Brrr, chickie dog!

That's what daughter Carol says when it's cold out, and it was very cold when we got up this morning... -20℉. I was very happy to stay indoors all day long!

I tatted "Helen" from Twenty to Make: Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams, this time with beads. There are supposed to be beads at the join of the chain and the rings on round one, but I couldn't bake it work, so I gave up. I'm not sure if I could make this work as an Ice Drop, but I may give it a try all the same.

My fingers sure don't like this cold, so I found it easier to work with yarn today. Unfortunately, I have a hard time counting, and I had to unknit three rows to get my stitch count right. Just think, I could have finished another pattern repeat today!

Did you notice Dave's afghan over my legs? I figured he wouldn't mind since he was at work. :-)

I received an extra special shuttle from Grizzly Mountain Arts yesterday. Who wouldn't love to have a beautiful shuttle with her initial engraved in the wood?

As a bonus, the back has pyrography as well! Isn't it gorgeous? Naturally, I needed to tat an Ice Drop for each side of the shuttle!

I'm making slow progress with Alison's waffle stitch afghan, but I am making progress! I switched to my silver/white polar fleece blanket when I started tatting. It made a better background for tatting.

I put my spinning wheel back together today. Grandson Janko was fascinated by all the things that could be taken off, and so he methodically took off all the parts he could. Luckily, nothing was lost! I look forward to the day when he can take it apart and then put it back together. I'll have to be patient, though. He is only three!

Baby, it's cold outside!

Yes, it is cold, with a high of 6℉ today, but it's supposed to be much colder tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm staying inside where it's toasty warm!

Yesterday, I worked on "Helen" from Twenty to Make: Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams. The pattern calls for beads, but I decided to tat it without beads first so that I could get a good feel for the pattern. I'm glad I did. I found the lock chains to be a bit challenging. I've done lock chains before, but yesterday my fingers just were not cooperating with the thread.

The cold weather gives me the urge to work with yarn, and this morning I went upstairs and found one of my drop spindles with fiber attached. I think I'll take time to practice spinning today. My goal is to perfect my drafting so that I can move on to my spinning wheel!

Daughter Alison really liked the waffle stitch afghans I made for the kids for Christmas, and she asked me to make one for her. She chose Lion Brand Mandala "Griffin" for her blanket. I do enjoy working the waffle stitch!

It's awfully dark in my corner of the living room since my Ottlite burned out. Luckily, the new bulb is supposed to arrive today. Since I couldn't see to tat, I worked on another 10 row pattern repeat of my shawl. This is also in Lion Brand Mandala. It will be interesting to see how large this will be with one ball. The color way is "Pegasus" and it's a ball that I bought on clearance for $3 at Walmart last year. I love a bargain!

Doomed!

I think my attempt at tatting "Helen" from Twenty to Make Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams was doomed from the start.

I finally gave up trying to undo my beaded ring this morning. I wasted a lot of time yesterday, and when I did decide to give up I realized how foolish I was with my time. This is the point where I messed up yesterday. I guess it doesn't always pay to be stubborn!

I really shouldn't try to tat while talking on the phone. I'm not sure if I should try and rescue this snowflake or just drop it in the trash can.

After my disaster, I decided to relax with an Ice Drop... familiar territory, you know!

I did return to "Helen" after dinner, this time without the beads. I'm pretty sure this was my first time to tat lock chains. I think I need a little more practice! This new shuttle by Emiko Suenaga arrived today. It's available exclusively at Tatting Corner.

The back is just as pretty as the front!