Month in Review: January

So how did I do so far on my goals for the year?  Well, in January, I managed to do the following

• Knit 2 hats
• Wrote a flash fiction of 997 words
• Wrote my monthly article for Home & School Mosaics of 441 words
• Wrote 7877 words in "Perfect Love"
• Exercised  20 days
• Tatted ½ a cross bookmark (it was already started) and started another (got ¼ done)
• Read I and II Thessalonians

TIAS -The End!

Here is my finished train ☺

TIAS - Day Ten

So this is what my TIAS looks like now.  Still thinking choo-choo train!

TIAS - Day Nine

Here is my TIAS after Day 9.  Still not looking like much this way.

But if you turn it this way, it looks like the start of a train engine:

TIAS - Day Eight

Here I am continuing to have no clue!  

TIAS - Day Seven

No idea!  But we used the 2 picots on the flower motif and now we have a new one!

TIAS - Day Six

I'm not sure how many more days are left in the TIAS, but we still have at least the 2 free picots on the "flower" motif to join to!

TIAS - Day Five

After Day 5, my TIAS is reminding me of paisley!

TIAS - Day Four

Here is what my TIAS looks like after today's installment....

TIAS - Day Three

Here is what my TIAS looks like after Day 3.

TIAS - Day Two

Here is my TIAS project for Day two.  I'm thinking it looks like a princess tiara at the moment ☺

TIAS - Day One

I am participating in a TIAS (Tat It And See) where a small portion of the pattern is revealed each day until the whole project is finished.  The patterns are given here and you can look here to see other people's progress on their TIAS.  I am using some of the thread that I hand dyed.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Tuesday was my 41st birthday.  How that is possible is hard to be believe!  It seems like I just got out of college!  Although the aches and pains I have beg to differ!  

Tuesdays are one of Dan's days off, so he and I went out for lunch and a movie.  I think the last time we went out for a movie was for Dan's birthday in May.  The movie theater is across the street from Hobby Lobby, so I made him take me (hehe!) I browsed through the yarn and then picked out some tatting threads.  They also had the new kind of tatting shuttle.  I told Dan that he could buy them for my birthday (he isn't very big on gifts).

Sarah Tats!

Sarah came into the room and told me, "I want you to teach me to tat".  So I dug out 2 colors of yarn and off she went!  This was after about half an hour of practice.  She still needs to improve, but she's on her way!

On Reading a Tatting Pattern

On Sunday, a friend asked me my opinion on an old tatting pattern.  It was "Lacy Twirls of Tatting Chair Set #4605" in Star Book #46. 

First, it was written in the style most of the old patterns are (R, 4 d, 3 p sep by 4 d, 4 d, cl r. Ch, 8 d, 3 p sep by 4 d, 8 d, turn.) So I wrote it over into a more readable fashion ( R 4-4-4-4 clr.  Ch 8-4-4-8 RW)  I changed the "turn" to "reverse work".  In my mind, "turn" implies a side to side motion, where "reverse work" implies a top to bottom motion that you would find when switching from a ring to a chain and vice versa.  But this pattern had chains coming from rings in both the normal fashion and where the tops were needing to be facing opposite of how they normally would, so you had to "force" the chain and it ends up a little twisted.

Chains coming from a ring in the normal fashion

Chain coming from ring "twisted" (the bottom)

I made a bookmark in the way it was written to get a feel for the pattern.

Original pattern

It was hard to see what the chains and rings were doing, so I switched to having two colors.  This shows how the chains end up all the same color and the rings the alternate color. (I did alter the pattern to start in the middle of the end instead of the side so I could leave the ends as a tassel)

Original pattern/2 colors

Next, I made another bookmark where I used 2 shuttles and just switched shuttles when the chain would be forced.  This made the chains all smooth, but creates a different look in the 2 color bookmark.

Switching shuttles

Here are all 3 bookmarks together:

I like the look of the "forced" 2 color bookmark best, but if you were making it all one color, I would go with switching shuttles as that is a smoother way of working the pattern.  I also thought it would be nice to join the picots on the inside of the bookmark to make it more stable, but I didn't want to take more time to make a 4th bookmark ☺

My "Portfolio"

I decided to try and gather pictures of things I had made into one place to make it easier for people to see what sorts of things I have made or done in the past. This is by far not a complete list! I will probably add things on as I go.

One of many holiday vests (reversible)

Baby nightgown (not the best picture of it!)

I made all of our Civil War clothes except Dan's shirt

Civil War outerwear (I didn't make my mom's outfit)

Close up of Great Coat

Sesame Street characters

Ghost costumes

Duck costume

My wedding dress ☺

Danish costumes

18" doll clothes

Puppet

Hooded towel

Tatted bonnets

Tatted leaves

Tatted hair scrunchy

Knotted keychain

Friendship bracelets

Romanian Point Lace ornament

Romanian Point Lace fish

crocheted food

Filet crochet (if it is graph-able, it's do-able!)

Blankey Babies

A few of the sock monkeys I've made

I've made quite a few knit pants/shorts, too ☺

Knit snakes

Princess Leia hair

Knit baby hammock Photo Prop

Hand knit socks

Pacifier holders

Clips to secure toys, bibs, etc...