Doodle variation

I decided to tat the variation of the Doodle Ice Drop today. It's merely an extra row of chains, and I changed the picot cluster from three to five. I think I'll tat this one in several colors. I think it's appropriate that I used one of my Ice Drop Addicts shuttles!

One of the high school girls I see every day is very artistic. She gave me one of her doodles to cross stitch. Before tatting, I was a prolific cross stitcher. However, I haven't touched counted cross stitch in  years. My interpretation falls short, but I think Ashley will like it. I plan to finish it off as an ornament tomorrow. This was fun to do, but I think my days of spending hours doing cross stitch are over!

Playing with pink

Dave was outside working on fencing today, one of the advantages of a warm day in January! While he worked on fencing, I worked on tatting. I'm still enjoying my Doodle Ice Drop pattern, and today I decided to play with pink.

This is Lizbeth #629, Light Azalea. While pink isn't my favorite color, I do like the Azalea colors. The shuttle is from Grizzly Mountain Arts.

I lost the label to this one. I don't think it's Lizbeth thread, because it doesn't have a cardboard core; it's plastic. This Grizzly Mountain Arts Shuttle is dated 2009.

This one is in Lizbeth #622, Pin Med. The Handi-wind shuttle is again from Grizzly Mountain Arts.

I'm making good progress on my 12 Step Sampler Blanket. The pattern can be found on Ravelry. I'm using I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. I've completed 2 pattern repeats or 70 rows. I'm hoping for colder weather, because this blanket keeps me very toasty as I'm working on it!

Doodle day

Today was catch-up day... laundry, picking up, a little cleaning... all pretty boring stuff. So, I perked up my day by tatting Doodle Ice Drops!

Yes, I had fun!

No, I don't know all the color names. These are threads used in past projects, and I've lost the tags. I do know that each of the shuttles is from Grizzly Mountain Arts. I love tatting with pretty shuttles!

Cracklin' glass gems

I was given a container of clear glass gems, and since I really had nothing else to do today, I decided to spend the morning crackling them.

The process is very easy. Preheat the oven to 500 F. Put glass gems on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes. While they're in the oven, fill a metal pan or bowl with ice water. I've found that having the water chill while the glass gems are "baking" gives better results.

I've also found that it's better to not "bake" too many glass gems at a time. The last time I filled the cookie sheet, the first gems to be plunged in to the water crackled nicely, but the last ones to go in didn't crackle as much. Today I used a small cookie sheet, and heated about 24 at a time. I now have a nice big jar filled with crackled glass gems just waiting to be turned into Ice Drops!

I think the crackled glass gems look especially nice. The seem to pick up colors and emphasize the "ice" part of the Ice Drop. I love my new shuttle from Grizzly Mountain Arts. This design is one of Dave's doodle pyrography designs. I think it's appropriate that I used a Doodle Pyrography shuttle to create a Doodle Ice Drop!

I had one lonely glass gem sitting on the table next to my chair, so I decided to take the time to turn it into an Ice Drop as well. I do love my Grizzly Mountain Arts shuttles, and I pleased to own several with lighthouse designs on them.

I really thought I would move on to other tatting designs in the new year. I did start on a Myra Piper design, but I've messed up on it twice, so I have nothing new to show. I've been saying it for a long time, but I really do need to get my craft supplies in order. I keep telling myself that I'll spend 15 minutes a day going through something, anything. Then I get distracted by a pretty shuttle, a glass gem, or a color of thread. Maybe it's time to embrace my messiness!

Old dog, new tricks

My computer continues to frustrate me. Safari is not working well with blogger, and Chrome is still too unfamiliar to me. To make matters even more frustrating, Pages and Word don't seem to work with my updated operating system, and I haven't been able to update either program. So, I'm now experimenting with Google Docs. I don't feel like keeping up with technology! ;-)

I spent time perfecting my Doodle Ice Drop today. It just wasn't looking quite right.

I made one minor change, and now I'm happy with it!

For those of you who aren't Ice Drop Addicts, here's the pattern:

Doodle Ice Drop

Diane Cademartori

https://lacelovinlibrarian.blogspot.com

December 31, 2018

Supplies:

Size 20 Lizbeth thread

Shuttle and ball

¾” glass gem

Round 1 ~

Ring 4-4---4-4, reverse work.

Chain 6-6, reverse work.

*Ring 4+4+4-4, reverse work.

Chain 6-6, reverse work. **

Repeat from * to ** four more times.

Ring 4+4+4+4, reverse work.

Chain 6-6, lock join to base of first ring, reverse work.

Round 2 ~

Ring 6-6-6, fold ring away from you.

Chain 8, lock join to base of ring in round 1. Fold ring up for joining next ring.

***Ring 6+6-6, fold rings away from you.

Chain 8, lock join to base of ring in round 1, fold rings away from you.****

Repeat from *** to **** four more times.

Ring 6+6+6, fold Ice Drop away from you. Note: insert glass gem before final join.

Chain 8, lock join to base of ring in round 1, reverse work.

Round 3 ~

Chain 7, lock join to picot on chain in round 1.

Picot cluster: ds, picot, ds, picot, ds, picot, ds; lock join to same picot of round 1.

Chain 7, lock join to base of ring in round 1.

Repeat around.

Variation ~

Omit picot cluster in round 3.

Round 4 ~

Chain 8, lock join to picot on chain in round 1.

Picot cluster.

Chain 8, lock join to base of ring in round 1.

Repeat around.

Happy New Year!

Dave and I stayed up way past our bed time last night... all the way to 10:10! Needless to say, we wished each other a Happy New Year this morning.

It was important to start the day off right, so I tatted an Ice Drop! This is another doodle with an extra round of chains and thrown off rings. I really like the way this one turned out. Could it be that I'm inspired by beautiful shuttles? These are by Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design.

I've had this sweater for years, and it's one of my favorites. I spilled coffee on it yesterday, so I washed and dried it. There were some pulls that I should have taken care of a long time ago. So, I took care of them this morning, and now my sweater is ready for the cold weather... if it ever arrives!

The day was spent pretty much in leisure. We took down a few Christmas decorations, and when I say we I mean Dave. We had so much up that the house still looks very festive!

New Year's Eve

It's hard to believe that it's New Year's Eve already! Dave and I have a wild night planned. I'm guessing we'll both be in our pajamas by 7 and asleep in our chairs somewhere between 8:30 and 9. Yes, we do live life on the wild side! ;-)

I'm not quite ready to give up crocheting, but I'm going at a much slower pace. I started this one on Christmas Eve. The pattern is 12 Step Sampler Blanket and can be found on Ravelry. I'm using a variety of multi-colored yarns that I have on hand; all of it is I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. The design shows up much better in solid colors, but I still like the way this is working up. I've finished one 35 row pattern repeat. I anticipate this one taking me a couple of months to complete.

I'm not ready to give up Ice Drops. I did a little doodling last night and came up with this design. I'm not sure if this is one I've written up before or not. The problem with writing up patterns is that I have a difficult time remembering if it's something I've done before!

I tatted this one today. I changed the picots a little, but that's the only change. This is one of my new shuttles from Shuttle by Design. I can't help myself. I love any sort of paisley design, and I love blue!