Rrrrrip!

 

I was about 3/4 of the way finished with this scarf for one of my 7th grade girls, when I decided to rip out my work. Oh, I noticed that I had made a mistake way back near the beginning. I thought no one would notice... no one but me! I just couldn't take looking at the mistake, so I ripped out about 2/3 of my work.

I had several non-knitters at school say that a 7th grader would never notice. That could be true. However, I'm hoping to encourage these girls to take up some sort of handwork... knitting, crocheting, tatting, weaving, embroidery. If I'm to make something that looks hand-crafted and beautiful, I need to put my best foot forward. I have no regrets when it comes to taking out mistakes. I want to set a good example!

School knitting

 

I have about a 25 minute break between the two high school lunches that I supervise, so I've been taking knitting with me for something to do during that time. This scarf pattern is from one of my favorite knitting books, Sequence Knitting by Cecelia Compochiaro. The book is expensive, but it is one of the best investments I've ever made. The pattern is Ruddock, one of my favorites in the book.

Two middle school girls have been asking me about my progress on the scarf on a regular basis. They're fascinated by knitting. I've started another scarf. It's easy to stay motivated with an audience!

Variety

I have a wonderful variety of shuttles. I even have a variety from one shuttle maker, Dave Stanbrough of Grizzly Mountain Arts. This little post shuttle is one of my favorites. The Doodle Ice Drop is in size 20 Lizbeth #168, Latte Foam.

I love Dave's handi-wind shuttles. The little handle screws off for easy tatting. It's nice to have something to hold on to while winding. This Doodle Ice Drop is in size 20 Lizbeth #169, Autumn Apple Pie. I can almost smell the apple pie!

This violin shuttle by Dave is one of my favorites because it is so unique. When I was in junior high, I wanted to join either band or orchestra. The only instrument available was the violin. I wasn't sure I'd like the violin, but I auditioned with the director anyway. I was unsuccessful. I guess I could only carry a tune in my head! The Doodle Ice Drop is in size 20 Lizbeth #182, Spice Cake, another yummy color!

I didn't have as much time for knitting today, but I figure any progress is good!

Busy subbing

I subbed today, and I will be subbing tomorrow and Friday. Since I'm supervising students who are taking online classes, I'm hoping I'll get lots of tatting and knitting done!

Since I'm caught up with the Sanditon MKAL, and I have lots of yarn in the house, I decided to start another cowl. Once again, I am following a pattern from Sequence Knitting by Cecilia Campochiaro. It's similar to a spiral pattern I've done before, but with a different stitch count. I am intrigued by the subtle differences I'm seeing with each pattern I try.

I was able to tat two Doodle Ice Drops today. The first one is in size 20 Lizbeth #130 Island Breeze. The shuttle is one of my new ones from Grizzly Mountain Arts.

The second one is in size 20 Lizbeth #131 Vineyard Harvest, and another of my new Grizzly Mountain Arts shuttles.

I'm not sure if I'll stick with it, but for now I'm trying to tat one Doodle Ice Drop in each size 20 color I have in my stash. However, I tend to lose interest in long term goals that I set for myself. I guess we'll see what happens!

Christmas Green

With the colder weather, I find myself turning to knitting and crocheting so that I can feel the warmth of the yarn in my hands. This summer, daughter Joanne and I found a sale on Caron x Pantone yarn. Who can resist half price? I had two skeins in my line of vision, and I decided it would make a wonderful cowl. I didn't find a cowl pattern that inspired me, so I turned to my copy of Sequence Knitting, a book that I love to browse through. I found a pattern that I liked and got to knitting. I'm eager to see how this looks when it's finished!

Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design has been offering some gorgeous shuttles lately. I took a chance and looked in her shop last week, and I was surprised to see this beautiful Iris shuttle still available. Rita also had a new shade of blue for her handmade shuttles. I love them both!

I also found some beautiful new shuttles from ShuttleSmith Karen Bovard. I do enjoy tatting with flat shuttles!

As for Christmas Green, I'm very happy to have tatted a Frivolity Ice Drop in this cheerful color. The red ribbon seemed to be the perfect touch!

Shuttle love

I do love tatting shuttles! I love collecting them. I love using them. This new shuttle from Lorraine Kolasa is no exception. I love the weight, the feel, the color. The shuttle warmed in my hands as I tatted. I'm so glad I purchased it! These beautiful shuttles are available from Lorraine's web site and from Lisa Adams of Tatting Corner. The price is the same from both sites.

I'm still knitting away on my Wortham scarf. It's much easier to knit when my hands are cold, and my hands have been very cold for the past couple of days. I'm getting a lot of knitting done!

Found!

I went to school early this morning, and sure enough, I had left my knitting in the 5th grade classroom. Whew!

I didn't really think my knitting was lost, but there were a few minutes of panic when I couldn't find my bag!

Alison's waffle stitch afghan was my focus for the weekend. This shot is of three skeins of yarn completed for a total of 26". I also used a good bit of the fourth skein, but I haven't bothered taking a picture yet.

It was back to Doodle Ice Drops today! I want to send off some for Mom's lunch bunch in time for St. Patrick's Day. Guess what I'll be working on this week?

Today was a great day for collecting mail! This is my latest pyrography doodle art shuttle from Dave Stanbrough of Grizzly Mountain Arts. I was also thrilled to purchase one of his picot hooks (a fine crochet hook set in in a beautiful turned wood handle). I love working with beautiful tools!

Two beautiful new brass shuttles arrived in the mail today. These are from Lorraine Kolasa, an artist in Michigan. I've been eagerly awaiting the listing of these shuttles ever since Lorraine posted about them on Facebook. They're available in both a smooth and a hammered finish, with our without a pick tip. They're also available from Lisa Adams at Tatting Corner. It's nice to have options!

The packaging is wonderful. The shuttles are tied in place so they can't shift around in the shipping process. A plastic bag with a wooden dowel is included, along with instructions on shuttle care and how to loosen or tighten the tips using the piece of dowel. Lorraine suggests storing the shuttle in the plastic bag if it isn't going to be used for a while. The plastic bag will help reduce tarnishing.

Of course I started winding thread on to one of the shuttles right away! I decided to start with the one with the pick, because I find picks very helpful when I have to retro-tat. :-)

I like the way the tips flair, and the shuttle was very easy to wind. I've only tatted a couple of rings so far, but so far I really like this shuttle!

Thinking ahead

I made it to the post office today and mailed off Mom's Mardi Gras Ice Drops. I still have some Boysenberry Dk left, but I started thinking ahead to St Patrick's Day.

Lizbeth #187, Green Ice, isn't exactly what I had in mind for St. Patrick's Day, but it was the first green thread that caught my eye, and I decided to go with it. The center is a glow-in-the dark gem that I found at Hobby Lobby. I think these gems have to have a certain amount of sunlight in order to glow in the dark. Luckily, my jar that's filled with them is in the sun room!

I'm still knitting. I watched a lot of YouTube videos last night in an effort to improve my technique. I did a lot of experimenting! Because of that, my stitches are pretty uneven. I don't mind. I look at this scarf as a learning experience, and I'm hoping that when it's finished blocking will help even things out.

It's pretty chilly here tonight, so I stole Dave's blanket to keep my legs warm. He laughed!

And then there were nine

Yes, I now have nine Mardi Gras Doodle Ice Drops for Mom! I'll try to get them in the mail tomorrow.

We dealt with high winds today, and although I never felt the wind in the house, I feel very tired from listening to it all day. I made progress on my "Wortham" scarf from Sequence Knitting by Cecelia Campochiaro. There's something very comforting about yarn on a blustery day!

Mellow yellow

My goal yesterday was to finish knitting the yellow section of the Mandala yarn I'm using before moving on to something else. While I don't really consider these shades of yellow to be mellow, the song by "Mellow Yellow" by Donovan kept going through my head as I was knitting. There was more yellow on the ball than I thought, so I didn't finish the yellow portion until this morning. The scarf pattern is "Wortham" from Sequence Knitting by Cecelia Campochiaro.

A few days ago, my lovely new Valentine shuttles arrived from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design. Rita has announced that she is no longer taking custom orders. However, she will still be listing shuttles in her shop as she makes them. After seeing all the beautiful guild shuttles Rita has created in the past year, I can understand why she needs to take a break from custom orders. I imagine it's great fun designing new shuttles, but a little tiresome to be making multiples of the same design.

I'm still busy making Mardi Gras Ice Drops for Mom.

I plan on mailing them off to her on Monday. I hope I have time to tat some more by then!

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.

Sweet finishes

I had time to finish two projects today!

I started this Kenner scarf from Sequence Knitting way before Christmas. I can't believe how long it took me to complete! The yarn is Pomegranate Stripe, I Love This Yarn, from Hobby Lobby.

The highlight of my day was finishing my Primrose Path doily. I wanted to finish it in time for Presidents' Day, and I did it!

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! :-)

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! ;-)

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!