Feelin' blue

I started off the day feeling blue...

Caribbean blue! I kind of like the pink glass gem, and the pink ribbon seemed to be the perfect touch.

I did some band weaving on my new mini loom. I made a mistake on the first pattern repeat, but I decided to let it be and keep going. So far my tension is good, so maybe I'm finally catching on!

I was inspired to pull my Korean tatting book, Tatting lace with your life, off the shelf when I read Jeff's post this morning. I do like this book, and I haven't done anything from it in a while.

So today I started the Hanging Garden doily. This is the first round, and it's the most complicated round. It won't be a huge doily. It's only four rounds, and the other three rounds are not as deep. Right now, this piece is about 3 1/4" across. I'm guessing it will be about 6" when it's finished. We'll see if I'm right!
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Distractions

This weekend was filled with distractions... wonderful distractions, which left little time for tatting.

We spent Saturday car shopping with daughter Alison. I had forgotten how long it can take to choose a car! Sunday we visited friends.

With all the activity, I became very distracted. I tried starting a new doily, but have nothing to show for my efforts. I started several times, made foolish mistakes, snipped, trashed, and started over. I'd like to say today will be the day I really make progress, but I offered to help daughter Carol set up her classroom, so this may be another unproductive day on the doily front!

Luckily, I can almost tat Ice Drops in my sleep! I love Lizbeth Caribbean with the blue glass gem. This time I put picots on all the inside chains... much better!

I'm not sure I like the pale yellow with the pink, but I'm sure some little girl will love it, and I have several little girls who will be visiting in the next several months. 😊

Can you tell that I"m enjoying the Green Coral Sea and orange glass gem combo? Orange is not a color I am drawn to, unless it's part of a Dreamsicle, but since I have several orange glass gems, I have to find a way to incorporate them in Ice Drops. Finding threads that work with the orange has been a real eye opener for me. Who knew orange went so well with so many different colors?

Caribbean

I started the day off right by tatting an Ice Drop in size 20 Lizbeth #122, Caribbean. I tried an idea on this one that doesn't really work for me. I only added picots on every other chain on the inside chains. It looks okay, but doesn't look as neat as I thought it would. It just looks like I forgot picots!

Then I started the next motif on my sister-in-law's runner. I couldn't figure out why the pattern repeat wasn't working, so I set it aside and headed off for my appointment at the dentist. After lunch, I looked at the motif and realized what I had done. I forgot the second ring!

It would have been easier to snip and start over, but I stubbornly spent the time retro-tatting. Now, I'm back where I should be. My goal was to tat two of these motifs today. Whoops!

Tollway Tatters meet again!

We were a small group today, but we did have fun!

Sue Anna worked on jewelry, adapting one of Marilee Rockley's patterns for an earring idea she has.

Barb worked on another of Jon Yusoff's Elegant Tatting Gems.

I finished the Spinning Wheel glass mat that I messed up a couple of weeks ago.

I think we all indulged in way too much food, which is easy to do when you're tatting and chatting with friends!

Blog buddies are the best!

Yesterday I received an email from Frivole offering to post a video showing how to add picots to the second half of a split ring. I'm so glad she posted it on YouTube! Because of this well-done video, I was able to spot a simple adjustment I needed to make. Thank you, Frivole!

I also received an offer from Michelle to get together on Skype or FaceTime to figure out what I was doing wrong. I couldn't get either to work, but we did have a nice phone conversation this morning, and Michelle suggested I try tatting Ringtrim by Anne Bruvold to practice my split rings. I printed out the pattern, and I'm so glad I did!

Didn't he turn out cute? I only had one problem with this pattern. The last split ring calls for a twisted picot. I know how to make a twisted picot when I'm joining, but how to I twist the picot when it's just there on the top of the dragon's head? Help!

Ready to wing it

After last night's problems with picots and split rings, I was hesitant to give it another try. Who needs the frustration of tight knots that are difficult to open? I guess I do!

I watched several videos on tatting split rings, but none of them showed adding picots. I'm hoping to learn from some of my buddies at Tollway Tatters this Friday, and I look forward to watching a video from Frivole. In the meantime, I needed to attack the problem on my own.

I thought that I might have lost my touch with split rings, but I managed to complete 7 with no problems. Then I tried to add a picot to each side, and... lock! I was not in the mood to retro-tat, so I snipped the thread and started over.

After taking a break for dinner, I gave it another try... 5 split rings and... look! I managed to add picots to each side! The first one was very tough to close, but the other three went pretty smoothly. My only problem is that I can't seem to use my picot gauge on the second side of the split ring, and I'm not very good at making consistent picots without my gauges.

I think I'll do a few more practice pieces, and then I'll be ready to add wings to Aidan's Flying Minor Norwegian Dragon!

The play is over!

...and considering the heat, it was an overwhelming success! The kids were able to raise $2,000 for the drama club... fantastic!

Sorry... no video yet, but some of the parents did take some great pictures.

Daughter Carol front and center singing "Step in Time" from Mary Poppins

The moms eavesdropping on the girls during "Dancing Queen"

Daughter Carol singing "Dream a Little Dream of Me" while the high school kids waltzed

Daughter Carol in "Seize the Day from Newsies

The parents singing "Kids" from  Bye, Bye Birdie

The entire cast singing "One" from A Chorus Line

There were many more songs in the play, which was written by my daughters Carol and Joanne. They called it How to Succeed in Grant Park Drama Club Without Really Trying. The premise was that four future sixth grade students are trying to decide if they want to be in drama club when they enter middle school. They find a treasure map of clues, leading them to different types of musical numbers.

It was all great fun, and I'm glad I did it, but I sure am happy to have it behind me. Now maybe my life will get back to normal. I'm way behind on writing, reading, and commenting on blogs, and I haven't tatted very much.

I did finish Lily's Spinning Wheel glass mat this morning. So, I think I'll make a trip to the post office today... after I take a nap!

The missing link

Well, in this case it's a picot and four ds!

I sat down this morning to finish up Lily's Spinning Wheel glass mat in Caribbean. I only had the last set of six rings and chains to go! I felt very good about that, because this week has left very little time for tatting. When it was time to make the last ring, I realized I had made a mistake. Right where the two shuttle tips meet, I missed a section of the chain. Drat!

I'm not going to try and fix it now. I've grown impatient with this Spinning Wheel. First, I had to cut a knot out of the thread, a knot created by me. I could not get it out right away, so I impatiently snipped and moved on.

I would have been okay with that mistake, but as I was nearing the last spoke, I realized I hadn't wound enough thread on either shuttle. For many designs, that doesn't bother me, but I am so familiar with the Spinning Wheel that the flow of color is really important to me. So, the thread color in the wrong place really jumps out at me.

I'm going to set this one aside until after the play and cast party. I'll be able to deal with the imperfections next Sunday night. For now, I'll just wind another pair of shuttles with Caribbean and tat a new Spinning Wheel for Lily. Out of sight, out of mind!

Caribbean Spinning Wheel

Caribbean Spinning Wheel glass mat... need I say more? : )