It's been quite a week (May 12)

 

Most of the school has graduated now, so things have calmed down at work. It’s not completely calm, just calmer.

Tri-Tatters met at Mordecai on Saturday. It was the day before Mothers’ Day so it was fairly quiet. F just came back from a small tatting conference (she said there were about 30 attendees, the limit of what the conference can handle). She had made some really neat projects, like a 3D pinecone, which I hope the designer has published because I would love do that pattern as a pendant and earrings.

Martha surprised us with a visit. And she brought some linen thread she had that looks like it is perfect for my linen hankie project. I have 3 spools of thread already, 1 cotton and 2 linen. 1 color is just wrong for this project. The cotton matches the hankie color and the other linen is a good match for the lace, just larger than sewing thread (it’s a bobbin lace thread, I think). Martha has a spool of actual linen sewing thread and in a color that matches my lace. Next step is sewing the edging to the hankie.

My vintage hankie with the embroidered purple flowers and size 80 edging was looking dingy. I handwashed and it looks better now. It’s also less wrinkled because I laid it out to air dry.

I had my date with Carry last week. I gave her a bunch of small buttons from a mixed bag of buttons. I finished my first sentence (barring punctuation) in my Morse code edging. I’m tempted to make a lanyard or necklace, tool. Talking with Anitra over the weekend, I am planning a doily for the state fair. But I can’t use my first piece because it has my name. On the other hand, it will give me a good estimate on how long I need and therefore what I have room to say to edge a doily. 

 

Took a tour of a prospective new home for Mom. Lovely place, great staff, wonderful location, but the rooms were tiny. My dorm room in college was bigger. And these were semi-privates (like my dorm room).

Doable, but not my first choice. I know I’ll need to cull Mom’s possessions for her move but I’d like for her to be able to keep the photo albums my cousin made for her. And they do have private rooms, just none are available right now.

Stopped by Edward McKay’s on the way back. I found a couple packs of stationery/notecards. More expensive, but also larger, than what I get at the dollar store. And it’s a good thing, my supply was starting to run low. Mom would find me many of my bundles at thrift shops. She doesn’t go shopping like that anymore and I rarely take the time to do any shopping so it’s harder for me to locate them.

I also picked up a couple copies of c. 1980s fantasy novels for cheap. I’ve read them before and wanted a comfort read. And these were cheap enough I was willing to get a 2^nd copy.

The long, slow, recovery

Well, I've been sick since (checks calendar) about Dec 20th. The worst was over around the 27th (when I left the house for the first time since the 21st). I picked up a few last minute items, went to gaming, and then headed west on Friday.

But the cough lingers on. I canceled my platelets appointment; I just wasn't healthy enough to make it viable. I volunteered at a blood drive today (the one from early December that was rescheduled due to snow). But I still didn't feel quite well enough to donate. Alas.

Here's the shrug I knitted (loom) and gave to my sister-in-law.

And there's the one I gave to Shannon S.

I ran out of yarn on Shannon's but still had some yarn left from SIL's. I did one cuff in that, then edged the 1st cuff in the yarn.

I used the last 12 yards (plus 2 yards from another skein) to make this coffee cozy for S.R.

I gave the blue dice bags (tiny, stitch tests) to my gaming group.

I'm starting on a shrug for Mom. Michael's had a $2 a skein sale and I bought 3 skeins to make sure I had enough. I've finished off 1 and I still have quite of bit to go. I may not use all 3 skeins, but I think I'll use 2 of them and dip into the 3rd.

It's very bright. Mom loves these colors, so she'll be happy. The blue stitch marker on the left is where I started Sunday morning. The not quite visible violet one is the 30 row mark (from cuff). I have reached the divide for the shoulders.

My namesake likes llamas. Or she did. She might be llama'ed out after this holiday. I only gave her a journal and pencil cup. She also got earrings, a plush, and a coverlet. That's what I saw; but I believe there was more.

I met CC for supper on the 1st. She now has my temperature scarf; which I finished on the 1st. She's going to cut it and restitch it into a blanket. I also gave her the balls of yarn, in case she has to cut and replace any of the rows in the process. And now that I'm done, I want to do another one. But not the same way. If I do it again, 1) smaller yarn, 2) 1 row per day, not 2, and 3) maybe I'll include median and low temps. With precipitation rows as unifiers, I bet I could do it.

If I do it, I'll start by looking at the last couple years to get a general idea about the temperature ranges. For 2018, there were 3 colors I never used. I never used the 'highs in the teens', 'highs over 100', and 'highs over 110'; thankfully.

I was going to go see Mom on Saturday when the tatting plans fell through. But I was still so tired. I just sat around and knitted.

Presents I've received; hooked needles for bead spinner, hot tea (and a couple honey sticks), loom knit small animals book, beginning knit loom book, toffee, candy, gift certs (JoAnne's and AC Moore), soup mug (with homemade cookies tucked inside), a sign (made by JJ with his new laser cutter), bell necklace made from the handle of flatware, ornaments, umbrella, yarn, yarn case, and more yarn.

More Tatting

Our group demo'ed at Tri-Tatters on Saturday again. It was very cold so not many people came by, but we did get a gent whose grandmother tatted. A bit later two women stopped to talk to us. Then a group of young women visiting the US on a cultural exposure (or something) trip. Some of them talked to us, too.

And he had some of her work and her shuttles. I went through the quilt blocks for Palmetto Tat Days scholarship quilt to decide on what tatting I'll do for them. I've only done one so far. I have another three blocks and one strip. I realized the strip is much longer than I realized. Then I found an edging I'd done ages ago that's perfect for it. Yay! I added a contrasting motif on one end as 'anchor.' I need to block the edging though. Really need to block it.

I got a good start on a gecko (Jane Eborall's pattern). I finished it on Sunday. I did a flower (from be-stitched.com) for another block. I have an idea for another motif (from Jane again), but I need to clear my shuttles.

Mom fell and possibly fractured something this morning. I may end up running to see her tomorrow instead of work. I will call her facility tomorrow and see if I can find out more.

Deadlands on Thursday is off. GM has to take care of some personal stuff.

My date night with Carry is canceled, she has the flu.

It's been a long day and I'm off to bed.

Late, but Hey, It was a holiday

We had our Deadlands game on Thursday. DC's son joined us, playing an NPC as a PC. We started causing trouble, by releasing a T Rex in the enemy's camp. Hey, they created the thing, they can deal with it.

Saturday's tatting demo was cancelled so I just did some stuff around the house.

Monday was very slow. I got most of my work done by noon and after that I just answered the phone and dealt with a couple visitors.

The edible garden in front of work is going well. The tomatoes and peppers are growing nicely.

Tuesday, the 4th, I spent relaxing. In the evening, I had supper with CC. MB was supposed to join us, as she's been trying to do for months, but she's still unpacking from a recent move. Despite sleeping 10 hours Monday night, I was exhausted by the time I got home.

I found a neat crosswalk just off campus. It amuses me.

Wednesday was volunteering at the Carolina Campus Community Garden. The Employee Forum sponsored the workday, so I had to be there early to meet the caterers. Employee Forum provided tea, lemonade, fruit, and snacks. I took pictures with Claire's camera. I did get a few with my iPad, though.

Today, my boss and I had a meeting with the finance people about how to do travel vouchers. It's a new process but it looks pretty simple. And we got a look at the new form which may go live as soon as Monday.

I am finally washing my stitch gauge piece. Once it's blocked, I'll count the stitches and plan my mock cable wristlets. I made another ice drop but made a poor choice in thread color and it's kind of meh.

Depression, I Haz It (and do not want it)

There was a bead show locally this past weekend. I made it as far as my porch on Sunday. At least I got some laundry done. Oh, and I wound the rest of my buffboo yarn. I've even picked out the pattern. I just need to brace myself (review the crochet cast on) and get started. It's really the small victories, I guess.

plum flowers?

I think the Duke Power thing is finally straight. Or at least, they finally got my POA in her file. It was 'in the wrong place.' It was suddenly discovered when I asked to speak to a supervisor. I don't know if that's true or what, but I'm still pissed about it.

Still haven't found Carry's present. She didn't want the knitting needles I picked up somewhere, because she doesn't use that kind. I showed her my cable knitting. She noted the cable went odd at the end, until I told her the last two were deliberately in the other direction.

Here are some of the calendar pages I've colored.

I'm working on another bracelet; varied red with the 2-hole seed beads. I don't have any pictures. However, here is my turtle earrings, ice drop pendant, and bracelet set, with designer names.

Deadlands game is ongoing. We're discussing using a shared google doc for the game notes. Right now, I talk all the notes and SR fills in when I'm not there, or can't notes for some reason. I try to take them in the 'voice' of my character but it's hard when I'm covering stuff she's not there for.

It snowed Sunday morning. It was gone by 2 pm. I didn't get any pictures but it was powdered sugar snow (looked like someone had dusted the ground).

Mothers and other matters

My mom's short term memory is still very bad. One of her therapists suggested getting her a tablet or the like for intellectual stimulation. I ordered a Kindle Fire for her and got it connected and downloaded a few things for her; a few books (yay for free books) and some games. Then I took a little notebook and wrote down how to operate the Kindle.

Enjoy some flowers, just because

When I saw Mom on Saturday, I showed her how to use it, but of course, she forgot. And she can't find the little book I started writing in. I called her today and walked her through turning it on and opening the book she wanted. May I say, 'thank you Kindle for being fairly simple.' If it had been complex, I could not have handled it over the phone.

By the way, the Duke Power thing still isn't straightened out. Yesterday makes my 3rd attempt to get the POA on my mom's file. I am really not happy with them. At least she's no longer paying the power bill for a place she's not living. 

Tomorrow is International Women's Day. I can't take the day off, but I can wear red. And I will. And if you are seeing this today (Tuesday - I hope to post it at lunch), Kiva is offering a free trial. I think today is the last day. To give you an idea how well it works, I've deposited about $150 dollars for Kiva loans. I've loaned out $680 dollars. Kiva makes money available to local lending institutions, who lend the money at lower rates, the borrower repays the loan, the lending institution keeps the interest and returns the capital to Kiva, who returns the money to my 'bank'. I can withdraw or loan it out again. Obviously, I loan it out again. Sometimes, I also make a donation to Kiva to help with their operating costs.

Tonight is my date with Carry. I still can't find the present I bought for her. I took it out of the car because I was worried about breakage. What did I do with it?

I finished the loom knit cable. I did cables in the opposite direction for the last two, just for practice. I also went ahead and bought a couple cable needles.

I've been playing with my coloring page of the day calendar. I have at least 2 or 3 that are partially colored, but I can't find them.

US POLITICS AHEAD
I swear, it's like lawmakers aren't even pretending to be serving the people. They're serving the corporations, or whoever has the deepest pockets (see the latest health care bill where a HEALTH INSURANCE company collects the penalties someone pays for being uninsured).

Happy St. Valentine's Day (if you celebrate it)

Today, CD surprised me with 3 skeins of the bison/bamboo/silk yarn, in purple this time. I have to make a decision now. Do I make a teal trimmed purple lace shawl or a purple lace shawl and a smaller teal lace shawl? Decisions, decisions.

He's also asked me for a knit scarf. I've offered but until recently he didn't need one. He has definite ideas on what he wants so the next step is to find the right pattern. I have yarn (~600 yards each) in two colors so I can do a kind of tweedy look.

And here's a 2007 paper on the connection between knitting and activism. If you're interested in that sort of thing.

A number of museums and libraries put out coloring pages again, look for #ColorOurCollections. Here's a page I did from the UNC Health Sciences Library.

I took a picture of my hair after I cut it. Sort of. It's not a very good picture, but it's better than nothing.

Saturday's plan: go to bank so CD can deposit a check, grab a bite to eat on the way to see mom, set up mom's tv and see if we can get the DVD player to work, go to lunch, CD goes home and I take mom yarn shopping in her car, then I drive home in mom's car.

What actually happened: stop by bank and notice a tire is low, go to dealer and discover tire needs to be replaced, another tire needs to be replaced, brake pads, etc, etc, etc. We went from 'be there until  2 pm' (call mom cause we aren't coming) to get a shuttle ride to somewhere we can get lunch, to finally leaving the dealer after 5 pm.

We did the 'go to mom' stuff on Sunday. And learned her car tags are out of date and her battery is dead. And the new tv doesn't even recognize the connection to the cable box, never mind the DVD player. We did get the yarn shopping done and I have to find out about mom's car taxes, etc.

I finished my 90 hearts. And I finally remembered to send in my registration for the NCRL Day. Too late for the commemorative shuttle thought. sad face.

I'm still behind on TIAS 2017, but I've made some progress.

Monday I saw someone I'd only seen once in the past 2-3 years. He hasn't changed much. We all had supper (CD, him, and me) although our first choice of dining establishment had closed. We caught up a bit and shared a couple gaming stories.

Tonight, I go see CC. I'll show her my shawl. And my yarn. And maybe she can give me advice about my wristlets to match my shawl.

Last but not least, US politics again. I took a break from calling my MoC over the weekend. I had enough on my mind. But I started right up again on Monday. I have yet to reach a live person in my senators' offices and I've reached a live person every time in my representative's office.

I'm Blaming the Weather

This is what I woke up to on Saturday morning.

 And this is what I saw later; there's a layer of ice, a layer of snow, and then a glaze of ice on top. Do I need to mention that I didn't drive to go see mom on Saturday? Or on Sunday?

 Thanks to unusually cold temperatures, there wasn't much melting, except in direct sun, until yesterday. I knew it was Tuesday, but I still forgot to make my blog post.  There was no reporting to work for me on Monday or Tuesday. I go back today.

Yesterday we finally got above freezing temperatures so I cleaned off my car. Since I need to make a trip to the fabric/notions store, I'm driving to the park and ride today.

I woke up at 3 am, managed to doze until about 4 am and finally got up at 5 am. I was starving and thirsty and just couldn't get back to sleep.















This is the gaiter I made for Cs nephew, to match his scarf. I need to go buy buttons and sew them on.

I gave this book to my Dad almost 20 years ago. He started working on it while working nights. When that job ended, he lost track of the book. He found it recently and loaned it to me at Christmas. I scanned the pages he's filled so far and then returned it so he can continue to fill it.

 I started using my coloring page of the day calendar. I'm already behind. This is the only page I've completed.

This is the hand crocheted scarf SNS made for me. Each color is a different yarn; fiber, etc. It's gorgeous! Her daughter also introduced me to a new term 'stupid scarf'. It's a name for an infinity or circle scarf, because no matter how stupid you're being, you can't/won't drop the scarf. C said he wants one, which makes me happy. I've been wanting to make one for him, but he's been reluctant because he doesn't spend as much outdoors as he used to.

I've been reading Rejected Princesses, another of my presents. I'm still reading Drunken Botanist from last year. It was on my TBR pile and I picked up a couple months ago. I've been reading one plant per night most nights.

My date with  C went...unexpectedly. She gave me some lovely gifts from Williamsburg, Va (powdered ink, handbound journal, quill pen, and a couple coasters). However, while I was waiting for her, she called. Her car had died. I went and picked her up, we ate supper, and then her boyfriend came and got her so she could get her car towed.

I've been shopping for a lacy pattern to use the buffboo yarn CD gave me. I got the two skeins wound into center pull balls but it's been difficult to find a suitable pattern. There's three main limitations; yardage, my skill, and my knitting is on a loom. One lovely pattern called for a cast on more stitches than any of my looms have. I finally bought a book of loom knitting shawl patterns. I'm starting with Sweet on Ruffles, as it looks simplest and will get me used to working a shawl pattern. I'm using a bulky yarn and I made a decent start last night.

Since I didn't see mom last weekend, I'll go this weekend. I have her new remote control, which will helpfully fix her no DVD player problem. We'll see. If not, then I'm buying a new player for her. TV runs out quick. I also need to pick up some books for her.

And as a treat, this is JJ's corrigated boxer. She's still a puppy and she's a corgi/boxer mix. She fell asleep on my leg during the party.

Jane's TIAS starts today. I need to load my shuttles and start.

Publishing Scheduled...and Yet Silence

So, I finished my post last week and set it to publish in an hour. And it never published. So, to anyone actually waiting for it, sorry. I hit Publish Monday (again), and this time it worked.

Friday, I went to lunch with my co-workers to celebrate one's lunch. We went to Carolina Brewery. I'd never been before but I can recommend their barbecue and their sweet potato fries. None of us had any beer; middle of the workday after all. No hardship for me, I don't like beer. Our newest co-worker told us about a trip she'd taken to Paris. She's good at telling stories.

Anyway, I made progress on my test swatch for my knitting. It failed, which means I'm starting over using what I learned. My target, is a 7" by 1" strip. My result was about 10" by 1/2".

I've made one earring, for the pattern for Tat Days. I say 'made', but I still need to make one join and hide the ends. Then I need to load more beads, make the mate and then start the variant.

No progress made on the blocking. I need to take the one I've blocked, photograph it, and send the picture to Anitra. And of course, I need to block the next one.

RG's puppy chewed a hole in her blanket (the puppy's blanket). I took it home and I'm going to try to patch it. My main concern is that my patch is not more vulnerable to puppy teeth than the rest of the blanket.

Of course, Fantasy Gamers Conclave was over the weekend. It's a small Saturday and Sunday convention. CD, RG, and I have been running Pathfinder games there for at least since 2010. Alas, they're taking a break and won't have a con next year. But maybe the year after that. :crossed fingers:

I ran Silverhex, or rather 3 of the 6 quests, for 3 people who'd never played tabletop RPGs before. They were interested, and one of them had a Beginner's Box but found it confusing. Getting a chance to play and see how it works in real life and learning by doing really helped. All three of them decided to join PFS (PathFinder Society). Whether they follow up with more PFS play, well, that's up to their preferences and opportunities. I had a picture of one of the maps, but I can't find it.

Saturday afternoon, I ran Sun Orchid Scheme. It's a regular scenario. I had a full table for that one. I had two new(ish) players using pre-gens and everyone else had PFS characters. We also wound up really late. I didn't get to sleep until after 2 am.

CD let me sleep in Sunday and our games didn't start until 1 pm, thankfully. I ended up running a couple of quests from Phantom Phenomena. I had 4 people playing, interrupted by a couple of them needed elsewhere for a time. All the players had fun, and that's the important part.

They raised over $3000 for Autism Society of North Carolina. I helped a little more by buying something at auction. There were other things up for bid that I wanted but they went out of my limited price range.









One really neat thing, on the way home on Sunday, there were some heavy clouds rolling in. And as the sun was setting behind them, there was a smaller whisp of cloud coming out and the sun shining through it cause it to light up like a rainbow. I really wish I could have gotten a picture, because my words are not up to describing just how unusual and lovely it was.

We also had another major storm roll through. There was one crash of thunder so loud it sounded like a cannon going off. Fortunately, this time we didn't lose power.

Some books I had ordered, also arrived on Saturday. I finished reading one of them on Sunday and started another one. That leaves 2 more (book 2 & 3 in a series), plus one I've been putting off because once I start it, I won't want to stop for anything, including sleep.

Tonight is my date with Carry. You'll find out about that next post.

And here's an entertaining flowchart. Are you caught in a time paradox?

More Zen Koi images

Lettermo Has Begun

Lettermo has begun.

I mailed one letter to an aunt on Saturday and then dropped off letters to my mother's other sisters on Monday. Monday afternoon, I dropped off letters to my dad's sisters and to my one great-uncle for Tuesday's mail. There's a Patreon to support Lettermo. Here's a picture of the letters I sent on Tuesday.

The weather got warmer as the week progressed and the weekend was just fabulous. The weather on Monday was so gorgeous, I sat outside at lunch. This is part of what I saw.

There was still a little snow left; where the plows had piled it up. They aren't very big anymore.

Many libraries are posting 'color our collections' this week. They offer black and white images for people to print and color. Here's a library at my alma mater; with an image a day for the week. The Bodleian Library is also doing it.

This is a very interesting article about reporting in and on a culture not your own.

Date with CC tonight. She pointed me at this comic/cartoon series. I finished a bracelet while we were talking.

Tragedy and Hope

We played Pathfinder, Wardens of the Reborn Forge, on Saturday. We started late, because we talked about the Paris events (one of the players has a sibling in Paris and he was late as he checked on the sibling's safety). That lead to discussions about 9/11. Of course, that really depressed me, because it makes me so sad.

It was soon after that, I heard about the incident in Beirut and the heroism of Adel Termos. I mourn with his family over his loss, but rejoice over the people he saved.

And here's some info to keep in mind whenever there's a major news event.


I'm almost at 19000 words for NaNoWriMo and I've tatted another bracelet (variegated purple with pink and purple seed beads). I attempted a new earring pattern but all I got was a hot (beaded) mess.

Last night was my date with Autumn Breeze. She was sick on our usual Tuesday and had another commitment last week. We met at our usual diner and then went to see the bartender at the sports bar we used to go to regularly.

Palmetto Tat Days, less than a month

It's less than a month until Palmetto Tat Days. I haven't started fretting about my prep yet. I have gotten emails about homework, though. And packing will be...interesting this year.

Thanks to Anitra's car being a yutz, we'll be taking my car. Another local tatter will be coming with us (we'll call her V). My car is Honda Civic. I think I'll be packing smaller to get all of us into it. We have a bag of tins from CK, plus the ones Mom and I have collected to take. Plus there's the infamous poncho and its decoy, neither of which qualify as particularly small. Figure at least 2 bags for each of us on the way down, and 3 bags when we return (we will be making purchases after all). It's going to be a squeeze. Added, we're picking up a 4th tatter on the way. I have ordered a TripTik from AAA.

I'll be Georgia Seitz's assistant in her class on weird joins. Such a thrill. Georgia Seitz is such a sweet lady. I've been working on that project instead of the gold/silver bead bracelet and necklace.

homework for Georgia's class

Had the monthly date with CC last week. She's applying for a project at work. Her video interview was Friday. I need to find out how that went.

I am terrified of dentists. I wasn't always, but the older I get the more anxious I get about them. It's not a phobia because it's not an irrational fear. I have a small mouth, soft tooth enamel, and a sensitive gag reflex; both of these contribute to a potentially lousy visit. Add in some past experiences, and well, let's just say it adds up.

However, I had a toothache, and it got bad enough I couldn't sleep. It wasn't a constant pain either, it would come and go in waves. After a couple days, I worked up the nerve and found a dentist in my insurance network, and who was close to my home. They saw me quickly, at least for an initial problem-solving and we've scheduled a follow-up to take care of some other issues. The dentist and staff were all very nice and understanding about my anxiety. The dentist even asked what incidents contributed to my anxiety so as to avoid doing those things, or at least be aware of possible triggers.

I finished the tatting on the bracelet to match the earrings. Now I need to make a necklace. Karey suggested using a large bead and threading the beaded tassel/tatting through that, although the bookmark has me toying with making a lariat necklace.

A friend of mine (not a close friend but we have a huge overlap in social circles) has been going through a big change in her life. It's been a kind of a scary change for her so I plan to make a bracelet for her. Of course, I have a necklace, a star/snowflake, and State Fair jewelry project to make. Of course, I could overlap the State Fair project and her bracelet. I am taking a bracelet class at Palmetto Tat Days, I think.

C made chocolate chess pie. It is yum.

These are some things from Kickstarter projects that arrived last week. The artist did a really good job with the illustrations and the cards. I have friends who want to buy the deck and I'm trying to find out how they can do that.

I got the PDF of the gamebook, too