Motif 12

This is a heart that Gina recently posted on her Tatting Goddess blog. It was designed by Dorcas Newkirk, all rings are split rings but the point of the heart. Very neat design! Thanks Dorcas for sharing the pattern, and thanks Gina for showing it to us. Mine is tatted in thread that is probably a wildflowers by Caron, about a size 20, a soft thread that needs to be tatted loosely to close the rings easily. The beautiful colors make it worth the effort. Yep the picots on the right side are bigger than the left, took me awhile to get even tension going. Must be too much knitting lately and not enough tatting. Need to fix that.

Spinning

My middle daughter has become a spinner, yipee, Sarah! Dad gave her a used ashford wheel for Christmas and she is doing well for not having one on one help. Wishing I lived closer. She sent this picture of her first yarns, singles, still needs to learn to ply. I can tell there is some improvement in the yarn on the right, it's more consistent. The family cats seem to be a spinning issue, won't leave her alone, playing with the foot pedal, the wheel the fiber. Today they found the lazy kate and had a great time unwinding all the bobbins and knotting it all into a mess. Bad kitties, hehehe

Felted Purse

This purse was an asked for Christmas gift for my youngest daughter. Being an art fine arts major she had to help choose the colors and pattern style, four wool greens lt, med, mixed, and mixed darks, and add six fancy yarns, ribbon, fuzzy, or slubbed decorator yarns, almost all from existing stash and knit in many combinations of a wool and a fancy together. Lots of ends, but with felting projects, just pull all ends into the center and forget them, after felting they get cut short, simple no hassle. Using large needles this knit fabric grew so fast it was amazing, and at it's unfelted beginnings it was so large it was just plain funny. I gave this a heavy shrink so it is a nice sturdy purse, hope she decides to use it, as it would have made a pretty sweater unfelted, just loved the colors, mmm greens, bits of brown and hints of turquoise.

Housewives

Before Christmas I was busy making housewives, all but one have gone on to better homes. The red celestial to a local tatting guild friend, the butterflies to a far away tatting friend, and the sunflowers to my daughter a tatter. I'm wishing I had taken final pictures with the beaded fobs, pin felts, and other decorations, just as a record for future use. The garden cat one is still unfinished and may become a knitting house wife for me. I do have a picture of a tatted flutter from the butterfly wife, this will be motif #11 in my challenge. It is a variations of an Adelheid Dangela book Tatted Butterflies, I love that little book. It is tatted in size eighty thread with size 15 beads added around the edges, fun.

Warning whine zone ahead!
Speaking of housewives, I sick of being treated as a stupid housewife, a dumb woman, or an unequal to men person. I go to put my car insurance in my name, fine but they phone him and ok it imediately after I leave, grrrr, would they do that to a man. I can't take my cell phone number to my new provider unless he handles the exchange because it's in his name, grrrrrrrr, notice the grrr is getting longer. I go downtown to the housing authority to handle my missing rent checks and transfer paper work , but now I'm not a valid person, he must do it even if it is now my property, grrrrrrrrrrrrr. Maybe if I was six and a half foot tall, big and hairy, loud and rude, with a overgrown mustache, I would get some respect, hmmp. Gotta work on that, hehe.

Socks X 4

Look, things have been so weird I even forgot I've knitted not one but two pair of socks this month. Socks are such an addiction, I should start a ten step group to kick sock knitting. It's more widespread than most think, this addiction, must have more sock yarn, ahhh, stroke the nice soft sock yarn, oooo look at the pretty colors of sock yarn, relax and sooth yourself with some sock yarn. Be warned normal people, we are a big group, hahaha, perhaps we will one day rule the world and there will be no worries or wars in a world where every store carries SOCK YARN.

Pictures

Ok I promised Pictures, so here is the Christmas ball I tatted for Maureen. The pattern was an ad lib from a Mary Konior design out of her Lace whatever book. Duh, dang it, give me 6 weeks and I've almost forgotten how to do this ball and can't even remember the name of the book, it's on the shelf somewhere. Clearly the shelf is more organized than my brain lately and I can't find the book to correct the name. Ok there is a small motif that is done in mignonette, the bottom of the ball is that pattern, but don't increase the mignonette rows, do about nine rows or whatever needed to reach around the ball, finish ends off. The top is a version of the bottom but starts on a later row to make it open for the hanger to peak through. Connect picots on second row of top to the bottom, be sure to slide ball in before it gets to tight, and fumble your way through the rest of the round connecting top to bottom while tatting and holding the glass ball in your hand. No cussing allowed, do it over carpet because it is going to get dropped, also a spiked drink helps with concentration and patience, hehe. This is motif #10.

MIA

Wow I can't believe I've been MIA, missing internet activity for two months but life does manage to get in the way. First it was everything I was working on was for a Christmas present and could not be shown, now I can. Pictures coming soon! Then come January I'm struggling with the legal issues of my separation and up coming dissolution. Dissolution is an interesting word, it says nothing, dis_solution, not a solution at all, a non solution. How can a couple who can not communicate and live together be expected to agree on how to divide 28 years of life.
This month I have been knitting and spinning, a pair of socks in a cotton wool blend, and some fingerless mitts in a merino and silk handspun. So I have not given up on my creating. It seems to be the biggest part of who I am, the need to create seems to be there always, calling me to another pattern, fiber, bead, or thread. Those who don't have this need, what are they missing? What do they do in the evenings? I can't even imagine, my need is too great.