Keepin' busy

I've had so much fun the past few days, I forgot to post yesterday!

I've ordered so purchased so many glass gems and coin beads, I can't remember where they came from! I believe this pretty bead was on eBay.

 Yesterday, I finished round 5 of Renulek's Wiosna 2017.

You know my fascination with blue! The thread is size 20 Lizbeth #603, Ecru. I'm not normally a fan of ecru, but I do like the Lizbeth shade.

This morning I started round 6 of Renulek's Wiosna 2017! Round 6 has not been posted on the web site yet. The complete pattern is available in Renulek's Etsy shop. I purchased the pattern when it first became available, because I wanted to be able to keep it in a more condensed version than it would have been if I printed out each individual round. Plus, I like supporting designers!

I know I said I was only going to post pictures of my sister-in-law's runner as I finished rows, but I found that I wasn't taking the time to work on it. So, I think I'll post my progress whenever the mood strikes! 😉

I haven't done any weaving in a while. I was kind of stuck, because I was trying to come up with a neat project. My mom is always coming up with great ideas, and I strive to be just like her! Yesterday afternoon I got to thinking about weaving, and it dawned on me that I really enjoy weaving scarves. I have loads of yarn that I purchased specifically for making scarves. What was I waiting for?

Isn't this a pretty yarn? It's from Hobby Lobby, and I love the way it works up. I'm sure I'll have lots of scarves on hand, and I'm guessing that my family will not be interested in all that I make. So, I'll have to find a home for them. I'm sure I'll find some takers!
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Reading day

I spent too much time tatting on Thursday, and I could really feel it in my hands yesterday. So, I took it easy with tatting on Friday, so easy that I forgot to blog about my day!

Granddaughter Eva is reading The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, a book that I've had for a long time, but have never taken the time to read. I'm now halfway through it!

Other than reading, I spent time doing a little of this and a little of that.

I finished up a cowl that I had on the loom. I hemstitched each end, tied the fringed ends together, trimmed the fringe, and then braided it. I really like the way it turned out!

 

Marie has been going crazy making these adorable little trash cans or thread catchers. The original pattern I followed had triangular tips like Marie's, with buttons holding down the three corners. I'm not sure if this is the pattern I followed or not, but there's a nice tutorial here.

However, I was feeling a bit lazy today and I did not feel like looking for buttons and sewing them on, so I followed this tutorial on Craftsy. I like that this pattern is all machine stitching, making it much faster to put them together. Of course buttons or charms can still be added to give them a little pizzazz. It does take slightly longer to cut out, because there are three extra cuts to remove the tips of the triangles. Also, there are six corners to trim instead of three before turning.

I think this is a great way to use up scrap fabric (two 10" squares are needed), and since they're so easy and quick to make, they're a great giveaway!

And yes, I did take a little time to tat today, but my goal was to give my hands a rest, so I tried not to get carried away! ;-)

The thread is size 80 Lizbeth, Pink Cocoa #166. I try not to use this thread too often, as I get cravings for chocolate and strawberries!

Getting ready!

Daughter Joanne and family are arriving tomorrow! Of course, there is plenty to do in preparation for their arrival. The morning was spent shopping for necessities such as baby food and a kiddie pool. Big shopping is a 40 minute drive away, so it's something that needs to be planned.

This afternoon I finished up packaging key rings and necklaces for the play. That part of the preparation is done!

Busy days mean frequent work breaks, even if it's just for a few minutes. Hopefully, I will have time to finish this Spinning Wheel while finishing up household chores tomorrow.

I also took time to work on my mermaid tail afghan. Only two rows to go before I start to decrease!

I managed to clear a path to my loom and start another scarf. I do love my weaving time. It's so relaxing... no patterns to follow, just a nice, rhythmic back and forth. I know Sophia will want to help me weave, so I'll have to make a little more space before they arrive tomorrow!

HELP!

My friend Etta emailed me today with a tatting question. I admit it... I'm stumped!

We're looking at the book 24 Snowflakes in Tatting by Lene Bjorn, 20. December. Has anyone tatted this snowflake? Part of my problem is that I can only find my Danish copy of the book right now. The English version is probably tucked away in a project bag with a partially finished snowflake attached.

The question is how to proceed with M through P. Can you help? Etta and I would very much appreciate any insight you can provide!

I haven't taken any time to tat yet today. However, I did finish weaving this super soft scarf! I haven't decided what I want to do with the fringe yet, so I've just left it long until I make a decision.

My 13-year-old granddaughter Eva was baptized today. It was quite an emotional and joyous event! I have never seen so many people so excited in one place. There must have been a dozen baptisms today: middle school students, a newly married couple, a couple expecting their first baby. I think there were just as many adults as students. I've never been to a baptism event like this before. I'm used to infant baptisms. It really was quite moving!

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!

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!

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!

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!

Slowly, slowly, slowly

Tonight was the first night for the middle school kids to practice in their costumes for their November  6, 7, 8 performance of Bugsy Malone. There was so much excitement! I was on hand with my safety pins to help with costume adjustments. One costume will need a few stitches to hold everything in place, so I will show up with needle and thread tomorrow night. Otherwise, it looks like it's all good to go!

I didn't do much tatting this weekend. I wanted to give my wrist a rest.

At least I've managed seven pattern repeats so far!

Despite my determination to stop collecting shuttles, the addiction continues! I found these really cool shuttles on Facebook. Australian jeweler Greg Mann makes them out of knife blades. I haven't tested it out yet, but it looks like it will hold a ton of thread!

This weekend I finished knitting my pink scarf, Ruddock from Sequence Knitting. I love the way it turned out!

I also finished weaving the beige and pink scarf that was on my loom. It's very light weight. I wish I had made it just a little longer, but it's still a nice length.

I'm too tired to tat any more tonight, but tomorrow is another day!

Starting round 17

I can tell that round 17 of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece is going to take a while. I'm giving myself two weeks to tat it. I hope that's not too lofty a goal!

I spent the morning weaving. I needed to give my wrist a rest, and I've been itching to start another scarf!

Snowflakes and shuttles

A while back I posted that I had an idea of something I wanted to do. That idea is to post pictures of my shuttle collection, using the shuttles with snowflake patterns. I have no clue how long this will take me or how regular I will be with my posts, but I'm starting today!

I was chosen as a lucky test tatter for Frivole's 2015 snowflake. Isn't it pretty? I should have used the blocking template that comes with the pattern, but I was so excited to finish it, I didn't take the time. Luckily, I can re-block it! The blue shuttle is a Clover that I decorated a few years ago. I think this may be one that I used in a shuttle give-away, but I'm not sure. The reindeer is one of my La Cossette shuttles, which I am really enjoying using!

Early this morning I finished round three of the Heart Doily from Land of Laces. I'm finding the pattern very easy to follow!

Today my goal was to finish my pink scarf. I had fringed one end last week, but I just didn't feel like fringing until today. Since I was on a roll, I decided to finish the scarf that I had on the loom. Dave really likes the pink scarf, but the beige one is much softer!

Joanne sent me this picture of the twins today. Look how strong Karolina is! Joanne said that Jan can lift his head well also, he just wasn't cooperating for a picture! In this picture, Karolina looks just like her Auntie Carol at the same age... lucky girl!

Not quite there...

My goal was to finish round 15 of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece this weekend.

I underestimated how long it would take me to tat around each motif. Still, I only have two sections left on this round!

I also worked on the second round of the Heart Doily from Land of Laces.

I'm amazed at how much I can accomplish in one day, especially when I have very few distractions! I did take time out to go grocery shopping, but otherwise I timed my goals according to t.v. shows I had recorded. I haven't worked on my Ruddock scarf as much as I'd planned. Still, I am making progress!

I finished weaving my shades of pink scarf today. The fringe is ready to be trimmed on one end, but I still have to fringe the other end. The threads and yarn on top of the scarf are all of the fibers I used for this scarf.

I started another scarf today, this one in Wool-Ease. The subs of color are leftover yarn from a scarf I made last year.

The twins are one month old today! Jan weighed in at 9 lbs. 9 oz last Friday. Karolina now weights 7 lbs. 4 oz.

Sophia seems to be enjoying her role as big sister!

So, that's how I spent my extra day off. All in all, it was a terrific day!

Time flies!

Where has the time gone? I can't believe it's Friday already. Joanne and Sophia are leaving on Sunday, so I have to make the best of my time with them. Dave will be on vacation next week, which means my summer break is nearly half gone. Summers seemed to last forever when I was little, but not any more.

My order of flax seed arrived the other day, so Joanne and I made flax seed and lavender pillows. The flax seed is exactly what I needed to get the weight I like. However, the flax seed does not go very far.  One of these pillows is filled with the last of the buckwheat, making a total of ten buckwheat and lavender pillows. I only had enough flax seed for three pillows, and the flax seed was about 50 cents more expensive. Still, this project was less expensive than purchasing one pillow.

Joanne and I did some experimenting and found that the flax seed holds the cold much longer than the buckwheat hulls, and I read that the flax seed can hold its warmth for over an hour when the pillows are heated in the microwave. Look out family! This may be what you get for Christmas this year! ;-)

I finally got over the hump with rounds 10 and 11 of the Jan Stawasz Masterpiece. Now that I have the pattern and spacing fixed in my mind, I think I'll be able to complete these two rounds in good time.

My sewing room is not organized to my satisfaction yet, but it is organized enough that I feel like spending time in there again. Joanne spent time winding my odds and ends into neat little balls, which makes it much easier to see what I have. I started this piece with size 5 crochet cotton to form a hem edge. I did take the time to hemstitch it so that it won't unravel when I take it off the loom. Next, I used up some worsted weight acrylic that was left on a bobbin from a previous project. Each pass is one strand of the purple crochet cotton and one strand of the pink acrylic. I like the way the purple adds definition to the pink.

I've had an idea for a while about using fabric selvages to make a nice firm fabric for bags. So, I kept all the selvages from the lavender pillows and used them next. I'm continuing with the purple crochet cotton with each pass. I guess I'm really beginning to love purple!

It was a little chilly last night, and Sophia wanted to wear Grandma's hooded sweatshirt. Carol and Joanne were cracking us up with ET references, and although she had no idea what we were laughing at, Sophia giggled along with us. I sure am going to miss this little peanut when she heads home to Minnesota!