Good progress

I feel like I made really good progress on the doily today...

especially since I spent time crocheting another "45 Minute Cowl" that took me an hour and a half. ;-)

I also finished a knit scarf that I started over a week ago. This one is a simple k1 p1 ribbing in super bulky yarn. I love it!

Could it be a dodo bird?

Probably not, but I sure am having fun with Jane's TIAS! The bonus is that I've had practice tatting split rings, not one of my strong points. Who knows? Maybe Jane will get me tatting split rings on a regular basis!

Fixing another mistake

I was up early today, so I had some time to tat before school. Maybe that wasn't such a good thing, because when I sat down to tat this evening, I realized that I had tatted the wrong stitch count on the last ring of the previous "tree." I hadn't gotten very far when I realized my mistake, so I retro- tatted.

Now it's fixed, and I can move on!

My fascination with the 45 Minute Cowl pattern from Lion Brand Yarn continues. I still can't finish one in 45 minutes, but I do enjoy making them! This one is in Lion Brand Amazing "Violets."

This one is in Amazing "Mauna Loa." I guess I'm not the only one fascinated with both the pattern and the yarn. I sold two of them today!

Only one

Today wound up being very busy, so I only managed one more pattern repeat. That's okay... the weekend is coming!

14!

This is a terrible picture, but I was too lazy to clear off a pretty table to show my progress. I only managed three more pattern repeats today, but that's better than a poke in the eye with a stick!

A few more repeats

I could have had a lot more tatted, but I forgot that pesky section of chain again! This time I chose to retro-tat the five rings and corresponding chains. Of course that took a little while, but I didn't feel like snipping and rejoining thread this time. Maybe I'll pay more attention for the rest of the round!

Back to where I was

I'm finally back to the point where I was when Carollyn saw my mistake, and I'm feeling pretty good about how this round is going. I have a feeling it's going to take a while, but I don't mind. I really like this round!

I forgot to post my progress on Jane's TIAS yesterday. At this point, I think it looks like needle nose pliers!

Thankful for tatting friends

So, it turns out that my mistake wasn't fixed. Carollyn emailed me to let me know that I had made a mistake...

I skipped every other ring, and I was only supposed to skip the ring under the single ring in this round.

Thank goodness my scissors are sharp! Fox warned me that there would be lots of snipping.

Thanks for catching my mistake, Carollyn! Now I'm back on track, but I think I'll call it quits for tonight. My brain is getting tired from all this rethinking!

I took some time off from tatting this afternoon to crochet the "45 Minute Cowl" from Lion Brand Yarns.

Even though I made two of them, I could not make one in 45 minutes. It took me just over an hour for each one. The yarn is "Amazing" from Lion Brand.

With all the tatting and crocheting I did today, my wrist is worn out. So, I think I'll just turn on the t.v. and fall asleep in my chair.

Fixed

I didn't tat much today, but I did manage to fix yesterday's mistake. That makes me very happy!

I also finished the brown scarf that's been on the loom for over a week. I like the way it turned out, but I can't say that I enjoy weaving with super bulky yarn. It was an experiment, and now I know how  the super bulky looks when woven.

So, how did I spend my day? Catching up... grocery shopping, reorganizing kitchen cabinets, laundry... all the little mundane things that must be done. It's funny, though... I found it very relaxing!

My first mistake...

...of round 7!

The first pattern repeat went just fine, so I confidently started the second pattern repeat. To my dismay, I realized that I forgot a picot and 5 ds, so there was nothing to join to. I'm not very far along, so guess what? It will be snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, start over. I sure am glad this happened at the beginning of the round!

Although my Internet connection was very slow this morning, I did manage to finish Day 7 of Jane's TIAS. I have absolutely no idea what this could be!

14 inches!

That's how big the Monster Doily is after only six rounds. I can't believe there are 17 rounds to this doily. I think I'm going to have to clean the dining room table off so that I can keep taking pictures!

3 more repeats

That's all I have left of this round! It will take me about an hour and a half, and although it's still early, I think I'm done for tonight. I'll see what I can accomplish tomorrow.

Before school, I managed to get the next part of Jane's TIAS done. I'm glad that each day presents just a little of the design. It makes it very easy for me to keep up!

Chuggin' along

I'm always amazed at how much I can accomplish when I do a little bit here and a little bit there. I was really surprised when I set this on the table and saw that I've passed the halfway point. This round is going very quickly!

Starting Round 6

Honestly, I wonder how I manage to accomplish anything fun during a full work week. Since there was no school today, I took care of some long-neglected chores, including finally getting my shingles vaccine. It was expensive... no, insurance did not cover it... but if it lessens the chance of me ever getting shingles again, it's well worth the cost!

I did find time to begin round 6 today. I did check to see how long it took me to tat the rings and chains between motifs... a little over 30 minutes. I'm 1/3 of the way around!

Another round done!

I don't have much to say about round 5. It was really fairly simple, and now it's done. I'm feeling very accomplished!

Early morning tatting

Dave and I both woke up before 5:30 this morning, leaving plenty of time for checking blogs and tatting! My last guess was a hummingbird perched on a purple flower, but that hummingbird had flown away. Now I see Winged Victory!

I shouldn't set goals

I'm no good at them. As soon as I set a goal, I get distracted. As a result, I only finished one motif today.

That's okay. I only have one to go to complete this round, and tomorrow is another day!

I spent some time weaving today. I only have about six inches left to weave on this scarf, and then it will be ready to come off the loom.

I'm amazed!

I can't believe how quickly I've been progressing. I think that I'll be able to finish this round between laundry loads tomorrow!

We had a teacher institute day today, so I had some extra time both before and after school. One of the kids asked me to crochet a scarf for her mom's friend, so I started it before school.

I couldn't find the hook I was using before Christmas, but I did find another one still in its original package in my sewing room. As I was crocheting, I thought the scarf seemed much looser than the ones I'd crocheted before Christmas. How could that be?

I did a little more digging around and found another size N crochet hook. It was much smaller than the one I was using, so I held them side by side.

They're not the same size! Then I noticed that the Susan Bates hook is marked N15/10.00 mm. The Boye hook is marked N-9.00 MM. I don't think I've ever heard of an N15 hook before. I think I'll do a little research on that one.

The scarf worked up quickly and it looks nice, but I think I'll make another one with the smaller hook this weekend. I know the scarves won't go to waste, and the lady who wants to purchase one can decide which she prefers.

I also managed to complete day 4 of Jane's TIAS. From this angle, I think it looks like a hummingbird perched on a purple flower. I'm really interested to see what this will be!

Disaster averted

Well, maybe disaster is a bit strong. I set down my doily to eat breakfast this morning, and while I was eating I was admiring the design... until I saw a wonky ring!

The ring is the right size, but I joined to the wrong picot! Yes, it would have driven me crazy, so tonight I carefully snipped out the mistake and fixed it. I'm much happier now!

Jane, I'm not very good at keeping track of time, but I think the last motif took me an hour and 20 minutes to tat. I don't think I'll be keeping too close track of my time. I might become discouraged and give up!

Nine motifs down, three more to go!

Unexpected progress

I was really tired last night, and I didn't think I'd get much tatting done. However, a burst of energy helped me complete the 7th motif!

It's large enough that I now have to take the picture on the table. The laptop got too small.

I woke up really early this morning, and between tatting before school and after school, I managed to finish motif #8. I'm a very happy tatter!

TIAS Day 3

Not much tatting to show for today, but at least I was able to work on Jane's TIAS!

Six!

Six motifs done means that I'm halfway around this round!

One more motif

I only managed to tat one more motif today. Despite the fact that we had three snow/cold days this past week, I had a lot to catch up on, and my tatting had to wait. Still, I'm happy with what I did manage to tat. It will be interesting to see how much I'm able to accomplish in the coming week. I am expecting a full week of school!

Lazy day

I was really lazy today. I went to get my hair cut, and when I came home I was so cold I just decided to be lazy. I'm ready for this bitterly cold weather to end, and it's only January!

I watched two oldies but goodies this afternoon: War Games and Father Goose. I hadn't seen either movie in a long time, so I spent more time watching than tatting. Still, I did manage to get a little tatting done.

Four out of the twelve motifs for this round are finished. Yes, they are time consuming, but each motif is an easy tat, and I'm really enjoying watching this doily grow. Who knows? Maybe I'll get another motif tatted before I head off to bed!

Just my speed

Day 2 of Jane's TIAS is up, and today's tat is just my speed... simple rings and chains!

Not again!

Yes, I did it again. I messed up on the motif for Round 5 of the Jan Stawasz doily.

Just look... an extra two double stitches and an extra picot. Sigh! Snip, snip, snip, snip... start over.

At last! Success!

The really good news is that I now have the pattern for this motif down pat!

I wove another scarf today. This is a short one, only about 42" long. It's just a nice size for wrapping around my neck and overlapping inside the neckline of my coat. I did try and keep track of how long it took to weave. I started about 8 a.m., and I finished twisting the fringe around 2 p.m. No, I was not weaving the whole time. I worked on laundry, talked on the phone, tatted a little, and fixed myself a nice lunch. I'm guessing that it really took me about three hours... much faster than knitting or crocheting!

One of the joys of working on my Saori loom is that I'm using a prewound warp. I'd have to check, but I think the one I purchased was 30 meters long. That means I can do a lot of weaving without having to take time to warp the loom for each project. I'm almost to the end of this warp, so I'll try and weave the rest tomorrow. That way I'll be able to spend Sunday afternoon putting the new warp on the loom. I know that will take all afternoon!

False starts

From the looks of things, I sure didn't accomplish much yesterday. I actually tatted for quite a while, but I had two false starts. Round 5 of the Monster Doily consists of pretty little motifs that are added to Round 4. I was almost half done with the first motif, when I realized there was a problem... make that problems!

First, each motif is joined in two places. I had turned the doily around between the first join and the second, resulting in a twisted join. No, it did not look like a design element. It just looked wrong! My second problem was that I joined too many picots. The third problem was that I used the wrong stitch count on the center rings of the motif. If you've tatted a Jan Stawasz pattern before, you know that he provides stitch counts for his method of tatting, traditional tatting, and front side/back side tatting.  So, snip, snip, snip, snip, start again.

As I was happily tatting the first motif for the second time, I stopped to admire my work. I do love looking at the lace I'm creating! Alas, something didn't look quite right. It seemed unbalanced. A quick reference to the pattern showed me that I had joined to the wrong picot on Round 4. I just couldn't live with that. So, snip, snip, snip, snip, start again. Just think, I could have had two motifs to show you on Round 5!

I'll have a chance to catch up today. Yes, we have another snow/cold day. Right now the wind chill is -11°, much warmer than yesterday, but still bone chilling!

I was talking on the phone with my friend Denise yesterday, and she was telling me how much she admired my scarves. Thank you, Denise! She asked me how long it took to weave a scarf, and I really didn't know, because I don't sit down and weave all in one sitting. I thought I'd give it a try. I guess I'm too easily distracted, because I did not sit down and weave a scarf, but for the first time, I did weave my a scarf in one day.

I really like this self-striping yarn. The color is Songbird Stripe. The brand is I Love This Yarn! It's an acrylic, and it's very soft. I still need to wet finish it, but I'm waiting until I have several scarves to run through the gentle cycle on the washer. I have four ready for wet finishing, so I'll probably get around to it this weekend.

I think these scarves will do the job!