Just some thoughts

I don't have a picture to post today, but I do have a though I wanted to share.  I have seen a few tatters, some I like quite well, with great personalities, wonderful sense of humors, caring people, friendly, nice, good works, talented, never saying rotten things about anyone etc, being hard on themselves or talking about others being hard on them.

Well, stop it.  don't be hard on yourself if you aren't  perfect, perfection isn't a human trait, and no one should strive for it imo. Infact, in any craft I am making, when things are going "perfect" I will purposefully make a flaw... there is only one source of perfection in this universe and I am not it, and I have always believed for me to not include at least one flaw, is hubris.

To those who are hard on others, you stop it too.  Just because someone isn't as good as you, or so you may think, whaaa. They may be better than you at something else, but I am sure it hasn't been thrown in your face.  Be kind, always remember, constructive criticism is a positive thing, something someone can learn from, a way to better their products, arts, etc,  but not all people are looking for it either.  It can be a thin line, and it can be very hard to know  when not to give  that constructive  criticism and accidentally hurt someone's feelings. 

Sometimes that is unavoidable, however, there are people who are quite snooty and just put people down  , telling them they don't do it right, their work is infirior etc.  before opening your mouth and inserting your foot, think about how you feel when you are spoken to like that, then, just stop it.

Now, on to  a helpful hint that has helped 

me when trying to design a new  little piece.  

I shared this with someone already, not sure if it helped or not but thought I would put it out there. 

In beading and in knitting, there are gauge samples you make, with bead weaving you make a few rows of beaded fabric in one color with every 10 or 20 beads  one color and then a place marker in a diff color, with knitting you always make a swatch in the yarn you are going to with the needles you are going to use a few inches wide and a few inches high so you can measure the stitch count to find out how big things will be.  I took this idea and applied it to tatting.  I made a sample with some chains and rings on it of varying lengths and sizes... 

example, first chain might be 5ds p 5ds then the first ring then next chain 5ds p 5ds p 5ds then another ring   then maybe 10 ds and a couple split rings of diff sizes,  and etc, you get the picture,


I have quite a nice little piece about a foot long, with all these little rings  and chains on it, so when I am making a pattern, I can finish a round and then I want to know, hey,how many stitches between here will it take, I can get a better guesstimate with my little gauge, or if I want to know, will a chain ring chain fit between this clover and the next, then I can test it out with my little gauge. 

It really has helped me a lot, and no, it isn't bullet proof, but like I said, I don't design with a computer.  Just a pencil and paper, so, I thought I would share my idea with anyone else who might  find it helpful.