Sunny yellow

I finished my sunny yellow Spinning Wheel! This is the other Fiore thread from Slovakia. Like the pink, it's very tightly twisted. Dropping the shuttle frequently and closing rings slowly really did make this a time-consuming tat. I tried using a larger picot size, and it did make a difference. I still had to carefully steam this, but not after every spoke as I have had to do other times. I may keep experimenting with picot sizes. You never know, I may find the perfect picot size for me! ;-)

Close to the end

Tonight was the preschool recognition ceremony. Tomorrow is the last day for the kids. Tuesday is teacher institute day. Yikes! The end is drawing near!

I'd better get crackin' if I'm going to finish this Spinning Wheel glass mat tomorrow. Where has the week gone?

Outside my comfort zone

This has been an unbelievable week so far! Last night was 8th grade promotion. In our school district, the administration leads the school board members, then the teachers, and then the students in to the gym for the ceremony.

The middle school teachers insisted that the elementary teachers lead using the logic that we taught the students first. Then they took it one step further and insisted that Robyn and I lead the teachers because we're both retiring this year. We didn't mind, but it was a little strange to be the leaders of the pack!

Needless to say, there wasn't much time for tatting yesterday, and I was too tired to post once I arrived home.

Today was very interesting and exciting!

Our 3rd and 5th graders had fund raising projects that have taken place over the past three weeks. The 3rd graders read a story about a girl who raised money for a goat for a family in Africa. The kids made signs advertising a lemonade stand and sold lemonade on two different occasions. Two weeks ago, they sold lemonade during the middle school and high school lunch hours and raised approximately $150. Today they sold lemonade to elementary students during the 5th grad carnival. Today they raised $221.50! Their goal was to be able to purchase one goat through Heifer International. They've far surpassed their goal, and tomorrow they will be deciding how they want to donate their money

The 5th graders have been collection cans, pop tops, selling raffle tickets, and conducted penny wars. I'm not exactly sure how penny wars works, but one of our 2nd grade teachers "won" and had to kiss a pig!

Pumpkin was dressed in school colors, and Miss Moranz came through kissing the pig in front of the whole school!

The raffle tickets sold were for throwing a pie in a teacher's face. Robyn and I found out that the drawing was rigged and that no matter what, the two of us were getting pied!

I hammed it up pretty good, showing off my plastic bag "dress" and shower cap.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but my plastic bag "dress" was filled with two cans of whipped cream. Mine was the last name drawn, and the kids really got in to cheering on the pie throwers!

The end result of all this fun was that the 5th graders raised $900 for a local cancer support group affiliated with St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital... pretty impressive for our little school!

I did find a little time to tat. I'm hoping to finish this Spinning Wheel by Friday!

The last week of school

I can't believe the last week of school is here! It will be a busy week with field days, reward movies, 5th grade carnival, 8th grade graduation, and preschool recognition. I know the week will fly by!

Despite all the activity, I am determined to find time to tat every day! I did make some progress on my Concentric Rectangles doily.

I also managed to tat a little bit on my newest Spinning Wheel.

I wonder if I really will have more time for tatting after next Tuesday? 

Back to the rectangle

I was able to get back to my Concentric Rectangles doily today, and I'm happy to say that I'm about halfway around the final row!

Another slow day for tatting

I meant to get a lot of tatting done, but it just didn't happen. Household chores took over my morning, and I spent most of the afternoon helping daughter Carol with her costume for The Little Mermaid. It's not finished, but we did get a good start on it.

The yellow Fiore thread was calling to me, so I decided to work with it before starting with my beautiful new Lilac Sea hand-dyed thread. This time I'm using the next larger picot gauge. I want to see how much of a difference the larger picot makes. Yes, I'm tatting another Spinning Wheel glass mat from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. I'm still keeping on track with tatting at least one per week in 2016!

Eliz and I have corresponded regarding the stiffness of the Concentric Rectangles doily. Is the stiffness from the thread, the tension of the double stitches, or the size of the picots? I want to try my next one with larger picots to see if it changes the look and feel. We don't know if we don't try, right?

High school graduation 2016

Tonight was high school graduation, the last one I will attend as a staff member. I thought I might be a little teary at this one, but I wasn't. It was great to see another group of students graduate, knowing that I met most of them when they were five years old. Congratulations class of 2016!

I asked another teacher to take a picture of daughter Carol and me in our master's gowns and hoods. Carol completed her master's degree in history last year. I completed my master's degree in education 13 years ago.

Since neither one of us could see our own back view, I had Katie take a picture of that as well!

I did achieve my goal of completing a Spinning Wheel glass mat by Friday! In case you didn't know, this is my favorite pattern from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior.

The thread is size 20 Fiore, manufactured in Slovakia. It's slightly heavier than size 20 Lizbeth. The thread has a nice firm finish, but it's not my favorite. The thread would twist up on me, so I had to drop my shuttle about every four double stitches to let it untwist. I also had to be careful closing rings. Closing it too swiftly caused the thread to twist up, making it difficult to close the ring.

Even though it's not my favorite thread, I would buy it in other colors if I could find it. I purchased this from DS9 Designs. There are only three balls left, one pink and two yellow. I may have to write to my son-in-law's father to see if he can find it other colors for me! ;-)

I did a little experimenting with picots for this Spinning Wheel. I've had this set of picot gauges for years. I like them because of the ring that holds them together... very convenient! I usually use the smallest size for my Spinning Wheel glass mats, but this time I decided to go up one size. I was pleased that the Spinning Wheel worked up a little flatter than normal. I think I might try going up one more size on my next one to see if that makes an even greater difference.

Some new threads arrived in the mail today, Lilac Sea hand-dyed thread from my friend Marilee aka Yarnplayer. I love this color combination!

Now the big question is, should I experiment with picots with this beautiful new hand-dyed thread, or should I use one that I have in greater quantity?