Palmetto's .....Day 1

I got to Columbia University very early, around 9:00 a.m. I stayed in a motel about 5-6 miles away and wanted to make sure I gave myself plenty of time to get there before I needed to turn in my competition items at 10:00. It wasn't hard to find but the signs weren't up yet telling me what building to register in and where the classes were. A very kind lady at the first building I came to showed me the direction I needed to go in and gave me a map, also telling me I could go ahead and register. They decided to go with it earlier than stated on the website.

I registered for my dorm room and hauled my luggage in. Then I popped over to the building where I turned my competition stuff in. Then I went to the vendor room! heheheheh.........they were still putting stuff out but I found a good lot to spend money on right away. I also found Hope in this room and we chatted a bit about her train ride up and what had been going on in her life. Then I went back to my room and unpacked a bit, at least organizing my stuff somewhat. I'd made up baggies the night before I left and put supplies for each class in a separate baggie. That was about as prepared as I could get.

Next thing I knew, it was lunchtime! Frankly, all this is kind of mush in my head now. The food was delicious and the time was filled with delightful hellos and putting names with faces and much laughter and hugs. I think I went back to my room at some point and made up the bed. Went back to the vendor room and bought more.


About 4:30 p.m., we had fun and games in the basement. One game was a round-robin motif. I wasn't there at the beginning so I missed how they divided people up and explained what to do.

I'm not sure how many of the tatters in this group were doing the motif but Karey Solomon has it in hand.


This game partnered a new tatter with an experienced tatter and one person worked the shuttle while the other held the ring thread and between the two each using only one hand, they were to tat a hen-and-chicks pattern. I do not remember the names of the ladies Carol and I partnered with, but Carol Rasor and her partner are on the left and this is how it was supposed to be done! My partner and I kept sticking an extra hand in there and because I didn't think we would get very far, I didn't wind the shuttle with very much thread. We ran out of thread before we ran out of time. Both our partners were needle tatters so it was definitely a challenge to get coordinated! Carol (on the right) and her partner won 3rd place though.

The third game was the tat-off and I didn't get any photos of that but they put the chairs in an outward facing circle so that no one would be right in sight of speedtatter Mark Myers and feel intimidated. LOL! Yes, Mark won, even though I believe someone sat directly in front of him in an effort to intimidate him.

I don't want to post too many photos in each entry so I'll leave the banguet for the next post but I did want to show the tatted bag I received from Sherry Townsend, CelticDreamWeaver. We planned to exchange tatted bags when we got there, just for fun. This is the lovely beaded bag I got from Sherry along with a little striver that was attached to it. Not only that, Sherry also gave me a lace bobbin that she attached my tatted name on and signed. These are just too gorgeous! They need to adorn something.........like me! LOL!