New Old Shuttle

Today I demonstrated tatting for Dickens of a Christmas, an annual event downtown which uses a Dickens theme, the time period, as the focus. There are carolers walking around singing, carriage rides, everyone is dressed in clothing of the era, and I think there was even a production of A Christmas Carol going on but I didn't check it out.

So I try to dress at least a little bit like the Victorians and this time I wore my usual long black skirt but I don't know where my white Victorian blouse is and I suspect it's a bit snug so I wore a long sleeved black sweater and a very lacy black shawl. I couldn't fit Carol's shawl pin in it - the holes were a bit too loose and it was polyester, not real yarn, but I wore a purple rhinestone necklace and some crystal drop earrings. And snow boots - it was snowing like crazy when I went in. For this event, I often use my metal engraved shuttles or a pretty wooden one, but this time I decided to use this very small metal filigree shuttle I bought from Purse Paradise once upon a time. It was even still in the bag!

It's a small short shuttle but the post depth is tall compared to many shuttles. I love the look of it but like all metal shuttles, it slips out of my hand all the time. I just can't get and maintain a good grip on them so it's in my collection to look at. I'm glad I tried it out though.

We were demonstrating at Lafayette Brewing Company, an eating establishment that brews its own beer. They always have a Christmas Ale and it's different every year. This one had a vanilla flavor and smell to it. I only had a small glass but it was very good.

Yesterday I drove with my daughter to pick up her grandmother (paternal) from Rockford, IL where she was visiting a friend the past few weeks. On the way, we stopped at St. Joseph, IL primarily to find a restroom, something to drink, and lunch as it turned out. We saw a sign that said "Antiques" on the exit ramp so of course, we turned in that direction. heheheheheh.....it was just a little way down the road. Actually, there were two places close to each other but one had the gate locked so we went into the one that was open, just to stretch our legs, you know. Well, the storefront was deceiving. We thought it was little....it was HUGE. We kept wandering back further and further. The place was clean, well lit, and everything was wonderfully displayed plus the prices were awesome. Very reasonable, not atrociously high. I ended up buying one vintage crochet magazine that had some tatting in it. And a tea towel. And a pomadour. But I kept myself in check. After all, we had to include another person and her luggage for the return trip. Can't imagine strapping grandma to the hood for the ride home!

When we finally left, the gate to the other place was open. Well....might want to come back some time so I really needed to at least peek inside to see if it was worth it. We stepped in the door and were immediately greeted by a gentleman rattling off the sale information. The place was packed and the aisles so narrow I was afraid of knocking stuff off!

We were actually only a few feet in when my daughter spied a glass dish holding shuttles on the OPPOSITE side of a glass encased display. There were all kinds of sewing and stitching bits in there! So we asked the fella to unlock it and I poked through the shuttles while my daughter checked out crochet hooks, scissors and stuff she she was curious about. Most of the shuttles were the typical ivory colored ones that I already have many of. There was a pumpkin seed one, also ivory colored and very flimsy feeling. Another smaller pumpkin seed model but the tips were broken off. Several of the black celluoid and a few bone ones. There was another dish of all metal shuttles but nothing that I didn't already have. The prices were quite steep compared to the place before, but anything under $50 was 50% off so I ended up getting this one for $11.00. This is not your typical ivory colored shuttle.

It's a bobbin shuttle, not post. The ends are pinned together and it has a bobbin of the same color and material of the shuttle which pops out. It had this very big yellow cord in it, not a lot, but I noticed the bobbin was still a snug fit and didn't spin easily when I tugged on the cord.

I was delighted to add this to my collection! It's a bit dirty inside so I'll need to clean it up, but I haven't seen anything out of this material before. I'm happy!

I took pics of some lovely tatting and embroidery on my cell phone but can't get it to send to my email. It keeps saying it was refused so I'll probably have to contact AT&T if it continues to find out why. One thing I noticed - lots more tatting and tatting supplies at both these places than I ever find in Indiana.

Well, I'm feeling tatting-deprived again, in spite of the tatting I did this morning. I only do very simple edgings at these events so that I don't mess up but I'm needing a bit more of a challenge now.