.  Seems the website for Arachne.com is no longer working.  Another resource gone.  Breaks my heart.


Monday, April 2, 2018

More Places to Shop, and New Metallic Thread!

April 2, 2018

If there was a day to dread, April 1 would be it.  Not because it was Easter Sunday (gotta love Easter, it's just a nice feeling) and it was also International Tatting Day, which you just gotta love if you're a tatter!  No, April 1 is also April Fool's Day.  Mr. Tatter, to whom I will soon have been married for 12 years, loves to play jokes on me.  I sometimes think the only reason he married me was so he would have a permanent straight man/person. I am glad this year I didn't have to see him until late as our shifts for work didn't allow us to see each other until either quite late or very early.  We both enjoy our sleep, so getting up to make me his April Fool this year didn't happen, and he was too pooped after work to make me his stooge (yay!).  It's all good.  He usually makes me laugh til I cry, and that's good for anyone.


On a tatty note, I ordered up some new metallic tatting threads that arrived yesterday, and more pattern books.  I have pattern books I've not yet looked at, but if you asked me what my favourite is, I can't say I have one.  I'm addicted to tatting, so I love 'em all!

I made a couple of little doo-dads called "Ice Drops" with my newest metallic Violet thread to celebrate International Tatting Day.  I like this one I'm showing you because it shows off the "sparkle" on the thread a bit better.  Ain't it purdy?





As threads go, it's a bit stiffer and a bit more coarse than I'm accustomed to using. I usually stick with Size 20 Lizbeth because I like the variety of colours and it's easily available.  Their colour consistency is fairly even between balls, which I like very much.  You're not falling into the "what dye lot is this" pit at the bottom of which you usually find yourself when knitting and are only 1/2 skein short of finishing that beautiful sweater you swore you had enough yarn to complete!  Been there, done that, burned the tee-shirt.

Speaking of supplies, I have another two for my list.  First up is L'Atéliér de Pénélope, which I'm very excited to list as my first contact for supplies in the Province of Quebec. It's located just outside lovely Quebec City.  I was so pleased to find this nice lady (whose name is Patricia, by the way) as I have a new tatter in that area looking for help with shuttle tatting.  See folks?  THIS is why I'm doing this!!  Connection!!! I hope it works out for them both.


I digress.  The website for L'Atéliér de Pénélope is at http://www.latelierdepenelope.com, and she does offer online shopping.  If you use Google and arrive at her shop, you may need to translate into whatever language you want, but the site is very well laid-out and easy to navigate.  The shop itself is located at 1368B St.Jacques Street, L'Ancienne-Lorette, QC G2E 2X1, the phone number is 418-634-0050, and the email address for the shop is info@latelierdepenelope.com.  The lovely lady I spoke with was Patricia.  If you're in the area, be sure to stop in and say "bonjour!"  Directions for their shop are provided on the shop's website below the address.


Next up is The Twisted Barn just outside of Rocky Mountain House, AB.  Now, they don't do online shopping but if you email them, or phone Shirley (the lady that runs the store), she is very familiar with tatting and can tell you all about what they have. She sent me a picture of inside her store.  Look at all these juicy colours of Lizbeth thread!  She said she carries all available sizes and colours in that line, and she does sell tatting tools, too, so make sure, when you're in the area, to drop in and have a look.  Directions to her shop are on her website in the sidebar on the left of your screen.





Everything you need to contact these fine folks is on their website at http://www.twistedbarn.ca/. They are actually in a barn, and it's painted bright red so you can't miss it. I'm definitely putting it on my list of places to visit if I get to Alberta any time soon.  I'm hoping the end of May, but I'm only planning at this stage.  Let's hope!


I think that's it for today, but I think that's enough!  I hope to have more info to add soon.  Oh, before I go, please contact Gloria Nelson (one of the mentors at the right of the screen here) and subscribe to her monthly newsletter, "Tatting Together".  Yes, she is predominantly a needle tatter, but I've seen her work and it's exquisite.  She has notes in her newsletters that are very helpful for both needle and shuttle tatters, and she usually includes a pattern that's not hard at all.

Anyway, happy belated Easter, Joyeuses Pâques, Felices Pascuas, Gelukkig Pasen, Frohe Ostern, Maligayang Pasko ng Pagkabuhay,Selamat Paskah,Счастливой Пасхи, Gelukkige Paasfees and in all the million other language I would love to put on here but just don't have room.


Happy Tatting!