Where did the week go?

It certainly was a busy one! Thanksgiving was at my house, so I spent most of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday shopping, cleaning and cooking. I'm not really in to cooking, but I sure did have a lot of fun this year, and everyone left full, happy, and toting leftovers.

I did manage to have some time to myself...

I'm now half way around round 17! Yay! Can I finish it in the next four weeks? I'll sure try!

Yvette, my nephew's wife, asked me to make mother/daughter hats in purple and gray for her and Abigail. I had to adapt the child's pattern for Yvette, not my forte, but I did manage to make it work.

I had some requests for cowls. This was what I was inspired to make this week. This is supposed to be a 45 minute cowl (pattern from Lion Brand), but not for me... each one takes me an hour and a half!

Alison and the kids came down for a visit yesterday. Eva decorated my living room tree with some help from her mom.

Aidan and Grandpa decorated the sun room tree.

When he thought I wasn't looking, Dave decorated the staircase. I'm not overly fond of garland on the staircase, but Dave loves it. As long as it comes down before Easter, I tolerate it. ;-)

I'm flattered!

My nephew's wife hung a group of my tatted pieces and my sister sent a picture. Yvette even included a discarded piece, the blue on the right. I believe that's an Iris Niebach design that I messed up. Needless to say, I am extremely flattered to see my tatting on display!

Two of the teachers at school asked me to make scarves for their daughters. This one is a combination of single crochet and double crochet.

This one is done all in half double crochet.

Both are made with I Love This Yarn, Surprise Stripe. I think the single/double crochet scarf has a crisper look to it. I haven enough yarn to make one more scarf, then I'll weave matching bags for the girls. Once I have everything finished, I'll take them in to school. I hope the girls like them!

First snow!

We had our first snowfall of the year, and it wasn't just flurries... it was measurable!

I really can't remember the last time we had measurable snow before Thanksgiving.

We had at least 3" by mid-morning, but a lot of it melted as the day warmed up.

I decided to celebrate the snow day by putting on my pointy toe socks. I knit these years ago. They keep my feet nice and warm, but I really dislike the pointed toe. I'm pretty sure I threw away the pattern after seeing how they turned out.

It was nice to have some time to tat after a very busy week. I've now managed to tat around four motifs. I'm hoping that I'll have time to finish this round with the long Thanksgiving weekend coming up.

I finished my Murley scarf from Sequence Knitting today. The yarn is Seablue Tweed, I Love This Yarn, from Hobby Lobby. It's so soft!

I also finished weaving another scarf. This one is slightly shorter than the last at 108". It's still a little too long for my liking, so I'll experiment with a slightly shorter length for my next one. This is another color way from I Love This Yarn, Autumn Stripe.

I have quite a collection of scarves now!

Tollway Tatters meeting cancelled

We're cancelling our Tollway Tatters meeting this Saturday because of the predicted snow storm. We're looking at some alternate dates, and I will post the date we'll meet once it's decided.

Stay safe and warm everyone!

Success!

Marking the dips with thread worked! I managed to correctly tat the first time through, and I'm very happy about that!

I took my 112" scarf to school today to get opinions about the length. We have three new teachers in our building this year, and I call them my scarf girls as they each wear scarves almost every day. They each tried the scarf on and showed me ways to wear it, so I do feel confident about making long scarves now. In fact, I started another one right after school!

Keeping a steady pace

I'm trying to keep a steady pace with all of my projects, mainly so my fingers, hands, wrists and arms don't scream in protest!

Round 17 of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece is so enjoyable to tat! The pattern repeat is easy to remember, and I can sit down and tat for a few minutes and still have a great feeling of accomplishment!

My Murley scarf from Sequence Knitting is growing fairly quickly. I take my knitting to school with me, and once I have everything set up for the day, I sit and knit until my day begins at 7:55. That's usually about 15-20 minutes of knitting... not bad!

I finished weaving this scarf today. It's an incredible 112" long! I think this will have to go to someone very tall. It's 7.5" wide and super soft. The yarn is from Hobby Lobby. If I weave with this yarn again, I think I'll use some of the techniques I've read about in my Saori book to give more visual interest. I really think this is kind of boring, but I'm sure someone will love it!

Avoiding mistakes

Since I repeatedly made the same mistake at the last "dip," I decided it would be helpful to mark the dips with thread. Hopefully, I will notice the thread at the appropriate time so that I don't make any more pattern mistakes! There's still a chance that I will complete round 17 of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece by Thanksgiving. All I need to do is avoid housework! ;-)

I started another scarf from Sequence Knitting. This one is Murley. I'm using I Love This Yarn, Seablue Tweed, from Hobby Lobby. Have I mentioned that I'm really having fun making scarves? 

Taking a break from tatting

I had to do it. I kept making the same mistake over and over again, so I took a break.

I focused on completing my Mobius scarf.

Since it was in stockinette stitch, I added a crocheted border to help it lie flat. It's super soft!

I also finished my "Askin" scarf from Sequence Knitting. The yarn is Knit Picks Preciosa Tonal, "Stormy." The shading isn't quite as obvious as it was in the other colors, but I still like it.

Yes, I have gotten back to tatting...

I actually have three motifs completed correctly! :-)

South of the Tollway Tatters

Tollway Tatters will be meeting on Saturday, November 21. Not everyone will be able to make that meeting, so we had a mini-meeting at my house today.

Denise, Carol, Carrie, and Carrie's daughter all came to visit me today... lucky me! We had a great time looking at tatting, tatting patterns, tatting shuttles, tatting threads, but none of us accomplished much tatting that I'm aware of!

Carrie's daughter had so much fun looking at my threads and shuttles... it was almost like shopping all over again! Carrie and I mostly talked and looked at the goodies everyone had brought. Denise and Carol spent time knitting socks and dishcloths. All in all, we had a great time!

Shortly before everyone arrived, I discovered that I'd done it again... yup, I missed the pattern change at the dip between motifs. I snipped, rejoined, and started tatting only to mess up again! Now worries, I'm back on track. I fixed my mistake near the end of our get-together, and then decided to quit while I'm ahead.

I spent a little time weaving while dinner was cooking. This is I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. I like the color changes, and I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like when it's off the loom.

I'm also knitting a mobius scarf out of the same yarn in a different color way. It's interesting to see how the yarn works up differently depending on whether it's knit or woven.

The wind is kicking up outside, and storms are expected to roll in tonight. Time to settle down to some tatting!

Progress

Bugsy Malone was a great success! The dinner theater on Sunday had 146 diners... not bad for a middle school play!

Madam Director, aka daughter Carol, was splurged with silly string at the end of the play. I don't think she minded being the victim of these little hoodlums!

Despite my hectic schedule this past week, I did manage to get some tatting done. I'm not as far as I had hoped, but all things considered, I think I've done pretty well. I'm almost finished tatting around three motifs. Maybe my goal for this round should be Thanksgiving!

Back on track... again!

I'm happy to say that I now have the pattern for round 17 firmly fixed in my mind, and I can proceed with confidence!

Unfortunately, I really won't have much time to tat this week... it's performance week! Daughter Carol has asked for my help at practice on Tuesday and Thursday this week, and performances are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It's going to be a a wild and crazy week!

Tollway Tatters

It's been a long time since the Tollway Tatters have been able to get together. We're all too busy! So, there are two events planned...

On Wednesday, November 11 (Veterans Day), tatters are welcome to join me at my home in Grant Park, IL, about an hour south of Chicago. Carol and I are planning to meet around 10 a.m., but I'm up early, so you're welcome to come earlier if you like. This is a bring-your-own-lunch meeting. We'll tat until you're ready to leave! Email me for directions.

On Saturday, November 21, we will meet at the Hinsdale Oasis on 294. This is our go-to place to meet. There are plenty of food choices, and it's a fairly central location for our group to get together. We're usually there from about 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., but we have been known to stay as late as 4!

If you're a newbie, please feel free to join us. There are plenty of talented ladies in our group willing to share their expertise!

What was I thinking?

I was blissfully tatting along when I realized that I had missed part of the pattern, the part that calls for small rings in the dip between motifs. Luckily, I had only finished 15 pattern repeats. I didn't feel like retro-tatting, so I snipped. So, maybe I'll be able to finish this round two weeks from today, missing my goal by a week... not a big deal, just not what I had planned!