Oh, Susanna!

Once again, we traveled to Alabama to visit Mom and I had my tatting on my knee. That's the only way I was able to finish my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece in 2015.

I am thrilled to pieces with this doily. I still need to block it so that it looks exactly right, but a little steam press sure helped make it look presentable!

I plan on putting this on my dining room table, but that will have to wait. I started rearranging my sewing room today and the table is filled with stuff.

So, how long did it take? Just over a year. I started this doily December 29, 2014, and I finished it December 31, 2015, just before we crossed the Alabama/Tennessee line. It's 32" across in size 20 Lizbeth. I can't imagine tatting anything bigger than this!

So what's in store for 2016? I'm not sure yet, but I think I'm going to avoid large projects for a while. This doily really ruled my life for the past year, and I want to do a little experimenting in 2016. What are your tatting plans?

Five!

While Dave's been busy making ravioli, I've been busy tatting! I can hardly believe that I'm half way around. With company coming, I'm pretty sure I won't finish by Christmas, but it might be pretty close!

Mom was doing some organizing and found this picture of my sisters and me. From left to right... Janet, Diane, Lisa. I'm guessing that I was about 9 years old at the time. Janet's a year and half younger than me, Lisa is 4 years younger than me. Good times!

Carol, Bella, and Dave were busy making ravioli yesterday. Dave is working on his own today. I'm still coughing from bronchitis, so I'm not allowed in the kitchen.

Following tradition, Dave made fatties (fried ravioli dough) for dinner last night. Yum! I'm really glad to have holiday traditions from both of our families!

Four!

I'm very happy that I've managed to tat around four of the ten motifs of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece. I really don't think I'll finish by Christmas. Like many of you, I have some last minute Christmas work to finish.

Last night a made a double batch of ravioli filling. We always have ravioli for Christmas Eve. Daughter Carol will be coming over to help make a batch today. We'll finish the second batch tomorrow. I know I won't have to cook tonight, because we always have fatties (fried ravioli dough) for dinner on ravioli day.

I still have Christmas presents to wrap, as well as a few to make. So, I'm off the get ready for Christmas!

Whee! Three!

I finished the third section of the last round of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece! That means only seven more to go. I think I just might finish by Christmas!

I did take a quick detour from tatting after school. My Secret Santa gave me a skein of Lion Brand Thick and Quick Stripes. I knew it just had to be a cowl! Now, if the weather would just turn a little colder, I could actually wear it!

Lovin' my thread markers!

As I was reading my favorite blogs tonight, I realized that the only thing I have to contribute tonight is that I love my thread markers! First, they're helping me keep track of my pattern. Second, they help me see achievable goals. Third, and best of all, they're bright little spots of color in this huge white doily!

I didn't get much tatting done tonight, because I fell asleep in my chair. Going back to school wore me out! However, I do have my other obligations cleared up for now... candy cane covers are crocheted, Secret Santa gifts are ready to go, veggies from our greenhouse are cleaned and ready for cooking... so, when I can stay awake, I can tat!

Once a week?!

The long and the short of it is, I've been ill. I thought I had the flu, but a trip to the doctor let me know that I have bronchitis. I hate bronchitis. It seems to take forever to go away, but I've been taking my medicine like a good girl, and I am feeling much better!

All things considered, I've accomplished quite a bit this week...

I've tatted around two of the ten sections on the last round of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece. Now that I've developed a rhythm for this round, I think it will go fairly quickly. Somehow, it always seems to take me a while to catch on to the flow of a pattern.

My friend Karri asked if I could crochet some light saber freezer pop cozies for her Star Wars loving son and his girlfriend. I found a pattern I liked at The Cookie Snob. Again, once I understood the pattern, these were super simple to make.

I'm experimenting with ideas for woven bags. This one has a little flap. I'm not sure I like it, but I had fun experimenting.

Since I'm retiring this year, I wanted to do something special for my co-workers. I had intended to tat snowflakes for everyone, but that never happened because of my focus on the JS doily. However, I did find this adorable candy cane cover at crochetmemories.com. I can make one in less about 15 minutes, so I should I have enough for all my friends before I head off to bed tonight.

Here's to feeling 100% and completing all of my holiday goals!

That was an easy fix!

It really didn't take much time at all, and now I'm ready for the final round! My Jan Stawasz Masterpiece is now 32" across in size 20 Lizbeth. I sure am glad I bought a cone of thread for this project... no worries about running out of thread!

Pride goeth before a fall

I've been working really hard to finish round 17 of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece this week. I was very proud of myself for finishing early this morning, then I went to the ironing board...

Will you look at that? An extra ring two times in a row! I keep asking myself how this happened. I checked and double checked each section. The offending part has been snipped, and I will finish this round today. I think I'll check all the way around before starting round 18!

Only four to go!

I just finished tatting around another motif section, leaving only four to go! I'm going to miss this round when I'm done. I really like the way the pattern flows.

Some new shuttles arrived from The Shuttle Brothers yesterday. My friend Denise met Randy at a lace event at Zig Zag Corners a couple of weeks ago, and she showed him the large bobbins I had. Randy said he was sure he could make shuttles for me, and all but the one in the center were made just for me! The center shuttle is elk antler. Denise raved about Randy's antler shuttles, so I had to have one, of course!

Where did the week go?

It certainly was a busy one! Thanksgiving was at my house, so I spent most of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday shopping, cleaning and cooking. I'm not really in to cooking, but I sure did have a lot of fun this year, and everyone left full, happy, and toting leftovers.

I did manage to have some time to myself...

I'm now half way around round 17! Yay! Can I finish it in the next four weeks? I'll sure try!

Yvette, my nephew's wife, asked me to make mother/daughter hats in purple and gray for her and Abigail. I had to adapt the child's pattern for Yvette, not my forte, but I did manage to make it work.

I had some requests for cowls. This was what I was inspired to make this week. This is supposed to be a 45 minute cowl (pattern from Lion Brand), but not for me... each one takes me an hour and a half!

Alison and the kids came down for a visit yesterday. Eva decorated my living room tree with some help from her mom.

Aidan and Grandpa decorated the sun room tree.

When he thought I wasn't looking, Dave decorated the staircase. I'm not overly fond of garland on the staircase, but Dave loves it. As long as it comes down before Easter, I tolerate it. ;-)

First snow!

We had our first snowfall of the year, and it wasn't just flurries... it was measurable!

I really can't remember the last time we had measurable snow before Thanksgiving.

We had at least 3" by mid-morning, but a lot of it melted as the day warmed up.

I decided to celebrate the snow day by putting on my pointy toe socks. I knit these years ago. They keep my feet nice and warm, but I really dislike the pointed toe. I'm pretty sure I threw away the pattern after seeing how they turned out.

It was nice to have some time to tat after a very busy week. I've now managed to tat around four motifs. I'm hoping that I'll have time to finish this round with the long Thanksgiving weekend coming up.

I finished my Murley scarf from Sequence Knitting today. The yarn is Seablue Tweed, I Love This Yarn, from Hobby Lobby. It's so soft!

I also finished weaving another scarf. This one is slightly shorter than the last at 108". It's still a little too long for my liking, so I'll experiment with a slightly shorter length for my next one. This is another color way from I Love This Yarn, Autumn Stripe.

I have quite a collection of scarves now!

Success!

Marking the dips with thread worked! I managed to correctly tat the first time through, and I'm very happy about that!

I took my 112" scarf to school today to get opinions about the length. We have three new teachers in our building this year, and I call them my scarf girls as they each wear scarves almost every day. They each tried the scarf on and showed me ways to wear it, so I do feel confident about making long scarves now. In fact, I started another one right after school!

Keeping a steady pace

I'm trying to keep a steady pace with all of my projects, mainly so my fingers, hands, wrists and arms don't scream in protest!

Round 17 of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece is so enjoyable to tat! The pattern repeat is easy to remember, and I can sit down and tat for a few minutes and still have a great feeling of accomplishment!

My Murley scarf from Sequence Knitting is growing fairly quickly. I take my knitting to school with me, and once I have everything set up for the day, I sit and knit until my day begins at 7:55. That's usually about 15-20 minutes of knitting... not bad!

I finished weaving this scarf today. It's an incredible 112" long! I think this will have to go to someone very tall. It's 7.5" wide and super soft. The yarn is from Hobby Lobby. If I weave with this yarn again, I think I'll use some of the techniques I've read about in my Saori book to give more visual interest. I really think this is kind of boring, but I'm sure someone will love it!

Avoiding mistakes

Since I repeatedly made the same mistake at the last "dip," I decided it would be helpful to mark the dips with thread. Hopefully, I will notice the thread at the appropriate time so that I don't make any more pattern mistakes! There's still a chance that I will complete round 17 of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece by Thanksgiving. All I need to do is avoid housework! ;-)

I started another scarf from Sequence Knitting. This one is Murley. I'm using I Love This Yarn, Seablue Tweed, from Hobby Lobby. Have I mentioned that I'm really having fun making scarves? 

Taking a break from tatting

I had to do it. I kept making the same mistake over and over again, so I took a break.

I focused on completing my Mobius scarf.

Since it was in stockinette stitch, I added a crocheted border to help it lie flat. It's super soft!

I also finished my "Askin" scarf from Sequence Knitting. The yarn is Knit Picks Preciosa Tonal, "Stormy." The shading isn't quite as obvious as it was in the other colors, but I still like it.

Yes, I have gotten back to tatting...

I actually have three motifs completed correctly! :-)

South of the Tollway Tatters

Tollway Tatters will be meeting on Saturday, November 21. Not everyone will be able to make that meeting, so we had a mini-meeting at my house today.

Denise, Carol, Carrie, and Carrie's daughter all came to visit me today... lucky me! We had a great time looking at tatting, tatting patterns, tatting shuttles, tatting threads, but none of us accomplished much tatting that I'm aware of!

Carrie's daughter had so much fun looking at my threads and shuttles... it was almost like shopping all over again! Carrie and I mostly talked and looked at the goodies everyone had brought. Denise and Carol spent time knitting socks and dishcloths. All in all, we had a great time!

Shortly before everyone arrived, I discovered that I'd done it again... yup, I missed the pattern change at the dip between motifs. I snipped, rejoined, and started tatting only to mess up again! Now worries, I'm back on track. I fixed my mistake near the end of our get-together, and then decided to quit while I'm ahead.

I spent a little time weaving while dinner was cooking. This is I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. I like the color changes, and I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like when it's off the loom.

I'm also knitting a mobius scarf out of the same yarn in a different color way. It's interesting to see how the yarn works up differently depending on whether it's knit or woven.

The wind is kicking up outside, and storms are expected to roll in tonight. Time to settle down to some tatting!

Progress

Bugsy Malone was a great success! The dinner theater on Sunday had 146 diners... not bad for a middle school play!

Madam Director, aka daughter Carol, was splurged with silly string at the end of the play. I don't think she minded being the victim of these little hoodlums!

Despite my hectic schedule this past week, I did manage to get some tatting done. I'm not as far as I had hoped, but all things considered, I think I've done pretty well. I'm almost finished tatting around three motifs. Maybe my goal for this round should be Thanksgiving!

Back on track... again!

I'm happy to say that I now have the pattern for round 17 firmly fixed in my mind, and I can proceed with confidence!

Unfortunately, I really won't have much time to tat this week... it's performance week! Daughter Carol has asked for my help at practice on Tuesday and Thursday this week, and performances are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It's going to be a a wild and crazy week!

What was I thinking?

I was blissfully tatting along when I realized that I had missed part of the pattern, the part that calls for small rings in the dip between motifs. Luckily, I had only finished 15 pattern repeats. I didn't feel like retro-tatting, so I snipped. So, maybe I'll be able to finish this round two weeks from today, missing my goal by a week... not a big deal, just not what I had planned!

Another busy week!

The middle school production of Bugsy Malone is next weekend, and daughter Carol has needed my help with supervision of her 45 member cast. It's been a long time since I've been this busy and let me tell you, it is wearing me out! I guess I'm not as young as I used to be! ;-)

Because of the long hours at school, I only have 12 pattern repeats on round 17, so I guess my goal of two weeks for this round is not going to happen. That's okay. It's just a goal!

The upside of this week was that I was able to knit quite a bit on my new scarf, Askin from Sequence Knitting. Knitting while sitting in the wings and supervising children is much easier than tatting, especially with dim light! The yarn is Knit Picks Preciosa Tonal in Stormy. I do like the subtle variations of color in these yarns!

Mom called the other night to let me know that she will be moving in to her new apartment on Monday. I tried to do too many things at once while talking to her and dropped my computer. I just noticed the ding this morning. In all my years of owning a computer, this is the first time I've dropped and damaged one! Luckily, the ding doesn't affect the operation of the computer. There are two nice little dents in the wood floor as well. I'm happy to say that Dave was the first one to gouge our beautiful wood floors, so my feeling of guilt is minimal! ;-)