I finished the second mitten tonight. Certainly not my best knitting job but it was a good warm up. I forgot I bought those round knitting looms last winter on clearance. I should give those a try for some hats. Mostly, I just want to use up this yarn rather than put it in "storage". I don't have to. I just want to. Once again, I'm beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed by what I want to get done.

I need to set up the display window at work this weekend - a holiday safety theme. I tried writing up some dialogue at work today...but I just can't quite get on paper what I sorta see in my head. It's not clear yet and that's why.

I did a little surfing today, trying to catch up with everyone. I found that Turkey Feathers is having a Scavenger Hunt to go with her Dollar Days on Etsy. Looks like a fun timewaster....not that I need anything to waste my time on!

One thing about this time of year is that there is so much inspiration that I feel like my head is going to explode. While I was waiting for my lunch today, I was jotting ideas down on a scrap of paper from my purse. I have a paper laying by my desk at work that I scribbled some ideas on the other day and I seem to remember writing something in a tablet here at home. Getting ideas is no problem...executing them is. There are people paid to think up designs. They don't even have to actually do them, they just come up with the idea or the sketch and someone else does the detail work. I want a job like that!!!!

I did get the gingerbread boy in the E-snips files. I have him on my yahoo group too, Tatting Goddess Updates, as well as some others in the file section. I tried to find my Southwest Butterfly to add and I can't seem to find it on the computer so it must be saved on a CD. I'll find it another time. I think I looked on the home computer but not the work one. Ha! Found it. I'll put it in before I go to bed.

I also changed the url for Irish Pam's blog on the sidebar. I had her personal blog listed there but her tatting blog has a different link. Not sure how that happened. I think I have some blogs to add - I'm usually in a hurry when I check my google alerts and don't check to see if I have them listed.

I found some pretties while shopping this evening but I can't show you because they might go to you or someone you know.

Tomorrow I tat at the Brew Pub from 10-1 for Dickens of a Christmas. I've mentioned it here before...just about every year, I think. LOL!

It's Here! It's Here! I absolutely adore this shuttle. Oak leaves and acorns have been a favorite motif of mine ever since I can remember. I put off bidding until late. Georgia did tell me there were more like this in the works, so if I didn't win it, I could try again. What if the next one has red leaves, or brown and purple leaves? sigh...temptation..and it came in this Christmasy tin to boot!

Thanks to everyone who commented on the butterfly bookmark. I agree - a ribbon would distract from the tatting. I'll try using it without anything for awhile. I can always add a tail or tassle later. This butterfly motif in this particular way has inspired me to try something else. At the moment, I'm knitting a second mitten so I want to get that done first....although I get bored doing the same thing too much.

HI AUNT MARY!!!!

My aunt who was visiting from Texas last week commented that I could say hi to her now and then from the blog. She's probably thinking....."I'd rather have that bookmark." LOL!

I started walking the treadmill again which I really needed to get back to, but it takes up so much time after walking an hour, showering, and then eating dinner that it shoots half my evening and then I don't have much time for tatting or anything. I'm skipping it tonight so I can get more done. I'm going to try to get my gingerbread boy pattern in the links in the sidebar. I had so much fun making him last year. Or was it the year before?

I was in Walmart the other day and found some buttons and ribbon that I'm anxious to play with but they aren't Christmasy so maybe I'll wait. Actually, I better get busy for some exchange deadlines coming up.

I finished the tatted part of the bookmark last night, staying up until nearly midnight because I just had one and a little bit more flutter motifs to go! You know how it is...just a teensy bit more and it should only take a few minutes. I was sweatin' it at the end because it looked like I was very close to running out of thread on the shuttle. So now....do I run a ribbon through it or do I put a tassel at one end? And if I use a ribbon, what color? If I put a tassel on, how am I going to position it? In between the "wings" or should I pull it through both loops over the wings? I know this looks extremely "Springy" when we're in the throes of Christmas tatting - or maybe you are, I'm not yet. I need to get this done and out of the way so I can move on to the traditional red, green, white, gold & silver.

When I returned back to work, I found this lovely wooden cabinet on my desk. A fellow who works in the department made it for me. I haven't decided yet what I will put in it. He made it for tatting supplies....and we all know I couldn't possibly fit a whole room into this little box but it might hold a few balls of thread, some beads and shuttles. OR...I could use it for jewelry. OR I could put my teas in there and my diffusers or bag holders. I'll move it around from place to place before I decide. Right now, it has one completed mitten next to it. Marj, one of the friends I stayed with in Florida, gave me a box of 8 different colored skeins of knitting worsted. I thought I could either give mittens and hats away to friends or to the homeless shelter. This one is big enough for a man. I used a bigger size needle and it worked out nicely. It's just a plain mitten - not the foldover fingerless type. I might do those later. I thought this would go a whole lot faster than it did!

Here's nosy Skunk....he had to check out what I was photographing. Of course, he gets right up in my face so it's nearly impossible to snap a picture of him unless it's his butt. I got the pic but he's almost got his eyes closed.

Here's a bookmark in progress using the butterfly edging in Mary Konior's A Pattern Book of Tatting, page 24. I love this edging and the thread tats up beautifully. I started it just to try out the thread and then decided I needed to actually do something with it. I don't really have anything to put it around and the colors don't match my furnishings so bookmark it is.


All I have to figure out now is which way to turn it. I think it would be better to turn it so the bottom of the wings are joined, because the picots are smaller there...but it looks like it might be more appealing if I turn it so the picots at the top of the butterfly are joining. I've scanned it turned each way but I still don't know. I want to tat a few more flutters before turning so I have time to think on it.

This is some old J&P Coates thread, size 70/80, in color 175.

I spent the day with friends in Brookston and took along some polymer clay for Paula and I to play with. I'd printed out a tutorial for a gargoyle and we had at it...even though neither of us has ever worked with this clay or had any tools...or even a sculpting background. LOL! We had such fun!

The very first face I made was just about perfect and then I squished something and started all over....about a dozen times. I still don't like this face but I got tired of doing it over. Then I really messed up with the hands and feet and it looked more like an animal crouching....so I added a tail. I didn't have my camera with me so I couldn't get Paula's photographed. I thought we did pretty good for pure amateurs!

I made a few beads too, with texture, just to see how they would turn out. My camera does not photograph this well at all. Ah...I switched to "superfine" and it photographed beautifully except I've put polish on the bugger and he really looks gross now.

These are hankies Paula gave me. One has a bobbin lace edging which I come across even more rarely than tatted edgings. One has cutwork and embroidery and two have embroidery in the corners. Thanks Paula!

I got further on the mitten - almost ready to shape the top. I really need to use up some craft supplies. It's ridiculously cluttered around here!

Look at this adorable Bug Knit! They are knitted by Althea Crome Merback, who is in, of all places, Bloomington Indiana! That's worth a day trip in itself! Wait til you see the photo of 5 teensy knits lined up on her finger! Nano-knitting! You can also buy patterns and needles from her. Can you tell I love miniatures? LOL!

Knitting Pattern Central
http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/mittens_gloves.php Last winter I suddenly started knitting foldover fingerless mittens. Only got one pair done. The wife of one couple I stayed with last week gave me a box of yarn, 8 different skeins of knitting worsted. Perfect for hats and mittens, I think. So this evening, in the mood to maybe knit up a pair of mittens or a hat, do you think I could find a pattern I already printed out? Nope, but I did find nearly a dozen tatting books that can't fit on my shelf...and that's why they were somewhere else. Not a good feeling.

So anyway, I goggled mittens. I tried fingerless mittens but those have no flap at all and I couldn't remember what the foldover flap type is called but I had a hard time finding a pattern last winter. I decided to try the link at Knitting Pattern Central and there are TONS of mitten and glove patterns. I found four versions of the kind I'm looking for and I didn't even click on every link. So if you're looking for a quick knit gift....try there.


On my search, I stumbled upon The Island of Misfit Patterns which I found amusing....with a few usable patterns to boot. And here's another cool one - Vintage Stitchorama! Well,actually, she seems to have several blogs....a bit on the dark side if you like dark humor. Look at this fabulous crocheted choker! I'm thinking a tatted version wouldn't be hard to come up with.


Owl pendant Another creative idea.

It's hard to believe but I haven't gotten back to tatting yet. I've spent this whole week knitting the wrist of ONE mitten. LOL! Actually, I had one mitten almost done and wasn't happy with it so I ripped it out. Red yarn is so thick it doesn't work up as nicely as the other colors sometimes so I switched to another skein and another pattern. I really need to be working on Christmas stuff but here I am, procrastinating. I think I just needed a break.

A good part of is this post was actually 2 others I had in drafts. We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner today. A wonderful dinner truly! All my kids and grandkids and my sister and her family. And some extended family. Tomorrow I visit my friend in Brookston and have dinner with her and her family. Saturday I will connect with a visiting aunt and uncle from TX. I have no idea when I might get anything else done, like putting away stuff from my trip and putting up my tree or even cleaning house so I'll have room for my tree. I could use a vacation. LOL!

Hey, I'm back! What is it about vacation that drives us to make really bad...BAD..purchases? Like this red alligator/brocade bag? I got it specifically to put my tatting in...and methinks me won't be leaving it behind anywhere, try as I might. LOL! It also had a neck pillow and some lotions that I gave to my cousin. I do like all the pockets and the long strap and the little container for my shuttles but wow! Seems kinda ....red...ya know?

And of course, I had to make the requisite tea-for-one purchase! I didn't take it out of the box yet, but it will go well with my winter collection of tea-for-ones.....not quite as pretty as some I have but it's whimsical. Okay? LOL! I have my whimsical moments.

My cousin and I went to a "thrift store" in Ocala and the proprietor wanted to sell me this big storage cube of yarn and thread for $10. Some lady died and this was her stuff...she was so irreverent. Anyway, I looked in it and found this shuttle. The thread was mostly Knit-Cro-Sheen and other stuff not good for tatting. The ends on the shuttle don't meet on one side. So I offered her $5 and told her the thread wasn't any good and the yarn wasn't much use either. And it wasn't....I really paid her too much for what I got. I gave most of the thread and yarn to my cousin, keeping a few skeins of this one cotton thread that I hope to play with in color-dying. The thread on the shuttle is rotten. Most of my rings broke on closing. But it was fun to play with for awhile. I'll test the skeins before I go to the trouble of dying them.

In yet another store, I found a bag of some thread (Sherry T - you got your wish) and some hankies with the perfect edges for tatting. They are kinda brown though...so hope a good soaking takes care of that. I bought a few other things from that lady and didn't pay even $2.00. She was just wanting to get rid of stuff and I forgot she had a sign saying 75% off.

I think this is the least I have ever tatted for years now. These are just some bits and pieces to empty shuttles or floss holders. The only time I had to tat was when I was in my hotel rooms and most of the time I was staying with someone and we were BUSY so I didn't tat.

These two motifs were tatted just last night. I stopped in Franklin, TN after driving through some really bad storms. As it turned out, there were tornado warnings in the area so it was a good thing I gave up. I still had 5 hours driving ahead of me and it was dark.

The shuttle shaped motif is from Vida Sunderman. This is thread I dyed several years ago...forgot I even had it in this bag, but it's much smaller than the thread Vida used in the pattern. It's meant to be framed. I just left it in a book since last night so it's not really blocked to shape, but you can see how it tends to an odd shape.

The other motif is a snowflake from Jan Stawasz' book, one of my favorites, but I made the picots too big for this size thread. I thought it was going to cup but they just kind of warp instead. Mostly, I wanted to see how the shape worked with this size thread.

I did get something accomplished! The curds & whey edging from Mary Konior is part of the T.A.T. course for attaching to hankies. I thought I had that part done but not attached. First of all, I hadn't tatted enough repeats and secondly, something was wrong...haven't figured it out yet, but something didn't look right, so I just made a new one. Also, the motif that goes in the hanky corner was wrong too. It's good to lay that stuff down and look at it again later. I'm anxious now to get this part done and send it off at the beginning of the year for evaluation.

While in Florida, besides visiting my cousin with her 10 Rottwielers and 1 white wolf pup, I also visited with some friends from another list who attended an Abe-Hicks workshop with me. We went to Fort DeSoto, Phillipe Park, Coney Island, and The Pier. Then I visited an aunt in Sarasota that I haven't seen for a few years and finally...another friend, Sheila, from yet another list, who lives in Tampa. I got to leave a day or so early - which is good....I really needed another day free before returning to work. Turns out I have a tree laying on the power lines to my house. Still have power, but not a good thing to be laying around like that.

Doing laundry now and putting stuff away. Catching up on email and blogs next!

Vacation!

I'm off to Florida in a few hours. It's been so hectic trying to get everything done at work that I stayed way late Thursday and Friday to have all the paperwork done. Yesterday was spent catching up at home, running errands, and packing.

For those who worry about me driving alone, I've found that I pay closer attention when I'm alone than when I have a passenger, and I stop a lot, A LOT - about every hour to 1 1/2 hours, and I take my time. First stop is my cousin in Ocala. Well...actually, I'll stay at a hotel on the way. I'm not a drive-all-night person.

I have a suitcase packed with my tatting. Yep, a suitcase - and there's still another bag. LOL! I'm only taking a few books. If I work on anything, it will be the T.A.T. binder, but I also wanted to play with my beads and there's a nice bunch of those with me. The hard part was picking which threads to take with me. I took some for the T.A.T.....just remembered...I need size 10 in one project and I didn't pack it yet! And then I packed several specialty threads - the ones from King Tut or embroidery threads that I add a filament to, Marilee's thread, and a few other unusual ones. I'll make small motifs with them to see how they work up.

So posting here will likely be very sporadic, but I do know I'll have computer access...I'll mostly check email and let the rest go.

Look at what my sister got for me from Half-Price Bookstore! I don't have any of these Rosemarie Peel books. I know the Tat Five is out of print. These are in perfect condition, look and feel like brand new!



And this one too! Not so new looking but very close and certainly not one I even knew existed. I don't understand the language but there are diagrams with numbers.


This is the UFO I picked up the other night and started working on again. As I looked at the scan, I got to thinking that it would look nice appliqued as a flower on somthing but I would have to make some leaves too...lavendar leaves? LOL!



These are even more blossoms. I know I had planned to put three of them on a hat and I was going to somehow join the purl tatting of all three in rows to make the hatband wider.

Ah well...the best of intentions!