Tollway Tatters

 

We had a wonderful Tollway Tatters meeting yesterday, with tatters from Canada, New York, Virginia, California, Michigan, and Illinois. I am so grateful to my friend Sue who coordinates our monthly Zoom meetings. Without her, our group would have fizzled out with the pandemic. When Sue Anna and I started the group way back in 2011, neither one of us imagined that we would connect with tatters from so far away on a regular basis. While nothing compares to meeting in person, this is the next best thing!

While chatting, I managed to finish the first round of my Concentric Rectangles doily. During the meeting, we were talking about Rita Richmond's newest shuttles (Shuttle by Design). Our conversation reminded me that I hadn't checked the mail in a couple of days. So, after lunch I did a mail check and there were my beautiful new shuttles!

Middle school students will be performing Alice in Wonderland in two weeks, and there will be a raffle fundraiser. The raffles have been great fun, and they've raised much needed funds for the drama club. My bejeweled trees seem to be well received, so this one will be my contribution to the raffle.

Now I need to decide what to make for Mean Green Goes Pink night!

S-l-o-w progress

I managed very little tatting yesterday. All I can say is the day got away from me. Dave is doing some tile work in our new room addition, and we spent the morning and part of the afternoon coming up with a solution. The problem? We made all of our calculations based on the tile size shown on the box. The tiles are not quite as big as indicated on the box. The backing wall was already in place, and we needed one inch of tile along the bottom to make everything fit.

Where could we find one inch strips of porcelain tile? Nowhere! Dave had already tried cutting strips from the large tiles, and they never came out right. After several hours of looking on line and going to stores searching for something that would work, Dave decided to buy a new saw blade. Success!

Dave was able to actually get started on the wall around 2:30. He managed to get about 3 hours of work in before calling it a day.

The room addition has been a dream of mine for many years. It may seem foolish at our age, but we had saved up the money for it and the timing seemed right for us. The whole process started in January. The most time consuming part was waiting for the architect to draw up the plans, and then we had to wait for the permit from the county. Foundation work started the first week in August, and the actual building started the last Monday in August.

The end is getting close. We're hoping the work will be finished by the end of October, and then we can have the family gathering we've been wishing for in the upcoming holiday season!

Wrong turn

 

Well, I did it again! I turned the corner on my Concentric rectangles doily with supreme confidence. In other words, I just kept tatting without looking at the pattern.

Guess what? I goofed! I skipped one section of chain, a mere 4 ds, but it was enough to mess up the pattern. I didn't notice my mistake until I finished the first clover leaf on the side. Rather than frustrate myself further, I put my tatting down and went to bed. 

First thing this morning, I took out the three rings and fixed my mistake. I'm ready to move on!

Back to tatting

 

Yes, I'm still knitting on my Bramwell shawl, but I really had the itch to get back into tatting. My sister Janet requested a Concentric Rectangles doily in white, off-white, or ecru. I prefer making this doily in multiple colors, but I'm happy to make this one for my sister.

Thank you to my friend Shelley Perreault for my beautiful new shuttles! These are what I will be using for this doily.

Keeping up with the tatting theme, I finished up another Curds & Whey bookmark (pattern from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konnor). I only had one pattern repeat left to tat, so I'm not sure why I let this one sit so long.

I'm slowly re-building my supply of tatted bookmarks. For a while, I had so many on hand that I stopped making bookmarks. When I realized I only had two left, I decided to stick with this pattern until I have two dozen on hand. I'm up to 17 already! 

One can never have too many bookmarks!

Chart 3

 

I finished chart 3 of my Bramwell shawl last night. I had plenty of time to knit over the weekend. I made very few mistakes, and they were easily corrected. 

It's nice and cool this morning, so I think I'll get a little more knitting in before heading off to school!

So many mistakes

I finally finished chart 2 of my Bramwell shawl. There are nine repeats of this chart, and I did just fine with the first eight. However, I put it down for a couple of months, and I think I spend as much time knitting the ninth repeat as I did the first eight!

I'm short one stitch, but I think I see where I missed one. I will make the adjustment when I reach that spot. On the chart 3!

Bits of lace

I haven't decided what I want to tat next, so I've been using up thread left on shuttles to tat bits of Mary Konior's Curds & Whey from Tatting with Visual Patterns. This is a great carry along pattern for me. All I need is a shuttle wound with thread, and little bits of time. These two pieces aren't long enough for bookmarks, but I'm sure I'll find some use for them.

Yesterday was cool and sunny, which put me in the mood to pick up my knitting. This is the Bramwell shawl pattern that I started back in June. I love the yarn, a silk/alpaca blend from Blue Sky Alpaca. I'm on the last pattern repeat of chart #2.

Yes, we have some warmer weather headed our way at the end of the week. However, with overall cooler temperatures coming soon, I anticipate many happy hours of knitting!

Where did the week go?

I really can't believe how quickly this past week went by. I did get a little done this week. I just forgot to post about it. One more dishcloth has been added to my stash, as well as a pretty blue bookmark.

I also finished a yellow bookmark. That, however, was all I managed to accomplish.

My sister and her husband came down this afternoon, and we planted a pagoda dogwood in memory of their son Andrew who passed away in April. They only expect to live in their house for another two or three years, and they wanted a place where the tree could thrive. I'm honored that they asked us if they could plant the tree on our farm. We found the perfect place in our side yard. The tree can be seen from the front porch, the side porch, and the fire pit. We've also been thinking of putting a seating area in the side yard. I'm sure that my sister will enjoy tending to the tree when she comes to visit.

Enjoying the weekend

The weather was glorious here this weekend, perfect for sitting on the porch and visiting with family. My brother arrived a week ago, following his fishing trip in northern Minnesota. He's heading off to central Kentucky today. He is certainly enjoying retirement!

My sister came down on Thursday, and stayed until late Saturday afternoon. Dave puttered around in the yard all weekend, while the rest of us were just plain lazy!

My brother asked me to mend his favorite pair of fishing pants. They're his favorite because they dry so quickly. The stitching was coming out of the pocket top, and he wanted it reinforced with a strip of denim. I'm not very adept at mending, but this fix worked out pretty well and David was happy with the end result.

It took me all weekend to crochet one hedgehog, but that's okay. For me, this weekend was all about relaxing and enjoying time with Dave, my mom, my brother, and my sister!