Harmony

The summer is flying by! Daughter Joanne and family arrived last Tuesday and will be leaving this Thursday. Dave and I are having great fun with all the activity.

Tatting time has been limited, but I did manage to finish Harmony from Bonded with tatting ~ doilies by Laura Baiukiewicz. I've been too lazy to through my thread stash, so these are still colors left from Renulek's Spring Doily 2024. I think I might tat this one again so that I can incorporate some more bright colors. 

On to the next project!

Hannah

It's been a busy week around here. We have family coming to visit next week, so we've been working on lots of projects around the house. Dave has been busy outside, and I've been busy inside. Of course, I still found time to tat!

This is "Hannah" from  Bonded with tatting ~ doilies by Laura Bziukiewicz. The finished size is 8". I used leftover thread from Renulek's Spring Doily 2024. I do love these colors together!

Ta da!

I am so pleased with the way this doily turned out! Even Dave thinks it's beautiful, and he doesn't often comment on things I've tatted.

I started this doily on February 22, daughter Andrea's birthday. This one goes to her. 

I used size 20 Lizbeth in the following colors: 623 Raspberry Pink Lt, 170 Pineapple Parfait (2 balls), 679 Lime Green, 696 Autumn Orange Med, 657 Ocean Turquoise Dk, 695 Bright Orange, and 183 Orange Crush. 

The finished size is 30.5". This is the second largest piece I've tatted, the largest being Jan Stawasz's Masterpiece (some call it the monster doily) that I finished January 1, 2016. That one is 32".

So, what's next? I think I'll return to Laura Bziukiewicz's book Bonded with tatting ~ doilies. I have "Star of Bethlehem" started, but I need to find where I put it. I think I'll move on to "Hannah". It will be a quick and easy tat in comparison to Renulek's Spring Doily 2024!

 

Finished on the 4th!

 

I just finished tatting Renulek's Spring Doily 2024 a few minutes ago. I achieved my goal!

Tomorrow I will wash and block it. Then I'll post a final picture. This was a very enjoyable pattern to tat, and I'm glad I spent the time focusing on it.

I think it's time for some simple projects!

Round 21

 

It took longer than expected, but I finally finished round 21 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2024. On to the final round!

Busy week

Mom and I have had a busy week with hair cuts, doctor appointments, and having fun!

Mom took apart her Addi King knitting machine to give it a good cleaning. She's been watching videos so that she can  keep everything in order. There have been a couple of hiccups such as dropping screws, but she now has a clean machine that's ready for action!

I've been working on my doily, with only 19 pattern repeats left before I can move on to the final round. I'm not sure that the 4th of July is an achievable goal. I just realized yesterday that it's less than a week away!

Reorganizing is still a priority, and I'm finding that Mom and I need never shop for yarn again. In fact, we're avoiding our favorite stores so that we won't be tempted. In an attempt to use up our stash, I've started cranking out gnomes and twisted headbands again. If I have enough yarn for a larger project, I'm setting that aside. However, Mom and I tend to go shopping and buy individual skeins of colors that appeal to us.

Mom has also been working on reducing her stash. She's been making beanies, lap throws, and baby buntings. Because of our industrious set of mind, we now have quite a stash of beanies, lap throws, baby buntings, twisted headbands, and gnomes!

I guess it is easier to give away a finished piece than to show someone a skein of yarn!

Not much progress

 

Last night at the play, I was asked about my progress on Renulek's Spring Doily 2024. I'm just past the half way mark. Between a sore elbow and making gnomes, I did not meet my goal of finishing by Memorial Day. Maybe I can finish by the 4th of July!

24

 

24 gnomes are ready for adoption at the drama club's summer showcase, How to Succeed in Grant Park Drama Club Without Really Trying 2.0. Performances are Friday, Jun 21 and Saturday, June 22 at 7 p.m.

Sometimes these guys are well behaved.

Other times, they go a little bit crazy!

17

Today marks 17 years of blogging fun! Granted, I don't blog nearly as frequently as I used to, but I haven't given blogging up completely yet.

Next weekend is the drama club's summer showcase. There will be raffle tables at both performances, and I was asked to make gnomes. I'm not finished making gnomes yet, but I've been working on them like crazy for the past two weeks. I hope the fund raiser is a success!

Variety

I needed to add a little variety to my crafting this week. I made no progress on my doily. Oh, I did plenty of tatting, but I made so many mistakes that had to be taken out. I spent more time fixing mistakes than I did tatting. Just when I thought I had everything fixed, I realized I had skipped two picots when joining to the previous round. I'm sure you've guessed it... my mistake was right where I left off after my last post.

Luckily, I have plenty of other crafts to distract me when I need a brain break! The school drama club is doing a fund raiser in two weeks, and daughter Carol asked if I would make some gnomes for their raffle. I plan on putting together three or four baskets. There will be two nights of performances, and I'd like to have two baskets for each night.

Mom and I bought a ridiculous amount of yarn for our circular knitting machines, and some of them just didn't work well in the machines. So, we have quite a bit left for hand knitting and crochet projects. This week I made a Simple Cable Beanie found on Ravelry and a Cowl from seamenschurch.org. Both were quick knits, and I'm very happy with the way they turned out. I knit them both with Big Twist in turquoise. I much prefer working with wool, but this is a pretty nice acrylic from JoAnn's.

Mom decided to try the hat pattern as well, and she made a drop stitch cowl to go with it. I went down two needle sizes for a firmer knit. Mom stuck with the original size needles, size 8, so her hat is slightly larger.

Mom then decided to knit a set using size 7 needles. This hat is a little shorter, but we think it will work well for a child.

So, despite making absolutely no progress on the tatting front this week, it was a productive week!

1/3

 

I'm about 1/3 of the way around Renulek's Spring Doily 2024. Needless to say, I did not reach my goal of finishing by Memorial Day. I've been fighting a cold for the past two and a half weeks, and I just don't seem to have the energy to stick with anything. I'm enjoying the tatting, and I think that is what it's all about!

First and last

 

A former student of mine is expecting her first baby in June, and she asked me if I could crochet this adorable cow for her. Of course I said yes!

Millie the Cow is the pattern I found on Etsy. The directions are well written and easy to follow. I did make one change. I cross stitched the yes instead of using safety eyes. 

So, why is this the first and last? It took me a month to make, because I could only crochet for a short amount of time. My hands do not like doing this!

Slow progress

 

I've been making slow progress with round 21 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2024. Ever since my marathon tatting a couple of weeks ago, my right elbow has been very tender. It is getting better, but I'm not taking any chances!

Round 20

 

I finished round 20 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2024 last night. This round was super simple and really didn't take very long to tat. However, since I did marathon tatting on round 19, I had to take this round very slowly. My elbows were very sore from too much tatting! Luckily, I had some enforced down time.

Daughter Alison graduated with her master's degree in clinical mental health counseling. Granddaughter Eva graduated with her bachelor's degree in worship leadership. I'm very proud of them both!

Round 19

 

I just finished round 19 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2024. It is now 27" in diameter. So, mine is going to be a bit larger than Renulek's. Round 19 is in size 20 Lizbeth #183 Orange Crush. I think I'll use the Lime Green for round 20... if I have enough!

Round 18

 

I finished round 18 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2024 last night. I didn't measure it, but I'm guessing it's about 25" in diameter now. Yes, there is a little bit of ruffling, but I'm sure it will flatten out when I block it.

All through round 18 I was thinking of Orange Crush #183 for round 19. I asked Dave's opinion this morning and he agreed, so Orange Crush it is!

Round 17

 

I just finished round 17! My Renulek Spring Doily 2024 is now 24" in diameter. I really wanted to do round 18 in the same orange, Lizbeth 696 Orange Med, but I don't have enough for another round. So, I think I'm going to see how Lizbeth 695 Bright Orange looks. I'm pretty sure it will be perfect!

Weekend fun

 

I tried something new this weekend. I made donuts for the first time. They were delicious. I did learn a few things. First, don't overfill the pan. The hole disappears, and they look kind of funny. Solution... I ordered another pan and pastry bags to fill the pans. Second lesson learned: spooning the batter into the pan is very messy! Third lesson learned: reading donut recipes can be lots of fun!

Remember the bejeweled trees I've been making? I've used tons of pearl head pins making them, and my favorite ones come on these little plastic disks. My sister Janet and I have gone through a tremendous number of these pins. We were just tossing the little plastic disks. One day, Janet said there must be something we could do with them. That got me thinking about what I've learned from making Dorset buttons and Teneriffe lace.

Daughter Alison is finishing up her master's degree in counseling, and we were talking about art therapy. I suggested warping these little plastic disks that her clients could use for weaving. Alison is giving a presentation to a group of counselors this week and asked if I would help her prep for the presentation. It only takes a few minutes to warp these little disks with crochet cotton.

A counseling session is typically scheduled for an hour. I needed to make sure that the activity wouldn't go too quickly. It also needs to be something that can be picked up during a later session.

I started weaving with embroidery floss, and then I switched to worsted weight yarn. The first side took me an hour and a half to weave.

For the second side, I used only worsted weight yarn. The process of weaving with a needle and yarn was very soothing, and I love the end result. 

I hope Alison's presentation goes well. Now that I know what can be done with these little pin disks, I may have to start collecting them. Does that mean more bejeweled trees are in my future? I think so!

Round 16

 

I just finished round 16 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2024. Now I have to decide which color to use next, and I'm really thinking about the orange. I think I'll leave that decision for tomorrow!

Round 15

 

This round was very simple, but it sure did seem to take a long time to get all the way around. It's time to move on to round 16 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2024!