Getting ready!

We've cleaned up from Thanksgiving, and today we are getting ready for Christmas! Dave has been busy washing windows and putting lights on the tree. I'm sure that the people driving by our house at 55 mph will be able to notice that the windows are clean. ;-)

As soon as the tree is in place, I'll start decorating. That's our deal... Dave does the lights. I do the ornaments.

In anticipation of today's activities, I decided to get in the Christmas spirit by tatting a Christmas tree.

This is Ruth Perry's Tatted Christmas Tree 2013, a great little pattern! Ruth has beads at the base of the tree, but I decided to try a doodad because they were sitting right next to me. My next one will have beads just like Ruth's. Oh, yes... there will be more Christmas trees! Thank you, Ruth!

I used size 20 Lizbeth #601, Snow White. I purchased doodads from Fire Mountain Gems, item #H20-8942FX. This is a multi-pack of 500. I know... that's a lot of doodads!The S hooks are from Wirestorm Creations. Some day I'll be brave and try some of the colored S hooks!

What's in your basket of Christmas tatting?

1/3

Isn't it looking great? I really am enjoying this pattern. Even though it is very large, it has been a very easy pattern to follow. I'm really looking forward to seeing my sister-in-law's reaction to it on Christmas Eve!

I was saddened today to read of the passing of Jan Stawasz. I have both of his books and some of his shuttles. I greatly admire his work, and I'm sure there are many in the tatting community who will miss his talent.

This fall has been incredibly busy, and I've been enjoying every moment! I do take time to read all of the blogs I follow every day, although not all at one sitting. I have been aggravated by the fact that I can only leave comments on about half of the blogs I visit. I wonder if it is a problem on my end? I suppose it's something I'll have to investigate when I have a little more free time.

I probably won't have time to post again before Thanksgiving Day. The festivities are at my house this year, and I'll be spending tomorrow cleaning, shopping, and prepping for Thursday. I love Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

One quarter!

That's right... I'm one quarter of the way around, and I love the way it looks. No time to chat... have to tat!

Lofty goals

My goal was to finish this by Thanksgiving. I'm not sure that's possible with 32 pattern repeats and an hour and twenty minutes for each pattern repeat. It's not that there isn't enough time in the day. I probably could finish two repeats a day if my hands could hold out!

I'll just keep going. I don't really have to finish by Thanksgiving, just by Christmas Eve, and I'm confident that I can finish by then! :-)

Only one pattern repeat...

That's all I have in me tonight.

I did watch the clock to see how long it took... one hour and twenty minutes. I shaved ten minutes off my time. I feel like a speed tatter!

The final round

...is going to take a while!

I'm pretty sure each of these pattern repeats took me about an hour and a half, although I didn't actually watch the clock. There are 32 pattern repeats... only 29 to go!

One more round!

I was able to tat a lot this weekend, because my Internet was down Friday night through Saturday. Since I had no access to my blog buddies, I was able to achieve my goal of finishing this round. 

The last round is going to take a bit of time, because it weaves in and out. The doily is going to be larger than I anticipated. It's already 10"  and as I started working on the last round, I realized that my doily will probably be close to 18" when it's finished. Why? The directions called for size 50 thread, and I'm using size 20. Dang!

and then there were 12...

...pattern repeats that is!

I know I only progressed a little bit, but I'm happy with what I have. I hope to finish this round this weekend, and then it will be on to the final round! Who knows? I could be finished by next weekend... just in time to start some Christmas snowflakes! :-)

Lovin' this round!

I only have seven pattern repeats done, but I love the way this round is looking! Only 25 repeats to go!

Two more rounds!

Doily 4 from Tatted Fashion by Teiko Fujito is now 9" with two rounds to go. I'm thrilled that I was able to get so much tatting time in yesterday, but I have a feeling the next two rounds will not go so quickly. I'm really interested in the next round because of the way it looks in the picture.

Should I post my daily progress, or wait until I have the next round finished? Decisions, decisions...

I won't grow up!

Peter Pan was a huge success!

Madame Director and the students had a wonderful time, and the audience thoroughly enjoyed their shenanigans. Now that there are no more practices to help supervise, no more repairs to props and costumes, perhaps I can truly get back to my first love... tatting!

Despite all the activity of the past few weeks, I have managed to fit in a little tatting time. I'm very grateful to have the day off today. This morning I was able to finish round 6 of Doily 4 from Tatted Fashion by Teiko Fujito. It's now 8" across, and I'm very pleased with the way it looks.

My shuttles are full, so it's time to move on to round 7!

Apparently, Smee knits!

The middle school production of Peter Pan is next weekend and daughter Carol, aka Madame Director, requested a last minute prop... knitting needles with some knitting attached. It's been a long time since I've seen Peter Pan, and I really don't remember Smee knitting, but since Carol asked, I complied!

I decided that if I was going to knit, I might as well start a real project. This is one of my favorite patterns, a Seafarer's Scarf from The Seaman's Church Institute. I like this pattern, because the center is a knit 4, purl 4 ribbing, which makes a nice thick layer around the back of the neck... great for keeping winter winds at bay!

Smee was greatly impressed. We'll see if the start of the scarf is still intact when the play is over next weekend!

I did manage to finish tatting round 5 of my doily (Doily 4 from Tatted Fashion by Teiko Fujito) this week. It's now 6 3/4 inches. I need to wind my shuttles for the next round. I'll be supervising kids at play practice tomorrow. It will be the perfect time to get some tatting done!