Long Week

I skipped last week's exercise class. It was step class and my knees were hurting; not a good combination. I missed yesterday's class for much the same reason. It's a bit of a catch 22; my knees hurt enough to interfere with going to exercise class, but I need to go to exercise class to build up muscle, strengthen sinews and bones.

Saturday was the demo at Oakview Historic Park Heritage Day. We were behind the house this time; which equaled less traffic, but also better shade. It was moderately cool but massively humid. It was just the 3 of us this time. K had car trouble and it was G's birthday. G and her mom came by so w could meet her mom and socialize a bit.

We shared a tent with the American Wildlife Refuge. One of the birds was a new education bird and wasn't settling well; Steve Stone took her home and brought back a more experienced bird. They had Princess, a kestrel; Speedy, an eastern screech owl; Forest, a great horned owl; and Scowl, a barred owl. Princess was quite chatty throughout the day.

CK brought some flat, plastic shuttle she had made. I had my size 10 thread associated with my bottle holder so I used that to demo. I did talk briefly to the lye soap maker and to some people from the Joel Lane House.

The director invited us to consider doing a demo there in early December. It would require using their loaner 18th century outfits. That's early than the tatting era, but still would be cool. And it's possible someone was tatting that early, we just don't have any evidence of it. Tatting does require a certain standard of thread, and we don't know if the thread that early had the requisite smoothness for the knots to slide.

Mostly, I worked on my beanile necklace. I was 3 chains and 1 ring away from completion when the rain started. It cut the day short by only half an hour. It came down in buckets. And then by the time we had packed up our stuff and ready to move cars and pack them? The rain had slowed and then stopped.

I went back with A and contacted CD. We met for supper and when I got home, I finished the necklace. I also found out part of my other State Fair entry was missing.

Sunday morning, I got started on filling in the missing piece. I finally got it done in the afternoon and hurried to get dressed, off to Michael's for display items, and then to the Fairgrounds. I got both pieces into the Fair (I was unable to complete my 3rd piece because of needing to redo the 1st one) and submitted with 10 minutes to spare. Whew.

The weather has been very un-autumnal the past couple days. Yesterday it started in the high 70s and rain. It stayed humid and warm all day. This morning was 77F with a 76F dewpoint. Ugh.

Sorry I don't have pictures. There's something wrong with my iPad/laptop connection and I haven't been able to download them.

Heritage Day at Oak View

The first Saturday in October is the Wake County Park System Heritage Day. I spent the day at Oakview. Along with other members of the Triangle Tatters.
This was across the path from us.

Lovely lads, aren't they.They're brothers.

The weather was gorgeous, if a bit chilly. I was glad I had brought a blanket, I used it to cover my legs and loaned it to another tatter at one point.

These gents went marching by. I learned to 'hear' the order 'elevate; fire!'. It was the only warning they were about to fire.

Here are some items I had displayed:

I also had an incomplete bracelet, my incomplete bangle bracelet (I have the thread, I just need to finish), a bookmark and some size 80 thread with edging. Carol made about 70 bookmarks with a little flower glued to a strip of cardstock with a note about the Tri Tatters facebook page on the back. They were gone by about 2 pm.

I bought some lye soap, a soy candle and a little bag. Neither the soap seller nor the candle maker had any in kudzu blossom scent. Quelle dommage. {Hmm, I wonder if I spelled that correctly, college French was a long time ago.}

Here are some cloud pictures; which is better, with or without the lamp?

What about framed by buildings?

Or just bare sky?

Wow, you're still reading? Sunday was not as exciting. It was 'fix the boyfriend's closet' and run errands day.

Frigging Cold: okay, maybe it wasn't that cold today, but between the overcast, the drizzle & the wind it sure felt like it. I had a piece of banana bread for breakfast & when I went to lunch at 12:30 I got dizzy and had to sit down. I spent the morning shivering & trying to tat. Numb fingers make tatting more difficult, fyi. But, nonetheless, fun was had.

The lady next to us, Gloria Small, makes gourds. By that, I mean that she plants them, grows them, then hollows & decorates them. Some she weaves pine needles, other have thread coils & some she uses beads or wood burning. She takes small one & decorates with beads to hold scent oils for air aroma. Very pretty. I bought one for Dad, one for Kathy & one for me. Luckily, they don't read this, so I don't have to worry about spoiling the suprise.

Oak View Historic Park is great. The garden was in full bloom and smelled terrific; rosemary, geraniums, etc.

A couple brought a couple Belgians. Those horses are huge! My head hit them about the shoulder; so call it approximately 5 feet.

Tatting
I finished Linda's necklace & started a choker for myself. I found Hailey's earrings & clipped the threads. The choker for myself is light purple with grey, Czech beads, split chain 5bead5/5. Very simple, but I think it will turn out well.

Today's outfit: blue/lilac polo with "Arlene" & a shuttle (gift from Steve & Anitra), jeans (that are just a little large), socks (duh), my new Reeboks (bought a year ago on sale but never before worn), moonstone cabochon pendant, earrings & ring, flat rope band, flower band & flower ring set with a lapis lazuli & I did have my hair up in my tatted bun cover. Plus I wore a chambray shirt & over that my old man's jacket decorated with calico roses.

Shopping: After the Heritage Day, Anitra & I stopped by Goodwill. I found 2 pairs of black slacks (one desparately needs hemming), one pair navy blue, blue knit top with beads & embroidery & a very thin gauze cotton blouse (that requires an undershirt or a vest). Yay! I can finally get rid of my crappy navy slacks.

I have a 50% coupon on 1 item to Joanne's so I went to get the fabric for my entry display. They had black velvet $19.99 a yard, um, no. No black panne velvet & no velour. But they did have some black ~suede. They piece I found has cut edge along one edge. So, I'll take the rest of the fabric (I went ahead & bought 2 yards) for a skirt. It turns out that everything I bought was on sale. So I still have the coupon.

Now I need to prep my entry for display & I think it goes into category EE54 or 55. I'm just not sure which.