Finish one, start another

In finally finished my Garter Lace Triangle Shawl from Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman.

Since it went so well, I decided to start another shawl right away. This one is Reyna by Noora Backlund, a free pattern on Ravelry. I did get off to a rough start on this one. I finished the 28 row garter section only to realize that I had made a mistake all the way back in row 3. Luckily, this is an easy pattern to follow!

I did some experimenting with my Doodle Ice Drop pattern. Both rows of chains that form the outer pattern have 6 ds on either side of the picot flower. In the original pattern the first row had 6 and the second had 7. I just wanted to see how it looked, another variation. The beautiful shuttle is from Veronica of TattingShuttles on Etsy.

Another of my experiments with Doodle Ice Drops was to add extra picots on the chains, giving a very frilly look. I think this one looks prettier in person, and I'm sure daughter Joanne will claim this one for her pink tree when she comes to visit this summer! The pretty green shuttle is from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design.

A fun new shuttle arrived in the mail today, another beauty by Rita Richmond! It arrived just in time for the frigid temperatures we're expecting again this weekend. The cold might be a little tough to take after having a few days in the 40s, but I'm sure we will survive!

Classic Heart

I went to bed last night feeling really good about the day. I felt like I had accomplished so much! Imagine my surprise when I got on my computer this morning and realized I'd forgotten to blog!

My major accomplishment of the day was tatting Robin Perfetti's Classic Heart. in size 20 Lizbeth, Pink Med. I do love this pattern, and I find it easiest to follow on my iPad. I can make the diagram larger and mark each ring and chain as I go. Even with that advantage, I had three false starts. I really shouldn't talk on the phone while tatting!

Where did the weekend go?

I can't believe it's Sunday night already! We have the Super Bowl on while I'm blogging and Dave is doing paperwork. We both enjoy watching football, and it's much more relaxing when we don't care which team wins!

I've spent a lot of time looking for a hat pattern that I like. I love looking for things online, and I'm always amazed at how much time I have whittled away. This afternoon I decided to stay off the computer and tat an Ice Drop. I love the way this one turned out!

I was in the mood to knit yesterday, and I was able to make pretty good progress on my shawl. I love this pattern, but I think the Mandala yarn works better with other patterns, especially the Virus Shawl. I may change my mind when it's finished, and I'm getting pretty close to being done.

There are so many projects I want to work on. I really want to get back in to sock knitting, but I have Alison's waffle stitch afghan to finish first. I sure wish I could work on all my projects in my sleep!

The big warm up

We managed to get up to 18℉ today. It felt wonderful! School was open for the first time this week. Our district was lucky... the buses all started and there were no broken pipes. The next towns west and south of us weren't so lucky. It felt good to be back at school.

Since my normal time at school is from noon 'til 3, I have plenty of time in the morning to do as I please. This morning I tatted a Doodle Ice Drop.

I enjoyed making it so much, I tatted another one when I got home from school. Yes, I have looked at my tatting patterns looking for a larger project to catch my interest, but I'm enjoying working with yarn as well as thread. So, large tatting projects just aren't doing it for me right now.

I worked on my shawl some more after dinner. While I do enjoy working with the Lion Brand Mandala, I kind of have an itch to work with the hand-spun yarn I purchased from my friend Jen. I haven't found just the right pattern yet, but I'm having fun looking!

Still a bit chilly

We woke up to -20℉ again this morning. I was so chilly, I decided to make myself a good hot foot bath, which usually keeps me toasty for about 20 minutes. This morning it lasted about 7 minutes. It wasn't long, but it did help warm me up!

I started out the day with an Ice Drop, but I needed something to keep me warmer. My fingers just weren't limber enough to work with thread today. I did need to try out my new shuttle from Grizzly Mountain Arts, and I'm still trying to build up my Ice Drop stash!

I moved on to yarn projects and completed another ten row pattern repeat on my shawl. It's too soon to tell whether this project will be out of one or two balls of Lion Brand Mandala, but I'm really thinking it will be two.

Daughter Alison's waffle stitch afghan is growing steadily. I'm almost finished with the first ball. By the time it's long enough to keep me warm, the weather will be much warmer!

Brrr, chickie dog!

That's what daughter Carol says when it's cold out, and it was very cold when we got up this morning... -20℉. I was very happy to stay indoors all day long!

I tatted "Helen" from Twenty to Make: Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams, this time with beads. There are supposed to be beads at the join of the chain and the rings on round one, but I couldn't bake it work, so I gave up. I'm not sure if I could make this work as an Ice Drop, but I may give it a try all the same.

My fingers sure don't like this cold, so I found it easier to work with yarn today. Unfortunately, I have a hard time counting, and I had to unknit three rows to get my stitch count right. Just think, I could have finished another pattern repeat today!

Did you notice Dave's afghan over my legs? I figured he wouldn't mind since he was at work. :-)

I received an extra special shuttle from Grizzly Mountain Arts yesterday. Who wouldn't love to have a beautiful shuttle with her initial engraved in the wood?

As a bonus, the back has pyrography as well! Isn't it gorgeous? Naturally, I needed to tat an Ice Drop for each side of the shuttle!

I'm making slow progress with Alison's waffle stitch afghan, but I am making progress! I switched to my silver/white polar fleece blanket when I started tatting. It made a better background for tatting.

I put my spinning wheel back together today. Grandson Janko was fascinated by all the things that could be taken off, and so he methodically took off all the parts he could. Luckily, nothing was lost! I look forward to the day when he can take it apart and then put it back together. I'll have to be patient, though. He is only three!

Baby, it's cold outside!

Yes, it is cold, with a high of 6℉ today, but it's supposed to be much colder tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm staying inside where it's toasty warm!

Yesterday, I worked on "Helen" from Twenty to Make: Tatted Snowflakes by Jennifer Williams. The pattern calls for beads, but I decided to tat it without beads first so that I could get a good feel for the pattern. I'm glad I did. I found the lock chains to be a bit challenging. I've done lock chains before, but yesterday my fingers just were not cooperating with the thread.

The cold weather gives me the urge to work with yarn, and this morning I went upstairs and found one of my drop spindles with fiber attached. I think I'll take time to practice spinning today. My goal is to perfect my drafting so that I can move on to my spinning wheel!

Daughter Alison really liked the waffle stitch afghans I made for the kids for Christmas, and she asked me to make one for her. She chose Lion Brand Mandala "Griffin" for her blanket. I do enjoy working the waffle stitch!

It's awfully dark in my corner of the living room since my Ottlite burned out. Luckily, the new bulb is supposed to arrive today. Since I couldn't see to tat, I worked on another 10 row pattern repeat of my shawl. This is also in Lion Brand Mandala. It will be interesting to see how large this will be with one ball. The color way is "Pegasus" and it's a ball that I bought on clearance for $3 at Walmart last year. I love a bargain!