Another busy week!

The middle school production of Bugsy Malone is next weekend, and daughter Carol has needed my help with supervision of her 45 member cast. It's been a long time since I've been this busy and let me tell you, it is wearing me out! I guess I'm not as young as I used to be! ;-)

Because of the long hours at school, I only have 12 pattern repeats on round 17, so I guess my goal of two weeks for this round is not going to happen. That's okay. It's just a goal!

The upside of this week was that I was able to knit quite a bit on my new scarf, Askin from Sequence Knitting. Knitting while sitting in the wings and supervising children is much easier than tatting, especially with dim light! The yarn is Knit Picks Preciosa Tonal in Stormy. I do like the subtle variations of color in these yarns!

Mom called the other night to let me know that she will be moving in to her new apartment on Monday. I tried to do too many things at once while talking to her and dropped my computer. I just noticed the ding this morning. In all my years of owning a computer, this is the first time I've dropped and damaged one! Luckily, the ding doesn't affect the operation of the computer. There are two nice little dents in the wood floor as well. I'm happy to say that Dave was the first one to gouge our beautiful wood floors, so my feeling of guilt is minimal! ;-)

Slowly, slowly, slowly

Tonight was the first night for the middle school kids to practice in their costumes for their November  6, 7, 8 performance of Bugsy Malone. There was so much excitement! I was on hand with my safety pins to help with costume adjustments. One costume will need a few stitches to hold everything in place, so I will show up with needle and thread tomorrow night. Otherwise, it looks like it's all good to go!

I didn't do much tatting this weekend. I wanted to give my wrist a rest.

At least I've managed seven pattern repeats so far!

Despite my determination to stop collecting shuttles, the addiction continues! I found these really cool shuttles on Facebook. Australian jeweler Greg Mann makes them out of knife blades. I haven't tested it out yet, but it looks like it will hold a ton of thread!

This weekend I finished knitting my pink scarf, Ruddock from Sequence Knitting. I love the way it turned out!

I also finished weaving the beige and pink scarf that was on my loom. It's very light weight. I wish I had made it just a little longer, but it's still a nice length.

I'm too tired to tat any more tonight, but tomorrow is another day!

Starting round 17

I can tell that round 17 of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece is going to take a while. I'm giving myself two weeks to tat it. I hope that's not too lofty a goal!

I spent the morning weaving. I needed to give my wrist a rest, and I've been itching to start another scarf!

It's been a while...

It's been a busy week... two nights of play practice, one night to recover, parent/teacher conferences... and I still managed to tat!

I'm very happy that I've finished round 16 of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece... only two rounds to go!

Today's mail brought a new batch of hand-dyed threads from my dear friend Marilee Rockley. I LOVE her new color, Lilac Sea.

Knowing I'm so close to finishing my JS Masterpiece, I'm off to wind my shuttles!

Snowflakes and shuttles

A while back I posted that I had an idea of something I wanted to do. That idea is to post pictures of my shuttle collection, using the shuttles with snowflake patterns. I have no clue how long this will take me or how regular I will be with my posts, but I'm starting today!

I was chosen as a lucky test tatter for Frivole's 2015 snowflake. Isn't it pretty? I should have used the blocking template that comes with the pattern, but I was so excited to finish it, I didn't take the time. Luckily, I can re-block it! The blue shuttle is a Clover that I decorated a few years ago. I think this may be one that I used in a shuttle give-away, but I'm not sure. The reindeer is one of my La Cossette shuttles, which I am really enjoying using!

Early this morning I finished round three of the Heart Doily from Land of Laces. I'm finding the pattern very easy to follow!

Today my goal was to finish my pink scarf. I had fringed one end last week, but I just didn't feel like fringing until today. Since I was on a roll, I decided to finish the scarf that I had on the loom. Dave really likes the pink scarf, but the beige one is much softer!

Joanne sent me this picture of the twins today. Look how strong Karolina is! Joanne said that Jan can lift his head well also, he just wasn't cooperating for a picture! In this picture, Karolina looks just like her Auntie Carol at the same age... lucky girl!

Sneak peek...

I started test tatting a pattern when I got home from school today. Can you guess the theme? The mitten shuttle is a Clover that I decorated a few years ago. The bobbin shuttle is a La Cossette decorated with a Christmas tree on one side and a reindeer on the other. Now can you guess? ;-)

I took my Heart Doily from Land of Laces to school with me today. I still have some third and fourth grade students who are interested in tatting. In fact, they asked me to bring some "crochet hook shuttles" to school for them. I did, and they are very excited! Of course I spent some of my lunch time tatting. Between that and my demonstrations for the kids, I managed to get about half way round the doily today.

Round 16 of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece is off to a good start. I'm 1/10 of the way around!

Round 15... in the books!

That's right, ladies and gents... round 15 is finished! Round 16 looks super simple, so we'll see how quickly I can crank that one out. There are 18 rounds in the Jan Stawasz Masterpiece, so I really am feeling that the end is in sight! I'm really starting to get the hang of my bobbin shuttle from La Cossette. I don't know what my hangup was in the past, but I'm having no problems now.

I spent some time working on my Heart Doily from Land of Laces. The shuttle on the left is mother-of-pearl on wood from Veronica. The beauty really doesn't show up in the picture. The shuttle on the right is one of my Tatting Shuttle Addicts shuttles from NAGStudio. I really like this shuttle. It is so smooth and easy to work with, and I was able to get it engraved with Lace-lovin' Librarian!