Goin' for the gold!

We had a busy weekend decorating for Christmas. We're not done, but we do have a good start!

Dave had great fun decorating the staircase.

Our entertainment center is next to the stairs, so it becomes part of the decoration.

The lantern is Dave's favorite new decoration. One of his employees, Vanessa, did a fabulous job of making it festive.

My Christmas tree is decorated to my taste. It looks a little off balance in this picture. I guess I'll have to do some double checking.

This is the view from my chair. I love it!

I finished blocking my Greyson Waves Lace Scarf by Marly Bird. It's now ready for Christmas wrapping!

My newest Frivolity Ice Drop is in size 20 Lizbeth #611, Gold. I love my newest shuttle, Midnight Blossom, from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design. Do I need more shuttles? No! I just can't help myself when I see a new beauty for sale. I love collecting my little works of art!

Ready for blocking

Jennifer and I each finished knitting our Greyson Waves Lace Scarf by Marly Bird! I finished knitting by half time of the Bears game yesterday, and it took me the rest of the afternoon to weave all the ends in. All I have to do now is block it.

Since I concentrated on knitting and cleaning for the weekend, I haven't had much to show. Daughter Alison drove down to spend the night on Friday. Saturday morning, she and my friend Lilly helped me go through craft stuff in one of the bedrooms and the sun room. We accomplished a lot! Alison found some things she had been looking for, and Lilly went home with yarn and fabric that I no longer wanted. One bedroom is ready for a good cleaning and Christmas company. Dave helped me finish cleaning the sun room yesterday, and we came up with some Christmas decorating ideas. So, the sun room is not quite as neat as it was when Alison left on Saturday, but it is thoroughly clean and ready for some Christmas cheer. We are definitely ready to do some serious decorating starting the day after Thanksgiving!

Today I remembered...

Since I remembered my tatting bag, I was able to complete another Frivolity Ice Drop in size 20 Lizbeth #116, Christmas Delight. I'm going to have to tat a little faster if I'm going to complete all the Christmas presents I want to pass out at school!

I have 13 pattern repeats finished on my Greyson Waves Lace Scarf by Marly Bird. I only have 7 repeats to go!

And so it grows

My friend Jennifer and I are working on Marly Bird's Greyson Waves Lace Scarf. As of last night, Jennifer was two color repeats ahead of me, so I decided to focus on knitting before heading off to school.

What you see is my total craft progress for the day. Why? I restocked my carry-along tatting bag and then forgot to put it in my purse! I did crochet with my high school kids today, but tatting was non-existent today.

I'm taking the Scarlet O'Hara attitude... tomorrow is another day!

Seeing red

Yes, I've tatted another Frivolity Ice Drop in red. I just can't help myself. It looks so festive!

My Greyson Waves Lace Scarf is coming along nicely. Normally, I would prefer a solid color scarf, but I'm enjoying the color changes. It's easy to set goals and complete them, and it's easy to see the pattern develop.

I did switch knitting needles today. I had been using Inox circulars that are probably at least 20 years old. At the time, they were the best knitting needles I could find. However, I've found that the cables on the newer needles are so much nicer to use. They don't kink up, and they cable part is thinner. I've only knit a few rows with the new needles, but I can definitely tell a difference!

Marlene called

My friend Marlene from Minnesota contacted me yesterday to let me know how much she likes my Frivolity Ice Drop. However, she was a bit confused by the back and forth of the one pass method, and she wasn't clear as to when to switch shuttles.

I'm not a big fan of the one pass method. I think it looks nice, but I get confused trying to keep track of where I am, and it takes me longer to finish a one pass Ice Drop than one following my basic pattern.

I wanted to show Marlene that the Frivolity pattern can be tatted using my original basic pattern. Simply tat the basic Ice Drop, and then add the second and third rounds. As for switching shuttles, it's really not necessary until the last round. Even then, it would be easy enough to use the shoelace trick to tat the rings.

Here are the two together. The one on the left follows my basic pattern. The one on the right is the one pass method as the Frivolity pattern is written. As you can see, there's not much difference. The only difference is the extra round of chains surrounding the glass gem, a look I really like.

Because I don't have enough projects going, I decided to join a Marly Bird knit-along. This is The Greyson Waves Lace Scarf that uses three balls of Chic Sheep, which I just happened to have in the house!

Although I'm not a beginning knitter, I do appreciate the YouTube video that accompanies the pattern. It seems that every designer has a slightly different way of notating one stitch or another, and the video tutorial really helps clarify all techniques.

My friend Jennifer is knitting this one along with me. It's fun to keep each other motivated to finish a project!