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.

It's State Fair Prep season

 So I have been finishing my fair entries. I have 4 to submit, and 3 are done other than some final finishing touches. I won't post pictures until after they've been judged, just in case.

Plus, Mom fell down and got hurt so I've been trying to deal with that. Fortunately, there's multiple trains that run between my town and hers, for a bit more than the gas would cost, and the difference is well worth the hassle I've saved. And Dad has been very supportive by giving me a ride from the train station to see Mom. 

Our Pathfinder game progresses (we're playing Dragon's Demand). We scraped by the last combat by the skin of our teeth (and the generosity of the GM). We went somewhere we shouldn't have and ran into a very nasty fight. We totally misread the clues that said 'beware! stay away!' Oops.

Our 5e game also continues. Still don't really know how the combat works. But we've hit a level the GM likes so maybe we'll stay this level long enough to figure it out.

Chris and I started watching Shakespeare and Hathaway. It's a BBC mystery series set in Stratford upon Avon. Frank Hathaway is a private detective and Lu Shakespeare becomes his partner after investing in the agency. A lot of the episode titles are Shakespeare play references or quotes. They feel like Easter eggs for English Lit majors.

Whingeing ahead: maybe it's my Southern upbringing, but is it really hard to wave or say hi as you come into the office in the morning? If you're on your phone, then no, I don't expect a verbal greeting, but a half-hearted wave at least? Yes, I'm talkative, but unless I have something I need to tell you, I won't stop you to chat. I just want acknowledgment of my existence. Studies prove that people are more willing to do things for people they like. So, help me like you more.

(oops, meant to hit publish on Oct 4)

Confronted by ducks while getting take out

quick update (supposed to be July 12)

 Here's a picture of the Chinese coin, made into a pendant with tatting.

Our 5e game was Thursday. Turns out the fey we met wasn't my PC's lost lost mom. Considering what she was like, that's a relief (she was a hag, and she killed our aunt at the beginning of the game).

Friday, we got together to plan a friend's party. She's having a gaming weekend, kind of a mini-con for her next birthday. It takes a lot of planning, so we're starting now. 

I went to see my parents over the weekend. Surprisingly, traffic was not too bad. I didn't run into any rolling stops or slow and go. My stepmom liked the earrings I gave her. It's getting harder to find neat/unusual red, white, and blue earrings. I gave mom a copy of the photo of me dressed for the wedding.

This is the daisy edging and the hanky. The pattern is from Mastering tatting.

Oops, Been Absent Again

 Time got away from me and I didn't notice I hadn't posted to my blog. I finished a grey alien, to go with the 2 green ones, and Anitra gave me black beads for the eyes of another grey alien.

Tri-Tatters had our first meeting in 3 years, 2 months, and 1 week (so Anitra called it the Boom meeting). We did a demo at Mordecai House. Only 7 of us were able to make it, but 1 of those is a brand new tatter. She had her shuttle loaded and ready to go, just needed feedback on what was going on and how to recognize what was going on.

The banner Caroline K made and my 2019 temperature scarf

I started a new button bag (from Karey Solomon's Bring on the Buttons). And made Gina Butler's hair elastic button. I'll need to take a picture of the latter.

I went to NC Regional Lace Day and took Gretchen's butterfly pendant class. I happened to have beads that almost matched the enamel on the butterfly blank (need a picture). Then I found the seasonal earring kit I bought at Palmetto last year but couldn't find the pattern. Gretchen sent it to me and I made those (although I need to neaten both).

 Since I had the opportunity, I turned in the 2 books I had borrowed from the NCRL library and checked out Tatting with Beads by Rosemarie Peel. I've made 3 of the samples/project from it.  

1st project, sprigs but I didn't use wire

I made a keepsake penny for a student I know who's going home. I found a penny minted her birth year and used Jane Eborall's magnet bookmark as a starting point. I had to adjust the stitch count. Alas, I forgot to get a picture.

The 5e game continues. 1 of the PCs who thought this was a wild goose chase has been convinced by her goddess that this is what we need to do. Lots of roleplay but the last session ended mid-fight. We managed to spook off one component of the fight (opportunistic animals) but that leaves the rest. And unfortunately, 1 PC set off an alarm in the hostile city so they know someone is here. We have to finish the fight and skedaddle before reinforcements show up.

Our Pathfinder game also progresses. Unfortunately, scheduling issues meant we had to cut the session short. We could finish the fight with less than our full roster, but the fall out needed more players than we had at the table. 

A sewing/craft YouTuber mentioned this site (Thrifty Notion) as a source for inexpensive sewing supplies and fabric. I'm going to get some buttons (for Karey Solomon's patterns, etc), and maybe some fabric.

I went and picked up some fabric (100% cotton) at the Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago. I had seen this tutorial for a 5 square drawstring bag (video link) and had to try it. The 1st one went well but the 2nd one required some hand sewing as I missed a seam and didn't notice until the end. My choices were hand sewing or ripping out a number of seams to resew the problem one.

 

My long cotton gauze shawl has a tear in it. I am going to mend it but since it will not be an invisible mend, I decided to cover it. This is beading No. 32 from Tatting with Anne Orr. I used the same thread I used to edge the scarf. Now that the edging is made, I need to mend the scarf and sew the tatting over it.

 

And below are some samples I made.

Cream silk heart (handspun yarn from a friend), red lace weight linen yarn butterfly, & black linen Londonderry 50/3 butterfly & beading/insertion, all tatted. The black is also Beading No. 32. I got the black linen thread from a vendor at the NCRL spring lace day.The red is the linen I got at the Carolina Fiber Fest.

Gillian's Election Bookmark in Lizbeth color way 156. This may end up being a bracelet.

And finally, a rainbow. Just because.

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.

It's been a weird time

 I am still recovering from the past 2 years. I hope you've gotten through at least more or less intact. My iPad died and now I have an Android tablet. This means I also lost my tablet keyboard. I have an older iPad and according to Apple it couldn't handle the latest iOS and so nothing would update. It's a matter of time before it's a brick, I guess.

I also got a new phone. My previous provider's support was a crapshoot & I got tired of that. Alas, it also didn't permit me to keep my phone number. For literally the 1st time in my life, I have a new area code. It's a silly thing to bother me, but it does. 

I did finally finish my 2019 temperature scarf last year. Of course, I entered it in the State Fair (clothing accessory - other) & happy me, I won first place. Although it was funny when I was dropping it off, a volunteer tentatively asked, 'does this need a swatch?' as crochet and knitted scarves do need swatches. 

There was a scandal (I'm not sure where) about people buying a crochet or knit scarf, cutting the tag off, and entering it into competition. If you also provide a swatch, it means you made it. And the swatch is the reason I didn't enter my first hand spun (on electric wheel) yarn knitted into a scarf. I had about 6" of yarn left, aka no swatch.

Before I was done, I wrote an article for IOLA about my process and the picture was on the back cover!

I also entered a pair earrings designed by Phyllis Schmidt (fantail earrings)

My other entries scrap bag (designed by Karey Solomon from Bring on the Buttons) 

snowflake ornament (from the same book) - using vintage shank button & metallic thread

and framed Beginner's Doily by Shade Tree Designer did not win.

I've started a 2022 scarf (thanks Twisted Picot, formerly Black Sheep Fiber Emporium) & I also got those 2 lovely edging keepers from them.

My job is the same old same old. Although my office did have a leak in early November. I'm still trying to get my office back into shape.  

 

And if you're a gamer who enjoys D&D, do you have feelings about WotC recent actions?

 

Projects done

I finished Mom's shrug on Saturday. I was going to go see Mom, but Aunt Flo visited with a vengeance. Out of three 109 yard skeins, I have 4 yards and 6 inches of yarn left. I have not idea what I'll do with those 4 yards. I do have the book about small knitted animals; I'll see if that's enough for a project.

I was on a roll, so I finally attached the icord tail to the loom knit kitty and embroidered a face on it. Not a great embroidery job, but it's done.

I finished watching the 4th season of Leverage and started the 5th (and final) season.

I was going to visit Mom on Saturday, but Aunt Flo kicked me in the uterus. Hard. So I went on Sunday. We just went to lunch, grocery shopping, and I printed out some new pictures for her. I hooked up her new ringer again and wow, it's loud. But that's effective.I also left a small photo of how her phone should look all hooked up.

Oh, have you  heard of Boil the Frog? It's like 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, sort of. It's a music playlist from one musician/band to another. It's not a complete list of musicians; no Kay Kyser and the Les Brown I found was the wrong Les Brown (motivational speaker, not the one with the Band of Renown. And no filk artists.

And my partner realized that our Blue Rose group is Mystery Inc (Scooby Doo). There's a 'talking dog' and friend who are both food obsessed, aka Rhy wolf and healer. There's someone who's the knowledge person, aka my diplomat. There's our strong person who handles transport; the horsewoman; and finally our 'finds the traps, by accident'; even though the traps are more social than physical, aka our soldier with 'the big, open heart, matched by his big, open mouth.'

I got some of mom's yarn while I was visiting. She doesn't crochet as much, and she wants to give me stuff, so I take some of her yarn. Right now, I'm doing a quick knit and purl scarf. It's a bulky yarn so it's nice and soft and squishy and warm. Picture later.

On the way home, I got to see the full moon on Sunday night. It was gorgeous, with moon dogs. But I was driving, so no pictures.

Snow Day

Work isn't opening until 10 am today, due to dangerously icy roads. It started snowing at 6 am yesterday morning, so roads were slick. Some people worked from home as a result. By the time I headed home in the afternoon, roads were wet and slushy. I headed home early because I knew, once the temperatures dropped, I did not want to be out.

I'm working on the baby booties but I have to open a ring. Here's a picture (before things went wrong).

 Last Friday was very cold, so this was the outer wear I wore. From left to right, my really long scarf, hat and earband, fleece mittens, gloves, and then my really warm coat.

I had three things in the mailbox on Monday. I got a letter back...ripped in half. I need to print out what I wrote and send it out again. A friend in New York sent me some of her basil oversupply. I also got Night Time drops from Smith Brothers.

I went looking last week and no one could find it to order it for me. I checked the Smith Brothers website and finally contacted customer service. She broke the news to me they had changed the formula, no more melatonin. I expressed my disappointment and she offered to look for any leftover samples. Guess what arrived! She found four packages from a display in the warehouse and sent them to me. Great customer service from Smith Brothers.

Dad got a letter from his sister, she had a box from one of Grandmother's sister. Inside were some letters from Grandma, one of which concerned a visit to us and mentioned me as a little girl. I think he plans to send me a copies.

Due to weather, our GM has cancelled our game tomorrow. Plans are still on for R's birthday supper. We tried to meet last week, but the weather and roads were too bad. We had our game on Sunday and it went pretty well. We got started late but had fun.

From C (after watching a crime procedural): 'It's blunt force trauma, maybe, I'm your CI, so call me, baby.'

Gaming/sci fi convention and Tat It And See

I spent most of this past weekend going to, at, or returning from Scarab con in Columbia, SC. We traveled down on Thursday and the con started on Friday. It takes advantage of the holiday on Monday to last for four days. We drove back today.

We played Pathfinder Society all weekend. I signed up to run a game Sunday night. We played only two session for each day. Part of that was the big game Saturday night was a Special and we haven't played the scenarios leading up to it.

About a month or so ago I checked the game sign ups online and didn't have anyone signed up for the game I had volunteered to run. I switched to a game with 7 people signed up to play. It's up the GM if they are willing to run with seven people at the table, but 6 is an easier number to handle. I signed up to GM, too; waitlisted. Since then, someone else signed up so we could have two tables of 4 people. With walk-ins, we had two tables of five people.

Jane's Tat It And See started January 7th but I totally missed the beginning. I could not find a button, without cutting one off a shirt. I finally found one, right before we left. On Sunday, I managed to get started. Five days were out so I did them all at once and took a picture after each stage and sent all five to Jane. I have a guess what the end result will be.

Day Five

Day Four

Day Three

Day Two

Day One

While I was standing in line, I was tatting a heart (clearing my shuttles for the TIAS) and someone noticed. She (Mary) was entranced and loves to crochet. I gave her some info about tatting (Here Be Tatters, Georgia Seitz, YouTube, InTatters) and the heart I'd made.





I've made progress on the knitted wristlet. I'm past the recommended 36 rows, where the thumb hole should be. Since 36 rows were too small, I've kept going. I need to measure my hand.

Sorry about the peculiar formatting. Editing on my tablet has odd results.

What do you mean it's only a week 'til Christmas?!

I still have shopping to do. Okay, some of it isn't 'due' until New Years'. And other stuff has been ordered (it just hasn't arrived yet). There's still quite a bit of wrapping to do but I've already been to one holiday party, with presents distributed and received.

My SO, C, has a use it or lose it leave policy, so he's taking a few days off this week. It will give him time to do some shopping, get his car stuff done, and play some games. I envy him. Of course, I have separate sick and vacation leave; sick leave that just stacks up. And above a certain point vacation hours become sick leave hours.

State Fair entry update: It turns out the judge(s) may have been confused and thought there was a separate category for tatted booties; like there is for crochet and knitting. Because there is no other category better suited for tatted booties than the one I entered.

I'm still working on the pink turtles. The first attempt with the new pink beads, well, the bead slipped out.

This is the turtle, with bead

These are earlier turtles (one went to Dad after Thanksgiving)

I need to put findings on my latest bracelet. Progress stalled when I realized I had run out of thread before I had run out of beads. Oops. I had to move the beads to the new thread, then join the threads, and finished tatting, before hiding the ends. The fun never ends.

One of the presents I received is Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel. I've just started and I have already had to look up two terms. 

Hero Forge has a 3D printer and they're not afraid to use it. They are offering customized miniatures. The basic, somewhat blocky, figure is $15. It's not very detailed. The one offering enough detail to make a good game figure is $25. Guess which one I want? They also have two larger sizes, but they don't interest me particularly. Although if I had a character who was often enlarged, the one size up would be fun to have. They also have an option of you creating your figure and then saving it. You can create, then return to it to fine tune it, before buying it.


It isn't perfect. Some of the hairstyles are limited (I didn't see any styles that involved kinky hair nor were there any side braids) but there is a wide range of faces/features. And the build/bodies have a sliding scale; your character can be short and buff or short and skinny or tall and buff or tall and buxom, etc. And they don't have mounted options. Yet. Maybe they will in the future.

Middle of the 'scarf'

End of the 'scarf'

When visiting friends up north, we visited a paint your own pottery place. I finally got to paint a yarn bowl. I picked it out and then couldn't decide what to paint on it. I finally got the simplistic idea of painting a ball of yarn in the bottom. I added a strand going to the yarn slot. What to put on the outside, though? It came to me! A scarf. I painted a knitted scarf going around the outside of the bowl, starting at the yarn slot.

 

See? Yarn ball!

Pictures

thread color: marble?

thread color: falling leaves

First, here's some tatting. The bookmark patterns are by Karey Solomon. The thread is size 20 Lizbeth. The snood is from an old Workbasket magazine. 

Now, here's some nature shots

A couple weeks ago I volunteered at the community garden sponsored by my employer (garden is tended by volunteers and lowest income employees get the produce). The work was what I expected; composting, weeding and dusting plants with organic bug killer. I ached for 2 days.

This past weekend was ConTemporal; Steampunk themed convention. I played 2 Pathfinder Society games, ran 1 (We Be Goblins), and ran two Spirit of the Century games. I went to a couple panels (wish I'd gone to more),  socialized and toured the dealer's room. I met some old friends and made some new ones.

I've been tatting a number of bookmarks recently; for my stepmother, for a coworker who left, etc. Now I'm working on a snood. I can't find my white one (I'm sure it's somewhere really safe), and I'll need it for the Fair. C bought me a crocheted one at the Con this weekend. I desperately needed it. The AC was having issues and I was wearing a lot of clothes; my neo-Victorian outfit. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of myself. Other folks took some, so there's at least 1 floating out there...somewhere.

There's a lot more, but that's enough for one post. Later, I'll report more coherently on my Spirit of the Century games.

Do you play, or have you ever played, tabletop RPGs?

Or if you know someone who does or did; then here's a blog about a survey: http://www.mediafire.com/?dvrtdmco8l55hq6. It's long, about 125 questions. But fill it out and email it to the guy, by the end of February. He wants a snapshot of gamers before D&D 5e comes out.

I'm trying out Mythic GM Emulator. I'm reading through it and figuring out how/what applies to my Blue Rose character. I'll let you know the results once I've actually played through it a little.

I finished tatting a chicken. Yes, a chicken. I need to block it before I photograph it, though. I still haven't set up my Etsy shop. I need to figure out what my policies are going to be and take some really good pictures of my bracelets, first.

My sock continues. I'm well past the heel now and working on the ankle. I'm halfway to the absolute minimum ankle length.

I'm taking part in a Month of Letters. I'm sending letters or cards to 24 people; one for every postal day in the month of February. I've mailed off 4 of them (I was little early on the 4th one so I wouldn't miss it). I've already gotten word that my 1st one has arrived. I've written two more (plus one I've lost), so I'm maintaining well.

I've been making a few bracelets. Not a lot, because I've been distracted, but a couple. Here's Pearly Girl (thanks to the nice lady who named it for me).

I've started one in pale pink with purple beads.

I've taken some sky/cloud pictures and some flower pictures.

frost bitten pansy

touch of blue

And the clouds came rolling in

The sun sets

clouds like scurrying sheep

Very red

Wild Rose

December Rose

I've made a Blue Rose character (not that I expect to play her any time in the near future, but I can wish, right?). I'm reading Wu Xing: The Ninja Crusades, with the intention of reviewing it. I bought the new game The One Ring, set 5 years after the events in The Hobbit (by J.R.R. Tolkien if you've been living under a rock or not from an English speaking country).

Saw both parents at Thanksgiving (no, this is not typical and hasn't been since they separated when I was 6). Dad came by for lunch on Thanksgiving Day; thank you, K&W for being open so I didn't have to cook. I at supper with the SO's parents. I was supposed to donate platelets on Friday but I got a migraine; and aspirin means no platelet donation. I went to Mom's for the weekend. We went to only 2 stores; an AC Moore & a thrift shop. I did pick up some new audiobooks.

I found out the cassette tape iPod accessory in my car doesn't work so well anymore. All that noise was not coming from my car stereo, after all. My car stereo is old enough to be in college, so I wasn't surprised when the noise quality declined. Except, those pops and static were from the cassette hooked up to my iPod. I've been listening to some audiobooks instead.

I took part in NaNoWriMo. I wasn't expecting to hit the 50,000 words, I just wanted to finish my short story. And I did. I'm going to wait until the new year to look at it again and start the editing process but I have a beginning, a middle and an end. The end desperately needs work, but it's there.

I've started reading Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series. Bluntly, the blurb for the first book turned me off. But I've enjoyed her Guild Hunter series so much, I decided to give her other series a try. I've read the 1^st two books now and I'm looking for the 3^rd.

I just read a book by a new (to me) author, Jessica Sims. Or is it Jennifer? Anyway, the book title is Beauty Dates the Beast. It's an entertaining book and I'm looking forward to the next one.

I figured out what to get my mom for Christmas. I found a really good source for hair henna. Unlike what she used to use, this stuff won't turn her white hair to neon orange.

I'm still working on what to get Dad. He might get a stove or something for a reservation resident. I'll have to look. I think he might like a charity gift this year. I saw a book I thought he'd like. I was right, too bad someone already loaned him a copy.

I have an idea for my brother (he was the 1^st one I figured, I just need to order it). But I'm at a loss for my sister-in-law. My niece will be getting a new pair of earbuds and maybe a bracelet made to order. If I find an interesting cd, she might get that, too. Maybe.

I have a couple things for the SO already. But there's still quite a few people I'd like to get something for them. I need to pull out my list and make decisions.

The VCR died. Or maybe just the tape that's in it did. The tape is kind of hanging from the VCR, like a cat holding a mouse by its tail. There went my copy of Strictly Ballroom.

Last night I went to a presentation about Chang and Eng Bunker. Do you know who they were? They were the original Siamese twins. They took a physical drawback, and it was severe (the King of Siam almost had them beheaded for being a 2-headed Chinese demon) and became businessmen. They were sharp, too. They were successful enough to buy a good tobacco farm in North Carolina. They married and had full lives. They were articulate and made sure all their kids had a good education.

WARNING: Politics Ahead

This is a speech before the Iowan Congress