Thanks

So tired...I suppose I'm not the only one though. We had a lovely, but loud gathering of family. There was, as you might expect, food, laughter and perhaps a tad too much hard cider. It was actually a smaller gathering than usual, just a few family members short this go around. The best part of that was how much easier the cleanup went. No, it's not all done yet, there's at least one more load of dishes waiting to be done this morning, but it was still easier. This is a picture of the oldest child waiting to be allowed to eat the yams...her love for them is strong.

I didn't pick up my needle and thread once during the day, but here's the custom bits I made the day before that need to be shipped out today. That will also be one of the two times I plan to leave the house today. There is absolutely no way that I am going out to shop today.

Speaking of shopping though, one last time, here's all the info for my etsy shop sale. Ending on the 1st, get 25% off any purchase of $40 or more with the code 'Holiday2013' or get 10% any purchase with the code 'Holiday10'. Again this is only good until the 1st. Please do shop from the safety of your home or share the coupons with others who might be so inclined. This will be my only sale code for the holiday season.

Clean

As I feared, I have nothing really interesting to share with you today. Instead you get to hear all about my day of cleaning house. Yep, that's all I've got, take it or leave it. There was copious amounts of laundry as I cleaned all the afghans on the furniture. Yes, I have afghans I made on all my chairs. Then there was the dishes followed by hours of cleaning floors. I took it upon myself to try and get all the cat fur out of the rugs. Not the carpet mind you, but those nice dense, mostly black patterned Indian looking rugs. I figure out that the upholstery tool scrapes it up...one small section at a time. It took forever, but the white cat fur that made the rugs mostly gray has been removed...for the most part.

I pause here to complain that I am sore all over this morning. Apparently using this cleaning method on two room sized rugs and a hall runner takes it's toll on ones body.

After all that I did take a break to work on a couple of custom orders, but I didn't stop for pictures. Then I was back to cleaning counters in the kitchen and there are quite a lot of those. Late in the evening my brother popped over to stay for a few days over the holiday and much of the family will be over later today to eat. I imagine that I won't get to tatting today at all since after we eat, I clean and clean some more. I will be massively sore tomorrow I imagine.

I thought I'd leave you with this video I saw yesterday of 25 little know facts about Thanksgiving. Some of it I knew, some just amused me. It was either this or cats with wigs, so here you go.

Chaos

You would not believe how chaotic it got around here with three extra kids on vacation. I suppose you would if you either have that many kids or were at any time tasked with babysitting them. The point is, I am very lucky to have gotten anything done at all. Schooling required extra concentration as the other kids were already here and playing while I forced mine to learn for one last day before their vacation. As soon as I let them stop, the volume of the household rose.

Since I knew I wouldn't be getting anything new and interesting done, I went for mindless and repetitive. That way I could still pay attention to the chaos in case intervention was required. So I made another split ring necklace. This one with the last of the middle sized green glass beads and some older hand dyed thread again.  Basically, I'm trying to use up what I have on hand, rather than spend money on new supplies to make things. I still haven't ordered any more findings for the pieces that need them on hand. I'm waiting patiently for things to continue to pick up before I spend a cent on anything not vital.

Today has been earmarked for cleaning, so I'm not certain that I'll get around to any tatting, though it definitely makes my day nicer to spend at least a little time with the thread so I might carve out a little time. Thank you to everyone that has shared my sale information around. I really do appreciate the support. Now I'm off to household duties, reminiscing about those childhood days when vacation meant doing nothing at all.

A Bit Better

I had a fairly busy day yesterday, though I'm not certain that the coupon code sale had anything to do with it. I just managed to keep adding tasks to my own queue. There was schooling and laundry and dishes. Laundry is getting particularly annoying as winter creeps up and there are so many more clothes in there. It seems doing it now lasts the whole of the day.

During schooling, I sold a few patterns and a dream catcher. So right after, I had plenty to do. I listed the new purple split ring necklaces. Both are in the same listing since they do look remarkably similar. After that I worked on making up another dream catcher while becoming a bit of a pest online with the sale announcements. I made up the graphic at the bottom of the page to post around in an effort to be eye catching.

I was also handling a shipping request issue. I had a potential International customer that was looking into expedited shipping. I assumed it was far too expensive, but after some back and forth, I was off on an errand to the post office to fetch the right boxes to ship their order. People occasionally surprise me. Then I got a call from my sister with a request to watch her kids today. This of course means that today will be chaos and I will likely get little done. I did start another split ring and bead necklace yesterday that I can mindlessly work on if given any time. This one is in light greens.

So I leave you today with this large sale image that includes the active coupon codes and links to the shop. Please do share the sale with anyone who might be interested and since I didn't put the etsy shop address on there it's: http://totusmel.etsy.com

SALE Time

Much of the weekend was planned out for us. There was the Doctor Who thing on Saturday that me and the oldest daughter just couldn't miss. That was followed by dinner out of town for my father-in-law's 75th birthday. Sunday was errands in the morning, but by the afternoon, I had a little free time to get tatting.

While I was out in the morning, I promised my nieces that I would make them earrings. The youngest has a Christmas recital and needed earrings to match. Since she's wearing black and white, that's what she requested. Then I offered her sister some as well. I'm always afraid I'm forcing my pieces on relatives as I rarely get an enthusiastic response to them. It's as if they think because I made them myself, it might as well be plastic and yarn hot glued together at camp or something, but I digress.The blue and white ones didn't photograph well, they're actually an ocean teal that she asked for. When I shared these online, someone suggested they'd make a nice broach. It occurred to me that I do have a baggie of pin backs, so no supplies need to be bought to try which means I might give it go later.

After the earrings, I decided to use up some glass beads I had bagged up and made another, metal free, split ring necklace. I actually had just enough beads to make two similar ones. The beads are all a slight bit different so they have that nice random feel and I used some hand dyed thread I've had around for some time. I have some beads in green and I think some blues as well, so if I've nothing else to do, I might get some more variations of this made as well.

The shop still hasn't picked up and honestly, I'm really starting to really stress out about it. The only thing I can think of to do is keep making things. I'm just not good at aggressive marketing, probably because I find it annoying myself. I think I'm going to go ahead and offer up a coupon for the week as well because I can't shop unless other people do. So, for one week only, get 25% off any purchase of $40 or more with the code 'Holiday2013'. The code will expire on the 1st, so use it or lose it. It also occurs to me that many of you tat yourselves, so you might appreciate a coupon good for smaller purchases like patterns, so for that you can have 10% any purchase with the code 'Holiday10'. Again it's only good until the 1st. Please do shop or share the coupons with others who might be so inclined. I really appreciate it!

Custom

Yesterday definitely calmed down from the previous one, but it wasn't all bad. It was nice to send off a few packages in the morning and after schooling I decided that I was going to go ahead and remake the asymmetric necklace for the shop. It did turn out differently than the last one just like I thought it would, but it still has the same basic feel. It took a lot of kicking my own butt to get it finished and listed but I did.

Once that was done, the dread of nothing to do started to creep up on me. Luckily it was mere minutes before a customer purchased a custom bracelet. I had gotten the inquiry on it the day before, so I really wasn't expecting it to come. Making this one up gave me something to do for the rest of the afternoon. I do love it when I get unusual color requests. It gives me a chance to play with color since you know I always go straight to the black thread unless otherwise directed. I think the turquoise and charcoal look smashing together.

Again, I start the day with no real tasks at hand. Sure, with Thanksgiving less than a week away and us hosting again, I'm sure I could find some cleaning to do. I'm not really there yet though. Plus, with our carpet cleaner out of commission, that's one less major cleaning task on my plate. There are other floors though and counters and...no, I'm not cleaning, I have next week for that. I will find something to tat, someone must buy something and give me plenty to do.

A Good Day

I had quite a lovely, busy, rainy day around here. First thing in the morning, after I wrote, I got a request for three dream catchers. Then right after schooling I got an order in that included a custom purple one. So it's fairly safe to say that just like I thought, I was making dream catchers all day. Instead of it being busy work though, they all have homes to go to and you know how much better I like that work.

I didn't do much else besides them though. They take around an hour to make each. Covering the ring and weaving the web are both more time consuming than their size lets on. I was also very pleased  to be sending off another of the asymmetric necklaces to a wonderful new owner. It really was a lovely day in the shop and I am really hoping that it's the beginning of a nice streak and not just a fluke.

I think I'll use today to make another asymmetric necklace to replace the one that sold. It was the smaller design, so the next one likely to be very much like the last one. It won't be exact, but the fewer the rings the easier it is to recreate. Aside from that, the day is wide open. It's still pretty rainy out which I am actually enjoying, but it does mean I need more external forces to keep me on task, so here's to another day just like the last one with plenty of motivation.

Earrings

It was another busy day of weaving webs. Seriously, they are tough on my hands, but they look so neat when they're done. I sold one more yesterday morning, so after schooling I got to making again. Then I figured while I was at it, I would go ahead and turn a pair of them into earrings. I'm not certain that I would wear them, mostly because I catch large earrings on my own clothing and everything else I come close too, but they definitely make a statement. I put these ones on some black earwires I had laying around, but I think I only have two more sets of those.

Sales are still really weak, so I don't have any pieces in queue to make. I might make some more dream catchers, just because, but that's about as much of a plan as I have for the day. I though about making them for holiday gifts, but the husband wasn't too enthusiastic about that idea, so I probably won't do that. I was just trying to come up with a less expensive way to gift people for the holidays given that lack of extra cash round these parts. I guess I'll just keep brainstorming until something sounds good. I really don't like forcing my work on people when they're not that interested in it.

I guess that's it then, nothing more to share, or plan. So, here's hoping the day brings something to keep my momentum going because the rainy weather certainly does nothing for my motivation.

Dream Catchers

Monday might not have been perfect, but it was a great deal better than the weekend. I had a lot of housework to catch up on after the weekend of lying about all uncomfortable. There was schooling, laundry, dishes and various other small things I had let slide. I did however get the new necklace listed like I wanted pretty soon after schooling wrapped.

When I had a moment to sit down I started fiddling with another ring and decided to go ahead and try making a dream catcher inside. I used to make them all the time, the real way as a kid. My mother is very into our Native heritage and we made them with leather strips and sinew. Feathers and charms were all over the house. I even made a few more authentically with small branches twisted into the ring that should be around here somewhere, but I digress. It wasn't until someone over on Facebook made the suggestion that I even thought about combining tatted lace and a dream catcher.

It seemed to go over so well when I shared the first one that I rushed it into the shop and sold one fairly quickly. I started a second one right after the first so there's still one in the shop. They are a little hard on my hands to make. Weaving that tiny web, even with the help of my needle is a little cramp inducing. I really like the way it turned out though, in fact it may end up being one of my holiday gift pieces this year. It makes a nice big pendant, but it could very easily be an ornament, or used in the traditional sense. Just don't hang one from your rear view mirror. That's one of my mother's pet peeves. She says, unless you're sleeping while driving, this is a completely ridiculous use of something meant to rid one of bad dreams.

I did make the mistake of checking on my shops stats yesterday against the last few years at this same time. Turns out I'm not being paranoid nor whiny, the shop really is doing very poorly this year. I don't know if it's the economy or the recent changes over at etsy, but any ideas as to what encourages you to shop a little would be greatly appreciated. I'm mulling different kinds of discounts and gifts with purchase. Of course, I'll likely just ride it out with a frugal holiday and hope for the best and today, today I'm going to make more tatted dream catchers.

One Of 'Those' Weekends

You know how occasionally the Universe throws so many small things at us at once that it snowballs into a really bad day? Yeah, I had one of those weekends. I was feeling a bit off by Friday morning, some pain, some unpleasant symptoms, but I was sure I could keep it at bay with copious amounts of water. Then the kitchen faucet broke on us. I thought I might be able to fix it. I'm fairly handy, but I'm also aware of my own limitations and I backed off after dissembling it and finding more broken bits inside. I spent much of the day with our friend who is luckily a skilled contractor, helping to fix it. He was in and out fetching parts so I got little done until late afternoon when I finished and listed the latest asymmetric necklace. The faucet is fixed though and man am I grateful to know people who will rescue us.

This necklace was much bigger than the last, and it's still in the shop. I'm not done making these yet either. Saturday seemed better, but I was feeling a bit worse. I got out to Michael's and picked up more metal rings. It does seem that they are regularly stocked, so you should be able to find them. They come in a variety pack with some hammered rings that are open, so I don't use those, but the others are perfect. I even managed to work on another necklace, this time much smaller. I haven't quite put this one together yet, but it will be just these three rings.

Sunday was a complete wash as I developed a new symptom first thing in the morning that encouraged me to spend the rest of the  morning in the Urgent Care getting seen by a doctor. It of course turns out that I do have an infection, the sort of which you don't really need more details on. To add to the weekend's joy, the medications I was given are giving me a horrible headache, they're clearly working, but the headache is certainly not. So as you can imagine the rest of Sunday was laying about trying to not cause any more issues. Today, it's back to schooling though, headache or not. Then I will get the new necklace completed and listed. I'm still waiting for the shop to pick up, though I have sold a few more patterns than usual. I need to get holiday shopping myself, but I really shouldn't until I have more, you know, money. Alright then, off to experience Monday, here's to wonderful week.

Another

A day full of housework kept me from getting bored as I contemplated making another asymmetric necklace. I got the last one off necklace listed. I know it's not typical of my work, but I had the bead and the idle hands and honestly these sort of repetitive pieces are relaxing to make.

Finally, late in the afternoon, someone left a comment expressing an interest in the sold asymmetric necklace, so I started making another. This was very late in the afternoon, so I think I only managed to finish one ring of it. They do take some time to work up. So I have that task on deck for today. I'll get another one made and then some time this weekend I'll need to see if I can find anymore of the metal rings I used so I can stock up again. It would be a shame if I couldn't find more, but findings do come and go.

I think that's about it. It was a bit of an off week and I'm still feeling antsy about he shop not getting busy yet. I think my patience will hold up a bit longer though, so I'll just keeping plugging away.

One More

The morning was sucked away by schooling and errand running. Unfortunately the oldest child has reached a point in her math where I must be more attentive so I can help out more. So she waits to do math until I'm finished teaching her sister making schooling last at least an hour longer. I was so lucky that up til now she was able to get everything she needed from the computer and text book and still understand, but I knew this day was coming and I accept my role.

After lunch I got the new asymmetric necklace all finished up and listed. I made it longer initially, but quickly realized that longer is bad with all those metal covered rings. Every time I leaned down it folded in on itself. So I gave it less chain and it sits perfectly. Though I don't know why I'm trying to play up the design right now, since it did in fact sell last night. That is a rare enough occurrence, to sell something the same day,  that it always put a fine smile on my face. Now the question is, should I make another one straight away? I mean, they always come out different, but perhaps there were more than one person that really did want one. It's not like I have any other pressing projects.

Before this sold though, I used my time to make up another one off piece. I found these square wood beads that were in a clearance bag years ago. They're not really my style so I haven't bothered using them up until now.I just made a good long string of them between split rings. In fact I made it long enough that I closed the necklace and it slips over ones head, no clasps needed. I'll get this one listed later today, assuming that school doesn't take over the whole day.

I may have my mother-in-law over today for a crochet tutorial in the afternoon. When she wants to make something she hasn't tried before, she pops by for a consultation. So I'm not sure what else I'll get done while we do that. I'll go ahead and cross my fingers again for some great order or project to present itself. I am really getting antsy for the busy season to finally begin.

Asymmetrical

I was right about not having nay extra time to worry about until well after lunch. The morning was jam packed with schooling and the teacher meeting. After lunch the kids both read and I lamented my now idle hands. The shop remained quiet, so I had to come up with something to make all by myself and I was not feeling very adventurous, so I settled on an old idea, the one off piece.

There is a lot of extra work involved in making any piece meant to be one of a kind, but it's the perfect remedy when I don't want to design something. Generally I just make it up as I go without a thought for stitch counts or joins. This makes up for all the one use only photography and writing up a listing that, again, is only used once. I opted to make one of my asymmetrical necklaces worked around metal rings. First I lay out the rings to get a generally idea of the shape I want, then I just start tatting.

The hardest part with this on in particular is getting the right number of stitches on the ring so that it's well covered and I have a number of picots that match with the petals I want to work. Often this means squeezing the stitches together tightly at the end to work in just one more repeat. It's also a bit of a challenge to make the outer petals different on rings of the same size. I suppose it's just a lot fiddling and hoping it all works out in the end.

I did finish the tatting on this one, but I still need to add the chains to the sides before I can press it and get it listed. That shouldn't take too long after schooling unless I start stalling again. Here's hoping for something new to keep me focused for today. If nothing comes, I'll probably just bust out the grab bag supplies and make more one of a kind pieces, so at least there's that.

I Tried

Well that was a bit of an odd Monday. I oscillated back and forth between cleaning and tatting with just a bit of lazy stalling thrown in for good measure. The husband had it in his mind to clean our bathroom counters, so I cleaned the floors downstairs and since it's been getting colder in the morning, I cleaned out behind the gas fireplace grills where apparently spiders think it's great to hang out. Then I spent far too long cleaning up my supplies as I searched for jump rings that had gone missing. I found them, but I really need to order more of so many things. Unfortunately that will have to wait until sales pick up so you know, I can pay for them.

By the afternoon, we were all ready to do a little nothing, so we put on the extended edition of the Hobbit and while that was on I managed to not only finish all the tatting I needed to get done, but also started making more needle felted soot sprites. I decided that they would look great as ornaments, so I put some head pins through them and gave them a ring to hang from. Of course I didn't take a picture of them then, but they're cute either way.

I've got all the tatting I had in queue to be done, done so I'm not certain what I'll get up to later today. I do have yet another teacher meeting to go to this morning, this time for the youngest child. There are a lot more meetings with two different teachers than we had with one. I miss having just one. Oh, well. That means school will go longer today, so hopefully something interesting will happen between now and then so I'll have plenty to keep me from lazy.

Listed

Hello Monday. I'm afraid to tell you that I have been, yet again, pretty damn lazy. You see it occurs to me that I have three modes when the shop is slow/dead. The first is using the time wisely to create new things or stock up. This mode usually occurs when I expect the slowness like the beginning of the year. Then there is the one you're probably most familiar with, constant whining in some illogical attempt to change things. This mode also has me working a lot, just with that annoying commentary. This past week I experienced the third mode, indifference. Like the others I start out trying, but after 4 or 5 days, I slip into complete laziness convinced that nothing I can do will change things. This mode seems to occur when I am sure that the shop should be busy based on historical trends, but it's just not. Of course just because I know what I'm doing and why, doesn't mean I have much control over it. I just sit there and play games on my phone until some housework calls me.

All that was a segue to me telling you about actually, finally getting the new necklace design listed late yesterday afternoon. Yes, when I said I'd get it done of Friday. After utterly failing to get an overwhelming opinion on the chain type, I listed it with both options. The tatted chain had a slight advantage in the polls, so I made that one the face of the listing, but there were so many people that preferred the silver chain that I figured it didn't hurt to make it an option.

Other than getting that done, we went to see the new Thor movie and wondered at why, after so many Marvel films, the audience would leave before the end of the credits. There was also a birthday dinner for my brother-in-law and my niece at which I ate something that did not agree with me. Then of course the rest of the time was filled in with lazy. Late yesterday I finally got some small sales, so I will try to get back into work mode today. The kids are off school and the husband is home from work, but if I don't shift gears soon, I fear the lazy will win. We would definitely not want that to happen.

Trains

Well, that was one long day. Even though I did bring my tatting on the train, I didn't do any. I'm not sure if it was the bumpy ride, the scenery or the company, but I just didn't feel like losing myself in lace, so I didn't.

We had a lovely time of course. I'm not overly fond of trains, but the enormity and history of them makes for a more than interesting outing. The youngest child looks like that in all the pictures because she's decided that she looks creepy when she smiles with teeth. It took us most of the day to get that explanation out of her. Of course part of it could have been that her sister insisted on taking a picture in front of nearly all the trains.

After the museum, there was a bit of shopping in Old Town and then back on the train. So I guess in all, it was about a 10 hour outing with 5 or 6 hours of walking and we managed to get a little schooling done before we left too. Yep, a long, long day.

Today I will get back to tatting. I will finally decide on the chain style for the pendant piece and get it done and listed, I promise. It might take me awhile though. I have a feeling I'm going to be dragging through the day after all that walking yesterday. I suppose I have the whole weekend to get it back together so I suppose it's all good.

Inspired

While nothing interesting happened to me yesterday, I couldn't let yet another lazy day commence. So after schooling and copious amounts of laundry, I started in on tatting for the day. The first attempt was something that ended up immediately in the trash. I was trying to mimic a piece of commercial lace in tatting. I failed.

Next I started searching though the tatting books and patterns folder on my computer. I was just flipping through the images looking for something that might inspire. At first I was just  going to settle for turning yet another edging into a bracelet, but then I flipped past a pattern by Marliee Rockley. The pattern was for her Ripple Necklace and it was just the thing to get me designing again. Even though she allows one to make and sell her patterns as is, I immediately has other ideas. The first go here was just the addition of the long picots and made as a much smaller section.

It wasn't quite me yet, so I kept mucking with it. Usually I avoid even looking too hard at recently designed pieces because I don't like to copy people, but it was too perfect for an adaption and she is so kind to allow me to do so. Anyway, for the final version I worked it all in one round with some split rings and twisted the picots when joining. I adore twisted picots, they have such an usual feel to them. I also added the center drop to give it more of a pendant feel and did a few more stitch count changes. It curves a little more with the twisted picots and bottom drop as well, which I like.

The question remains, do I hang the piece from a metal chain, or do I make a tatted Josephine chain for the the piece? I think either will work and though hanging from a chain would be a bit easier, I think I might prefer necklace with the tatted chain. I made up a couple more of these, one in a sage green and another in black. I'll probably play some more on the train today as well, but these won't see the shop until at least Friday because I'll be out much of the day. So thanks once again to Marliee for the inspiring pattern, hopefully the result is acceptable.

So Lazy

I'm afraid I had a bit of a lazy day yesterday. I just wasn't feeling up to doing much, so I didn't. Instead of playing with the snowflake pattern, I just worked on finishing the extra pair of ankle corsets. So I have no tatting to show you. I didn't even do any chores yesterday because I wanted to save them for today. Our field trip is tomorrow, so I wanted everything done right before it. There were also no orders to give me something focused to do, so I remained lazy.

This does mean today should be at least a little busy. I have all the chores I saved, plus making sure we have a little more schooling done to make up for the mostly lost day tomorrow. Then hopefully I'll be burdened with something to tat up for the shop. I do have another piece in queue I could get to, but for some reason I feel odd making barefoot sandals as the weather cools down. I have to remind myself that it's Spring in the other hemisphere and they might sell there. And that's it, I've got nothing else to share, so I guess, have a great day all and cross your fingers that mine is more interesting so you won't have to read another day of this sort of mindless nonsense in a row.

Snowflakes

Boredom struck again yesterday while I was making up another pair of ankle corsets to have on hand. I wanted to do something new, but I didn't have any really good ideas. After about the 10th Christmas commercial, I decided to use my rage over said commercials and make a snowflake, but in black because that's how I roll. It wasn't perfect out of the gate, but I always like a little Celtic look so I was willing to work on it.




 Like tatted hearts, there are probably hundreds of snowflake patterns, so I really don't know how original this one is.  I took another go at the design in gray because I wanted to make it easier to create. The second time I actually made the outside section first and then the inside so the outside could have nice flowing chains instead of awkward joins. It certain looks better, but it's still a bit fiddly to make. I'm still trying to decide whether I should make up a pdf pattern for this to sell or should I just make them for the shop. There are plenty of other tatters making snowflakes and I just hate to step into other folks established domain. I guess time will tell.

I might play with this some more today or I might get back to work on the ankle corsets. I'm hoping I get some orders so the decision of what to tat with my time will be made for me. It's always better when I'm creating for other people.

Monday

Happy Monday all. Man, do I dislike the time change. I'm certain that I have mentioned that I have 6 cats, but have I mentioned that I made the mistake of feeding them when I wake in the morning? This means that when the time changes, they attempt to wake me at the previously established breakfast time. Their waking method can be...aggressive and it take days for them to adjust to the new routine. Yes, I am aware this is all my own fault for feeding them in the morning in the first place, but you can't go back, now can you?

In other weekend recap news, I haven't much news. There were a few errands and a little tatting, but not really all that much else. In fact the most interesting thing we did we go out to dinner with friends on Saturday. I can't tell you how much I enjoy getting out and listening to other people talk. It was a real joy to get out and talk to adults for a bit.

Now, it's Monday and I have a few pieces in queue to be tatted and later this week there's a school field trip on a train to Sacramento. They've done this trip in the past and it's one of our favorites, but it is all day long. That just means I spend much of the rest of the week before it getting more work done and catching up after the trip. I think I'm ready for the week. Now if only I could get the television advertisers to lay off the Christmas crap for a few more weeks, then it would be a perfect.

Grrrr & Halloween

Ah, my least favorite way to wake up, to a message that someone has stolen my work for profit or something...they use credits or something there. Anyway, I got a message letting my know someone is trying to sell my tatted mask pattern on a site called Lista. She's got my photo and the pattern, which by the way is free online at Instructables here for anyone to use to make a mask for themselves. I sent a message to the site to try and get it removed, but in the meantime, the most amusing part is when someone asks about tatting being hard, the seller responds, "Its The DIY Instructions On How To Make It Its Really Not A Tatt" So...she probably doesn't even know what tatting actually is, what a silly little bird. I'm tempted to make an account just comment on the listing, but that's a lot of effort for snark, so I likely won't bother.

But, back to nicer things for the morning. It was a lovely Halloween with cute kids that are getting bigger by the minute. They were a Cat-Witch and Bat Girl. We had trick-or-treating at the Husband's work site with all the requite, 'they've gotten so big' and I handed out tatted bead spiders to everyone. Then we had my mother over for her birthday presents, followed by a quick dinner and outside for more trick-or-treating.

It's funny we head about a block or two away from our house into the established neighborhood and there are tons of kids, but back at our house to hand out candy and we saw maybe a dozen. We are on the edge of the development in a newer section, so I guess they just don't want to come this far out. More candy for us though...we'll likely be eating the stuff for months, despite our better judgement.

I didn't get much tatting done though. I did finish the pair of ankle corsets I was working on, but that still leaves three more pieces that need remaking and honestly, I like to have two pairs of the ankle corsets on hand as well, so I'll likely do that if I make through the queue at all. The rest of the weekend should be pretty quiet... I hope. Man, am I overusing the ellipses this morning, sorry about that. It was a long day. I leave you with a picture of my sugar skulls and the artificial pumpkins I carved. Extra points if you know what the orange one is supposed to be. Here's to a nice calm weekend for us all.