Last night I was going through some old I.O.L.I. (International Old Lacers Inc.) newsletters (The Bulletin) and decided to tat a heart bookmark in the Summer 96-97 issue. It's designed by Ronna Robertson who was a member of I.O.L.I. chapter Appaloosa Lace Guild. (and current Treasurer for I.O.L.I.!)

If you saw how slick the current publications are compared to the old ones, you would be amazed. So I really wasn't all that upset with the errors in the pattern. It is all text with a photograph. It starts off with a clover which automatically tells you it probably has 3 picots (as does the photo) but the instructions left a picot and 4 ds out of the first ring! There were a few other typo errors and I ended up tatting one near the end which I didn't see until I had it finished. Even so, it's a lovely bookmark and very easy to tat. The thread is some I dyed and is probably the mystery size 30 3 ply cotton as it was a tad bit fuzzy.

This issue has an article about tatting with beads by Judy Banashek and includes a split ring beaded bracelet pattern by her. Bobbie Demmer also wrote a column about beads and tatting and there was a snowflake pattern by Patti Duff. There was a poinsettia bookmark pattern by Sue Lantzer. This is in addition to several bobbinlace and needlelace articles and patterns. I believe the annual membership to I.O.L.I. is around $30 unless it went up a bit and I know it's a little more for overseas but it's a wonderful organization. They have a fabulous library (which is administrated by Cathy Kozlowski, a member of my lace guild) for members who can borrow books on any kind of lace for up to three weeks. Many many many of our tatting designers have donated a copy of their books to the library so this is a great way to look them over if you are undecided about purchasing them. They also have a lending library of videos and DVD's that can be borrowed through a different process and administrator. There is a deposit involved which is returned when the audio materials are returned. Mark Myers, our favorite Tatman, is the website manager. The membership directory can help you find other lacemakers in your area or an area you are traveling to.

Well, this wasn't intended to be a promotion for I.O.L.I. but I do think it is a worthy organization and often wish I had the time and energy to be more involved in it. If you have the opportunity to look through some older Bulletins or even current issues, I urge you to do so! You might decide to join yourself or get your lace group chartered through them.

I'm working on the butterfly body bookmark again tonight. This one will probably end up being a bracelet but the directions are the same so it's a way to double check my revisions. I also installed my new Serif drawing software today but I don't expect to actually get into using it for awhile yet. I've arranged several vacation days to give me 4 day weekends and it will be one of those weekends that I'll devote to learning the system and then diagramming all my designs. I've found a website to host pdf files and intend to eventually move my updated patterns there. I find E-Snips hard to use and lacking in many areas but until I can update my patterns, I'll leave them there.

Wow...11:30 p.m. already! I took a very long nap this afternoon so I'm bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the moment!