Interesting Question

So, Sally of Tat's Heaven had a lovely giveaway in honor of the Feast of St. Cecilia who is the patron saint of music.  She also gave away a beautiful window sticker in celebration of her 180th post - which I am thrilled to say I won.  For entries, she asked that posters let her know what type of music they like to listen to and as I typed what used to be my answer to that question, I realized that recently my music choices have changed dramatically.  I used to love jazz singers and forty's torch songs and soft pop and rock.  Now I am starting to prefer bluegrass and mountain music (both of which I loved as a teenager) more.  Most of all, though, I love listening to real live people in the same room with me play, especially my two very musically oriented daughters.  When I read today that I had won the sticker, I remembered that over the Thanksgiving Holiday my Girl Far From Home had been playing music for me and I had recorded it.  I recorded both fiddle (forgive the vibrating strings, she needs new ones) and dulcimer, but she hadn't practiced the dulcimer in some months and so I won't post that video here but you can hear her play and sing "Who Can Sail" on her dulcimer here if you are so inclined.

One More Done

this blanket will happen . . . someday.

I finished the third square on the way home from the Beach on Friday.  I'm going to start the blue and peach one, but it won't be finished anytime soon because I have some Christmas gifts to knit and one to tat.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm feeling very thankful today. I am thankful that my own little family is all together, happy and healthy. I'm thankful for the family who is here with us in our hearts if not our arms. I'm thankful for the beach and for the beach house that we can't sell or rent or afford to keep. I'm thankful for my knitting and tatting and spinning. I'm thankful for friends close and far and in cyber space.

I hope everyone who reads this has something to be thankful for and I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

The Beach

Knitting & Tatting

Marilyn

I ripped out the Marilyn square that I had in progress. The cast on edge was done wrong, long tail, and was causing that side to lay funny. I cast on again tonight . . .

So Psyched

STITCHES South Schedule
Thursday Class Classroom Teacher 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM 618-3 - Fiendishly Difficult Stitches   Saarniit, Merike
Friday 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM 664-3 - Twisted Traveling Stitches   Zilboorg, Anna 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM 369-3 - Secrets of the Schematic   Sulcoski, Carol
Saturday 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM 663-6 - Knitting Lace; Estonian Style   Saarniit, Merike
Sunday 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM 129-3 - Color without Theory   Zilboorg, Anna

From Jonathon

Here is Jonathon's view of our wonderful blog

Jonathon's Opinion


Remember this when it comes to Christmas Gifting

New Shuttles to be

I lost one of my tatted shuttles the last time I drove up to see Girl Far From Home.  I didn't just misplace it, I permanently and irrevocably lost it.  It was my favorite tatted shuttle because it was the blue one and I don't know why it was my favorite because they are both the same size, shape, weight, etc . . . but it was my favorite.  I'm going to miss that shuttle.

At least until some of these motifs are made into shuttles.  I'm getting three new tatted shuttles.  The shuttles I currently have are exactly the same as the red and white motifs.  I think I want the new ones bigger.  I like shuttles a little bigger so I can put more thread on them and not worry about trying to hide more ends than I absolutely have to hide.  I'm not very good at hiding ends - in fact, I'm really bad at it.

The top row of motif's is dry and the bottom wet because when these are made into shuttles, they will look like they look when wet.  I don't think I'm doing anything with the red and white.  The multi color thread -red, yellow, blue and green - came from Mom's house.  I'm not sure what she used it for, but I think it was quite old.  I had to remove the outside of the ball because it had smoke damage from when the house caught on fire but after winding off a bit, I found the inside was ok and it didn't even smell of smoke.  The purples are the Grape Punch thread that Lace-Lovin' Librarian sent me.  I love this thread and I think it's seriously cool that I will have a shuttle that a friend had a hand in - I used the shuttle she sent to tat those motifs too.  The blues on the end are some new thread I got from Handy Hands just the other day.  I love this color and it will replace the blue one that I loved and lost.

Lace-Lovin' Librarian just had to show off her Handy Hands goodies . . . and I didn't have the willpower to resist after I read her blog - barely had the will power after I read the Handy Hands Email and checked out the site the first time.  I didn't do as much damage as Diane did though.  I got one of the ball holders in pink and a matching pink shuttle and then a sea green shuttle because, well, you need at least two, don't you?  The ball holder came with a ball of Zebra (148) - size 20 and I bought two other size 20 balls one in Autumn Spice (136) and Blue River Glades (164).  I love both colors but I had to have a blue shuttle, so I used the Blue River Glades to make the motifs for the third tatted shuttle.

In other news, Girl Far From Home arrived home in one piece last night - drove herself this time so I didn't have to make the trek to pick her up.

We baked the annual family fruit cakes today - always fun when the Whole Family gets together to make them.

Girl Far From Home harvested two tomatoes from her plant today - there are about a dozen more on the plant in various stages of ripeness.  Her plant is in the greenhouse, but we still haven't had our first frost here - at least not in my yard.  The sweet potatoes are still growing - see the little potato sticking it's nose out of the ground?  There are still peppers growing on the pepper plants - think that one is a serano and can actually be picked now but it's still growing so I'll leave it until it really is going to freeze.  There are still galapagos tomatoes growing though I'm not sure they'll have enough time to finish growing and ripen before we do finally get a frost.  Everything slows down so much at this time of year that even without a frost, it's pretty much a given that we are done harvesting.

At some point this week, we are going to the beach house for Thanksgiving.  I do love going there for holidays, just wish Girl Far From Home had more time to spend with her friends.

Gorgeous!

Look what came in the mail yesterday!  It's that Gorgeous shuttle that Lace-lovin' Librarian made and offered in a giveaway on her blog last week.  I won and she had it in the mail and here in record time!  

I have to say that the pictures do not do it justice.  And I love that it has no point . . . those things are dangerous.  I really love it, Thank you so much Diane!

What's more, she included a lovely hank of HDT.  I am pretty sure it's Yarn Player's thread.  It's size 30 and the color is called Grape Punch.  It's a wonderful combination of purples and pinks.

I wasted absolutely no time (well, I did have to wait until after supper) in winding that thread onto an ez bob and the shuttle and started tatting with it.  I think it will make some lovely tatted shuttles and since I need to replace the one I lost . . . . well, here goes!

I wasted even less time starting the tatted motif's for the shuttles.  One is done (except the ends) and the second is started.  The shuttle is very nice to use and the thread is wonderful.  I usually use size 20, but this is working fine for me so maybe I shall start using more size 30 thread.  (I'm not up to 40 yet, at least I don't think so.)

Thank you so very much Diane - this was a very special gift.

Found it!

As I suspected it was in the bottom of a knitting bag that I am not currently using.  I had looked in there twice but because the shuttle was in a little silk bag, I didn't see it.  The other one is lost forever, but at least I still have this one.  I'm still going to have two more made.

Video Tatting Group!

Diane (Lace-Lovin' Librarian), Michelle (Tela Magistrae), Cindy (A Happy Bluebird), Dena (Stitching 'n' Knitting) and I all met this morning for a video chat tatting session.  We overcame a few technical difficulties (well, we did lose one participant due to technical difficulties) and then we had a terrific time.  

Michelle and Cindy taught the rest of us how to do Single Shuttle Split Rings . . . which I have needed to learn for a long time.  Now I'm going to go make a dragon!

Then we tried to work on Split Chains but they were too difficult to do over a video chat and the teacher didn't really know what she was doing well enough to teach well.  Maybe she'll be better prepared next time.

When is next time going to be?

And just for the sake of posterity, I want everyone to know that this is my very first blog post made on the new iMac computer.  I had a devil of a time finding the pictures after I edited them.  I still have a LOT to learn about this crazy machine!

Tatting Shuttle Organization

First of all, I want to say I'm ready.  Dena and I are attending a meeting of the Minnesota tatter's group (Cindy/Happy Bluebird and Michelle/Tela Magistae) this morning and I am so excited!

Next, a finished (well, almost) object.  Another Convolvulus bookmark from Mary Konior's Tatting In Lace which is a book I love!  And I love this pattern.

Diane (Lace-Lovin' Librarian) posted about her lovely shuttle collection and storage the other day and it got me thinking.  I've completely lost (as in dropped it in a hotel room I think) one of my 'tatted shuttles' from the Shuttle Shop and I've misplaced (at least I hope that's all) my other one.  I was hunting and searching for my favorite one and couldn't find it either.  So I decided that I really needed to organize my collection - such as it is - so I can find shuttles when I want them.  I have quite a few shuttles, not nearly as many as Diane but I haven't been at it as long as she has either.

There are the old Boye metal ones with hooks and bobbins.  I don't use them because I don't like hooks or bobbins but I didn't know that when I started out. 

These are some Just-Right shuttles.  They have a bobbin, but it's not removable - they open up for filling.  I like them better than the old Boyes, but still not as much as some others.  They get little use from me, but they are my youngest daughter's favorites.

There are the clovers which are inexpensive, easy to find and fit just right in the hand.

 There are the tortoiseshell clovers which for some reason I like better than the colorful clovers.

 There are the sewmate or lacis shuttles which I absolutely love!  They are a little bigger than the clovers but not huge.  All of mine have the point and I prefer no point or hook usually but these don't bother me.  I really should order some without the points, but I haven't yet.

 This is an inexpensive ($2 I think) immitation aero that I bought to see if I liked it.  I didn't like it so I didn't buy any of the more expensive aero shuttles.

I have a few vintage shuttles, some work better than others . . .

I bought a couple of huge Tatsy shuttles . . . 

A few celtic shuttles . . . 

The decorated shuttle on the left was a gift from Happy Bluebird in an exchange, the blue my daughter decorated and the white is a favorite . . .

The two pewter Lady Hoare shuttles were made for me by my daughter and the vintage boye bobbin came from Mother . . .

These are ceramic Lady Shuttlemaker shuttles.  One (I think the flowers) is mine, one is Girl Far From Home's and the last is for That Other Girl.  They are lovely and I don't know why I haven't used them yet.

These are my wooden shuttles.  The two big ones on the top are from Old Tyme Antiques and the tips are not tight.  The red, white & blue is a diamondwood and one of my favorites - it was lost but now is found.  The one with the butterfly is one from "I'm in the Garage" made with the Rev. Awdry ceder tree.  The one next to it with the black dot is one of the original 'Winder Shuttle' made by Chris Hinton of the Shuttle Shop.  The one with the dragon is also a Shuttle Shop shuttle with Anne Bruvold's dragon etched on it.  The last one is lovely but I'm not sure where I got it.

So, I had this tackle organizer thing that I bought years ago to hold circular knitting needles.  I didn't like it for knitting needles mostly because I had way too many to ever fit in this - they are now stored in a box and I'm not showing that because nobody should have that many knitting needles and I'm not admitting that I do.

Inside are a bunch of heavy duty zip lock bags that are held in place by reinforced plastic bits with holes for the rings to go through.  The numbers were written on there when Mom used it briefly for knitting needles.

It holds my collection of shuttles nicely - especially if you ignore the size numbers.

(The ceramic Lady Shuttlemaker shuttles are in the box so they don't break.)

And, because I have a small collection, it closes.
Now I just have to find the rest of the misplaced shuttles - especially the "Tatted" one.