Super size bobbin shuttle update

I thought you might be interested in seeing the original post for my beautiful super size bobbin shuttle...

Grizzly Mountain Arts

The post shows that Dave carved the bobbins specifically for this shuttle, making it even more special. I'm so glad I won that auction!

Sunday already?

Where has the time gone? We had a wonderful visit with Alison, Eva, and Aidan. Need I say Grandma is tired? ;-)

While the kids were here, two new knitting books arrived in the mail. Did you know I love books? I became interested in Cast On, Bind Off after reading a Craftsy post. A search on Amazon showed that the book was selling for $40 - $45, more than I was willing to pay for this book. On a whim, I looked for the same book at Barnes & Noble... $15! I snapped it up right away. I probably will never get to most of the techniques presented in this book, but it is fun to read through.

Sequence Knitting caught my eye because of an email from a yarn shop. They were offering a three-hour workshop on sequence knitting for $50, and the author is going to be presenting a slide show and offer book signings on the same day. The shop is almost two hours away, and the book is $60. I decided I could figure out what it's all about on my own, thus justifying a $60 book purchase.

First let me say that this is a beautiful, heavy book, and I do not regret paying the price. That said, if you have a way to preview the book before purchasing, I would highly recommend it. I know this is a book I will use over and over again, but I hesitate encouraging anyone else to spend so much on a book sight unseen.

The cover of the book shows 13 scarves, all knitted using sequence knitting theory. The patterns are so simple, they all fit on one page! Grandson Aidan loves super soft, cuddly fabric. The book was calling to me, there was a huge ball of Bernat Baby Blanket close at hand, and I decided a quick knit was in order.

This is the first scarf pattern presented. I had about 4" knit the first day. The rest was knit yesterday while Dave was working on Alison's bathroom remodel. I could have finished it easily, but I was feeling a bit lazy yesterday. I have a feeling my grandchildren will be receiving super soft, super bulky scarves for Christmas this year!

Joelle is in search of a large bobbin shuttle for a Jan Stawasz piece she'd like to make in size 10. I happen to have a large bobbin shuttle made by Dave Stanbrough at Grizzly Mountain Arts! I happen to be a huge fan of Dave's tatting shuttles, drop spindles, picot gauges, etc. As you can see, this shuttle is quite large... 4" long...

about an inch high. I've never actually used it, but it sure is a beauty!

Kathy asked if I'd ever blogged about this particular shuttle. I'm not sure if I have in the past, but I have now! Thanks for asking, Kathy!

Movin' on

Alison and the kids are down to visit for a couple of days, so I fit in as much tatting time as possible today. I think I made pretty good progress!

Ta da!

I finished round 8 today! I've started round 9, but I don't have enough done to make it picture-worthy. My idea for using the medallions that form rounds 10 and 11 won't work, because the motif ends with a chain. I could do some finagling and join new thread to tat the last bit of chain, but I have another idea for using the lace that I cut off, and I'd rather save it for that. More later... if my idea pans out!

Back to normal

After three days of being laid low by headache, I'm finally back to normal! However, I still haven't had much tatting time. We're helping daughter Alison remodel her bathroom, so we were gone all day Sunday. Today, daughter Carol caught the tidying bug, and I went over to help her with her clothes closet. I'm finding tidying to be quite exhilarating!

I am close to finishing round 8... yea!

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.

Tatting time

I had lots of tatting time yesterday and today, but I know I'll have very little time tomorrow. I still have quite a way to go, but I'm really enjoying the pattern of this round, which is similar to the round before.

I would have liked to have posted my progress yesterday, but my Internet went out for about 8 hours. It came back on right before I headed off to bed, but I was not in the mood to blog by then. Isn't it funny how technology has become such an important part of our lives?