Finishes

I can't tell you how happy I am that Blogger and Safari are working well together again. After months of tinkering around and trying to figure out what I accidentally clicked, everything is magically working again. What a relief!

Before school yesterday, I managed to complete Clue 4 of the Sanditon MKAL. I did have a little trouble with the last eyelet row. I dropped stitches twice, but I realized it right away and was able to get them back in place before they became too much of a problem. This is the end of the main color, the light blue, and as you can see, I have plenty of yarn left. I'm glad I switched from the recommended size 4 needles to the size 2. I'm pretty sure I would have run out of yarn!

Yesterday was another two blue Ice Drops day. I love this shade of blue, size 20 Lizbeth #656 Wedgewood Dk.

This one is size 20 Lizbeth #657 Ocean Turquoise Dk. I do love both blues, but when they're side by side, the Wedgewood Dk is my favorite. The shuttle is my newest one from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design. I believe the art work was done by Rita's college friend. It's beautiful!

I didn't post yesterday, because it took me until 9 p.m. to finish grafting the two ends of daughter Joanne's Sneak a Peek cowl. I love the textured side!

The striped side is pretty, but I know that I goofed on that center stripe. It's one row larger than the other stripes. Luckily, it's in the center and looks like a design element! I'll block it this morning, and then it will be ready to mail off to Joanne. I hope the weather stays cold in Minnesota so that she has a chance to wear it this year!

Two more in blue

I had time to tat two Doodle Ice Drops today, both in blue. The first one is in size 20 Lizbeth #651, Blue Med. I'm still using handi-wind shuttles from Dave Stanbrough of Grizzly Mountain Arts!

My second Doodle Ice Drop for today is in size 20 Lizbeth #653, Antique Blue Med. There doesn't seem to be much difference looking at the pictures, but in person they are quite a bit different!

A little bit of blue

I did not sub today, so I had a little more time for crafting. I love this Ice Drop in size 20 Lizbeth #649, Baby Blue. When I was a toddler, my Grandpa Green made a toy chest for me. The top and the skirting were red, and the panels were white with decals of children. When I was in high school, my dad lined it with cedar and painted the top and the skirting baby blue at my request. Daughter Joanne decorated my cedar chest with nail polish when she was little. When we moved into our house, Dave repainted the little cedar chest forest green and white. I do love my little cedar chest!

I spent a good deal of time today working on my Sanditon MKAL. I've now finished two repeats of the eight row pattern for this week. I only have eight rows to go!

Flu season

The flu is running rampant in our little town. Soon after getting off the phone with Mom this morning, I was called in to sub for a teacher who started feeling sick after she arrived at school. She only has 16 students in her class, and three of them are out sick. Thankfully, parents have been keeping their sick children home. I'm happy that I was able to help out, and I sure hope the teacher recovers quickly.

It's no surprise that I had very little time for crafting, but I did manage to finish a Doodle Ice Drop. This one is in size 20 Lizbeth #646, Purple Iris Light. Did you notice that I used a handi-wind shuttle from Grizzly Mountain Arts? ;-)

Super Bowl Sunday

Yes, Dave and I are watching the Super Bowl. No, we don't really care who wins. We're just enjoying watching a good football game!

I started and ended the day with an Ice Drop. This Doodle Ice Drop is in size 20 Lizbeth #645, Grape Dk. The handi-wind shuttle is by Dave Stanbrough of Grizzly Mountain Arts.

My other Doodle Ice Drop of the day is in size 20 Lizbeth #644, Boysenberry Dk, and I used another handi-wind shuttle from Grizzly Mountain Arts.

Mom decided to join the Sanditon MKAL. She joined us a week into the knit-along, but she's making good progress. Mom has now finished the first two clues in this beautiful red, her favorite color. Mom chose to work in one color, using yarn from her stash. I think she made a great choice!

I started on Clue 4 today. This week we have an eight row pattern repeat to knit three times. I've managed to finish the first eight rows. As the shawl grows larger, it will be a challenge to complete this week's clue on time.

I spent a little more time working on my Linen and Threads Mystery Sampler. I still have quite a way to go to finish the January section. I guess I shouldn't have set it aside for so long!

Clue 3

I was thrilled to finish an eyelet row with no mistakes last night! So, feeling confident in my knitting abilities, I finished Clue 3 of the Sanditon MKAL today. Whew! The next clue will be available on Sunday.

Even though I had two shuttles wound for Ice Drops today, I only found time to tat one. One is good! Today I used size 20 Lizbeth #630, Peach Lt. The handi-wind shuttle is another beauty from Dave Stanbrough of Grizzly Mountain Arts.

I think I may start on reorganizing my sewing room this weekend. I may even be brave enough to show before and after pictures!

Clean up time

I kept getting notifications on my computer that my disk was almost full. I've known for some time that I needed to sort through and organize my files. So that's what I did from the time I arrived home from school until bedtime, with a brief break for dinner.

I thought that was all it would take. Boy, was I wrong! I started working around 5:30 this morning. I did make breakfast and I talked with Mom. I also stopped to switch laundry loads. I didn't finish cleaning up my computer until 12:30!

I'm no longer getting the annoying messages, but I think I will need to thin out some more files.

I did take some time to tat this afternoon. This Doodle Ice Drop is in size 20 Lizbeth Twirlz #404, Mermaid Lagoon. The shuttle is another handi-wind from Dave Stanbrough of Grizzly Mountain Shuttles. I love my shuttles!

Crochet day

I spent a little bit of time going through craft supplies today, but I spent most of my free time working on Alison's waffle stitch afghan. Today I finished the second ball of yarn... only six more to go!

My day wouldn't be complete without an Ice Drop, so I opened up a package of Lizbeth Boysenberry Dk and tatted the basic pattern. The basic pattern still makes me happy!

Good intentions

I intended to get a lot of tatting done today. I really did have good intentions, but reality set in and I chose to work on the mundane household chores necessary to keeping the household together. I think I made the right choice! ;-)

Lots of goodies arrived in the mail today. I received this beautiful hand-painted shuttle from a new Etsy shop, PainTatPlus. I was her very first customer, and I received a lovely note along with the shuttle verifying that I was the first to purchase from her. Kind of cool!

While at Palmetto Tat Days, Jane Eborall kept encouraging me to work on my split rings. When I saw Karen Bovard advertise her newest tatting book, I just had to have it. Now I can practice those split rings, Jane. I know. I know. I have several split ring books, so I didn't need this one to get started, but I sure am glad I have it! I also have another of Karen's beautiful enamel shuttles. Maybe this will be the shuttle to get me working on those split rings!

I know I need two shuttles to work on split rings, so I consider myself very lucky that my newest purchases from Shuttle by Design arrived today! I guess I got a little carried away, but I know I will use them!

This little beauty from Tatting Shuttles arrived over the weekend. I was attracted to it because of the red inlay. Red is my mom's favorite color!

I love enameled shuttles, and these little beauties from Middy Clark at The Knotted Vine arrived today. I love these little works of art!

Yes, I am still obsessed with Handi-Wind Shuttles from Grizzly Mountain Arts! I have been a customer of Dave and Jo for years, and I am always impressed with the craftsmanship that goes into each and every piece!

In between laundry loads, I wove some more squares for Mom. I know I have a Zoom Loom somewhere in the house, unless I gave it away. I don't really need it. I have been using my Weavette loom, which works just fine, but there's this little nagging voice at the back of my head saying, "You must find your Zoom Loom!"

So, as you can see, I had lots of reasons for not finishing my Spinning Wheel today. Maybe I'll get it finished tomorrow! ;-)

Emptying shuttles

With all the Spinning Wheels I've been tatting lately, I have a lot of shuttles with bits of thread left on them. I've been reading about others "spring cleaning" so that they could reload their shuttles, and I decided to join in the fun!

It's nice to have a little baggie of butterflies in my purse to give away. Since I have several appointments coming up that will most likely involve some time sitting in waiting rooms, it's a great time to stock up on bits of tatting.

Since some new shuttles arrived in the mail this week, I guess I really didn't have to use up bits of thread. Isn't this a beauty? It's a Celtic shuttle from Grizzly Mountain Arts. I love Dave Stanbrough's shuttles and needlework tools. I just happened to get lucky and see this one before anyone else did!

A day or two later, Dave listed another Celtic shuttle. I wanted it so badly, but I decided to wait a half hour to give someone else a chance at purchasing it, and it sold in less than half an hour. I'm not surprised!

I also purchased another Handi-Wind Shuttle. I really like these with size 80 thread. That little screw-in handle really helps.

Look at my new La Cossette shuttle! I love blue, and I love paisley, making this the perfect shuttle for me!

Keepin' busy

My main goal in retirement is to get my house organized. I've been working on it a little bit at a time, and although it doesn't look like it, I've really accomplished a lot. I guess the fact that my house still looks super cluttered shows how much this reorganization is needed!

Today I worked on rearranging two shelves in one cabinet and one section of counter top. I can't tell you how happy that little bit of reorganizing has made me!

I also spent a good deal of the day going through four large boxes of beads and findings, deciding what I want to keep and what I want to give away. I only have three more boxes to go through... three on the back porch, that is!

Last night after posting, I wound some Coats & Clark's size 70 tatting-crochet thread on my newest Hand-wind Shuttle from Grizzly Mountain Arts. I may have to pass this shuttle on to daughter Joanne some day. She is the super cat lover in the family, and I know she will love the tiny little cat paw prints on this shuttle. When Joanne was down visiting in June, she did tell me that she might be open to learning to tat. That means it's time to put together some supplies for her! ;-)

I wasn't sure I'd like this thread, but I think my Spinning Wheel looks pretty good!

Quick trip

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I know we did, although it was incredibly busy. We drove Joanne and Sophia back to Minnesota on Saturday and headed home on Sunday. That's a lot of driving! We spent Saturday night at daughter Andrea's, and we were able to experience the fun of watching granddaughters Lily and Elly hunt for Easter eggs before we headed home.

There are days when tatting in the car just doesn't work for me, so I took along the crocheted shawl I was commissioned to complete for a June wedding. It should be finished, but I kept finding mistakes in one of the rows... one of the longest, of course! I finally got smart and checked the whole row, but I know I spent hours pulling out stitches and crocheting the row over and over again. I hope to have it finished this week. It's really a very simple pattern to follow, and I hope the lady who requested it loves the pattern as much as I do. If you're interested, the pattern can be found on Etsy.

The little bit of tatting I did accomplish was on round 9 of Renulek's Spring Doily. I think the pattern repeat is very pretty, but I can tell this round will be time consuming!

I'm rebuilding my crocheted button flower stash, five buttons at a time!

I'm also working on buttons for Elaine.

My newest shuttles from Grizzly Mountain Arts arrived today! I love these shuttles!

To make my day even better, I finally managed to get my hands on two of the new Astro-Knot shuttles! When I first learned about 3D printers, I did some investigating because I thought it would be really cool to print my own tatting shuttles. However, the price of the printers and the knowledge it would take to design and print a tatting shuttle seemed way beyond my means! I decided to sit back and wait for someone else to come up with the same idea, and I have not been disappointed.

I'll let you know how I like them once I've put them to use. In the meantime, you'll need to keep your eyes on eBay, because that's the only place they're available right now!

Handi-wind shuttle love

So, I thought I'd try composing a blog post on my iPad. Apparently, there is a learning curve, because I've already had to delete and start over!

My newest Handi-wind shuttle arrived in the mail yesterday, and I love it! Dave at Grizzly Mountain Arts made this little beauty. One of the things I really like about the Handi-wind shuttles is that I have something to hold on to while winding my thread... that, and they're just plain gorgeous!

I spent some tatting yesterday. Do you recognize the pattern? Yes, it's Mary Konior's Spinning Wheel glass mat from Tatting with Visual Patterns. The thread is another Omega, a thread I'm really enjoying using. 

I also spent some time playing with another spinning wheel... my new Ladybug! I've never spun on a wheel before, but I found a wonderful class at Craftsy, and I'm pretty confident about learning. I just need to learn to coordinate my hands and feet!

What will I do with a spinning wheel? Well, with all the weaving I've been doing lately, I'm really intrigued with fiber. I'm hoping to spin well enough to create bags with my own hand spun yarn!

In the meantime, I'll just keep working with the yarn I have on hand. :-)

So, what are my thoughts about composing a blog post on my iPad? It's a little awkward, but I that once I get used to it, it might be a lot faster!

Update: I like the way the pictures taken with my iPad turned out; however, I do not like the way the landscape pictures show up on the blog post. I guess I'll stick with my computer!

And now, back to tatting...

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind! I can't remember an end of the school year when I've had so hectic a schedule. But now that things have slowed down, I think I'll have a little time to tat!

I did manage to work a little on my latest Spinning Wheel glass mat. I've lost the tag, but I think the name of this hand-dyed thread is Gold Dust. The colors don't show up well on the screen, but trust me... this is one gorgeous colorway from Yarnplayer!

Denise was able to meet up with Sue Anna earlier in the week, and Sue Anna sent another beautiful HDT from Yarnplayer. This one is called Campfire, and I can't wait to tat it up. Thank you, Sue Anna!

Besides being addicted to hand-dyed thread, I am also addicted to tatting shuttles. Bet you didn't know that, did you?

These are my two newest Handi-Wind shuttles from Grizzly Mountain Arts. Dave has listed 12 of these beauties so far. I missed out on the first and last listings. I didn't see them until the morning after they were listed, and by then they were gone! That's okay, because I did manage to purchase two from the middle listing.

Let's see... I have two, I know where three others went... I wonder who the lucky tatters are who managed to purchase the other seven?