Lagniappe progress

With my recent focus on bookmarks, I haven't spent much time working on Lagniappe. I do love this pattern, and I hope to stay on track with it by balancing my tatting time. I still want to tat Ice Drops and bookmarks, but I don't want this beauty to take the back seat!

I'm back!

We had terrific storms on Friday. I helped daughter Carol with play practice after school, and the lightning was so fierce, I didn't want to get out of the car. About 6:45, the wind, thunder, lightning, and hail were so terrible, Dave and I went down in the basement. When we came back up, we could tell that at least one tree was down, but since it was dark, we couldn't see much.

In the morning, we could see that our big, beautiful maple had split in half. It was the first tree that we planted when we moved down on the farm in 1982.

Two trees that were tilting after last month's storm are resting on the tree house.

When the maple tree fell, it wrapped around our huge pine tree, stripping some of the branches.

The wind even took down the road sign for Sollitt Road.

Dave's chainsaw got quite a workout over the weekend. This is all that's left of our big, beautiful maple. The tree has not been in good shape for a few years, and we knew it had to come down. I guess now we don't have to pay for a tree service to come in and take care of it!

We were without Internet service from Friday night until late this afternoon. It's nice to be connected again!

My bookmark collection is growing!

I really appreciate all the input I have received about pricing both here and on Facebook.

I've decided that I'm going to price the bookmarks at $10 each. If they sell, great! If not, I'll have a supply on hand for gift giving.

I spent some time crocheting snowflakes today. It wasn't until I went to pin them out that I realized the one on the bottom left has seven spokes instead of six. I guess I'll have to do that one over again!

All four are from 100 Snowflakes to Crochet by Caitlin Sainio. The top left one is called Nevada, top right is Polar Glacier, bottom left is Droxtal, and bottom right is Flurry. They don't take long, so I many redo Droxtal tonight.

I do see inspiration for Ice Drops. Do you?

Looking for your input

Now that I've finished bookmarks for the Harry Potter club members, I'm working on bookmarks for Christmas in the Village in December. I have five ready to go. My goal is to have at least 24, many more if possible. I'm going to stick with the Curds & Whey pattern from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. I like the way it looks, and I'll have plenty of variety with the colors I have on hand.

I have a price in mind for these bookmarks. The bookmark sleeves cost just under 20 cents each. I have no idea how many bookmarks can be made from one ball of crochet cotton, but the thread cost is pretty much minimal. My question to you is, how much would you charge or be willing to pay for one of these bookmarks? I want to make sure I'm not way off base with the price I have in mind. I value your input!

The last one

This is the last Curds & Whey bookmark for the Harry Potter club... for now! It's not the last bookmark for me, but I may explore other patterns.

This Ice Drop sat in my bag for almost a week! I tried making the little picots a different way than I have been. I much prefer my original Doodle Ice Drop pattern. This one isn't a total failure, but it's definitely not to my liking!

Two more

I was on a bookmark roll today!

Two more Curds & Whey bookmarks are finished for Harry Potter book club members. I have one more to go, and then I can move on to other projects... unless I get more requests, of course!

Finishing projects

Dave and I spent time with friends yesterday, but I still managed some tatting time!

Tatting friend Jeanne sent me some ribbon to experiment with, and I was pleased to tat an Ice Drop. The ribbon is thicker than size 20 Lizbeth, so this is a five pointed pattern instead of six. I really enjoyed tatting with ribbon. It's very slippery, so I had to pay close attention to make sure my rings were closed and that I didn't have any spaces between my double stitches.

I can't remember who, but someone on Facebook commented that ribbon was nice for brooches because of the stiffness of the stitches. I do think ribbon would make a beautiful tatted brooch.

I was putting away my Tollway Tatters supplies and came across a hanky I had started over a year ago. I don't know why I stopped, but now it's finished and I really like the way it turned out. The hanky blank is from Handy Hands, and the thread is hand-dyed Beach Cafe from Marilee Rockley aka Yarnplayer.

It's a little late for a summer hanky. Do I dare start one in fall colors, or should I move right on to winter? Hmmm... I guess you'll have to wait and see!

The next set of bookmarks for Madelyn will be in black and yellow. The black looks so elegant! I think it would make a beautiful choker.

September Tollway Tatters

We had a wonderful time on the Tollway today! We had so much fun, we've set our next two meeting dates (weather permitting): Saturday, October 12 and Saturday, November 16. We'd love to have you join us if you can!

There were seven of us today: Barbara, Mary, Victoria, and Glenda were to my right.

Thea and Sue Anna were to my left. Hmmm... I guess I should have taken pictures before lunch! Sorry, ladies!

Thea finished one side for a satin ball ornament and made a good start on the second side.

Sue Anna worked on her necklace to go with her earrings.

Barbara worked on her heart.

The talented Victoria Ong was able to join us today and worked on her needle lace flowers. She has a new book coming out soon, and I can hardly wait!

I am determined to make lovely needle lace flowers some day!

Mary worked on a beautiful lace edging today. Some day I may get the hang of needle tatting, but not today.

Glenda and I worked on Mary Konior's Curds & Whey pattern. I forgot to take a picture of mine. I sent it home with Glenda so that she would have a sample to see the joins more clearly. Somehow, seeing the actual piece of lace is so much more helpful than seeing just a picture!

I took along my Lagniappe doily to show my progress. I haven't gotten very far this week, and that's okay. I'm enjoying the process!

My friend Jeanne sent me a sample of some ribbon. The goal is to try an Ice Drop with it, but I wanted to get a feel for it first. The ribbon is very slick, and I had to pay attention to make sure I closed my rings all the way. I think this is going to be fun!

Two for Madelyn

Madelyn is the one who was instrumental in starting up the Harry Potter club at school.

I had already given her the red and gold bookmarks.

Next on the list were green and silver. I think she's going to like them!

Another bookmark

I managed to finish another bookmark before heading off to school today. I was able to give one of the Harry Potter club members two bookmarks, one red and one gold. Now I have a request for green and silver. I love that these high school kids want my tatted bookmarks!

Laziness?

I could have blogged last night. I had plenty of time. While taking my morning shower, I kept thinking about not blogging. Why didn't I? Was it laziness? Nope. I just didn't feel like blogging. I seem to have more and more days like that. I'm not thinking of giving it up. I would miss all of the connections I have made with people of like minds through this intriguing method of communication. I just have more interest in tatting, knitting, crocheting, weaving, and reading than anything electronic. I even find that I'm watching less and less t.v. Peace and quiet suits me fine!

The requests for bookmarks for Harry Potter club members continues. I am thrilled to be able to share tatting with high school students. I love the way they study the bookmarks when they receive them. I can tell they are fascinated with the detail. I'm glad I've developed a rhythm tatting Curds & Whey, as it seems to be the favored pattern!

My Ice Drop tree is finally starting to look full! I'm almost finished with the hand-dyed thread from Karey Solomon. I think I may go to white when I'm finished with this hand-dyed thread. I love the colorful Ice Drops, but with white I can choose any glass gem I like and not worry about it going with the thread!

I took the time to block my crocheted snowflakes yesterday. They look much better pinned out! Do you see the wonky red one on the left? I was using up thread on a floss bobbin and ran out. I have an idea for a broken snowflake collage. I'll let you know if my idea pans out!

Half Duet

Yesterday turned out to be a very busy day, so I only managed to tat one Curds & Whey bookmark.

When I woke up this morning, Curds & Whey was still on my mind. I didn't think I had enough gold thread left on my shuttle, so I decided to experiment with Duet. Both patterns are from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior.

My original plan was to tat half of Duet in gold and half in cranberry. However, with size 10 thread it would not have fit in the bookmark sleeve. I was going to stop with large rings, but I felt I needed small rings to finish it off. Wouldn't you know, I forgot to reverse my work after the last large ring!

It looks okay for a bookmark, but I'll pay closer attention next time!

Yesterday

It's that time of year again... allergy season! I feel like I go through a box of tissues each day. I don't, but it feels like it.

The yard cleanup continues. Dave cleared out some bushes that had been damaged by the storm a month ago. We didn't realize how much undergrowth there was until he pulled the bushes out. Our back yard is looking much more open.

I spent about an hour crocheting snowflakes yesterday. I gave them each a shot of steam, but they need to be blocked properly, something I was not in the mood to do yesterday.

I'm thinking of crocheting three colors: cranberry, gold, and white. This is Barber.

This one is called Stellar Crystal. In the book, the spokes are more rounded. I think it looks more like a crystal with the spokes pulled out straight.

This little cutie is called Frost. I definitely need to do some adjusting with this one!

The last one for the day is called Spring Snow. After looking at the individual pictures, I'm ready to pull out my blocking mats!

Since I had the ball of white crochet cotton out, I decided to tat Curds & Whey in white. I thought the white thread felt thicker than the other crochet cottons I had used recently, and I was right. I've been tatting eight pattern repeats, and I only had room for seven in the white.

I'm amazed that I still have some of Karey Solomon's hand-dyed thread left. I think the gold is my favorite glass gem with this thread.

I finished the St. Louis Cathedral Spires section of Lagniappe by Mike Lyon. I love the way this pattern flows!

Busy day

There was plenty to do around the house today, but I made sure I had plenty of time for tatting.

My bookmark collection is growing! This Curds & Whey (Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior) bookmark is in size 10 crochet cotton from my stash.

Since I had the thread at hand, I decided to crochet a snowflake. I do prefer tatted snowflakes, but I can crochet this pattern in about 15 minutes. A tatted snowflake would take much longer. I'm planning on having a table at Christmas in the Village, and it would be nice to have a collection of snowflakes to offer, both in white and in a variety of colors.

This snowflake is called Barber from 100 Snowflakes to Crochet by Caitlin Sainio. I've had the book for quite a while, so I decided it was time to put it to use!

I'm still working on the same skein of hand-dyed thread from Karey Solomon. I'm amazed at how many Ice Drops I've tatted from one skein!