April Tollway Tatters

 

We were a small group of four today, but we had great fun tatting and chatting! I managed to tat round 4 of Star of Bethlehem from Bonded with tatting - doilies by Laura Bziukiewicz. I've been looking at round 5, which is very detailed and very pretty. I look forward to starting on it tomorrow!

This afternoon, I worked on my spiral knit tube sock. I managed to finish it early this evening. It doesn't look like much on the footstool.

It looks much better on a foot!

These are way too thick for wearing with shoes, but they'll be great for wearing around the house on a cold winter night. The next sock is started, so I will have a complete pair soon!

The pattern for these worsted weight socks can be found here: http://www.appleleeffarm.com/PDFs/Patts/spiraltubesck.pdf

Progress

 

I added a couple of inches to my sock. It's now a little over 13" long, with about 3" to go before shaping the toe.

Most of my free time today was spent working on round 3 of Star of Bethlehem from Bonded with tatting - doilies by Laura Bziukiewicz. 

Tomorrow we will be having our Tollway Tatters Zoom meeting at 9 a.m. central time. My shuttles are loaded and ready for round 4 of Star of Bethlehem. It looks like an easy round, so I should be able to tat during our meeting. Sue posts the link to the Zoom meeting on our Facebook page. Join us if you can!

Slow crafting

 

I didn't get a whole lot done today. I did finish round 2 of Star of Bethlehem from Bonded with tatting - doilies by Laura Bziukiewicz.

My sock is now 11 1/2" long. It needs to be 16" before I start shaping the toe. Somehow, this is a much easier pattern to follow than it was 20 years ago!

A new routine

I've been trying to take time for knitting, tatting, and reading each day, and so far it's going well!

My spiral knit tube sock is coming along nicely. I'm really enjoying these Prym ergonomic knitting needles. It took me a little time to adjust to the length, but that really was not a big deal. I think it's the tips of the needles that I like the most. I haven't been splitting my stitches since switching to these needles. That's a big plus!

This morning I started on my fifth doily from Bonded with tatting - doilies by Laura Bziukiewicz. This one is called Star of Bethlehem, and I decided to tat it in white just like the picture in the book. The pattern has nine rounds, so I expect this one to take me a couple of weeks. If I could focus on one thing at a time, it wouldn't take nearly so long. However, my mind flits from one thing to another, so I always have multiple projects in progress!

Elizabeth

 

I finished Elizabeth from Bonded with tatting - doilies by Laura Bziukiewicz. I'm so happy with the way this one turned out!

A little bit of progress

The day got away from me again, but I did make a little bit of progress with both my socks and my doily.

 

I switched knitting needles for the socks. I had been watching an Arne & Carlos YouTube video in which they were knitting with Prym ergonomic needles. I went shopping online, and the needles arrived today. The center of each needle is triangular, and the tips have a slight bulb shape. I've only knit one round with them, but they seem pretty nice.

I had some time to work on Elizabeth from Bonded with tatting - doilies by Laura Bziukiewicz. I had to rewind both of my shuttles. For some reason, that seems to take forever!

Not much to blog about

This past week has been kind of busy, so I really haven't had anything to blog about. The little bit of time I did spend tatting and knitting didn't amount to anything worthy of pictures. I think I'd have had more done if I hadn't spent so much time watching YouTube videos. Most of the ones I watched were about things I will probably never try. There were links on the right side of the screen, and I allowed myself to get pulled into watching all sorts of craft videos.

 

The call of the knitting needles was strong this morning. I've been wanting to knit a pair of spiral tube socks for a while. They're a great way to get me back into sock knitting mode. Denise introduced me to this style of sock way back when. I think the last pair I knit was for my grandson Aidan's baby shower. He'll be 18 in June. I know I have that baby sock pattern tucked away somewhere, but for now I'm knitting an adult pair in worsted weight yarn. I know these will be too thick for me to wear with shoes, but they'll be great for sitting around the house on a cold winter night. I know. I know. It's spring here in Illinois, but if I don't start knitting them now, I won't have them for winter!

I'm getting so close to finishing Elizabeth from Bonded with tatting - doilies by Laura Bziukiewicz. This last round is beautiful, but I have to pay close attention. I don't want to make a mistake this close to the end!