Brrr, chickie dog!

That's what daughter Carol says when it's cold out, and it was very cold when we got up this morning... -20℉. I was very happy to stay indoors all day long!

I tatted "Helen" from Twenty to Make: Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams, this time with beads. There are supposed to be beads at the join of the chain and the rings on round one, but I couldn't bake it work, so I gave up. I'm not sure if I could make this work as an Ice Drop, but I may give it a try all the same.

My fingers sure don't like this cold, so I found it easier to work with yarn today. Unfortunately, I have a hard time counting, and I had to unknit three rows to get my stitch count right. Just think, I could have finished another pattern repeat today!

Did you notice Dave's afghan over my legs? I figured he wouldn't mind since he was at work. :-)

I received an extra special shuttle from Grizzly Mountain Arts yesterday. Who wouldn't love to have a beautiful shuttle with her initial engraved in the wood?

As a bonus, the back has pyrography as well! Isn't it gorgeous? Naturally, I needed to tat an Ice Drop for each side of the shuttle!

I'm making slow progress with Alison's waffle stitch afghan, but I am making progress! I switched to my silver/white polar fleece blanket when I started tatting. It made a better background for tatting.

I put my spinning wheel back together today. Grandson Janko was fascinated by all the things that could be taken off, and so he methodically took off all the parts he could. Luckily, nothing was lost! I look forward to the day when he can take it apart and then put it back together. I'll have to be patient, though. He is only three!

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!

Denise to the rescue

We cancelled Tollway Tatters today because of the predicted frigid temperatures. I'm glad we did. There were multiple car accidents on the highways this morning, and I would not have wanted any of my friends to take any risks. We reached a high of 11 today... good reason to stay put!

I did invite Chris and Denise over to tat. We had a wonderful time! Chris has been tatting about a year, and she's working on a Christmas tree pattern. Denise has been tatting a little longer than I have. She was working on earrings, and she tried out my new Kaplan thread. We agreed that the thread is beautiful and easy to tat with, but picots do need extra care.

I spent the day adapting "Auriel" from Twenty to Make: Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams. This one really gave my brain a workout! As I was completing the first round, I realized there was no way to tat the last ring that I needed. I was ready to snip and start over, but luckily I was smart enough to hand it to Denise for a second opinion. Denise pointed out that I could make my way up the chain to the place I needed to place the ring. I cut a length of thread and sewed my way to the proper place, and then I was able to tat the last ring.

I'm sure glad Denise figured out a solution, because I really don't think I had the brain power to repeat the first round including the encapsulation for the glass gem!

I will be tatting "Auriel" one more time. I'm determined to have the snowflake completed as designed!

Auriel

Today I tatted Auriel from Twenty to Make: Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams. I love this pattern! I did make a mistake on one of the outer chains, so I guess I'll just have to tat another! As I was tatting, I tried to figure out how to turn this in to an Ice Drop. I think I have an idea that might work. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to try my idea out tomorrow.

I finished the fourth pattern repeat of my 12 Step Sampler Blanket. I think one more pattern repeat will make it long enough, and then I can start the edging. With the cold weather we're experiencing, I'm enjoying having this nice warm blanket covering my legs!

Alison

I didn't blog yesterday, because I wasn't in the mood. I started off my day by reading blogs, and once again I was aggravated by my inability to leave comments. I think the comments worked on one blog I visited. I probably spent an hour trying to figure out solutions with no luck. Needless to say, it put me off computing for the day!

The other day when I was browsing, I spent quite a bit of time looking through Twenty to Make: Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams. I love this little book!

The first pattern in the book is Alison, which happens to be my oldest daughter's name. You know I had to tat it! I had trouble with this one, and I didn't realize why until I was finished. The chains are 6-6, and I tatted them 8-8. The steam iron helped, but that wasn't good enough for me.

I tatted it again with much better results!

I figured this could be made into an Ice Drop, and I was right! It took a lot more brain power than I anticipated. I kept getting lost in the pattern, and I had to put it down several times. That was a good choice! I did start closing a ring too early, but that was easily remedied. Taking breaks was key to getting this one right!

Befuddled by beads

"Mary" from Twenty to Make Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams is a beautiful beaded snowflake.  I was really looking forward to tatting it, but I kept making mistakes, forgetting to add beads in the appropriate places.

The pattern is really very simple, so I decided to tat it without the beads to see how the pattern flows.

Now that I have the pattern down pat, I think I can successfully add the beads. I think it makes a great Ice Drop, too!

The shuttle is one of my favorites from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design.

Catrin

I'm really enjoying tatting the designs in Twenty to Make Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams. It's great fun to see if I can figure out how to turn them into Ice Drops.

My only disappointment in tatting this snowflake is that there was something on my iron that left red marks on the snowflake. I'm really not sure what was on my iron, but I sure wish I had seen it before I pressed my snowflake! The red is gone now. I read somewhere that a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser was good for cleaning irons. It worked so well the first time I tried it, I haven't used anything else in a long time.

Gillian

I got called in to sub at the last minute today, but I still managed to find time to tat "Gillian" from Twenty to Make Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams. Because this was such an easy tat, I was able to turn it into an Ice Drop after dinner.

Yes, I have another new shuttle from Emiko Suenaga. Isn't it beautiful?

Doomed!

I think my attempt at tatting "Helen" from Twenty to Make Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams was doomed from the start.

I finally gave up trying to undo my beaded ring this morning. I wasted a lot of time yesterday, and when I did decide to give up I realized how foolish I was with my time. This is the point where I messed up yesterday. I guess it doesn't always pay to be stubborn!

I really shouldn't try to tat while talking on the phone. I'm not sure if I should try and rescue this snowflake or just drop it in the trash can.

After my disaster, I decided to relax with an Ice Drop... familiar territory, you know!

I did return to "Helen" after dinner, this time without the beads. I'm pretty sure this was my first time to tat lock chains. I think I need a little more practice! This new shuttle by Emiko Suenaga arrived today. It's available exclusively at Tatting Corner.

The back is just as pretty as the front!

Adapting

After a couple of false starts, I managed to turn "Auriel" from Twenty to Make, Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams into an Ice Drop!

I think round 1 makes a pretty Ice Drop by itself, so I may tat this again.

The hard part was figuring out how to keep the glass gem from falling out the back. I don't know why it took me so long to think of joining the chains after 3 ds.

I love the way this turned out.

I find that I'm getting more and more ideas for Ice Drops. Will this addiction ever end? I hope not ...at least not for a while!

Auriel

Today was another snowflake day. This is "Auriel" from Twenty to Make Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams. The shuttle was a Christmas present from my friend Denise. My favorite color is blue (I'll bet you didn't know that! ;-)), and Denise's favorite color is pink. Denise commissioned Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design to make us blue and pink matching shuttles. I love it!

When I picked up the mail after our return from Alabama, I had a package waiting from my friend Michelle. To commemorate our tatting retreat in July, we ordered shuttles from Frivole.

Both sides are beautiful! I hope I'm able to attend the next Twin Cities Tatters retreat. It was so much fun, and I'm pretty sure I could convince Denise to ride along with me!

A purple kind of day

I started off the day tatting Stars in Stars by Eliz Davis aka Tatknot. It's a simple pattern to follow, and I like the way Eliz chose to weave another star across the top.

I practiced this oya fan pattern again today. It's looking better, but it's not nearly as nice as the one in the video.

I am happy with my improvement! Maybe the next time I'll have enough thread to finish the motif!

It was snowing this morning, so I was inspired to tat a snowflake. This one is "Alison" from...

Twenty to Make, Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams. This looked like one that could be adapted for an Ice Drop, so I gave it a whirl.

I think it turned out pretty nicely!

I suppose it would look better if I did front side/back side tatting, but I don't want to work that hard, and the technique confuses me.

I'm not sure I'd be able to explain how I tatted this, but I will try again. I messed up on some of the rings with picots. I can see the rings that are incorrect, but I'm sure it wouldn't be noticeable to non-tatters.

Yes, it's been a purple kind of day. I wonder which color I'll choose to use tomorrow? 😀