A little of this, a little of that

It was a cool and rainy day here in northern Illinois. That was fine by us! Joanne, Mom, and I spent time knitting. Carol came over to celebrate her birthday, and I was even able to find some time to tat!

Joanne took knitting lessons when she was a little girl, but since it's been so long, she needed a refresher lesson. Mom sat down with her last night while I was making dinner, and got her started on a garter stitch scarf. Her stitches are so nice and even!

I made a little progress on my diagonal stitch scarf today.

Mom is much more focused than I am, so she was able to accomplish a lot more!

I didn't tat for very long tonight, but as long as I'm making progress, I'm happy!

A lace-lovin' day!

Mom, Joanne, and I had a great day today! Sophia took a nice long nap this morning, leaving us loads of time to visit. Of course I tatted while we chatted!

However, I guess I didn't get as much tatting done as I thought. I guess my hands stop when my mouth starts! Still, I feel good about the progress I did make.

When Sophia woke up from her nap, we went to daughter Carol's for lunch. We invited her to go to Hobby Lobby with us, but Carol refuses to be drawn to "the dark side," so we took off without her.

I'd be lying if I said that I needed more yarn or fabric. I did exhibit some self control... I only looked at tatting supplies!

Mom has been working on scarves for her sale this fall, and her new favorite pattern is this diagonal stitch scarf. I'm working with this light teal color. Mom is working on a green. The yarn is Baby Bee Sweet Delight, one I've never tried before. It's very soft and a joy to knit!

Joanne was inspired to take up some knitting. She took lessons when she was a little girl, so she quickly picked up on what to do when Mom sat down with her. Joanne's working on a simple garter stitch scarf for starters, but she's already dreaming of knitting sweaters for Sophia!

Decision made!

The mistake in my edging is now gone! I did consider using it for a hanky. I did consider cutting the mistake out and joining new thread. In the end though, the little bit of perfectionist in me won out, and I retro-tatted.

As you can see, it really wasn't very much thread, and the rings and chains came out very easily.

I'm so much happier with the edging now! I'm not very good at going back to unfinished projects, and I really wanted this edging for a specific person. So, I made the right choice for me at this time.

Mom arrived at my house today, and she brought along some photos to share.

This one must have been taken in the 80s. From left to right are my sisters Lisa and Janet, and I'm standing next to my brother David. I'm the oldest, then Janet, Lisa, and David. Mom says this is her favorite picture of the four of us.

I must be about 25 in this picture. I'm holding my oldest daughter Alison. Lisa is four years younger than me. We were on a family vacation at Lake Archibald in Wisconsin.

In this picture, my Grandmother Jones is holding my mom. That's my Uncle Leonard standing next to them. I always thought that Grandma was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. I always wanted to be tall like her! This picture was taken in front of her sister's house north of Philadelphia.

Today we made another photographic memory... Mom with four of her six great-grandchildren. From left to right... my grandson Aidan, Mom holding my granddaughter Sophia, my granddaughter Eva, and my sister Janet's grandson Gavin. I think Eva and Mom have the same smile!

Oops!

I needed a mental break from split rings. I'm catching on to adding the picot to the second half, but I really have to concentrate on what I'm doing. So today I decided to return to simple rings and chains...

oops! This is a very simple pattern,  "Butterflies" from A Pattern Book of Tatting by Mary Konior, but I managed to mess it up. I wanted to use it for a round doily center. That's not going to work, because I've created a corner! This is not the corner shown in the book, but it doesn't really matter... I wanted this piece for a ROUND doily center, not a SQUARE hanky.

Now I have a decision to make. Should I continue and make this edging for a hanky, or should I fix the mistake and use the edging for the round doily? If I fix the mistake, should I retro-tat, or should I cut my losses and add new thread? What would you do?

Tollway Tatters meet again!

We were a small group today, but we did have fun!

Sue Anna worked on jewelry, adapting one of Marilee Rockley's patterns for an earring idea she has.

Barb worked on another of Jon Yusoff's Elegant Tatting Gems.

I finished the Spinning Wheel glass mat that I messed up a couple of weeks ago.

I think we all indulged in way too much food, which is easy to do when you're tatting and chatting with friends!

Blog buddies are the best!

Yesterday I received an email from Frivole offering to post a video showing how to add picots to the second half of a split ring. I'm so glad she posted it on YouTube! Because of this well-done video, I was able to spot a simple adjustment I needed to make. Thank you, Frivole!

I also received an offer from Michelle to get together on Skype or FaceTime to figure out what I was doing wrong. I couldn't get either to work, but we did have a nice phone conversation this morning, and Michelle suggested I try tatting Ringtrim by Anne Bruvold to practice my split rings. I printed out the pattern, and I'm so glad I did!

Didn't he turn out cute? I only had one problem with this pattern. The last split ring calls for a twisted picot. I know how to make a twisted picot when I'm joining, but how to I twist the picot when it's just there on the top of the dragon's head? Help!

Ready to wing it

After last night's problems with picots and split rings, I was hesitant to give it another try. Who needs the frustration of tight knots that are difficult to open? I guess I do!

I watched several videos on tatting split rings, but none of them showed adding picots. I'm hoping to learn from some of my buddies at Tollway Tatters this Friday, and I look forward to watching a video from Frivole. In the meantime, I needed to attack the problem on my own.

I thought that I might have lost my touch with split rings, but I managed to complete 7 with no problems. Then I tried to add a picot to each side, and... lock! I was not in the mood to retro-tat, so I snipped the thread and started over.

After taking a break for dinner, I gave it another try... 5 split rings and... look! I managed to add picots to each side! The first one was very tough to close, but the other three went pretty smoothly. My only problem is that I can't seem to use my picot gauge on the second side of the split ring, and I'm not very good at making consistent picots without my gauges.

I think I'll do a few more practice pieces, and then I'll be ready to add wings to Aidan's Flying Minor Norwegian Dragon!