No tatting so far but I plan to end 2010 with a shuttle in hand....or asleep. LOL!

I was up and off this morning to lunch with a friend in Greenfield. The drive is a little over an hour but rain was light and temperatures good. I actually didn't see rain again until I was on my way home and that was light and intermittent too.

I made a quick stop at the Zig Zag (Tatting) Corner and picked up these shuttles. I knew they had them but didn't want to pay shipping since I knew I'd be there at some point. I've had some unexpected prosperity in the past few days so I treated myself to TWO packs, some white DMC special cordonnet and a yard of fabric. The only thing that kept me from buying more was my lunch date with my friend, thankfully!

We had a great lunch at Applebee's and then visited a few "thrift" stores in the area. I love going to the first one especially. I ended up buying some very nice work clothes and a coat. Everything fits except the slacks which are the right size but have a fitted waist which I can never wear. But since I'm heading back to the gym and then a yoga class later in the month, I'm pretty sure I'll be wearing them soon. I really love the coat - long, wool and black with a Victorian style trim around the collar, a "galoon" as I've come to learn this type of trim is called. I have one long wool coat but this one is quite dressy which I needed. I also bought a shelf that will fit perfectly (already tested the space) between the vanity and the mirror in the bathroom. The vanity is on the small side and with my son living there, it's getting cluttered with his stuff and my stuff. This will help open up the sink top. Will probably involve some paint though. Automatically I started thinking of painting the whole bathroom. (Later.)

I got these spoons at the Goodwill there. I've wanted to paint on spoons for a long time and these are nice big bowls. Painting is not in my 2011 goals yet. I'll re-evaluate mid year and see if I can fit it in.

Speaking of goals...I asked readers what their goals were for the coming year. I actually meant stitching goals, which is only a part of our lives, right? It was interesting that most responses were about life in general. I personally decided not to go there (life goals), for this blog anyway. I can only focus on one area at a time!

So here are my stitching goals:

I decided to join the 25 motif challenge again. This time I will focus on vintage motifs, interpreting them and updating them in the process. There is a DMC publication I'm in love with and I think that is where I will start. Look for something this coming week.

I have 7 printouts sitting here by my computer and those are recent printouts!

I think I need a list and something to keep me on track. That's one reason I'm doing the 25 motif challenge again. I have a secondary goal in mind with the vintage motifs and the challenge will keep me on track.

So...deep breath...here goes

1. Finish the tatting and diagramming of Ruth Ann's Praying Cowboy.
2. Relearn the software for diagramming.
3. Review and diagram all my prior designs.
4. Polish up my bobbin lace skills. (already have plans to meet with a fellow lacer weekly for that precise reason.)
5. Make a plan to use dye in more productive manner.
6. Teach more this year.
7. Travel more.
8. Teach Irish Crochet with my local lace group.
9. Finish T.A.T. Master course IN 2011.
10. Finish Tatting Proficiency course with HLG.
11. More embroidery.
12. Follow through with designs that are on paper only.
13. Pursue exhibiting work in local galleries and gift shops.

Okay...that's a Baker's Dozen! General enough in many cases to accomplish to some degree but specific in a few to help me focus.

And of course, I'll be reading every one's blogs for inspiration and pleasure!

Wishing you all a prosperous, healthy and joyful year in 2011!

Last night was great! My family got together at a local pizza establishment and celebrated Familiness and Christmas and all things great and good.

So today was the first day that I had plenty of time to myself. I had to leave for some personal business late afternoon and then ran errands so didn't get home until 8:00 p.m. or so.

One of the projects I was working on today was this "sewing roll" which I saved some time ago from All People Quilt.com My ultimate purpose is not a sewing roll but this one might end up being that.

It's a practice piece and took me forever to figure out. A simple sewing project! I know some people think my directions are redundant and lengthy but I'd rather give too much information than not enough. It doesn't tell how to put all the pieces together. Step by step or at least a few layouts would have helped, but I did finally get it sorted out. Made up a bit on my own too. LOL! I don't know if it will have tatting on it or not. There are some applique flowers and embroidery involved. That threw me a bit too. Only because I didn't read the directions on the flowers all that well. So...it's a WIP.

Here's another project I've been working on periodically the past few days. Remember the single little square I posted about on Christmas Eve?

I'm fitting this to a rock and I SO HOPE it's not all in vain. There are so many ways to arrange a square......in a line like this, or as diamonds, point to point, as a single square made up of four square, and so on. I measured and timed myself this afternoon to get an idea of how much time I'm going to be investing in this. One square take about 1 1/2 yard of size 50 thread. I fine-tuned that this evening to 35 turns on the shuttle. It took me 22 minutes to tat but that didn't include filling the shuttle or sewing in the ends so it probably consumes about 30 minutes give or take.

I only do that with something I'm doing over and over (which isn't too often!) so that I can conserve on thread and plan my time better. I'm not going to show you how it fits on the rock yet. I keep changing my mind about where I'm going with it!

Thursday is a busy day planned. I'm taking the tree down, making trips to Goodwill, getting my hair cut, possible lunch with my sister, going TV shopping, and hopefully I will get to work a little of this in too! I'm also trying to put together a plan for what I want to accomplish in 2011 because it just feels so humongous making a "tatting bucket list". There are certain goals I definitely want to reach and the only way it will happen is with planning, planning, planning!

SO WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO IN THE NEW YEAR????????

Last night I tatted. I finally finished the hooded cowl in the late afternoon so the evening was mine for tatting. I found a pattern designed by JoAnn Stearnes for the Heartland Lace Guild. I can't pass on the pattern but you can always join the Heartland Lace Guild yourself and find it along with lots of other patterns, in tatting and bobbinlace and other laces. Membership is only $12/year so it's very affordable to support them.

Now I haven't tatted in a few days but it's not like you forget how after 12 or 13 years. For some reason, my tatting went hyperbolic on me. I was using Tatskool's Rainbow Bright HDT. Hmmmmmm....I haven't paid much attention to Cormac lately. Do you suppose.....?

Looks really sad, doesn't it, when you know it's supposed to lay down flat!

Water and lots of pins were in order.

There's Mr. Mischievous watching me and smirking.

Yes, you are smirking! I know a magic spell when I see one. No way could I have tatted that curlicue on my own!

Ah, but all's well that ends well, right? Sweet-Talk by Jo Ann Stearnes. I like the Rainbow Bright best on a black background. Those colors pop anyway but it really lives up to its name on black. I'll probably need to go around and even out those picots. Next time I'll use my crochet hook shaft to keep them even.

Well...another busy day ahead!

I was blog-surfing and from a link on Button Floozies, I found this sweet mitten tutorial at The Feathered Nest. Okay..it was her use of tatting that really caught my eye but I do think I'd like to make the mittens next year. This would be a great way to use the tatting I do at period events where the thread is white or ecru and I only tat the simplest of edgings so that I don't mess up too badly. But what do you do with those bits and bobs of "demo" tatting? Here's one solution. Go look at the tutorial though...she also adds aging (tea dye) and sparkles.

I've spent a good part of the day the last two days with family and when I was home, I was knitting. I'm almost done with the cowl and anxious to finish as I'm so bored with it. Knitting was one of the first needlecrafts I taught myself at age 12 or so. I get the hankering to do it now and then but I get bored with large projects and don't go back to it until the urge strikes me again. I really wanted to do something for my granddaughter but I guess it will wait until Spring now when the notion fires me up again.

So, tomorrow is slated for knitting and cleaning and scheduling the remainder of the week. I know it sounds like I'm always cleaning but I'm doing major organizing as I go along so this will likely go on for awhile. Some of it is a very slow process too, but I'm getting better at it.

I'll be very happy when the snow is gone too. It takes twice as long to do anything between bundling up, warming the car and carefully hauling things in and out.

I'm sure everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is happily sailing towards the new year!

Christmas Day!

It was a good evening, indeed!

I crocheted the white flower in size 50 DMC special cordonnet. I really liked the way the two flowers looked together so I went ahead and made it into a rock cozy.

I tatted around the crocheted flower for about three rounds but switched to crochet again at that point. It's easier to make the rounds smaller quickly with crochet than with tatting...and also much easier to tear it out when it doesn't work out! I had a couple of false starts before I figured it out.

I wasn't going to do the needle lace at the end but I couldn't help myself. Otherwise it seems there is a big blank space that somehow needs filling.

Here it is with the rest of the collection. The three newest will be finding new homes soon though.

I think the tatted square I made in the last post will look better on one of the flatter rocks I have. I've been pondering on the flat ones.

Christmas Day. I will be seeing some of my family later in the day and my middle son & I have already exchanged gifts. Our get-together is Tuesday night and it is the get-together, being with family, that means the most to me on Christmas. It's the time of year that we focus on the best in each other. It's not the only time in the year, of course, but it's the time when EVERYONE does at the same time. And it's one of the (becoming more and more) rare occasions when we can all get together.

I wish for everyone to put aside their differences this day and love each and every person around them to the fullest.

Christmas Eve!

I got up early (for a day off) and went into town to finish my Christmas shopping. It was pretty quiet around 9:00 a.m.!!!! I thought I was going to make two stops and head home. After the first one, I accomplished what I thought would take two stops, but lo and behold....I'd made six more stops before I got home! I didn't plan to get the car washed but that was on the way. The other stops were ...on the way....

So, I was home by 12:30 p.m. and caught up on my email and then planned to nap before finishing my gift wrapping. Right about then, my son got home from work. I haven't seen him a lot lately so figured I better get up if I wanted to catch up with him. It wasn't much later that HE was off to nap and I was wrapping gifts. I'm all done except for one I can't find that I bought in early July. It's amazing I even remember I bought it but it's for someone in particular and I specifically moved it to be with other gifts that I planned to give. I've looked through every box in that group and I don't know where it is. I also need to make a fabric gift bag for one that is too big for the small bags and too small for the big ones.

And that reminded me....what happened to that notion of sewing all my gift bags this year? Being green and thrifty and creative and all that? I mean I picked up some cool fabric just a few weeks ago for that very reason!

With the best of intentions.....there I go again. Well, there's always next year.

Last night I tatted this square motif from Easy Tatting by Rozella Linden (aka Ruth Perry). A larger version makes a snowflake and an even larger one makes a mat. Originally I was trying to make something small enough to go in some ornament frames. (Another project that is destined for "next year".) I don't think it's very Christmasy on its own though so it might go on the next rock cozy. My first scan showed a cat hair, plain as day. I don't typically have cat hair in my tatting but this year has been different. My kitties are getting old and don't groom themselves all that well. I'm sweeping every few days just to keep up with them.

Here's another notion for a rock cozy. Remember I said I had another little tatted rose (Jeanne Lugert earring pattern) but hadn't pulled the thread that makes it into a rose? I did that last night and the crocheted rose was just laying there on the table, begging for some company! Now the colors don't really complement each other but I'm off now to crochet a white rose for the tatted one. I'm not sure I'll use them together but I want to see what it looks like.

So with Santa's blessing, I think I'll be having a glass of wine along with a chocolate covered graham cookie and tat til I hear the clip-clop of reindeer feet upon the rooftop!

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!!!!

My place of work likes to claim that 30% of our salary is in benefits. I don't quite agree since most of those benefits are not something I have any reason to use. But I do like that we get 2 days off at Christmas and 2 days off for the New year. It just happens that this year, we get the 2 days BEFORE Christmas since it falls on Saturday so that means I'm off today. I'm also taking vacation for the 3 days in between holidays so I will be off 11 days in a row! Anyway, I was stressed earlier in the week as I learned that the appraisers needed to come out and take more photos. (I'm taking advantage of lower interest rates) That meant more last minute intense cleaning when I could have been finishing up my Christmas purchases and I didn't understand why they needed photos they had already taken. Well...just before leaving yesterday, I emailed to try to pin them down to a time and that's when I got the good news that they had everything they needed and wouldn't be coming out. Yay!


That means I slept in this morning and have been more or less relaxing all morning. I did put towels away and fed the cats but that's it. It's not noon yet. I'll move into gear after noon. Really, I will.

I decided last night to try a photo and see if the hooded cowl will look the way I think it will. Once it's washed and blocked, the edge won't curl but it fits around the face the way I thought it would. I'm a little over halfway now.

Last night I also crocheted a little Irish Rose. I'd been surfing recently and found myself inspired by Lily's Ms. Crochet. There was one flower in particular that I want to learn to do but .... wouldn't you know it....the Antique Pattern Library is in the process of moving to http://www.newmediaarts.org and isn't functional yet. I have several printouts already on Irish Crochet and even have a book somewhere that I'm not willing to hunt for this close to the holiday. So I guess it will wait until next week but in the meantime, I needed a little IC fix.

The scanner tends to flatten the motif and part of the charm of Irish Crochet is it's 3D character. So I tried photographing with the macro lens and it works okay but seems dark so I tried shining a flashlight and got this quirky kind of photo.

It's NOT NOON YET! I'm having fun. I intend to continue having fun. (smile)

You know how tatters like to bling their tatting shuttles, scissors, picot gauges, and just about every tool they own?

Twinkie Chan blings her crochet hooks! You can find the tutorial on A Beautiful Mess!

The size 14-16 crochet hooks I use in tatting are probably too skinny to take on bling but...hmmmmm...if I had one of those plastic "ergonomic" softies on the shaft, that could work! Not that I have any of those softies, but it's an idea!

Okay,okay....I'll go wrap some gifties!

Before I lay me down to sleep.....

Yes! Another one! I have one more to do before I move on to other stuff. This one is very small, maybe 2" at the most in length and 1" in width. The rose is from Jeanne Lugert's earring pattern from the online class. I needed something really small. It's tatted in some size 70 thread and turned out beautifully. I think I have another one started. Just need to thread and gather. The leaves were the tricky part and just something I made up for the crochet to attach to.

A little knitting here and there is adding up. I want it to be able to pull up and be a hood without leaving a gap where the neck is so I've got quite a ways to go yet.

I don't have the beads and ribbon garlands up yet. The tree tilted dangerously just as I got done with the ornaments and tried to adjust some branches in the back so it's propped and I'm waiting a bit to finish. I'm very fortunate that the cats never bother it. One of my son's cats tried to take off with a ball of thread the other night but only after it fell out of the basket it was in. They generally do not bother my tatting at all unless I would purposely tease them with a shuttle swaying or rolling a ball of thread but I don't tempt them because then I would have to get very stern with them and that wouldn't be fair. Besides, watching them chase the flashlight beam is so much more fun!

Off to bed now. It was snowing furiously when I came home and I expect it won't be very nice out in the morning.

Save The Date!

I had a lot of fun participating in the One World One Heart event last year. It's meant to be a way for bloggers to connect globally. This will be the final year so I absolutely want to be in it again.

I can't announce prizes until January 30th, 2011 so make sure you put it on your calendar and come back to see what you can win. Eazy-Peazy!

In the meantime, if you think you might want to be involved or you just want to know what it's all about, the link is in my sidebar.

I'm excited planning what I will give away!

I changed my mind about showing this. I am so pleased with how it turned out. The recipient has no idea that they are getting anything from me anyway. I'm also tickled because I found my box of rocks last night too! That means I can make MORE! Most of the rocks I had just sitting around were too big or too small.

This is the front. I didn't realize when I showed the last post that it already fit over the stone. I painted the stone in a clear glitter acrylic because the rock itself wasn't all that pretty. I tend to pick up my rocks when they are wet and the color and pattern always show up more, so by putting a coat of varnish or clear sealer on it, it has the same effect as when it is wet. Except for the glitter.

Anyway, every time I put a coat on, it took awhile to dry so I had to wait to test the crochet part on the rock. I was able to use a little needle lace here too, so the rock is actually covered in multimedia lace. Tatting, crochet and needle lace. I guess I should say multi-technique lace.

The tatting is done is size 50 DMC cordonnet special and the crochet part is done in size 20 Aida. The needle lace was also done with the Aida since it was simply a continuation of the same thread.

I thought as I finished tatting this motif that I had done it before. Now that it is blocked, it is not the one I was thinking of. Or maybe I did. Ooooooh...is it bad when you can't remember if you've tatted something before or not? I'm not crazy about it but it does make a nice bookmark, a bit more masculine than some and it would make a nice mat with several of the same joined together.

It's motif #11 in this book which is still available at The Tatting Corner for $8.00 plus shipping. You might find it elsewhere but I know it's here. It's an older publication so it's all text, no diagrams, and the photos are black and white. I like to dream that some day I'll have time to simplify the text into short form notation and diagram each pattern for myself. It's well worth it for the 47 patterns inside.

DREAMS are free.

Yay! My son is home and he read my mind...he's bringing up the tree parts and decorations!

The subzero temperatures and busy schedule at work are wearing me out. I didn't do much at all last night. I had just dozed off when I got a phone call but it was enough to refresh me. I ended up doing a little knitting, a little crocheting and a little tatting. Very little!

My son came home with his girlfriend so I spent a little time talking with her. I was about right here at the time and ended up stopping for the evening. It's a snowflake from Myra Piper's snowflake book. It seems like I've tatted every single snowflake in there but I haven't. I really don't remember doing this one before but if I did, it was a smaller thread. It was too much trouble to find a colored thread and beads to play with so I just tatted with white. I can't believe I'm doing that, but it will go in the dye pot. I think it will be quite awhile before we dye again but I'm still in the tat-with-white-or-ecru mode.

The rest of this post is about the buttons I ordered. These are from Gerry Krueger. I say "these" but this is the one I ordered and I didn't have time to scan it this morning so I'm using her etsy photo but I also received a hummingbird button and a smaller rose button just out of her lovely generosity!

I ended up with all these buttons after reading a post at Pat Winters' blog which featured a treaury and the buttons were part of it. I had a hard time narrowing down my choices!

Then the seller had a great sale going on AND free shipping so I bought even more! Embellished Life is the seller.

Etsy sellers are often very generous. It turned out that this set, the one I originally found on Pat's post, had to be remade unexpectedly. She did so and sent them out immediately. I can't wait to find a project for them!

Monday afternoon was spent hemming the sheers from my living room and then washing those and the drapes and rehanging them. I rehung a photo display on another wall and put a few pieces of furniture back in place. I also made some corn chowder for dinner. All that up and down the ladder and up and down the basement steps pretty much did me in.

Yesterday and today at work had me in and out and doing some spot inspections which involved more walking and stairs. Last night I went to bed early and I'm hoping to make it a few minutes early tonight too. Still no tree up. I refuse to haul all that up from the basement. I'll catch my son and have him do it!

So, I did do more knitting, even knitting during a staff meeting which was also our Christmas luncheon so I knew I'd be okay knitting there. I tatted the center of this motif one night before the big clean but just got around to hiding the ends tonight and started with the crochet. I'm still getting my needle stuff back in my "corner" which is a new side to the table too. Anyway, this is going to be a gift so you probably won't see the final bit until the recipient gets it. I'm sort of working it out as I go.

I've also been an online ordering fool this past week. I've ordered books and movies and shuttles and buttons.....getting a holly shuttle from Jane, Sally and 'im in the garage. Right before leaving work today, I ordered Yarnplayer's Layered Ring Christmas Tree pattern. I think more than any other Christmas symbol, I love tatting Christmas trees and I have no clue why!

Out of all the trees I've tatted though, I think these two are still my all-time favs!

This simple 1 ring and all chains pattern by Sue Fuller is SO EASY! At one point, I knew exactly how much thread to wind on the shuttle for the one ring and I even knew how much for the chains. When I traveled to Australia, I had cards wound with the exact amount of thread already loaded with beads. I gave them as gifts but it was so easy to make them and a delight every time because the beads always looked different and I'd use a different star for the topper.

At the other end of the "easy" spectrum is this delightful little tree brooch pattern by Sheridan Fernia, an Australian tatter. There are several bits to this tiny tree that only measures slightly over an inch. It's got all the glitter and glam and I think that's why I like it so much. I've only tatted one and it's in a frame with some other Christmas ornaments.

I'm so busy cleaning and sorting this year that I haven't done nearly as much tatting as normal. I need to get back to the cowboy scene by Ruth Adams too, but I haven't had time to get back to the diagram software either. Life is very very busy just now.

I am both relieved and irritated. I'm relieved because the carpet shampooing is done. I'm irritated because my scanner won't scan. It keeps telling me there are no scan options. It worked Friday, why not today? It will copy and print but it won't scan. I tried reinstalling but a message pops up and says my computer does not support this program. Whaaaaa?

So for now, I'm confined to digital photos.

The last segment! I'm taking a half day of vacation tomorrow to put things back and figure out the tree placement. It's not rocket science but I have to sort and rearrange some things too. Maybe wash the drapes.

Chewie checking out the new playground (she thinks!). Earlier, after I vacuumed but before I shampooed, I had a flashlight and was looking for needles and such. My son's two cats, Diogi and Dillon, thought I was flashing light beams just for them! Yeah, I had fun with it. Dillon especially doesn't move that fast more than once a day. You'd think an old cat wouldn't be enthralled by moving lights.

here's the lace bobbin I won yesterday. Carolyn had John Aebi make up some samples that we can offer at our Lace Day in April to celebrate Lafayette Lacers being 30 years old.

Well,actually, you have to order them ahead of time but we spoke for the ones we wanted. They are $20 each so keep that in mind next Spring. I don't know what kind of woods - only light and dark, that's all.

Here's what I won in our exchange! We do the kind where the gifts are anonomously wrapped and dropped in a box before coming in. Then we draw numbers (if participating) and take a numbered turn picking a gift. Three times. There was a purple package that kept being taken by whomever was up. LOL! And then in the same order, the gifts were unwrapped.

Mine was from Dagmar. She actually facilitated this class in tapestry crochet at our last meeting except we made tiny bags. Nope....didn't get mine done. She made these into potholders and I think they are delightfully colorful!

I took a tiny tatted piece in a framed ornament plus one of my RPL bells. Lace Knitter Kelli Slack ended up with it!. Kelli is one reason I've been feeling prompted to knit more lately. The cowl is now about 4 1/2" long and it supposed to be 8" but since I want it long enough to act as a hood too, I'll make it longer. Besides, I have several more skeins of that yarn. Might make mittens too!

I was surprised when I got home yesterday and found a Christmas card from Kelly Dunn. Well, not really because she has sent me Christmas cards before, but this one had a sweet kitty bookmark too!

Here's a better photo of the bookmark.

I didn't take part in any online exchanges this year because I wanted to play secret santa to some particular people. At the rate I'm going though, it may be NEXT Christmas before I get things done! The weather is crappy and I have time tonight but my stuff is also a bit helter-skelter so maybe I'll just knit. I'm tired of cleaning!

This isn't the only thing I'm doing but for the moment, it's consuming my attention. One thing I've discovered in all this cleaning is that I have a LOT of yarn. I can't tell you how many times I've culled and given BAGS of it away. You would think I'm a certified knitter...or crocheter.

The truth is, I'm a bonafide sucker for pretty fiber, be it yarn, thread, ribbon, fabric or animal hair. I see something pretty and my brain immediately imagines at least one thing I'm GOING TO MAKE! By the time I get home, I've already forgotten the exact inspired idea half the time, but there are always dozens of others to take its place. This yarn was originally meant to be something for my oldest granddaughter. Probably a sweater since I seem to have skeins and skeins of it. I do remember giving her a skein of it while teaching her to knit. I guess since I gave it to her to play with, the sweater idea was immediately discarded.

For a couple of years now, I've been wanting to make a cowl or a wimple or a neck-something-or-other. They look to be much faster to make than a shawl or sweater or cape, right? Quick and easy gifts too. So every time I see a skein of yarn to-die-for - I buy one skein. That's all it takes, I'm sure. Or mittens. I was making the foldover mittens for my grandkids one year. Big plans don't always match up with time and energy. I've got yarn for my youngest granddaughter too. I know from my other grandkids that it's not always a good idea to jump in there and make something. Sizes change. Color preferences change. Okay...she's too young to talk but mom might have some input there. And until I know for sure that I will have the time to start AND finish it, I don't want to start.

Now...I've been wanting to make one of these cowls for myself for ages. I started a different one as a gift last year and it's still in the beginning stage. I got stuck on something. I didn't really intend to knit this one right now. I was making a swatch and trying to figure out how to work the circular needles I have. I've used them before but it's been a long time. Way long. So once I figured everything out and I'm not going to tell you how many times I started over, I decided to go for it.

So far I have three inches done, plus another inch that was turned and knitted in with a picot edge. I've had to correct a few mistakes which I'm grateful to have found to begin with.

And now I feel a need to keep at it until it is DONE.

Even so, I took time out today to go to my lace guild's Christmas carry-in and exchange. It was a fun afternoon. I won a commemorative bobbin from Carolyn Regnier. Our lace day next April will also commemorate a 30 year anniversary. I got a set of lovely tapestry crochet potholders from Dagmar. She taught the tapestry crochet at our last guild meeting.

I'm too tired right now to get the bobbin and potholders to scan and add.

You see, I've spent a good part of the evening shampooing the living room carpet. Half of it. When it's dry, we'll move the furniture over and I'll shampoo the other half. THEN I can put my tree up!

I've decided this will be the last year I put up this big tree. I have more than enough ornaments but it's becoming more of a chore than fun to get it all out. I love Christmas trees so I don't want to give them up but it's time to go to something smaller and more manageable.

So..I'm waiting on the carpet to dry, hopefully enough to move the sofa out of the hallway, and I'll knit for awhile and then go to bed!

Future & Past.....

Lace Eyelashes

Okay, these were shown online a few years ago, but I wonder when these will be the next fad? Tatters Up! You could tat some lovely lace eyelashes and put them on the thin eyelash strips. Tat in size 80 and they will still be fairly light. Remember when I tatted eyelashes for a gold mask? And they aren't fancy at all - just very very long picots!


I wanted to show you the 1908 McCall's magazine that I bought last weekend at the same place I bought the shuttle I blogged about recently.

Here's the cover. The water damage does not look as dark as it does in the scan. Note the writing saying a Christmas Play is inside. Click on the image for a larger version.

This is the table of contents. Keep in mind that this is over 100 years old! The annual subscription rate was 50¢ per year. It mentions in the January preview of an article about the lace that will be in fashion. I would love to see it! Oh, and if you were writing to one of the editors/writers you needed to include a 2¢ stamp for a reply.

Here's an article about a popular hairstyle and it mentions teasing (or backcombing) the hair and the permanent wave created by a French stylist. I can't get over how much hair the model has! Mine won't even hold a velcro barrette!

Handmade gift ideas! I wish I could see that needlebook in the upper left a bit better. I am so tempted to try my own version of that one.

Much of the magazine had to do with McCall's patterns. I guess I was surprised to see what a wide range of patterns they carried a century ago.

This is a description of the patterns just shown. Read just how very elaborate these articles of clothing were! Tucks and braids and lace and buttons and pleats!

Just like today, the magazines were supported by advertisers. See the ad for suesine silk? Ten to twelve yards for a dress and the cost was 47 1/2¢ per yard! Okay, a yard may only be 22 inches wide, but wow! What a lot of fabric!

Look at how nifty the "modern" stove and gasoline lamp were!

Here's another stove and "alkali" must have been the buzz word then. I saw another ad mentioning their product did have not alkali or was made without alkali.

I hope you enjoyed these pages. I just love glimpses into the past.