Visiting Mom

Dave and I arrived at Mom's in L.A. (Lower Alabama) about an hour ago. I brought Killian along. I'll do my best to share some adventures with you, but don't expect too much... I plan on having fun with Mom!

Merry Christmas!

Everyone made it in Christmas Eve, and we feasted on homemade ravioli... Jake, my son-in-law, holds the new record of consuming 30 ravioli! The previous record was held by daughter Alison... 22. Such silliness!

The little girls' Christmas socks were finished on time... about 4:30 Wednesday... little girls arrived around 10:30... whew!

I anticipate the pitter patter of little feet any minute now... Santa arrived, and there will be more excitement very soon! Christmas is so much more fun with little children around!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

When what to my wondering eyes should appear...

...but a miniature tree, with a fence made of tatting shuttles!


Isn't this wonderful? Last year I was showing some of my tatting shuttles off at school, and I asked our head custodian, who likes to work with wood, if he could make some for me. He gave me one last spring, and I treasure it!

So, what will I do with seven more of the same shuttle? I'm going to give six of them away (I really have to keep one for myself so the original doesn't get lonely). Here's the deal... Make a comment on this post expressing your interest in Dan's shuttles. I will draw six names on New Year's Day... what better way to start off the New Year? If your name is drawn, please send me your mailing address, and I will get your shuttle mailed off to you. All I ask is that you post a picture of your shuttle when you receive it so that I can put a mini-album of pictures together for Dan. He used to be in the Navy, and would love to know how far his shuttles have traveled!

Vanilla Sky

My new thread from Pamela arrived yesterday! I tried to be good and work on Christmas presents, but the call of the thread was too strong. That, and this super cold weather is making my left arm ache... honest, it really does ache from the cold weather! There was just no way I could crochet last night. Well, maybe I could have, but I wanted to play with my new thread. So my arm ached and I decided to wind my new thread on shuttles. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it! My arm feels so much better now! (wink, wink)

Of course once the thread was wound on the shuttles, I just had to make sure I had wound it properly! I'm sure Pamela and Reen can tell what I'm working on. Can you tell? I'll give you a hint... it's an old favorite of mine!

Tatting with Pamela

I was really stuck on how to begin "The Third Day of December" from 24 Snowflakes in Tatting by Lene Bjorn. Luckily, I knew that Pamela could help me out, and I have the beautiful snowflake she sent me as an example. I guess sometimes a picture just isn't enough for me! Thanks for the help, Pamela! I can't find the ball of thread anywhere. I know it's Anchor, but I'm not sure what size... 50? I really should take the time to read my camera manual so that I can learn to take proper pictures!

Now, the reason I haven't been tatting much...


yes, dishcloths! My friend Brenda asked me to knit a dozen dishcloths for her after Christmas last year. She's giving them as Christmas presents. It doesn't really take long to knit a dishcloth, although my knitting has slowed down since I broke my wrist almost two years ago. I just can't knit as quickly or for as long a period a time as I used to. Still, I should have had these dishcloths finished by the end of January last year. I just seem to get a mental block when I have a task that needs to be completed... a good reason for me to never go into business! Anyway, now that they're finished I can move on to my next task... crocheting lace edgings on socks for my granddaughters and finishing the pair of socks I'm knitting for my grandson. I guess that means not much tatting for the next couple of weeks... sigh!

Tatting with longer picots

...or so I thought! I really thought that using a picot gauge two sizes larger would make a huge difference. Apparently that's not quite true! The top snowflake is the one with the "larger" picots. I don't think they really look that much different. However, they do feel a lot different. The top one is softer and took a little more time to get in to shape.

Now, it's decision time. Should I try this in a smaller thread, or try a different pattern? I think size 20 thread makes this too large to use as a snowflake, but it makes a great mini doily. I think it's time to dig through my stash!