Knitting day

Today I totally focused on knitting.

I started with blocking my Reyna shawl. I love the way the pattern shows up!

Next, I spent a lot of time going through knitting books to choose a new project. I was really tempted to start another Reyna shawl. Instead, I chose to knit the Wortham scarf from Sequence Knitting by Cecelia Campochiaro. The yarn is Mandala Thunderbird. So far, the color has changed from light yellow to medium and then a darker yellow. I'm not sure if I like the way the color changes work in the scarf, but I think it will be interesting to see what happens.

Silver gem

Still working with Boysenberry Dk, today I chose a silver glass gem. I think it looks white with slightly gray undertones. The thread really changes the look of the glass gem.

My Reyna shawl is finished, except for blocking. You can find this free pattern from Noora Backlund on Ravelry. The yarn is Malabrigo, which is wonderful. I would definitely buy it again. The pattern was easy to follow, and now that I've rebuilt my knitting confidence, I'm ready to start another knitting project!

A touch of red

I'm having fun putting glass gem colors with Boysenberry Dk. Today I thought I'd try red, and I like it!

My Reyna shawl (free pattern by Noora Backlund on Ravelry) is coming along nicely. I'm learning to find and fix my mistakes. Today I successfully fixed a dropped stitch and a missed yarn over without unknitting. I'm very proud of myself!

Grandparents' Day

Granddaughter Ella invited us to Grandparents' Day at school. How could we resist? We headed out early Thursday, but by the time we got to Cindy's house, Dave wasn't feeling well. He turned around and went home, and Cindy and I drove to Minnesota. Luckily, we get along really well!

We visited with daughter Joanne before heading to daughter Andrea's house.

Little ones just seem to have a way of making everyone feel loved!

I decided that daughter Alison's afghan would be my road trip project. I didn't finish as much as I thought I would. Cindy and I had too much fun talking!

I did take tatting with me, but I never got around to it. So, today I whipped up another Doodle Ice Drop. My tree is looking full, so I may start decorating another.

My Reyna shawl (free Ravelry pattern by Noora Backlund) is coming along nicely. I've now completed 104 rows, and I still have the correct number of stitches!

Daughter Andrea has been redecorating her living room. She saw two pieces of art work that she really liked, but they were $200 each. After doing a little research, she learned how to do her own. This is her progress so far. She still needs to distress it, and then husband Jake will frame them for her. I can hardly wait to see how they look in the living room!

Well, bad photographer that I am, I forgot to take pictures of Ella and Lily! Luckily, Andrea remembered to take a picture of us before we left. Yes, it's official. I now have three grandchildren who are taller than me!

Another icy day

School was called off because of ice today. It's kind of amusing to watch the news and see people commenting about schools closing because of ice. Yes, the main road in front of my house was clear. However, the back roads were sheets of ice, and it would have been dangerous to have school buses on them. Our drive was solid ice, and my car was sheathed in ice, so I had no desire to go out!

Instead of venturing out, I worked some more on my Reyna shawl (free pattern by Noora Backlund on Ravelry). I've now finished 88 rows, and I still have the correct number of stitches!

My Ice Drop today is another basic one, this time with five picots... such a bold choice! ;-) The shuttle is another by Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design. I'm still tatting with Lizbeth Boysenberry Dk.

Round 4 of Jon Yusoff's tat-along is complete! This round is in Lizbeth #668, Green Orchid Dk. Somehow, I managed to purchase two shuttles commemorating Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday. Guess what? I don't mind! These wonderful little shuttles are not expensive, and I really do like them. You can check them out at Roseground.com. I see there are two Christmas shuttles that I don't have in my collection. Do I dare order them?

Saturday tatting and knitting

Dave and I accomplished a lot today... cleaning windows, sweeping floors, doing laundry, helping daughter Carol build sets for the high school production of Mama Mia! Some we did together, and some separately. It feels good to have accomplished so much!

My reward was to spend time this afternoon tatting and knitting. I really am enjoying tatting Doodle Ice Drops with slight variations in each one. I'm not sure that the changes are visible to most people, but it's enough for me to know that no two are exactly alike.

Isn't my new shuttle cute? It's from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design. I really don't mind winter weather, and I'm kind of looking forward to the possibility of snow at the beginning of the week. Still, I know that I will soon be craving the warmth of spring.

I'm happy that I've developed a rhythm with my Reyna shawl. The pattern is by Noora Backlund and can be found on Ravelry. I don't count stitches for each row, but I have been checking to make sure I have an odd number at the end of each row. I like that Noora gives a stitch count at the end of each pattern section. I'm right on track with 143 stitches at the end of row 72!

Frills

Today was one of those days when I couldn't decide what I wanted to do, so I went back to the basic Ice Drop. It had to be a little bit fancy, so I added loads of picots. I do love frills!

I also love my little Halloween shuttle from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design. I see no reason to use it only in October!

My Reyna shawl is coming along nicely. I did have to unknit two rows three times. Each time I made the same mistake. Somehow I added a yarn over on the purl row. Unknitting a lace pattern is a lesson in patience!

Getting forgetful

I don't know if it's the weather, my age, trying to do too much, or something else, but I forgot everything today! I left my Kindle at home charging. I packed my tatting bag and left it on the bench next to my chair. I packed my crocheting and left it in the bag next to my chair. I didn't realize that I had left everything at home until I'd been at school for nearly two hours. I'm only there for three hours and a quarter hours, so I guess it wasn't that big a deal.

I made up my tatting time before dinner. I do like the look of the Doodle Ice Drop with extra picots on the chains.

I enjoyed knitting on my shawl this morning. I'm developing a rhythm with this pattern, and it seems to be going along smoothly.

Alison's waffle stitch afghan is coming along nicely. I'm still at the stage where it feels like it's going slowly. I know that it will suddenly feel like I'm almost done!

Finish one, start another

In finally finished my Garter Lace Triangle Shawl from Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman.

Since it went so well, I decided to start another shawl right away. This one is Reyna by Noora Backlund, a free pattern on Ravelry. I did get off to a rough start on this one. I finished the 28 row garter section only to realize that I had made a mistake all the way back in row 3. Luckily, this is an easy pattern to follow!

I did some experimenting with my Doodle Ice Drop pattern. Both rows of chains that form the outer pattern have 6 ds on either side of the picot flower. In the original pattern the first row had 6 and the second had 7. I just wanted to see how it looked, another variation. The beautiful shuttle is from Veronica of TattingShuttles on Etsy.

Another of my experiments with Doodle Ice Drops was to add extra picots on the chains, giving a very frilly look. I think this one looks prettier in person, and I'm sure daughter Joanne will claim this one for her pink tree when she comes to visit this summer! The pretty green shuttle is from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design.

A fun new shuttle arrived in the mail today, another beauty by Rita Richmond! It arrived just in time for the frigid temperatures we're expecting again this weekend. The cold might be a little tough to take after having a few days in the 40s, but I'm sure we will survive!