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. 

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!