just pictures

I just downloaded a bunch of pictures. Someday maybe I'll bring myself to make an actual post.

Knitting and Tatting and Holidays

Valentine's day did not go smoothly this year. It seems someone stole my present. CD ordered it, and he showed me a picture, but it was (according to tracking) delivered the Saturday before the 14th, but we didn't see any sign of it. And I told CD what I want to get him (a novelty t-) but I couldn't remember which one. We both liked Mordor Fun Run, but there was one he commented on and I couldn't remember which one. However, he did bring some some chocolate covered strawberries and a box of chocolates from a great candy store downtown.

And half-price candy day was a disappointment. The shelves were so bare.

I went to see Mom. She fell out of bed and broke her arm. Her right arm again, but this time it wasn't her elbow. And she's somewhere they'll handle her food, and PT, and pain  meds. I bought her a wedge pillow. She could use one of those stand up recliners, but something would have to come out of her apartment and I can't do that on my own. The wedge pillow, I could do.

The weather was lousy, heavy rain at times. But at least I made there and back safely. We didn't do much. We mostly sat around. I got her dvd player to work again and put in a copy of Last of the Summer Wine. She loves that show and even if it's an episode she remembers, she enjoys it.

I submitted my teacher application to Palmetto Tat Days (thank you, TotusMel). We'll see if it's one they will use or not.

I did more tatting for quilt squares.

The pink squares I made earlier have gone AWOL. I've made more but I need to get them in the mail.

I wanted an instant gratification knitting project, so I made a little bag. It's got a texture; garter zigzag, but the thread colors completely hide it. Ah well.

The weather is really warm; I didn't bother with a jacket today. And  yesterday was so foggy, I turned wrong on the way to my park and ride.

And I have to say something about Parkland, FL. If I am shot, please feel free to politicize my death for gun control (let CDC study gun violence, mandatory waiting periods, history of domestic violence being a bar to gun purchases, etc).

And remember these kids who are survivors are the same age the kids from Sandy Hook would be if they'd survived. And they'll be old enough to vote soon.

Autumn Breeze was sick so we skipped our usual date. We had it last night instead. It was lovely.

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.

Another week, another post

Thursday was Deadlands again. We had another combat and my character, Alis got in some good shots, and got poisoned. It was fun to use her magic gun to shoot the bad woman's bow out of her hands (hey, she used it to shoot Alis with a snake arrow).

I'm still working on my Blue Rose character. I am reading the world background to fine tune her. I think I will end up changing a couple things, make them into goals instead of accomplishments. I do have most of her family plotted out and her immediate family have names.

my mom crocheted the dice bag, yes there's a metallic filament

 Saturday was Tri-Tatters. Leigh (of somethingunderthebed.com fame) had the second newsletter, with my article about the Bath Tatting Book. I hope someone who reads it finds it helpful. We had 12 people at the meeting, including two people who are learning to tat. One of them brought some of her grandmother's lace. She had some lovely hairpin lace, crochet lace, and a bit of tatting.

I finally figured out TotusMel's pattern she's letting me use. The problem isn't with her pattern; it's that it works really well with needle tatting and take some adjustment to make it work with a shuttle.

However, I cannot find my pink squares for Belgium. Argh! I know what container they're in but I can't find the container.

I haven't started on the 2018 TIAS yet. I've been distracted by my other projects (including CD's scarf, up to 20"+ now).

Sunday it was chilly and rainy so I didn't work on my car. I hope I'll get something done on it, soon.

CD and I watched a movie with Herman's Hermits. He likes the band. The movie was kind of 'meh' but it had some good music. However, quite nicely, it did not have a villain. It was very nice.

Today was part 1 of of a training, Mental Health First Aid. It was mostly what to look for and some of the risk factors for depression and/or anxiety. Tomorrow is part 2, practice and practical.

There were snow flurries this morning. And my neighbor's Bradford pear is blooming. And I think I saw a cherry tree blooming, too (it was pink blossoms and a tree).

Two Weeks in a Row, I'm on a Roll

I went back to work on Friday, and that was a bit of an adventure. The road slush froze overnight on Thursday, so work didn't open until noon. I didn't want to drive to the park & ride (see: slushy roads) and my usual bus doesn't run in the middle of the day. But I checked the trip scheduler online and found a bus to take from home to the park and ride. I made it, just in time and got to work 45 minutes early. I wasn't supposed to report yet, and I was hungry. I ate lunch and then went to work.

I stayed home on Saturday (and did some ridiculous prep for my upcoming Blue Rose character). Sunday, I drove to see Mom. Some of the residents have flu or flu-like symptoms, so it was visit at your own risk. I
took her shopping and finally got her stuff to wash her dishes (dish drain, dish cloth, etc). It was t-shirt and light jacket or (in my case) shawl weather. I wore my house of swank "Winter can kiss my butt' shirt and got a couple compliments on it.

These are the acorn squash I made for various holiday dining events. They were tasty. Acorn squash, brown sugar, maple syrup, butter, and a touch of salt.

CD's scarf is up to 21". I managed to break my loom, so while Mom and I were out shopping, we went by JoAnne's and I bought a replacement. I also bought some glue, which was my first choice. I managed to glue the loom back together, I hope it stays fixed.













 I want to work on a temperature scarf. I could do it for this year, I'm only behind 23 days (plus however long until I find/buy the yarn). 

Tonight, I went with my co-worker, MB, to water aerobics. She's been going for over a year now. This was only the second time I've gone. It's a really good work out. Last time I wore a skirted swimsuit but the skirt kept floating up and getting in my way. I bought a new one and it's really cute. It zips up the front so I know it won't slip off. However, the base of the zipper isn't well padded and the end of the coil kept scratching me.

Here are some pictures and videos of the snow.

Snow Day

It's been cold. And we have snow two weeks in a row. I need to ask my Dad if he is having flashbacks to when he first moved to North Carolina. Apparently it snowed every Wednesday the first January after my parents moved to North Carolina.

This time we lost power for about four hours. However, I was dressed warmly, have blankets, and the house's insulation is decent. The snow is also insulating, which helped. I barely got chilly, but when the sun set, I napped. I woke up about 5 minutes before the power came back on.

At least I'm not an American alligator.

I have more than 18" of CD's scarf done. I only have 30" to go. My cables are blargh, but they are my first cables, so it's not a surprise they are loose. Autumn Breeze showed me how to tighten them, but I don't do that until the scarf is done.

I'm working on my class for Palmetto Tat Days. TotusMel was fabulous and let me have one of her patterns. However, she needle tats and I shuttle tat. I am translating it and this is one that needle tatting makes easier (oooh, shocking).

And here's a neat graphic about US immigration over time.

Our Deadlands game is drawing to a close. I'll have to say goodbye to Alis Reeves. She's been entertaining to play. (and I love this picture of her. If you're interested in commissioning the artist, I have her contact info).

DR, the GM, has said he wants to run Blue Rose next. He had been trying to decide between Blue Rose and another game but when I posted 'for my next fantasy game PC, I want to play a woman with adult children, who now that her kids are out of the house is going to fulfill her dream of being an adventurer.' Nahla is about 40 years old, a widow with three children. The youngest is 17, and is a journey craftsperson. Her oldest is married with a child of his own. I also did Nahla's extended family, more plot hooks for DR. Hmm, now that I have an idea what Nahla looks like, I need to ask the artist if she has time for another commission.

I'm still working on my State Fair entry idea. I keep getting distracted by other projects.

Mom is still doing okay. I've convinced her to get out and walk about the halls to get some exercise. The last couple times we went shopping, she was worn out halfway through the 1st store. However, she's really sick right now. She got hit by some stomach bug, which is just miserable.

SR loaned me 3 seasons of The Librarians. I've been watching it and enjoying it immensely.

There was a screw up at the blood drive at UNC (they scheduled appointments right up to the point of 'needles out, not taking anyone else' -which since no one get seen immediately is a definite mistake) and I got turned away by the Red Cross. I went ahead and scheduled a platelets donation during the UNC closed day (no holiday pay). It took 4 hours. And by the way, when your lips and fingers tingle, you NEED the tums. Or unpleasant things happen. I had 4 minutes to go. Ugh. Next time, I need to up my calcium intake a couple days beforehand. At least they can use what I donated. But I can't donate again until late February. Which is annoying but not too bad. Except there's a shortage of blood and the Red Cross has called me 3 times this month. 

I got sick the week of Thanksgiving. I went into work on Monday long enough to check there was nothing needing my attention. I canceled lunch plans with my Dad and had supper with CD's parents. And fell asleep after eating. I was still recovering. I was still a little sick the Monday after, but I felt well enough to go to work without worrying about a relapse.

My Halloween costume

I wanted to practice split chains so I did this tiny basket by Sue Hanson. I messed up but the final result is a cute variation. And yes, it's very tiny.

At work, we went to visit Ramses. We talked to the family who hosts him, and his little herd of goat companions, and his girlfriend and lambs.

Tri Tatters had our 10th anniversary. That's the cake one of the members made. I made lace cookies. They were incredibly sweet, but good. And fast to make.

I'm still having trouble connecting my iPad to my laptop to download pictures.

My 4th place ribbon for my beanile necklace.

I just like how raindrops look on this leaf.

Still haven't posted

And as time goes on, it gets harder to post. I need to do a 'what's happened while I haven't been posting' post to summarize everything and then just get on with it. Maybe I'll manage that this weekend.

Finally got my tablet to connect

I had to hold the cord into place, but it worked. And I had lots and lots of pictures to download so it took a couple tries to get them all.

And it's too much to deal with right now.

I'm tired

not enough sleep the past few days. Still can't get pics from my iPad. sorry. State Fair. no ribbon for bobeche. necklace got 4th

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.

Spaced Last Week and Forgot to Post

I played Deadlands again and caught up with what happened in the session I missed. Our characters are now in Sioux territory so the white characters are at a distinct disadvantage, my character at a lesser one. We made it to town at least.

My Starfinders book came in. I've been reading it a bit and creating a character. I haven't gotten through as much as I thought I would. 

Saturday was the mini maker's faire at Wake Tech. We had a good time. I made a bookmark to take to the family reunion as a door prize. The coverage Wake Tech had used our picture as the 1st one (see the link). Pretty cool, huh?

The bookmark pattern is from the Moonlit shuttle packaging. The fabric triangle was made by Katie (3rd from the right in the photo). She made one for each of us to catch our thread bits.

Sunday I made the apple and sweet potato dish for the family reunion and went to take a shower while it baked. I was all dressed and about to go out the door when suddenly I felt sick. I felt bad enough I wasn't up to going. I called my cousin Joy so they wouldn't be looking for me and getting worried.

The following Monday was the big sustainability event at work. I helped Claire man the table. Her husband made a really cool frame for the poster, out of bamboo.

I missed the 2nd exercise class. I missed the 1st one because I wasn't dressed appropriately. I made it to Thursday's class, and it was body sculpt. The instructor did a good job of providing instructions for the less fit (like me). She did occasionally use terms without defining them.

This past Saturday, I went to see mom. I took her a few things; some nuts, some chocolate, some chamomile tea, some soda, etc.

We went to JoAnne's. I'm looking for some j-hook beading needles. Michael's near me doesn't have them. Neither did the JoAnne's near mom. We picked up one or two items, because they were on sale, and stuff I'd get anyway. But mom got tired pretty soon, so we sat down and looked through the costume patterns. Some looked really good and some you'd have to pay me lots of money to make. And some I still wouldn't.

We also went by a thrift shop. Again, Mom got tired pretty quickly. I told her she needs to start walking the halls to build up her stamina again. 
 
Sunday,  CD and I ran errands. We also went with RG and her dog to the park to go walking. Well, they went walking. I wasn't wearing the right shoes to go walking. So I sat at a bench and tatted and read while they walked. When they came back to me, I went to the bathroom. RG's dog was very upset by this. From the noises she made, you'd think I was torturing the poor canine.

I'm almost finished my 1st Fair tatting project. I have about 10 chains or so left. I made progress on my beanile necklace. I don't know if I'll get my 3r project done or not. We'll see.

POLITICS
So #45 made more stupid comments, about Puerto Rico, NFL players, etc. Although his statements re: the NFL players were actually illegal.

And how many more mass shootings and terrorist attacks like the one in Las Vegas will it take before Congress grows a spine and stands up the NRA or the NRA gets some common sense instead of knee jerk 'all guns good, all gun control bad.'


I called the office of one of my senators (I called both, but left a message on one but no one ever answers in that office). I was upset when I called. By the time I was off the phone, I was furious. The person who answered the phone really needs customer service training. I started the call saying "I want to express my opinion" and he wanted to debate. When I interrupted him to tell him I wasn't finished and to let me continue because my time is short he interrupted me. I actually got rude and told him to shut up and stop interrupting me. He got snippy about me not being civil. I told him to stop interrupting me and I would be. I actually called back and told him that him interrupting me like that made him look sexist (which I doubt he believed, but since I doubt he'd do that to a man, I think it does).

Later on, I called the same office to leave a message and told them he needed customer service training on how to deal with upset callers. After all, Republicans are in the same dog bed as Trump and those who lie down with dogs will get up with fleas, so they need to be prepared to deal with flea bites.