Shuttles, donuts, and a doily

 

My newest shuttles from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design arrived today. Aren't they lovely?

I finished a December 4 button ornament, and then I went back to the December 1 pattern and used donuts. I was inspired by my friend Pamela's latest creation. Pamela used an opaline donut and her Blue Moon hand-dyed thread. If you've never tried hand-dyed thread, I highly recommend indulging yourself. It's wonderful!

I've carefully restarted round 13 of Renulek's Spring 2021 doily. I did have a bit of a hiccup. Have you guessed? I joined in the wrong place again! Luckily, I noticed right away and only had to un-tat a small ring and 3 ds on a chain. I think I need to pay close attention from now on!

Snipping round 13

I've been working on round 13 of Renulek's Spring 2021 doily for the past few days. I didn't post my progress, because it seemed a bit boring to show pictures of just a few pattern repeats. Maybe I should have posted!

About 7:15 this morning, I "finished" round 13 and laid it out for pressing. I found a mistake, a motif joined in the wrong place. Not a problem, just a little snip, unravel, and re-tat. It wasn't difficult, but it took me about two hours.

I headed back to the steam iron a little over two hours later and found a similar mistake in another section. Sigh! I carefully snipped out the mistake, unraveled, and decided to give it a quick press before re-tatting. That's when I found another similar mistake!

The whole round looked very messy to me, so instead of fixing another mistake, I chose to snip off the whole round and start over. Maybe I'll do better starting over!

True confessions

I must confess that not all of the tatting I'm posting about today was done today. I finished the Curds & Whey bookmark on Friday, but forgot to take it out of my tatting bag.

I also found another December 1 button ornament in my tatting bag. I guess I wasn't too careful about checking on Friday!

However, I did tat the December 2 and December 3 button ornaments today. I think the December 2 in the middle is my favorite of the three!

Tollway Tatters

It's hard to believe that this is the last Saturday in April. I wasn't even thinking about it until Sue posted a reminder!

I worked on Renulek's Spring 2021 doily. I tatted until my wrist got too tired, and then I quit for the day. I'd be close to finishing this round if I hadn't had to un-tat several mistakes!

We had a very nice virtual visit, and I think it's safe to say that we are looking forward to our next Zoom meeting!

My newest shuttles from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design arrived the other day. Aren't the colors wonderful?

I needed to work on something different after nearly three hours of tatting this morning, so this afternoon I picked up my knitting. Mom has started her second Orenburg warm shawl. I'm still working on the second of four borders from my first shawl. Still, I've been inspired by Mom, and I think it will do me good to switch between tatting and knitting so that I'm working different muscles.

My friend Ines recommended The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. I started reading after dinner. Now, will I spend the evening knitting or reading? I haven't decided yet!

Out on the town

Mom finished her Orenburg warm shawl, and she loves it! She loves it so much, she's getting ready to start another. We headed to Hobby Lobby for a skein of Sinfonia, which she will use to hold stitches on the new shawl.

After shopping at Hobby Lobby, we went to our favorite restaurant, Cozumel, and a light lunch. Our next stop was the doctor's office for a quick check-up. It's great to know that Mom is in good health!

I did get in a little tatting time today. I'm little over half way around on round 13. Yes, I am behind, but I keep telling myself it's not a race.

I also managed to bake a loaf of triple cheddar and black pepper bread for daughter Carol. I'll deliver it to her tomorrow.

It was kind of fun to be out on the town today!

Oops! I forgot to check!

 

I didn't think to check my tatting bag for supplies before heading off to school today. I only had one button with me, so I only tatted one button ornament.

I wasn't bored, though. I had my Kindle with me, and I started reading a sample of The Complete Dangerous Davies. I started watching The Last Detective on BritBox and decided to give the books a try. I haven't finished the sample yet, but I think I just may purchase this one so that I can finish reading it.

Yesterday was filled with test tatting. I'm not free to share what I worked on, but when the patterns are available, I'll be sure to let you know. One was a button ornament, and the other was an earring pattern. Both were very easy to follow, and I was pleased with the way they turned out.

I won't be working at school tomorrow. Mom and I are going to head to Hobby Lobby for inspiration. We'll probably grab a quick bite to eat, and then we'll head to a follow-up doctor's appointment. It will be a busy day!

Tatting and reading

 

Today was a good tatting day! I was very happy to complete five button ornaments.

Mom has been busy, too. She's getting close to finishing her Orenburg warm shawl. Isn't it gorgeous?

I didn't do much tatting over the weekend. I worked on Renulek's Spring 2021 doily, but I spent most of my time reading The Castilians by V.E.H. Masters. The book was okay, but I felt like there was so much more that could be done with it. I would have liked to know more about the siege, and I would have liked to see the characters more fully developed. Still, the book did inspire me to do some research on my own. I guess that's a good thing!

1, 2, 3

Same pattern, three different looks... this is my December 1 button ornament pattern. The top one is the original version. The second one has small joining picots on the chain, and the third one has slightly larger decorative picots on the chain. Even more variations are possible!

A few more

 

I didn't get any tatting done yesterday. The day just got away from me. Today I managed to tat three button ornaments, and that was it. I guess I just ran out of steam!

Back to tatting

Today was just a half day of school for me, so I was able to get in some quality tatting time. I started with a bookmark in a new color, Lizbeth #712 Kelly Green Med.

After that, I went back to working on button ornaments in Lizbeth #109 Wild Flower. These are like candy. They work up quickly, and they're so cheerful!

Reading binge

Yes, I am a binger! Once I get on a certain path, I tend to stay there. Since Friday, my binge has been reading, and I've read some good ones!

The first book, Tears of Amber by Sofia Segovia, came up as an Amazon offer. I needed to give my wrist a break (too much tatting), so I decided to give it a try. Many of the books I download for free  get deleted by the end of the third chapter, but not this one! I couldn't put it down. 

The last time my sister was down, she said that when she finds a book she likes, she tends to read all of the books she can by that author. I'm not like that. Every once in a while I find a series that I like, but most of the time I want to move on to something different. This time I chose to stick with the same author, and I'm glad I did!

Sunday, I started The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia. Again, I couldn't put it down. Yesterday, I forgot to put my tatting in my bag, so I spent the day reading. I can hardly believe I finished two books by the same author in four days! 

Today my tatting bag is packed. My wrist is well rested. I'll be proctoring SAT exams today, so I'll have plenty of time to tat... or read my newest book, The Castilians: A story of the siege of St. Andrews Castle by V. E. H. Masters.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what today brings!

Wild Flower

 

One of the colors in my International Tatting Day bag was Lizbeth #109, Wild Flower. I think it makes beautiful button ornaments! The pattern is my December 1 Button Ornament. The shuttle is by Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design. My tatting bag was a gift from my friend Denise. Thank you again, Denise!

Last of the Island Breeze

 I had enough Island Breeze left for one button ornament. I love the way it turned out!

Diamond Point Snowflake

My friend Sue designed a beautiful snowflake, and today I took the time to tat it. It needs to be blocked properly, something I'll do in the next couple of days, but I couldn't wait to post a picture! 

This was a very enjoyable piece to tat. I used size 20 Ljiljan, and it measures about 5 1/2" across.

You can find Sue's Diamond Point Snowflake pattern here. I sure hope Sue designs some more snowflakes!

31

 

I worked on bookmarks at school today.

I managed to tat two.

These are the bookmarks I've finished so far. I managed to tat 31 out of the ball of size 10 Elisa. The three colorful ones at the bottom. They're in size 20 thread. There is one more that I'm using right now for a grand total of 35. I'm very pleased that I was able to get 31 bookmarks out of one ball of thread!

Bookmark binge

I did very little tatting Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Instead, I spent time cleaning, cooking, and baking. It was a nice change of pace!

By the time I stopped to fix dinner tonight, I realized I've been on a bookmark binge.

I wound the remaining Elisa thread on shuttles this morning.

In addition to these four bookmarks, I have shuttles wound for two more.

I've really enjoyed using my new shuttles. All of these are from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design. The amber shuttle with the lantern was a gift from my friend Sue Anna. She's as addicted to Rita's shuttles as I am!

The bookmark pattern is Curds & Whey from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. When I finish tatting the last two bookmarks, I'll count to see how many I was able to tat from one ball of Elisa thread. Do you have a guess as to how many bookmarks I've tatted from this ball of thread?

Round 13

 

I over-tatted yesterday, so I really needed to take it easy today. Once I have the idea of how a round is tatted, I find it fairly easy to set it down to take break. So, today I tatted two pattern repeats of round 13 of Renulek's Spring 2021 doily. I think I'm done for the day!

Happy International Tatting Day!

 Tatting friends are the best! Thank you, Denise!