Today's project

Today's project was to empty the closet in my sewing room.

Mission accomplished!

Tomorrow I will wipe down the shelves and the walls. Then it will be ready for a fresh coat of paint!

Needless to say, I'm a bit worn out from all that work. Still, I managed to tat one Ice Drop today in size 20 Lizbeth #645, Grape Dk. The shuttle is from Banyek. I love tatting with pretty shuttles!

Seagreen Lt

I only had time to tat one Ice Drop today. I do love this color, size 20 Lizbeth #686 Seagreen Lt. I'm not fond of the seven points, but that's how this one worked out!

At Mom's suggestion, I've started an inventory of my books. For now, I'm sorting them and storing them in boxes. Once I've finished, I'll be ready to set up my craft space in a different part of the house. I'm having fun going through everything, and so far I've only found one duplicate book!

Green streak

It must be that Spring is in the air. I'm really attracted to green lately! Or, it could be that there's green wound on shuttles sitting on my table! For this Doodle Ice Drop I chose to use two shades of green. I know there are advocates of blipless joins, but I kind of like those little blips of color showing through.

I've been avoiding using this glass gem, because I didn't feel like tatting extra rings. How silly! I think the eight points look just fine.

I felt the urge to clean today. That urge doesn't hit very often. Don't get me wrong. I do keep up with regular chores, but today I tore apart two bathrooms and cleaned every nook and cranny. I have a love/hate relationship with cleaning bathrooms. I hate the chore, but I love the results. What's your least favorite but most satisfying chore?

Oh, my!

I have been very lax with blogging lately. I've been busy, in a relaxed sort of way. I get plenty done, but I'm working at a very slow pace. There's no need to rush, because I'm not going anywhere!

Jane Eborall has been busy translating and drawing A Bow called Medina. Last Thursday, Jane asked if anyone would be willing to test tat the pattern, and I volunteered. I was concerned about tatting the top part of the bow, but it turned out to be a pretty easy pattern to follow. The tails were another story! Again, the pattern is pretty easy to follow, but I made the mistake of having conversations with Dave while tatting. I found several mistakes as I was tatting, but once I was finished, I found even more!

Don't be put off by this pattern when Jane posts it. It really is enjoyable. The next time I tat it, I'll make sure Dave is outside working so that I can concentrate and not lose my place in the pattern!

While I thoroughly enjoyed testing the pattern for Jane, I felt the need to doodle with Ice Drops! This is the Doodle Ice Drop pattern with beads in place of picots.

Of course I then needed to tat another!

I've been managing to get my 10,000 steps in each day. I keep going outside for fresh air, so I'm probably missing phone calls. I'm not very good about checking to see if someone has called. I figure that if it's important, they will call back!

Think green!

Way back in the 60s, there was a call to Think Green! after a blizzard hit the Chicago area. I remember a picture of The Thinker in the newspaper with the words Think Green! emblazoned across the page. My sisters and I enjoyed the theme, because our last name was Green. My brother was too young to remember.

I've been thinking about green, because of the beautiful ball of thread sitting on the table next to my chair!

My day started with another Rock & Roll Ice Drop by Lynne Urwin. The design looks complex, but it's really fairly simple. Lynne has posted her pattern on the Ice Drop Addicts page on Facebook.

I flitted from one task to another today. I did some space measuring and planning, dreaming of ways to rearrange things in the house. I found that ideas came to me more easily while tatting. What can be easier than tatting a Doodle Ice Drop?

Why stop at one? I did enjoy my tatting time today, and while I like to think I accomplished a lot around the house, the truth is I didn't! Haha! I love fooling myself into thinking I'll get things done!

I did take time for another Puzzle Impossible. The 5x5 puzzle was a little more challenging than the 3x3, but it didn't really take me too long. I'll admit, I've spent quite a bit of time looking at jigsaw puzzles lately!

Long time, no blog!

I've been having way too much fun to play with technology. Yes, I've been taking a quick peek at blogs every day, and I've been checking emails, but I've been having so much fun playing with thread, there's been no time for blogging!

I've been spending a lot of time test tatting for Lynne Urwin, and enjoying every minute of it! This is Lorna's Wish, a design that looks fabulous with the outlining in a different color. This is Lynne's tatting, not mine!

My first attempt was in purple and green. I must have a different tension with my chains, because I had to increase the number of chain stitches to get everything to fit. Tension is everything!

My second attempt was in blue and green. I was able to use Lynne's stitch count, but I had to remove the bottom ring to make it work for me. I also decided to use Catherine Wheel joins on the outer rings for a smoother look. It's been a while since I've attempted the Catherine Wheel join, and I had to keep my YouTube video open for most of the last round. They're not perfect, but I had fun trying! I could not figure out how to use both the join and the picot on the rings to make it look right. I'm going to keep trying with this pattern, because I think it's so pretty!

I haven't been tatting the entire time. I took a break to work on my first Puzzle Impossible. I ordered all four sizes and started with the easiest. The next one is 25x25 pieces, then 7x7, and finally 12x12. I think these will be fun when grandchildren are visiting!

Doodle Ice Drops give me a mental break. I can pretty much tat them without thinking about what I'm doing!

The next pattern I tested for Lynne was Rock & Roll. Isn't it pretty? This one is wrong! I misread the directions, and this looks nothing like Lynne's pattern. With every ring and chain, I would look at Lynne's picture to try and figure out what I did wrong. I couldn't see it. I decided the best thing to do would be to start over. I was getting the same results.

Then I used a technique I used to do with crochet doily patterns. I read the pattern out loud and realized I had forgotten to reverse my work after the large ring.

Success! This is Lynne's Rock & Roll Ice Drop as she intended it! Well, sort of... I didn't start with the basic Ice Drop pattern as Lynne did, so there's a row of chains missing. When using the slightly larger glass gems, I use the one pass method. Now that I know what to do, I'm going to hunt for the right size gem and tat Lynne's pattern as written!

Testing, testing

As I was test tatting for Vicki Clarke, I realized that this would be a great project for practicing front side/back side tatting. I find the technique to be quite confusing, and I've never been able to complete any project properly.

I was quite pleased that I was able to finish this tatting project using front side/back side tatting... until I realized I had inserted my bottle cap the wrong way!

So, today it was back to the drawing board. I was very excited to finally complete a project using this technique!

Sorry... you'll have to wait for the big reveal from Vicki Clarke to find out what this project is. When it is revealed, I hope to see many versions posted online!

This morning I decided it was time to tackle one of the closets upstairs. I managed to sort through and clean out three big bins and pass some craft supplies on to my friend Lilly. She will choose what she would like to use and pass on the rest. I have no regrets. I enjoyed collecting all of the supplies once upon a time, and I had great aspirations for finishing way more projects than would be humanly possible. It's really kind of a relief to not feel obligated to try and finish those long forgotten projects!