Wednesday, March 13, 2024

So much happened

I went to a house party for a friend's birthday. We played games, talked, and ate. Lots of fun. This was off the back porch.
I made progress on the 2024 TTAL. I worked on it during the Fiber Fest demo, but I forgot a key thread and was stumped after February 29th.
I showed extraordinary control and only bought a few vintage buttons, a mini-loom, and a speedweave loom. Here's our table at the Carolina Fiber Fest (yes, I asked permission 1st)
The NC Museum of Art has a new exhibit, as of March 2nd, To Take Shape and Meaning, Form and Design in Contemporary American Indian Art. It is incredible. I went on opening day because they had artists there and one is a friend so I wanted to see her. I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of the dancers. These are just a sample of the exhibits; where all the artists are from, 2 pieces with information about the artist. The man standing next to the portrait is the artist.
Before going, I printed out directions, despite having driven by it several times, cause I am directionally challenged. And the directions sent me through a residential area, to a complete dead end. And it was a recent one, there were trees! Luckily, I do have a 'smart' phone and used GPS to get back on track.
There was also a pop-up market. I resisted temptation, mostly. I bought 1 small packet of tea. But I got her contact info, she's a local tea blender. And she has one that is no caffeine blend that smells, and tastes, like coffee.
I forgot about the outdoor exhibit spaces. I took a couple pictures of this one, a mirror spiral path/maze. It was after 4 pm when I stopped by so the light was incredible.
My favorite scarf, the one with 86" of tatted edging, got torn. I darned it, but didn't really like the darn so I covered it with tatting on both sides. Then I found another, larger tear. I've darned it, but I'm trying to decide if I'll do more tatting over it or something else (I do have that new mini loom).
I've started a patch, here it is, in case I like it. Now that it's in progress, I have my doubts. It's much denser than the scarf. It's size 10 crochet cotton and perle 5 cotton weft.
My scrap bag in progress (from Karey Solomon's Bring on the Buttons)

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Progress & Pins (February 18th-much delayed)

Someone (mentioning no names) can't find her straight pins (I'm from the US SE, 'pens' and 'pins' are homophones, so I have to distinguish between them), so she ordered some so she could block a tatting project. Except, she drastically underestimated how many she needed and had to go to the store to buy more. Mentioning no names. FYI, here's the project, mostly pinned.
2024 Temperature Tat A Long continues. I didn't get more than a couple days done on Saturday because the train was shakier than I expected (they were moving!) and I couldn't take care of the ends.
Here's the sashiko sample project I did in the class I took in Craft Habit. I haven't washed away the markings yet.
I am also making progress on the 1922 hat pattern (Needlework Magazine) that's the group project in The Online Tatting Class, founded by Georgia Setz.
And if anyone has a couple hundred dollars to spare, I'd love this dress (size 4x).

Monday, January 29, 2024

Quick post

3 rows of square tatted motifs, with partial of 4th row at top. Motifs alternate square set and on-point. They are two colors, inner and outer to show low temperature and high temperature. A stitch marker on the left one shows where next motif should go
Through January 24th
Square tatted motifs, 1st 2 set on square and subsequent rows alternate set square & on-point. Rows are 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, & 5 motifs wide. 1st motif is metallic thread. Other squares are 2 colors, inner & outer.
2024 TTAL through January 24

 I almost forgot. Tri-tatters met yesterday. Lovely meeting, not 100% successful for me. 

Got 1 day of my shawl done, then realized I had loaded the wrong color for the subsequent day. Worked on it t today. Still had issues, but progress was made.

square tatted motifs set alternating square and on-point. Most have 1 color in center and differnt outer round. Last one is all orange
2024 TTAL progress (Jan 25+)

Portion of temperature shawl, showing Jan 25 joined above Jan 24.
That is the wrong placement for Jan 25

Didn't have the loaded shuttles to work on Richard's helix bracelet.

Didn't have the pins to block the bun cover.

Suddenly realized I had joined in the wrong place of round 9 of the Handsome Hat. Have to retro-tat 9 chains and 9 lock joins.

Tried to make a pair of earrings. Last ring went cattywampus.

Did untangle size 80 thread barf.

13 balls of size 80 thread in various colors, each with a strand going to a mess of tangled thread in the center.
That center mess is thread barf (size 80)

13 incomplete balls of size 80 tatting thread, plus 1 sample, grouped
All untangled

Sunday, January 21, 2024

Special Project

I was asked to help with a special project at work, so less time for blog posts, etc.

I managed to catch up on the 2024 Temperature Tat Along but I have 1 project in progress and 3 more that I want to start. I am working on a bun cover like my 'oops, that's not a doily' in darker colors. I need to get a styrofoam ball to use to block it though.

18 square tatted motifs, after 1st metallic silver blue one, are set alternating square & on-point. Motifs have 2 colors, inner is low temp & outer is high temp.
up to January 17th temperature shawl

 I need to decide what threads I want to use for the marker motifs; January, February, etc. I did find some black filament to add if we get hit by a hurricane or similar horrible weather.

I also want to try the helix tatting bracelet (pattern by Richard Embrey). I need to load beads for it, though.

The online tatting class is working on an early 20th century hat pattern; translating the pattern and then tatting it. I have the 1st 11 or 12 rounds translated to modern but I haven't started it yet. 

Plus there, a chrysanthemum brooch pattern from the 1940s I want to do. I have the beads loaded for it but I haven't started it yet. 

It's been so cold. I've been wearing layers every day, plus wearing my warm boots most days.

Yesterday, I took a class on sashiko. We did a small piece in the shippo pattern. I finally understand how to do it. I have tried kits but I just couldn't comprehend them. The fault lies with me, not the kits I believe. 


I'm thinking of joining A Twisted Picot's Sashiko-a-long in February.

square of blue fabric with white overlapping circles embroidered on it
My first sashiko

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Guess who got sick?

 You've got 3 guesses & 1st 2 don't count.

It wasn't Covid (I tested) but it might have been RSVP. It definitely involved mucus and fever. For about 2 days I lived on water and intermittent peanut butter crackers (I couldn't manage more than 1 at a time). 

I did get some tatting done, before & after. I made snowflakes for several friends (from A Veritable Tatted Blizzard). I gave this year's State Fair Ornament entry to a pair of friends who will appreciate it. 

I'm glad I went to see my family before Christmas, so getting sick didn't ruin that at least. But my other plans, Christmas dinner with my partner's family, sewing, tatting, etc all got kiboshed. 

I was already scheduled to be off work so no need to notify anyone there.

At least I recovered enough that I was both feeling better and not contagious so I could maintain the Christmas/New Year tradition of the party with my friends from high school, plus additions.

I don't think I got many pictures of the snowflakes I made. I'll need to check. I have 3 at least. The picture with 2 flakes are the same pattern that I made a slight error on. But once is a mistake, repeat and it's a design element.

Tatted snowflake in 2 rounds. Central round is spoked with rings on the end. 2nd round has a 5 petal flower above the rings of the 1st round. 2 small rings joined to the flowers keep the 2nd round stable
Frosted Flower Snowflake

2 tatted snowflakes, identical except for length of chains in 2nd (outer) round.
1st flake in the book, done twice
  
We had a springlike thunderstorm on the 9th. Luckily, we didn't get hit by a tornado but some neighboring communities did.
Intersection with stoplight at night, focus is on water flowing down a sidewalk
We got some rain on Jan 9th
 


Knitted scarf in progress hanging from a knitting loom. Yarn color changes from greys to white as it descends. Bottom is rib knit, then seed stitch, and rest is modified garter stitch (rows are 2 knit 1 purl)
pocket scarf progress

2 dimensional squirrel doll with embroidered features (tail, acorn, face, limbs)
Kiriki Press kit squirrel

small tin of Danish butter cookies with gift tag made of white paper folded and top layer cut like a cut out snowflake
I'm proud of this tag on a coworker's cookies

I also joined a 2024 Temperature Tat A Long (this is as of January 9th)
10 square tatted motifs, alternating square set and on point. 1st motif is metallic silvery blue. Other motifs have 2 colors, inner for low temp of the day and outer for high temp of the day. 2 motifs have beads added.
2024 TTAL January 9th
The metallic is to start the year & remind me where the start is so I don't accidentally join to the wrong end. Beads are for >1/2" of rain. No snow/ice yet.


Thursday, December 07, 2023

It's Snowing!

 Sort of. I have tatted Harmony of Hearts snowflake from A Veritable Tatted Blizzard. Due to not reading ahead, I ended up with 2 variations of the same flake. I did make 1 change, I used a split chain to go from round 1 to round 2. Note: I started with 4 yards on each shuttle, then ran short of thread on shuttle 2 (lots of chains, no surprise), SLT and still ended up with over a yard of thread on shuttle1. Next iteration, I'm going to use 3 yards on shuttle 1 and 5 yards on shuttle 2.

I'm working on my Solar Flare in silver and round out of thread. This wouldn't be horrible, but there are beads involved. 

I did get my teacher application for Palmetto Tat Days submitted. I'm not 100% happy with the diagrams, though.

UNC winter blood drive was today. I successfully donated. Since I didn't manage to sign up for a volunteer shift I helped with set up last night. The person who usually helps set up the canteen wasn't available so we went off our best memories of the set up (folks who do usually work that station had a good idea how it's supposed to be). So once we were done, I took pictures so we'll have them next year. 

I lost Whamageddon, though.

I ordered maps for Rosemary. She had bought them but needed them printed out. And it's much easier and faster to get them printed on big paper by a print shop than print them on 8.5x11 and then tape them together.

Hanukkah starts at sunset. May your life be filled with light. Yes, I know what's happening in Gaza. What Hamas did was horrible. And Israel's leadership has done some US level horrific actions (Japanese internment camp and Native American Reservation level of horrible), so they don't have clean hands. It's too much to hope that children should be able to be safe, warm, and fed, I guess.

And the so-called Republican leadership in Congress is just embarrassing. They're so busy bickering and yelling things for the social media engagement that they aren't leading. Never mind paying attention to what would actually help their constituents and the nation, that never seems to cross their mind. The closest I've seen is an attitude of 'this is what I want so it must be what everyone wants.'

Oh if you want an idea about the reliability and/or bias of a news source, here's a handy dandy chart.

Thursday, November 30, 2023

Post Thanksgiving

 The train ride was lovely. Although there were 2 gents (I use the term loosely) who were apparently unacquainted with the existence of headphones. I mean, when the phone conversation directly in front of me is less intrusive than videos that are 3-4 seats away? Really?

Dad has some more of the pen rings for me, but couldn't find them. He'd also gotten me a six pack of Cheerwine zero 16 oz bottles, and some pistachio nuts. After I got home, I found the rings, under the bag of nuts. 

metal ring, from a ballpoint pen, in a clear plastic zipped bag

 C & I went to an outlet mall on Black Friday. Dangerous, we know. Neither one of us has been out shopping on Black Friday in 5-8 years. But he needed jeans and hey, the store was having a 50% off sale. 

I finished writing up the pattern for Solar Flare. I just need to submit it & my teacher application to Palmetto Tat Days by Friday.

Tatted 6 point star with raised center, single bead on each ring

 

Transferring photos to my new laptop. I have 81k pictures. I might need to cull some. Or at least organize them better.