I finally found a reason to FOLLOW! See, to me it is redundant to follow someone I've got in my links. I have my dashboard and this blog and another up most of the day and all the links are specified to show most recently updated first. But what about blogs I enjoy that don't fall into any of the categories I've got my links listed under? Normally, I just save them to my favorites but my favs at home are not necessarily the same ones at work, which doesn't really matter because I hardly ever think to look for them since most of what I follow regularly are accessible to me from my blogs. So tonight I stumbled across one that made me giggle, made me think, and had some crafty stuff that I'm not likely to do myself any time soon. I'd like to come back and visit, but how do I keep it handy? Ah!!!! FOLLOW IT!!!!

I did tat yesterday. I was working on my secret valentine but I kept getting frustrated at one part of the project so I decided it was time to switch to something else. I chose Karey's Rays of Love from the latest issue of Tatting Times which I also turned into the usual bookmark. I did have to get a correction from Karey so if you're tatting it and ran into a problem, just email Karey.
I forgot I have thread cut for a tassel until after I scanned it. I thought I had it blocked nicely but that left side is looking wonky right now. These are the threads I used - the multicolor is Coates Machine Quilting thread ....hmmmm...color number must have been on the opposite end label which is gone, and the solid is Coates Dual Duty Plus Art.200 R C 315A, 37% cotton and 63% polyester. The other thread is mercerized cotton. Even with both threads together, it wasn't bigger than size 40.

This is a Susan Fuller pattern called Puppy Love from her book, A Potpourri of Patterns, no longer in print. I've done this pattern several times but it's been awhile and I made several mistakes. I counted my beads twice but still came up one short so I compensated. I made my joining picots way too long for joins - don't know what I was thinking of! I was tatting this mostly to get a feel for how these 2 threads work together. The Sulky is a metallic, not generally good to use alone. The other thread is Coates again (wow - I must hang out in the sewing section a lot!) which is 100% Rayon. I didn't know if these two would be strong enough together to tat without breaking. They never did break and sometimes the rings required an extra tug to close so I guess they're okay together. It does tend to kink if you're not careful, but it's very pretty with beads. Both have a shine but a different kind of shine. Sort of a sheen and a sparkle combination. LOL!

I'm also in a really good mood because my boss told me that I can easily do some of the work I've proposed to do while limited to desk work at home, which will allow me to prop my foot up on a more regular basis. I can prop it up now, but it's not comfortable for long so I'm always moving. He had a broken leg a few years ago, much more severely, so he's quite open to whatever it takes to help me out.

Later - with tassle (or is it tassel?) This thread makes a beautiful tassel. Spellcheck says "tassel" but I've seen it both ways. A search on wikipedia of tassle redirects you to tassel. I can't find the book I have on making them but I thought it was spelled "le".