Progess and stuff

 I need to fix a tatted bracelet and I finally found the correct thread to do so. That's my next project. I've been working on tatting a couple aliens (Jane Eborall's 2023 TIAS) for a friend who recently turned 51. I have one in bright green just done and next is one in grey. Need to hide ends.

 

I finished 4th round of the Round Robin doily, but I need to block it and hide the ends. So yes, this photo is a bit sloppy.

 

No progress on the wrist warmers. I can't find the instructions for finishing off a project (do I just pull the yarn through the last stitch?). 

I've down to 2 pairs of (mended) work slacks, so as I got to that point, I've been going to the thrift shop to find more. Until this past Saturday, I was out of luck. I found 3 pairs (wow)! Two of them even have full sets of pockets, although the 3rd pair has those fake front pockets. When I have time, I can amend that.

Our DnD 5e game progresses. At least 2 of the PCs think we're on a wild goose chase and think we got this assignment to get us out of the way while the matter is really being handled at home. 2 PCs had backstory elements we were able to use to get more information for the next leg of the trip. I'm still not sure we have a grasp of the combat, though. And especially the short rest/long rest thing.

We also had a Pathfinder game this past weekend. We finished another stage in the adventure, without dying, although it was close. Two of the PCs were out of any spells above cantrip level and the healer was down to about a third of her spells/channels.

Carolina Fiber Fest 2023

 Fiber Fest at the State Fairgrounds again (in the nice, large expo hall, yay). And once again, shared parking with 2 other events. One, if someone hadn't told me they were there, I wouldn't have known about them. OTOH, the other group has a subset of 'we have an RV, who cares about parking spaces'. 

Most of them with RVs are not like this. They park in the camping area, which admittedly is not particularly close to their event location. There's some though, that take up 2-10 (and no, that is not a mistake, I counted) parking spaces. Which again, is okay if no one else is using the lot. Like someone who parks their car over 4 spots at the far end of a lot where it's completely empty, if it's not disrupting other people, then who cares.

And that is why my friend and I arrived at 7 am for an event in which the doors open at 9. We did need to be there enough before 9 to get our tables set up, but if it weren't for the parking issues, we would have aimed for 8 am. 

 We were towards the back, near some of the classrooms. We were also near this display about flax and flax spinning (picture is only part of display).

There were 2 spinning wheels, some fabric (both recent make and vintage), sample of linsey woolsey tape, 3 linen stricks,  and flax in different stages of processing. There were also brochures for a book on homegrown flax and cotton.

I also bought a couple mini-skeins of linen yarn to try it for tatting. I bought some burgundy and black. I'll need to be careful of slubs, but it tats pretty well. The hanks are DK weight, so about size 5 for tatting, I think.

 Here's the edging sample I did.

 Pattern from New Dimensions in Tatting by To de Haan-van Beek

I saw lots of fiber friends; other members of Tri-Tatters, Sir Walter Lacers, weaving group, machine knitting, etc. I also saw Danielle, who I haven't seen since she moved to Texas. I also met her wife, Jen, who I only know from Danielle's FB posts. They've moved back to the east coast.

I also bought a nalbinding needle and then won some wool yarn! How about them odds. I only bought 1 ticket in the drawing. And funny enough, while I was up there getting my 'here's the cert for you to claim your prize', the vendor came up to see if the prize they'd offered had been claimed. I didn't have to search for their booth, they lead me right there.

I finished Jane Eborall's Tat It And See, although I used 2 different colors. I want to do this in light green and in grey, too. For reasons.

 

I've also been playing around with Mandala by Nami Art Patterns

You can't tell from the pictures, but the top one is size 20 and the lower one is size 40.

I also took some of my bits to mend a skirt. It's cotton gauze, so I stabilized the holes and then sewed tatting over them.

 And of course, glued flowers, etc to a card.

We play the Pathfinder game again this weekend (crossed fingers) and our 5e game continues. 

In the 5e game, we learned what poisoned our oldest sister (cousin for 1 player). We did some local investigating to see if there's a cure available locally and tried to get some information on who created the poison. We did learn a few things, but we had to go to another town, on the recommendation of someone we contacted, to someone who might know more. 

Cousin (PC is 16, player is my age) continues to underestimate my PC, possibly because of jealousy. My PC went to college in the capital, is beautiful, and cosmopolitan. She (PC) is the smartest and most beautiful person the room; she says so. 

Please note, the player is a good friend and it's all in fun.

I can't believe we had sleet/snow yesterday. Last year, we had snow (no accumulation) as we were leaving the Fiber Fest. And it's supposed to freeze tonight.

Tatters and Gamers

 Jane Eborall's Tat It And See is almost complete. At the Palmetto Tatters Guild meeting (live and via Zoom) Saturday, she mentioned part 13 on Sunday and then one more. 

Sunday was our Pathfinder game. We had to suddenly relocate when we learned the daughter of our host has a stomach bug. We decided not risk exposure and we played elsewhere and that player joined us via Zoom, along with our out of state player. 

Story time: Our characters have been hired to put a stop to the kobold raids on the village. Our employer doesn't care how, just that the raids are stopped. We met the lookouts and tried negotiations. That didn't go well. We pretty had to slaughter our way into the mines/caves. 

We finally found one who would talk to us and it turned out she had run afoul of the chief. She wanted to leave the village alone and the chief (possibly egged on by another party) wanted to continue to raid. She was able to guide us so we could avoid non-hostiles and needless combat; like the dire rat lair and the hatching room. 

That meant we had the resources to deal with the evil cleric, although we were willing to talk until we got a taste of how evil and found out who she worshiped. 

Then we had to fight the chief and minions, although we talked one into fleeing and not getting involved. The chief was a sorcerer and it was not an easy fight. He didn't do a lot of damage but he had a lot of defensive stuff. 

We made our ally the new chief, mostly by giving her the chief's keys which included the one for the armory. She wasn't going to be raiding the village as long as they respected the kobold boundaries. We also suggested some items she might trade, so they could get bread, etc.

End of gaming story

Finally last week, someone at work noticed my hair cut. My hair went from coccyx length to a bit below my shoulder blades. So still long, but short enough I frequently wear it loose. The only reason said coworker noticed? I had my back to her and she didn't recognize the shorter hair. It's possible other coworkers have noticed, but none of them have said anything.

And I got my acknowledgement email from Locks of Love. I'm not sure how many more donations I'll be able to make that will go into their wigs. My hair is going white in places and while I know they can't use that for children's wigs, at least they can sell it to fund wigs.

Does anyone know what season it is?

Tuesday morning I scraped frost off my windshield (found my ice scraper, yay!). Today, I sat outside in my shirtsleeves, short shirtsleeves, at lunch. It's supposed to be rainy and near, but not below, freezing by Sunday. Apparently our weather has been mounted on a yoyo.

I'm up to Day 11 on Jane Eborall's TIAS. I had finished Day 10 and was about to start day 11 when I realized I needed to reload my shuttles. For grins and giggles, I'm using a new color starting day 11.

 

I am toying with making another c. 1919 (or so) housedress. And trimming it with tatted lace. I looked at a lingerie dress, but that's a lot of lawn and lace strips ($40+ for the fabric alone, cotton voile isn't very expensive all told, but still). 

I finally got my State Fair prize money. I can about afford supper at a mid-level burger place. Including getting a drink. 

I did my 3rd round of the round robin doily for the Online Tatting class founded by Georgia Seitz. We all start with the same 1st 2 rounds. Tami drew several cards from the Tat Your Own Adventure card deck and we are to use those elements for further rounds. Tami intends to do a communal doily that will become the backdrop for the class website, etc.

This was written 9 Feb but didn't post.