Tatting Tuesday

Remember when we used to read and write about Tatting Tuesday? It seems like so long ago! Yesterday, I had a tatting Tuesday. I still can't show what I'm working on, but I will tell you that it is a lovely design. I made quite a few mistakes, so a lot of my time was spent retro-tatting. I'm becoming pretty good at taking out lock joins!

My carry-along project for school this year is knit dishcloths. I've made them for daughter Alison, daughter Carol, our middle school secretary, and this set went to our high school secretary. Why dishcloths? I have a tub filled with dishcloth cotton. I don't have to worry about stitch counts. I can talk to students while I knit without disastrous mistakes. Best of all, the recipients love them!

New favorite

 

I've been knitting the traditional diagonal dishcloth for years, and I've never really been happy with the way they've turned out. I've tried a variety of dishcloth patterns over the years, and I think I've finally found a new favorite.

This is very similar to the traditional pattern with a few tweaks that help make nicer corners, and it can be knit with or without the holes. I found it at TheMakeYourOwnZone.com. This one was very easy to make, and I will make more. However, I think I might look up some more dishcloth patterns, just so I don't get bored!

Knitting day

We had our family cookout yesterday, and it was wonderful! It did rain all day, but we had fabulous food and lots of fun. 

Daughter Andrea drove down from Minnesota, and we spent this morning visiting with her. After she left for home, we had a little bit of cleanup to do, but since everyone was so helpful yesterday we were able to finish up quickly.

It's been quite a while since I've knit dishcloths, but I promised daughter Carol some new ones. Luckily, dishcloths are pretty utilitarian, so mistakes don't really matter. It might take me a few tries to get in the groove of knitting with cotton again, but I'm up for the challenge!

Mini heat wave

 

I don't deal well with heat, and we've had a mini heat wave the past few days. So, I've done a little organizing upstairs... very little... read books, watched YouTube videos, and I knitted one dishcloth. Today is supposed to be a little cooler. Maybe I'll get something done!

Lost and found

While Dave worked in the garden, I spent time organizing upstairs. I found my knitting bag that I used to take along on car trips. Inside was a nearly finished dishcloth. My dishcloths always look a bit wonky when I first finish them, but once they've been used they have a nice shape. Some day I might figure out what I'm doing that causes this!

We visited daughter Carol for a cookout this afternoon. It was a lovely day to be outdoors. I thought about going upstairs and doing some more organizing when we got home, but I decided to sit and knit for a while instead. Today was a wonderful day!

Red, white, and blue

My cousin Nancy visited my mom last weekend, and Mom shared some Ice Drops with her.

Nancy emailed me to thank me for sharing. I love sharing my Ice Drops!

I told Nancy I'd be happy to make some more for her, and she asked if I could do some with a red, white, and blue theme.

Nancy only asked for three, but I think I'll do some more. They look so bright and cheerful!

Joanne finished her shawl, and Sophia cheerfully modeled it for us.

I finished a mini shawl for Kara, and I've started one for Sophia. Doesn't every little girl need a shawl?

Some of my dishcloths were in pretty sad shape, so it was time to knit some new ones. I started the blue dishcloth quite a while ago, but I didn't feel any urgency to finish it until this week... after I finished to coral one!

The kids love playing games on Papa's iPad. I have the same games on my iPad, but when Papa's around, Grandma's iPad is not worth anything!

We get pictures from daughter Carol's trip on a regular basis. I'm not sure what everything is, but I'm sure I'll learn all about the trip when they return.

The group spent three days in London, three days in Paris, and then headed to Florence by train.

Carol loved the changing of the guard at Buckinham Palace, and she said they got to see Prince Charles and Camilla.

I'm not sure how long they'll be in Florence. They will head to Rome next, and then they'll be home on Thursday. It's been a whirlwind trip for them, and I'm sure it's been memorable as well!

Adjustments

Well, I adjusted my morning routine this morning. I still started walking at 6 a.m., but this time I changed my goal. I set my timer for 15 minutes, but I didn't stop there.

We live on a state highway and we see a lot of semi traffic. Years ago, a friend of mine who lived about 4 miles south of us told me that he and his wife found that 100 semis per hour travel our road. That's a lot of semi traffic for a rural area!

So this morning I adjusted my goal... walk for 15 minutes or until 25 semis passed our house, whichever took longer. For my 6 o'clock walk, it took 23 minutes for 25 semis to pass. My 7 o'clock walk took 18 minutes. Traffic really picked up for my 8 o'clock walk... 43 semis passed our house in 15 minutes! My 9 o'clock walk lasted 15 minutes, with only 900 steps left for my goal of 10,000 steps, so I kept on walking. I was very pleased to have my 10,000 steps finished by 9:30!

Is this what my future holds, mornings of walking and counting semis? I think I'll need some more adjustments! ;-)

I finished my dishcloth early this morning. I love knit dishcloths!

The rest of the day, I spent every free minute tatting, because I wanted to finish this Spinning Wheel glass mat. I'm not sure this would really work as a glass mat since it's only 3 1/2" in diameter. The pattern is from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. The thread is Perfect Quilter #070, Denim. It's too bad this thread has been discontinued, because it is wonderful for tatting! There's one color left at Superior Threads, Cotton Candy. It was originally $8.99 per spool, but it's on sale for $2.00. What a steal!

Internet down... again

I don't know if it was because of the heavy rains on Monday, or if it was just a fluke, but our Internet was down for about 17 hours. It's funny how much the Internet has become a part of our lives!

I needed to exercise my wrist in a different way. Maybe I've been putting in too much time tatting at one sitting. So between yesterday and today, I only tatted one more butterfly.

This morning I went to school to help Kristine set up the computers for the coming school year. I hope she enjoys being the school librarian as much as I did!

In order to exercise my wrists differently, I started a new dishcloth. Mine are getting kind of old and grungy looking, except for one that daughter Alison made for me. I managed to hit a sale at Hobby Lobby, and I chose some fresh new colors for my kitchen!

Suz, is this the display case you had in mind?  ;-)

Starting round 12

Starting round 12 has emphasized patterns within patterns to me. Doesn't this look like it could be a small doily in its own right? I didn't pay attention to how long it took me to tat this, as I picked it up and put it down several times today. Maybe I don't want to know! ;-)

We went to daughter Alison's house yesterday to help with her bathroom remodeling project. I delivered Eva's and Aidan's finished scarves. It's a little too warm for them right now, but they both loved them! The patterns are from Sequence Knitting by Cecilia Campochiaro. The pattern for Aidan's blue scarf is called Marlett. I was interested in the name, so I looked it up and learned that Marlett is a TrueType font that has been used in Microsoft Windows since Windows 95.

Lyden is the pattern name for Eva's white scarf. Curiosity got to me again, and I learned that Lyden is a town in South Africa. It's also the name of an oil company. I guess it's true that we learn something new every day!

While Dave was busy working in the bathroom, I worked on another dishcloth. I had read on someone's blog (I can't remember which blog) that she didn't like the eyelet edge on the dishcloths. So, instead of K2, yo, knit to the end, she follows K2, k in front and back of next stitch, knit to the end. On the decrease side she follows K2, K2 together, K to the end. It worked out well, and now I have an alternative way to knit my favorite dishcloth pattern!

I started another scarf from Sequence Knitting using Preciosa Tonal "Captain" from Knit Picks. So far, I really like this yarn. The pattern name is Enders... the meaning of Enders? I found a sci-fi book by that title, but I didn't do too much research. Maybe I'll look into it further later, but for now I think I'll just knit!

No tatting Thursday

I didn't expect to get much tatting done yesterday, but I didn't get any tatting done yesterday... so sad!

I was feeling a bit off yesterday morning, so I worked on finishing up another dishcloth, which requires very little thought on my part. This one will be for me since there's a big blob of brown at one end. I used up a skein of I Love This Cotton, and when I joined the new yarn, I lost the flow of the color changes. I don't mind for me, but I wouldn't give this one as a gift.

I went to lunch with my friends Carol and Denise. We had a very nice time at a little Mexican restaurant in Lowell, Indiana. By the time I arrived home, I had a full-blown sinus headache and went straight to bed. I'm still feeling a bit off this morning, so I think I'll take it easy. I did read a little trick on the Internet that I remembered to try out this morning. I put ice water in the sink and stretched and clenched my hands for a few minutes. I went back to bed for about an hour and a half and the headache is gone! Now I need to regain some energy.

Pssst! Now it's Saturday, and I realized that I never published this post. The headache came back with a vengeance, and I spent most of the day in bed. Maybe I'll get a chance to tat tomorrow.

Overconfident

I finished another dishcloth before breakfast this morning, leaving the rest of the day for a bit of tidying and a lot of tatting!

I was feeling pretty good about round 7, and I forged on with confidence!

Apparently, I had too much confidence. I was not careful about checking my work as I was with round 7, and when I went to the ironing board, I noticed this glaring mistake just one pattern repeat past where I left off yesterday.

You know what I'll be doing next... snip, snip, snip! I think I may have to buy a new pair of scissors. Mine must be getting dull from all this snipping!

I'm losing it!

I showed up at Marlene's for my hair cut at 9 this morning. The open sign was not in the window, but I was 15 minutes early. I sat in the car for a few minutes and Marlene came out with a confused look on her face. I asked if I had the wrong day, and she said that my appointment was for last week! Honestly, I must have looked at the appointment card three times this week, and I never caught on to the fact that I was a week off on my dates. Some days I really think I'm losing it!

Today I chose to tidy my cleaning supplies, which are mainly stored in my laundry room. I almost wish I had taken a before picture of this cabinet. When I opened the doors, all sorts of things would fall out. I made a quick trip to the dollar store and bought some baskets, and then set to my task. I found quite a bit I could throw out... vacuum cleaner bags for a machine that's been gone for 10 years or more, empty boxes, almost empty bottles of all sorts of stuff... I was able to fill a whole garbage bag! Now that everything's tidy I know that I really don't need any more gardening gloves, batteries, or light bulbs. I guess that means I can buy more tatting supplies! ;-)

I finished three more lavender pillows today. I've now finished all of the pillows I cut out when Joanne and Sophia were visiting. I need to make some more so that I have enough for all the family members who want them. We'll have to see how long it takes me to get in the mood to cut fabric again!

I did take some time to sit down and tat this afternoon. It really is paying off to set small goals on this round. I tat a section that reaches from one of the medallions in round 5 to the next. Then I stop and check my work and give it a quick shot of steam. It makes me wonder why I didn't work round 7 this way the first time. It would have saved me a lot of grief!

I'm keeping a knitting bag by my chair. I've been meaning to give my daughters and my sister-in-law new dishcloths for Christmas for several years. I know they like them. Somehow I've managed to wait until it's too late to reach my gift-giving goals. I may not make it this year either, but at least I'm starting earlier!

Putzin' around

Today was another one of those days when I didn't think I had accomplished much until I sat down and thought about my day. I made beds, tidied up two cabinets, talked with my mom, my daughters, and my friend Denise, and I managed to finish up some crafting projects... not bad for a day of putzin' around!

My flax seed arrived, so I made three more lavender and flax seed pillows.

I finished another black and white dish cloth, giving me a set of three.

Doing some wrist exercises helped tremendously, so I was able to do a little tatting today. Thanks for the link to the video, Glenna!

Rainy days and Fridays

I know the song is "Rainy Days and Mondays," however here in Illinois it rained almost all day Friday. I wish I could send some of it to some of you who are experiencing severe dry conditions. We really don't need any more.

With all the rain, there really wasn't much for the kids to do outside, so we made pillowcases!

The kids chose their fabrics. Eva did most of the sewing on her pillowcase. Aidan supervised the making of his. This is my favorite pillowcase pattern, called the Burrito style. Directions can be found here. I like this pattern because there are no raw edges, and it makes up quickly.

Last night the kids wanted to watch RV with Robin Williams. The language is a little rough, but it is very funny. While we were watching, I finished up another dishcloth. The kids love the zebra look!

Now I remember!

I couldn't remember why I had given up on my dishcloth adventure, but now I do...

There was a mistake in the first pattern! If I get a notion that I'm going to work through something from beginning to end, I can easily get knocked of track. That's what happened with 365 Knitting Stitches a Year.

I started out with a moss stitch border, but I could tell after two pattern repeats that I was not getting the results I expected from the photo. This time I got smart and looked up the pattern on YouTube. Row 3 of the pattern is wrong!

I wasn't about to rip out all that knitting. It's a dishcloth for goodness sake, and it's for me. The correction has been noted in my book, and I'll know better for next time. :-)

At it again...

I can't help myself... I love this pattern! This Spinning Wheel glass mat (Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior) is in size 10 Lizbeth, #122 Caribbean. This is one of my favorite Lizbeth colors.

I've had this book for several years. I can't remember if it was a gift or if I purchased it myself, but I've been meaning to make good use of it by knitting some unique dishcloths.

I started with the January 1 pattern, Basket Rib. It's a very simple pattern to follow. All I have to do is take time to knit!

I didn't make it over to the boutique this weekend. Instead I crocheted some more button flowers for Rita.

I hope to get there next weekend. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Rita has made use of these! 

Waste not, want not

My dish cloths are looking really dingy, so today was a knit day. Unfortunately, I did not have enough of this oatmeal colored yarn to finish the dish cloth, but since it's for me, I'm fine with a blob of color in one corner.

I decided to try a new pattern today. This is the Almost Lost Washcloth Pattern. It was a fun knit, and I think I'll probably make it again.

My button journey continues.

I'm hoping to finish up Rita's buttons by the time school is out.

I've enjoyed working on them, but I'm ready to do some of my own!

Sidetracked

I've been sidetracked from working on lace... oh, no! My daughter asked me to knit some dishcloths for her new townhouse. I love knitting dishcloths! They're so easy and don't take much time. Typically, I take them along for road trips... I don't need a pattern, and I can watch the road and talk to my husband without making mistakes!

No photos yet... I need new batteries for my digital camera, so I guess I'll have to make a trip into town today. I become quite a homebody in the summer. We're only three miles from town, but I love my home so much that when school's out I really hate to leave!