NCRL meeting

 Saturday was the NCRL meeting. We are aiming for 300 goodie bags and several people are making things. So some people spent time prepping some materials. I turned in my stitched hedgehog, snap bag, and tatted motifs. 

 

I helped with the prep, then worked on my Morse code edging.

 

This is the meeting goodie bag (1st 20 to register get one) contents.

 Mom needs to move. Her physical requirements are above what her current facility can handle. So I am going to tour a place on Thursday. 

Yesterday was May the 4th. A silly holiday, but it's a good time to remember Carry Fisher's lessons.

It's been a month plus?!

 

I finished my 1^st draft of my Morse code edging. I used single picots for dot and double picots for dash. I’m not that happy with it. It seems visually noisy.

There are other options. I could do SCMR (self closing mock rings) and so single picot for dot & Josephine knot for dash.

I could use a picot for dot & bead for dash. Or bead for dot and 2 beads (1 up and 1 down) for dash. I could even try, although I’m not likely to, using seed beads and bugles beads for dots and dashes.

I finally finished a bear from Loomahats book with tiny loom knit bears (look up title). I wanted to use up some yarn left from another project but there wasn’t very much. The bear body took most of it, but I wasn’t sure there was enough for the limbs, so I used leftover coordinating yarn for limbs, ears, and snout. Plus a 3^rd yarn for the headband. I think I will also add tatted flowers to the headband. I wish I had thought of that before I sewed the headband to the bear.

There’s a peanut butter snack ball recipe I’ve had for over a month. I finally picked up the last two ingredients. There’s an optional 3^rd ingredient I don’t have, but it’s optional. And kind of expensive for the amount I need for the recipe.

Spring has sprung, in all of its pollinated glory. At least the flowers are pretty.

My friend with the mid-March birthday celebrated late this year. He rents a picnic pavilion at a park, as his house isn’t really big enough for all the guests. He makes it a cookout and provides the charcoal and everyone brings good. C made burgers and my favorite fruit dessert. C takes raspberries and blackberries, muddles some with honey and lime; he added fresh rosemary this time. Then mixes crème fresh with mascarpone, honey, and lime. Layers the fresh berries with the muddled berries, then covers the whole with the crème fresh/mascarpone frosting-like. The berries are quite tart and the frosting is creamy and they work together so well. Sorry, I don’t have pictures because I forgot.

March 29^th, Tri-Tatters did our demonstration on the Matriarchs of Mordecai day. There was a lecture in the visitor center, so we were on the porch of the big house, aka the yellow house. If you look carefully, you can see the shadows of the display in the pollen on the tablecloth.

 

And footprints in the pollen on the porch (oooh, alliteration).

 

At the Carolina Fiber Fest I talked to a woman who concentrates on linen and cotton. She recommended I use 100% cotton thread to sew my linen edging to my linen hankie, since I am highly unlikely to find linen sewing thread.

If Michaels has 100% cotton thread, I didn’t see it. And of course, the thread rack at Joanne’s is denuded. I emailed one online company because I wasn’t sure which of 3 colors would work best, and you can’t really trust what you see on a computer screen. They were not helpful, ‘whichever one you think is closest.’ I understand them not wanting to take a chance since I asked for ‘closest to unbleached linen,’ but still. I’d rather have a ‘we do not have enough information to give you a reliable recommendation’ than telling me to trust my video card. The whole [gold and white/blue and black dressfiasco] proves that you still can’t trust video cards (although one article I read blamed other factors like people perceiving the color difference due to whether they think it’s in shadow or not and in artificial or natural light). 

I volunteered to make motifs for pin cushion/needle something for part of NCRL’s provided goodie bags to next year’s IOLI. I plan to make 25 and I made 14 in less than a week. I need to have them done by May 3^rd, the NCRL Spring Lace Day. Sumiko is doing the sewing and she needs to have them on hand. 

 

I also need to recover my headphones. They are very expensive ones that I got secondhand for a really good price. Alas, the cover has split on one ear and I need to cover it before it gets worse. And if I’m covering one, I should cover the other. I have some nice, soft knit to use; black with white print.

I got the knit to make shorts or leggings but I’ve been using it to patch stretch jeans, etc. Both because a stretchy patch is better for a stretchy garment and because knits don’t need to be hemmed.

If you’re wondering why this post is so long, there are 2 reasons. One is that it has been a long time since my last post. The other is that my supervisor has requested that I avoid social media during working hours. Which wouldn’t be a big deal except the only people who can see my screen are behind me. I have a privacy screen on my display because I sometimes look at sensitive information. And there are times when I am quite busy and there are downtimes when I don’t have anything to do.

I can’t do trainings during slow times, because between the noise of the area and the poor quality of the speakers, I can’t really follow anything. I have old tv, radio, and movies playing because I feel no need to follow the plot and don’t need to watch them. I do have headphones, but they were ordered when I thought this change was temporary and I only needed them long enough to listen to voicemails, which are rarely more than 2 minutes long.

I have ordered new earbuds. One, I only need to wear one, so I can attend to people at the counter without an earbud that suggests I’m not paying attention to them. Two, I can actually hear training videos without ear pain. Most trainings can be interrupted, although being able to take them without interruption is better. That’s not going to happen, so I need to work with what will happen.

Obviously, I can’t tat or loom knit either. I hate having to look busy. I don’t mind being busy, just having to look busy when it’s not.

And I can’t go far from the counter for very long. Yes, other staff can handle it but the counter is my primary responsibility.

Instead, I will work on my writing. Thank goodness for the ergonomic keyboard.

Tatting Progress and Other Matters

 I finally finished my lattice edging (except for clean up). And as I held it up, preparing to pin it to my bag before sewing it down, I learned I had made a moebius edging. I had somehow twisted it while joining the end to beginning. I had top open 2 rings, retrotat one completely, retrotat a chain (but only a few ds long), and partially retrotat the next to last ring. But I redid the join I messed up and now it's on to clean up and sewing. 

Lattice edging, needing clean up

I started the carnation brooch, but I can't remember if I meant to put beads on the rings or not. I estimate I have more the 300 beads, but that's for 3 rounds of chains. I loaded the beads last year, I think but didn't get started tatting until, well, this weekend.

Carnation boutonniere started

I made a couple more art trading cards. I used collage and mixed media (aka tatting) and used some cardstock as a base. 

art trading card

 I started drinking diet drinks when Coke had a vanilla Coca-cola. However, while I loved the flavor, it was too sweet, while the diet version dialed down the sweetness to my preference. When they stopped making diet Vanilla Coke, I turned to other diet drinks because my tastebuds had shifted and most sodas were too sweet. Mostly I drink Cheerwine Zero when I can get it. When I run out of my stash (I have to bootleg from a couple counties over because our local bottler doesn't carry the 16 or 20 oz bottles), I usually turn to diet Dr. Pepper. Except, I have observed that the diet Dr. Pepper really sparks my appetite. I feel like I'm starving. And it's just that one. Diet Pepsi, Diet Coke, Diet Mountain Dew, etc do not do this to me. 

F, one of my friends from high school is back in the area visiting family. We try to meet up at least once and we had lunch together on Saturday. Due to some very odd traffic, I was half an hour late, but we sat and talked for 3 hours. 

I was supposed to go see my parents, but there was a festival taking over the downtown area, including the train station parking lot. My dad decided he didn't want to fight with that traffic, so we postponed. I wrote Mom a letter instead.

I need to think about what I'm entering at the fair this year. I often use my Palmetto Tat Day projects, but I'm not sure about doing that this year.

 

Look, 2 posts in 2 weeks (plus a bonus poem last week)

WotC/Hasbro backed off the OGL thing. Whether they'll stay backed off is another matter. They are determined to get more money from gamers and it's only a question of how they'll do it. And how badly they'll damage their brand when they do it.

I've been watching Online Tatting Class founded by Georgia Seitz, currently taught by Tami Montgomery. Yes, I've been tatting for decades but there are always new tricks and tips to learn. I still haven't mastered the Catherine Wheel Join for example.

I'm making a little tat journal. It's to keep notes about how many double stitches per inch, how many inches of thread to tat 10 knots, thread notes, samples, etc. I'm doing a much smaller one, because I'm using an old pocket calendar, maybe 2"by3" (~5cmx7.6cm). The pages are mostly blank, which is what I need, I already have it, and the cover is sturdy. I've started covering it in collage of printed paper and tatted scraps. It's a work in progress. I'm debating whether to use some of the plethora of one-ring tatted flowers I have.

I have been sewing in ends on my 2022 scarf. (insert groan here) and I pulled out a WIP edging & finished off the shuttle. I wish I could remember the pattern source.

Edging in size 40 Lizbeth #149

Plus Jane Eborall's Tat It And See 2023 (day 8)

I am in 2 games now. One is a D&D 5e (4 siblings & a cousin) and the other is Pathfinder (stranded caravan guards). I am playing a bard in both. This may have been a mistake. 

And I've cut my hair. It's only mid-back now.

Social Media and staying social

I miss Google+, I had some real communities there. I've tried Pluspora but I lost my log in and my interest. I have an instagram account now. And I'm in a couple Discord communities. I've had twitter since practically the beginning but there's so much negativity (attacks, news, etc) that it's hard for me to use. I still sometimes pop in and check on people. Now I have a ko-fi account. I'd like to (someday, somehow) get enough money to buy a new iPad. My iPad's screen is cracked and it's old enough that it doesn't have the latest iOS and some apps won't update anymore.

I'm doing the 26 day racial equity journey with a friend and a friend of hers. We just finished the 2nd week. There's been some eye opening information, some expansion of information I already knew, some new to me viewpoints or aspects, and also review of information I know.

On Saturday I had a zoom meeting with the Palmetto Tatters' Guild. Since they can't meet in person they scheduled a zoom one. Considering their location, I can make the zoom one, unlike the physical meeting. I finished another bracelet during the meeting, using Martha's pastel 8:1 HDT, with silver seed beads this time. Due to the whole Empress thing, Tonya convinced me to get out my tiara and wear. She was wearing hers in my honor.

I'm using the same thread to make some edging for my other masks.

I also ordered a Goulet pen, with converter, and a pack of ink samples. It writes very smoothly. The nib is a tiny bit bigger than my (Monza) pen's fine nib. So far I have the included ink cartridge (blue black ink) in it and I haven't tried the samples yet. I had to find my pen/ink sample notebook. Keeping track of colors, names, and brands will help me in the future.

I have started the 3rd round & 4th of Coronavirus doily. I ran out of shuttle thread on the 3rd round, so I had to pull some yards from the ball and wind it on a shuttle, so I could reload the ring shuttle. I'm about to run out on the ring shuttle again, but the 4th round is all chains, so we'll see how long it lasts.

I don't know what I had done with the thread for the 3rd round so I had put it aside. I found the thread, and resumed work, in Lizbeth 10 Country Grape Dk. I'm thinking about donating it to the NC History Museum for the (future) Covid 19 exhibit. I contacted them about it, and I'm waiting to hear.

I wouldn't object to donating a mask, but I still need mine.
I played with a masked selfie

Still staying at home

Heavy storm hit this afternoon and an online friend asked for a video. But they were too large to upload to the site in question, so I'm putting them at the bottom of this post. Take your pick.

I made fingerless mitts and a headband/earwarmer to match my cape. The headband isn't done; I haven't affixed the braid.

The mitts don't exactly match; the downside of long run variegated/ombre yarn.

I also made these mitts (too small for the original recipient, but a friend has a teen who wants them).

Played around with this edging. I think I might like it better with dark green instead of the pale green/tan.

The 1st cotton yarn trivet/hot pad is my attempt at a 10-stitch blanket; it works great as a trivet

 This is deliberately a trivet/hot pad. The yarn I plied from 2 strands of cotton worsted; one yarn ombre white and blue, the other solid blue. I ran out, so I plied some more, using navy with an ombre navy/white.

I made some masks. These are the same mask; machine sewn. Below are the masks I hand sewed, including a bit of metallic thread lace I added to one.

 Oh, I finished the feather and fan scarf. I ran out of black (as I mentioned), so I ended with red.

I finished the tatting on this bracelet, now to block it, trim the thread ends, and add fasteners.
Rain

Lots of Lace(making)

Not that I got any pictures of any of the lace or lacemaking. Last weekend I went to visit Mom. We visited Hancocks (they're going out of business) and we picked up a few things. She also gave me a picture from her nursing school days. I was going to visit her next weekend but she got sick so she needed some help earlier.

CK took some great pictures of the tatting display in the library. It will be on display the rest of the month and then to another library next month. The purple-ish dragon from last post is there, as it my blue-ribbon wrap, a couple bracelets, and my bun cover. I also loaned her some shuttles for the display. 

I took a mental health day on Wednesday. I managed to get a few things done although not as much as I wanted.

The Shadows of the Century game on the 3rd went well. It culminated with a car chase/running shoot out on the streets of LA at 3 am involving a rental car, a rented limo, and a cab. The rocket launcher did draw a little attention. We played about 3 hours or so and next weekend we plan a longer game, starting with a pitch (aka planning the game and creating characters). 

Saturday was North Carolina Regional Lacemakers' day. I didn't take any classes but I got some interesting ideas and they had a display of lace jewelry. I set out a few things, too. I made a turtle to be a pendant to go with my turtle earrings.

After that, I drove to RW's house and we finished playing Wardens of the Reborn Forge. CD made burgers; including buns he baked himself. He also brought scones. We made it through all four fights, although it got a little close a couple times.

Sunday was Triangle Tatters meeting. I made good progress on the bracelet I started on Saturday. It's hand-dyed thread (HDT) in shades of purple with 'oil slick' sort of purple beads. I also started a ring, in Caribbean with the same beads. The ring pattern is from my Japanese tatting book. There were 3 new or newish tatters at the meeting. Anitra had some Mexicana thread for them to use. It's so much easier to use when learning.

Monday, I worked on an edging. I'm looking at edging some napkins I picked up at the thrift shop. They're a good, heavy cotton. Anyway, I'm not sure about using it, but it should make a nice bracelet. It's Red Heart thread.

Okay, the plants are from the Thursday yoga in the park classes. So many things are blooming and I had to take a few pictures. 

Gosh, it's hot

I made my supervisor very happy on Friday. He asked for my help with a spreadsheet. It wasn't hard, just tedious and time consuming. I managed to get it done before I left on Friday. I wasn't at work yesterday, so I wanted it done and not have it waiting for me when I got back.

Rose after a thunderstorm

Survived the storm

Saturday, CD, RG and I drove north to Maryland. The drive up was horrendous. The 5 plus hour drive took about 7 or 8 hours. That included a heavy storm, one so dark I couldn't read at 3 pm in the afternoon. It also included stop and roll traffic from Richmond to DC. Ugh.

On the bright side, I finished my edging and got it sewn onto my wrap. It looks..fabulous. I need to get a good picture of it.

Left is almost new ball of thread, right is the one used for edging, started new

Our friends MM and B were having a 'meet our babies' picnic on Sunday. B's sisters organized it. They did a great job, food, decorations, drinks, etc. The only problem was one they couldn't control; the weather. It was hotter'n Hades on Sunday. We were under a shelter, so we had shade at least. There was an occasional, welcome breeze. I wore my lightest weight skirt and wielded my fan. The twins are a couple months old now and quite adorable. RG spent most of the picnic holding Baby D.

After the picnic, we joined MM and B for supper. I helped B by feeding Baby C. I was somewhat alarmed because MM just told me what to do (here's their bottles if they need to be fed, here's the musical mobile) and then LEFT ME! Lucky, B came to my rescue. She showed me how to hold them and I fed Baby C and burped her as she went to sleep and B fed Baby D until she went to sleep, after burping.

We had a great supper and conversation. B made one of her wonderful pies. It was a fresh berry pie, with the berries just picked the day before. She made the whipped cream with honey and marscipone. Oh so tasty!

We drove home on Monday. It wasn't quite as bad but it still took some time. The book I'd packed to read in the car on the way disappointed me. We had to stop for a bathroom break and luckily the place was one of those old fashioned trucker stops, small restaurant, etc and had a rack of used books for sale. I saw an entertaining one and read it on the way home.

Back home at last and then back to work this morning. It was absolutely roasting still. I had to walk to a meeting and took my parasol. It helped.

Next weekend, it's Fantasy Gamer Conclave! I need to go by and print out the pregen characters for Silverhex Chronicles.

I've finished tatting another two bracelets and started a third one.