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!

Ice, ice, baby!

School was cancelled today, because last night we had freezing rain. The main roads were okay, but the secondary roads were in bad shape. I know when Dave left for work this morning, I could see that our drive was solid ice.

I was glad to have an excuse to stay home today. My sinuses are all out of whack with the ups and downs in temperature, and it was nice to be able to just stay at home and take it easy.

I started the day with the intention of tatting three Ice Drops, all basic, but with varying numbers of picots. Then I got to dreaming of new projects!

Years ago, I knit a triangular shawl from Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman. I love this book! The pattern is an easy ten row repeat. I remember there was a challenge when the book came out, and several knitters used this pattern in various weights and types of yarn. I can't remember which magazine it was in, but that challenge is what attracted me to this book.

I still have my original shawl. I kept it on my chair at school for years, so that if it got chilly in the library I had something to throw over my shoulders. This ball of Lion Brand Mandala was sitting by my chair, and I kept thinking that it might be perfect for this shawl pattern. I'm happy I decided to give it a try!

My afghan is growing! We're expecting frigid temps again over the next week, so I figure I will have the perfect opportunity to finish it and keep warm at the same time!

Another round?

Tatting is on hold as I work on afghans for Christmas presents. Lily's is a nice lap size now, but I really want it to be a little larger. I know I have enough yarn for one pattern repeat, but I'm hoping for two. I do like the way the colors flow with the Mandala yarn!

Have I told you how much I love lighthouses? I just couldn't resist this beauty from Grizzly Mountain Arts! There was another lighthouse shuttle listed, but some lucky shuttle collector snapped it up before I could even see the listing. That's okay. I was able to get one lighthouse to add to my collection, and that makes me happy!

I'm a big fan of Dave's shuttles, and I love his pyrography!

Some of the high school girls are fascinated by Mandy Kerwell-Bez's tatting. Mandy tatted a beautiful necklace for me, and I'm going to try and follow her lead to make necklaces for the girls. It was very difficult to choose Swarovski rivolis for the girls to choose from! I'll be taking these to school tomorrow, along with threads, so that the girls can make their choices. I've already warned them that they probably won't get their necklaces until after the holidays. I have way too much going on right now!

Multiple crafts

I'm sure there are many tatters who indulge in multiple crafts. After all, variety is the spice of life!

I forgot to take pictures, but I finished my last set of curtains for the elementary school cafeteria this morning, and then I delivered them. It feels good to have another item checked off my list!

I'm enjoying tatting Ice Drops with Orange Crush. Today I used my newest Pop-A-Bobbin shuttle in cherry. I like the yellow organza ribbon with the orange. I ran out of cream, which is my usual choice with orange, unless I have orange!

My Virus Shawl is growing! This is a super simple pattern to follow, and it's a great way to show off pretty yarn. This is Lion Brand Mandala, and the color is Pegasus. I do like this 3 ply yarn. I bought my first cake on Amazon for about $10. I knew I could find it at Walmart for just under $5, but at the time I was eager to try the yarn and I knew it would be at least a week before I could get to Walmart. When I did get to Walmart, Denise and I were surprised, because it rang up at just under $4! I love surprises like that!