Variety

 

Before breakfast, I finished off these two twisted headbands that I cranked last night. I love this color! It's Dakota from I Love This Yarn. Could it be that my taste in colors is expanding?

After breakfast, I shifted gears and spent the morning working on this waffle stitch afghan. Mean Green Goes Pink night is less than a month away, and I have about four more rounds to go to finish this. I can do it!

The volleyball girls asked me if I could make twisted headbands in green for them. So, Mom and I headed to Hobby Lobby to buy some green. The yarn was on sale, but they only had three skeins. At least I can get started. The solid colors of I Love This Yarn have more yardage, so I was able to crank three headbands from one skein. 

Despite limiting my cranking time to what I could do before dinner, I managed to crank the tubes for five headbands, one of which is ready to go. I feel like I accomplished a lot today!

Two!

 

I have two waffle stitch afghans in progress. I've been working on the top one for several months. I started the bottom one this weekend. I decided I needed a waffle stitch baby blanket for a baby shower this Friday. I guess you know what I'll be doing for the next several days!

Three weeks

 

I really didn't think I could crochet an afghan in a week, and I was right. It took me about three weeks. I love the way it turned out!

We took another hat picture on Tuesday. This time we're only missing six people... much better!

On to the next project!

Spring break

Right before spring break, I had one more hat request from Danny. He asked on Thursday, and I managed to finish it in time to give it to him at lunchtime on Friday. He was very pleased!

Yesterday was our Tollway Tatters meeting, and during that time I managed to tat one and a half button ornaments. I finished the second ornament after lunch. 

So, what did I do with my spring break?

I worked on a waffle stitch afghan using the leftovers from all the hats I've made over the past few months. One of the girls in crochet club asked if I could make an afghan in a week. I didn't really think I could, but I gave it a try. I have 9" to go to make it the size I want. 

So, the answer is no. I cannot finish an afghan in a week. Maybe two?

Be prepared

I try to carry a little bag with tatting in my purse so that if I have the opportunity, I can get a little tatting done.

I don't always get a chance to tat when subbing, but I did yesterday and today! I'm glad I was prepared!

I started working on daughter Carol's waffle stitch afghan yesterday. It's coming along nicely, and I love the colors she chose!

Mom wove bookmarks for me to give to the high school seniors. Tonight my friend Jen sent me a picture of her son wearing his. He may never use it as a bookmark, but it's nice to see that he likes it!

Suddenly...

Suddenly, my dashboard is back on Blogger! Now I wonder where my profile picture went. Technology baffles me at times!

This is Dave's busy season, so I was home alone for most of the day yesterday. I decided I needed to work on the third Chrysanthemum block for the Flora crochet-along. I think I read or heard in the tutorial that each block should take about four hours. I figured that left me plenty of time to tat. Wrong! This block took me all day! Still, I'm happy to be caught up. The pattern for the next block will be released on the 15th.

I needed something I could pick up and put down easily so that I could help Dave with paperwork. So, I started daughter Carol's waffle stitch afghan. She chose five different colors to incorporate, and I am eager to see how this one will look!

Starting over

Tonight is prom night, and we've had spirit week at school to get kids in to the excitement of prom. Yesterday was class distinction day. Each class was asked to dress according to a specified decade. Staff members dressed like it was the 80s. Daughter Carol, aka Madam Director, really gets in to dressing up for some of these days. Her costume for the 80s made me chuckle. If she had been a teenager in the 80s, I never would have let her out of the house dressed like this!

Opening the mail is often an adventure around here. Yesterday's mail included a reminder that it's time for me to renew my Tatting Times subscription. I also received some adorable shuttles from Roseground. I love these little beauties, and they're very reasonably priced. I believe I have every hand-painted shuttle they offer... what a surprise!

As for starting over... I've given away all of my Easter themed Ice Drops! I promised a set to daughter Joanne, and I really want a set for myself, so I'm starting over. It's a good thing I enjoy tatting Ice Drops!

Another goal has been achieved! I finished daughter Alison's waffle stitch afghan! I used a reverse shell stitch for the border.

I really like the way it turned out! I may wind up making one of these for myself!

Anyone who has been to my house, knows I don't need any more coffee cups. However, I just couldn't resist either one of these. The one on the left is so me!

I'm still here!

No, I haven't disappeared. I've been busy subbing and crocheting.

There isn't much difference when working on a waffle stitch afghan, other than showing length. I figured my time was better spent crocheting rather than showing a few inches of progress. However, I have finally reached the length I wanted, and I'm ready for the border!

I do have two other afghans waiting to be crocheted, a waffle stitch for daughter Carol and the Flora crochet-along from the Crochet Crowd. Those can be finished at a leisurely pace now that summer is quickly approaching!

I'll have plenty of time to tat this Saturday. We're having a Tollway Tatters meeting! You can keep up with what we're doing by visiting our website, TollwayTatters.com, or by visiting our Tollway Tatters Facebook page. If you're ever in the Chicago area, we would love to have you join us!

Plans

I had plans to spend the morning tatting. It is easy to see that tatting has been left behind so that I could focus on my knit-along sweater.

I was able to finish an Ice Drop last night.

I found these cute, inexpensive shuttles on Amazon. They're Clover knockoffs, which I usually avoid because I've found that they're usually a waste of money. I was attracted to the color, and it turns out they're pretty decent. The tips are nice and tight. The biggest difference I noticed, is that the signature grip strips are missing. I was afraid the shuttles might fly out of my fingers, but they work just fine.

I finally finished off the next skein of yarn on Alison's waffle stitch afghan.

I expected to get quite a bit done today, but there's a stomach bug going around and I wound up subbing for two teachers today. One teacher had to stay home with a sick child, and the other teacher went home sick at lunch time. Yikes! Germs, germs, stay away!

Progress!

Today was a gloomy day with a mixture of rain and snow. It was a great day for making progress on projects!

The end is in sight for daughter Alison's waffle stitch afghan. It was wonderful to have it covering my toes on this chilly day!

The back of my Marly Bird knit-along sweater is now 15" long. I had hoped to be 5" further along by tonight, but I can tell that's not going to happen. Still, I'm happy with the progress I've made.

This is the eighth Easter theme Ice Drop for daughter Joanne. It might not seem like there's much difference between them, but I do try to make each one just a little different. The shuttle is by Veronica of TattingShuttles on Etsy. Oh, be be artistically talented!

Work, work, work

It's been a busy week for subbing. I filled in for one of the part-time teachers every morning so far this week, and then I spent the afternoon doing my supervisory job at the high school. She has three boys in school, and they took turns with the flu. I'm very happy to help out, but I'm hoping they don't need me to sub tomorrow morning. I'm just about worn out!

I've now finished with four skeins of Mandala Griffin for daughter Alison's waffle stitch afghan. I made this one 180 stitches wide. The ones I made for the grand children were 166 stitches wide. This one seems so much bigger!

My love of Doodle Ice Drops continues. These little cuties just seem to fly off my shuttles!

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!

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!

Crochet day

I spent a little bit of time going through craft supplies today, but I spent most of my free time working on Alison's waffle stitch afghan. Today I finished the second ball of yarn... only six more to go!

My day wouldn't be complete without an Ice Drop, so I opened up a package of Lizbeth Boysenberry Dk and tatted the basic pattern. The basic pattern still makes me happy!

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!

Still a bit chilly

We woke up to -20℉ again this morning. I was so chilly, I decided to make myself a good hot foot bath, which usually keeps me toasty for about 20 minutes. This morning it lasted about 7 minutes. It wasn't long, but it did help warm me up!

I started out the day with an Ice Drop, but I needed something to keep me warmer. My fingers just weren't limber enough to work with thread today. I did need to try out my new shuttle from Grizzly Mountain Arts, and I'm still trying to build up my Ice Drop stash!

I moved on to yarn projects and completed another ten row pattern repeat on my shawl. It's too soon to tell whether this project will be out of one or two balls of Lion Brand Mandala, but I'm really thinking it will be two.

Daughter Alison's waffle stitch afghan is growing steadily. I'm almost finished with the first ball. By the time it's long enough to keep me warm, the weather will be much warmer!