Tat's Heaven

Having just come back from a holiday in Southern Ireland where Celtic Knots were visable in many places from rings to roadsigns I' ve had my fill of knots! The painting below is on silk and I've often thought I would like to tat the design but a true celtic knot has no beginning and no end, so there is my problem! The Celtic Knot symbol, is also referred to as the mystic knot, or the endless knot. One of the attractions to me is the many colourways that can be seen in some of the designs. The tatted celtic knot design is by Ruth Baker and I've only ever made one (and this is it!) and not sure if it is woven correctly! Whilst in Ireland we visited a castle and in the herb garden was this hedge design looking very much like a celtic knot. On the sea voyage returning from Ireland it was my stomach that got into a bit of a knot. The Irish sea was very rough, we were told that it was the tail-end of the American hurricane Bill, thank you to those who live over the pond! The car

Everytime I go to Ireland I take my tatting and of course give some away. There is one particular lady who I visit, now in her eighties, with a very large family who are always in her home helping her. Well she loves to receive a tatted gift. A few years ago I took her a goose and a swan , both Jane's patterns. One of her daughters made them into a picture as you can see. This very much reminds me of Carol Lawecki and how she also incorporates some of her tatting into pictures. Before a few more of you rush to comment that you do the same, I've seen some of them and they look very effective. Just wish I had that talent. This particular picture sits on her large sideboard with all the pictures of her vast family.

On the news today here in Britain we were told to encourage bees into our gardens by putting out water flavoured with sugar. The honey bees in the UK need an extra bit of help as 40% of them have been lost in the past four years and the number of species of British bumblebees has halved since the 1950s. The bees have been leaving their hives in droves, resulting in a serious drop in honey production. Apparently this is happening all over the world. We should be alarmed by the bee’s decline – after all, the honeybee account for 80% of all pollination so food production could be seriously damaged. Now I have a friend who loves bees, she talks to them and when they land on her she even strokes them. She is a church flower arranger so obviously is used to the little critters! I tatted some "Itty-Bitty Bumble Bees" from Martha Ess's book "New Critters on the Block" although I've had the book for ages this is the first time that I have ever made anything from it.

Now I'm not generally a pink sort of person, I prefer browns, blacks and purples, but somehow I seem to have masses of pink thread at the moment. The necklace attached to this pink heart is made with Jane's technique of attaching beads to SR and I found it an easy and effective method, and plan to enclose more beads this way. The phrase "In the Pink" was very common during the early 20th century and even up until the 21st century and generally it means being in the best of health. It has though now almost disappeared from our vocabulary, instead we are more likely to say that we are "feeling in good health, or very well thank you." The phrase apparently originally came out of the English fox hunting tradition where a rider was not granted the right to don the scarlet coloured jackets, called "pinks" (a red colour), until he demonstrated superior horsemanship and service to the hunt. Being “in the pink” meant the rider had reached the pinnacle of ac