Last Day

No new tatting occurred yesterday, but I did finish one of the arm warmers I've been knitting. I knew they were going to be long ones, but I guess that didn't translate in my mind to them taking so much longer than the other gloves I've knitted up recently. Obviously, you can't see how long they are here, but they are actually elbow length and that's pretty long. I did start on the second one, but I had a few false starts. We were watching movies much of the day and apparently Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are too distracting to properly count.

We've go big plans for tonight, I haven't stayed up for midnight on New Year's Eve for years. I mean the new year will still be there when I wake up tomorrow, so I figure what's the bother. We are going to watch all the Lord of the Rings movies though, because the kids can't remember them. They didn't catch any of the tie over moments from the last Hobbit film. Since that should take up much of the day, I'm sure to get plenty of knitting time in.

I did get one small order overnight, so I have one necklace I can remake as well and since I could use the practice, I'll sneak that in as well. So I guess that's it until next year. I wish you all a good, safe night and here's to a creative and prosperous new year.

Needles Out

You'll never guess what I did yesterday. Yes, I knitted some more, but I also did some tatting. That's right, I actually picked up my needle and thread and made a couple of things. While I started out the day with knitting in between tasks like laundry and dishes, I was also racking my brain for ideas to get some sales in the shop. It had been almost two weeks since I had a physical sale. That's also one of the reasons I had not tatted anything in 10 days. So I settled on releasing an end of year coupon code, 'YEAREND'  and I made it good for 25% off anything over $10 in my etsy shop. It's only good through the 1st of the year, so please do share it if you think anyone would like to pick something up. But I digress, I listed the coupon code on my facebook page and was soon rewarded with a single sale from one of my most lovely repeat customers.

The order needed three out of four pieces made in custom colors, so I had a tatting task for the first time in days. These pictures are just two of them along with the arm warmer I am still knitting. I got all the pieces for the order done and I should have them in the post this morning. Then it's back to knitting, unless the coupon code discount lures some more sales in, which I really hope it does. Tatting again did not yet spark any new ideas, but at least it's good to know that I haven't forgotten how, or even lost any of my speed. I'm still shooting for a new year full of new ideas.

It's Over

Happy Monday all! It is most assuredly not back to normal in my household as the working and schooling members are all still on vacation for one more week. We are, however, back to our usual 4 human and 6 cat residents. At the height of the holiday week we were up by 3 humans and 2 cats sleeping here and 20 people visiting. I'm fairly certain that the cats are the most relieved to see our guests depart. They were not only especially cuddly last night, but they let me sleep until my alarm went off this morning instead of rousing me a half an hour earlier like they've done for days.

I've still not touched a tatting needle, but I did continue to knit over the weekend. I started out with a cowl when I realized, several rows in, that I'd made a fatal mistake. I scrapped it out of frustration and switched gears entirely. I'm now working on a new pair of arm warmers for myself in ridiculously thin yarn. We'll call it a baby step back to thread. We also spent time with family over the weekend before they departed. First it was, video game playing with one set of cousins and then with the other. Then there was a lovely trip out to dinner with my brother and sister-in-law for Indian food and yesterday we finally went to see the final Hobbit movie. I'm ready for a vacation from the vacation.

We don't have any solid plans for the week, so I guess we'll just play the whole thing by ear. I'll keep knitting with my sitting time and try to remember to get some photos at least. I'm still shooting for getting back to tatting next week. I'm hoping the time off will do me good, but it has yet to create any epiphanies. I'll stay the course and hope for the best.

Chaos, Cats, and Snowflakes

Again, I am am up far before dawn as the cats have decided that I need to wake up a good forty minutes earlier than usual. I tried to ignore them, but their go to move it scratching gently at my face. That's pretty hard to ignore. Yes, these innocent looking cats are complete menaces to my sleep.

We had a good, if not chaotic holiday here with about 20 people in the house for a good chunk of the day. I cleaned and cooked, then cleaned some more, thankfully missing much of the day's political conversations. It's much easier to keep my mouth shut and not get into it when I have a pile of dishes in front of me that must disappear.

I think everyone was pretty pleased with their gifts though no one made any comments about their snowflakes except for a glitter comment that I'm sure I missed most of. Since they all have them though, here's an in progress photo of them as they were drying after the glitter modge podge. I thought it turned out to be a fairly interesting small snowflake, not that the world needs more tatted snowflake patterns.

At least some of our guests will be here through the weekend, so more family activities are likely. I also got a request from my sister yesterday to make her a pair of wrist warmers like the ones I made for the kids, so I'll have another knitting project just as soon as she brings over some yarn. She's bringing the kids over this morning for video gaming and relative visiting so it will likely be today as well. If only I hadn't woken up with a cold sore forming, the weekend would be looking good.

Happy Holiday

I wasn't going to write this morning, but it's early, I'm up and the rest of the house still slumbers. So, Merry Christmas to everyone out there who celebrates. The family will all be here later today and I'm certain to have a completely exhausting day full of food, drink and chatting.

Oh, I finished the husband's gloves yesterday while watching holiday movies too, so all my proposed knitting projects are already complete. I got some extra yarn though, so I'll think of something else to occupy my time while I continue my tatting sabbatical. I want to stay away long enough to appreciate and find great joy in it again. I'm guessing I should be good by the new year.

So again, Happy Holidays and have a festive, fiber filled time.

A Glove and Chaos

Well, I certainly had an interesting day. It started out with cleaning and getting a second guest room created out of the chaos that we call the kids' toy room. Then there was the disassembling of the school set up to make room for the family on Christmas. This was followed by copious amounts of vacuuming. I was going to wrap up the cleaning with the bathroom when the toilet decided to malfunction. It was shooting water up out of the valve causing a leak from the tank. Fun, right? The internet told me the issue and the fix so after the family's dentist appointments, yep we did that fun task too, it was off to the hardware store for parts and home to fix a toilet. If this is sounding like spectacular was to spend a vacation day, well then I'm not certain any of us understand the word 'vacation'.

When all that nonsense was wrapped, I finally sat down to knit. My fingers are killing me from all this tight, small work. I always forget that each fiber art causes it's own unique calluses and if I take too long between each my fingers get all soft and vulnerable again. I'm getting pretty close to finishing the first glove of the pair, but I'm likely to slow down again today. One of my brothers arrived to stay with us yesterday evening and the other brother, his wife, and their cats will be here tonight. I still have counters to clean off and floors to steam mop. I do so miss being a kid with nothing to do but play games and be so loud that gags were threatened. I haven't threatened mine with that quite yet, but I certainly have thought it.

If I don't write tomorrow, have a happy Thursday and/or Christmas, whichever it is for you and yours.

Progress

The knitting plan is going quite well. I finished the fingerless gloves for the youngest daughter and worked all day on the older daughter's, finishing those as well. Of course I didn't move from the couch much, but I felt like I was both relaxing a bit and accomplishing something.

Once the kids pieces were done it was time to start on the husband's gloves. I thought I was going to have to find a new pattern for his because he picked some thicker yarn than the last time I made some for him. I looked for quite some time, finding one or two that would work, when I finally realized that if I just knit the instructions for the smaller version, it should work up okay. Of course I really won't know for sure until I get to the fingers, but I'm committed to trying it out anyway.

Family house guests start arriving today so I need to get some last minute cleaning taken care of. We need to get the schooling table put up so there's more room for people and I'm sure a bunch of other small things as well. Honestly I'm starting to get less stressed out about keeping up appearances for guests. I mean they are family after all, and I'm fairly certain they've already silently judged my housekeeping. Of course I haven't let it go completely and there will still be cleaning, I just won't freak out about it as much.

I Have A Plan

I know what you're wondering. Why on earth am I awake and writing at this horrible hour when the husband and kids are on vacation? Well I'll give you some hints, they have 4 legs, there are six of them, they have internal clocks that only ever err early, never late, and they couldn't be bothered to care that I could theoretically sleep in. So there you have, as we often say around here, cats are jerks.

I didn't get up to much tatting over the weekend as I expected. There were family errands run in order to get them out of the way before the shops get unbearable to visit and there was some sitting about. We had an absolutely wonderful time at a get together of friends on Saturday where I gave away one of the gifts I was working on a couple of weeks ago. It was a black and red jellyfish which I did not remember to take a good picture of at all. I know, good job there huh? I gave that one as well as a blue one and I think they were well received and that's all that really matters.

Yesterday while out to fetch a frame for a wonderful gift of art that the husband received at the same get together, I decided that what I really needed was a knitting project with a purpose and since I was at the craft store, I picked up some fresh yarn. I'll spend the next weeks of my sitting time making new fingerless gloves for the family. I was just going to do some for the husband, but the kids were there and both requested some as well. Honestly I'm glad they did, it gives me a nice list of projects to work one even if it's not tatting. Maybe it will give me enough time away that my creative batteries will recharge and then new year will actually see new work again.

Wrapping

I managed to be really, really busy yesterday while flitting from task to task. We started with schooling followed by a trip to mail a package. The we came home and the kids helped me wrap presents. It was everything I could do to not re-wrap the ones the youngest child did because she was convinced that she could 'do it myself' and they was no arguing it. After that it was helping the kids iron their perler bead creations. They decided to make everyone gifts themselves with perler beads after asking their relatives what their favorite animals were. It was a really sweet gesture that I had absolutely no hand in and can take no credit for.

Once I'd met all those obligations most of the day was already gone, but I did a little tatting anyway, and knitting. Though the knitting is a bit of a sore subject. I made a colossal mistake and since it was a lace stitch pulling back the rows proved too difficult for me. I had to rip the whole thing apart and start over. I suppose it's a good thing that it was suppose to just be my fallback project, not something important with a purpose. I still have plenty of tatting left to finish as well, so I've been going back and forth between projects to maintain that 'busy' feeling.

The weekend will likely be filled with family adventuring and unfortunately cleaning. Family will be here next week, some to stay over and some just for the holiday itself. The house isn't a big mess but it could use some tidying. It will also be time to clean up the school table and put it away for vacation. So hopefully I'll be in a more optimistic mood by Monday.

Unwise

Well let's see, I tatted some yesterday and I got the two orders I received in the mail. Then I got another small order and went ahead and made it up. I have to put that one in small boxes though, so that means a trip to the store this morning with the larger mail slot, they won't fit through the one I have on the street. Then I did a terribly unwise thing, I checked my order stats from this time last year and the year before. I'm not going to go into the actual numbers of course, but let's just say that I've gone from thinking I had a fairly successful little business to thinking that's it's becoming almost not worth the effort.

Don't worry, I'm going to stop tatting or close up shop any time soon, but it is clear that something has really changed. Maybe everyone who was ever going to want my tatted goods has already got them, or maybe it really is that all the changes at etsy have made me irrelevant in search. I'd crawl up in a ball and whine about it, but the holiday is almost here and I've still got things to do. Presents need to be wrapped, rooms need to be cleaned and even though it doesn't seem to matter, I've got a few things left to tat up for the shop too. I'll just keep moving forward and hoping.

Knitting

Yesterday was completely the opposite of the day that preceded it. I felt about as productive as a sloth. I tried to get the new bracelet idea worked out, but I seriously failed. I cut more than one idea off that thing before I unceremoniously threw it on the lace pile. There's a slight chance I'll go back and get it figured out in the future, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

I was however still in the mood to make things. I spent a good deal of time scrounging around my thread stash to find something that would give me a project when I ran across some sock yarn. I decided to knit, just for the sake of getting my hands back to busy. I tried to find a pattern that inspired me, I even signed into ravelry for maybe the third time ever for some inspiration and I found nothing that jumped out. So I just looked though my stitch dictionary, found a nice simple lace stitch and starting making what I assume will become a scarf...not that I need any more scarves.

While the knitting is now my fall back project, I woke up to a sale and a convo that led to another small sale the minute I responded. That means I have things to remake for the shop today. I am certainly pleased about that and it should keep me busy even through tomorrow. Just another couple of days until the kids are on vacation and I think I'm bound to join them...at least a little bit.

Threes

Though it really didn't feel like it at the time, I suppose yesterday was a fairly productive day. I made up a final, and not surprisingly black version of the new pendant. I named it Threes because of the two sets of three rings it contains...I know, super clever. It's in the shop now as well as the message that I'll be sending one of these out with every order over $10 through the 25th. The only thing that doesn't count toward that is patterns since they don't get shipped.

Once that was done it was onto finishing the gift snowflakes. They all got sparkled, hung on hooks, bagged up and ready to be added to the gifts. Of course there was a lot of sitting about waiting for each side to dry, so I used that time to make a few of the pendants up just in case the free gift offer actually does encourage a few more sales.

Then I thought about riding out the rest of the day vegetating on the couch, but I was already in a bit of a production mode. I decided to go ahead and play with the motif and see if it could be made into a bracelet at least. It's usually pretty easy to take a nice round piece and link them together. The trick is that they need to be the right size to make a wearable bracelet. It seemed to work out, but I think it might be missing something. Maybe it's because I needed four of the motifs and even numbers assault my senses. Whatever the reason, I think I'm going to try to work a border of some kind around this and see if that pulls it together better. If it does, you'll see it again soon. If not, this is last you'll see of it. I'm just glad to be starting another day with a tatting plan in place. Here's hoping that this is just the beginning of a trend.

A Small New

No giant news from the weekend, but I did get up to something. I had decided to augment some of the gifts we were giving with a tatted something. I decided to go with a small snowflake and I was lazy enough to go and just use an existing pattern by anyone else, but I couldn't find one I liked that was the right degree of easy and interesting. I found one close on I think, a Polish site, so I started with it and changed it until I really liked it and that's what I made. They worked up fast, which is what I hoped and while I worked I thought maybe without the arms it would make a cute asymmetric pendant. That's what the picture is, not the snowflake, but the pendant born from it. I don't like to share photos of things I'm gifting until after they've been gifted. Not that many people I know in real life will actually read this, but still.

So today's projects are, finish the snowflake gifts with sparkle and hooks, then work up a final pendant piece and perhaps get it in the shop. I'm also going to be putting one of them in every non-pattern etsy order I get from now until Christmas. Though I won't put an announcement in the shop about it until I have it listed as a sale item. It really feels nice to have finally made something new, even if it is small. Maybe I'll see what else can be done with the basic motif, or maybe not. It really is too soon to tell if creativity or lazy malaise will win the week. At least it's starting on an upswing.

Nothing

Sorry, just another day of not too much to share. I think we got most of the work samples we need put together for the kids' promotion. I've just got some final organizing to do this morning before the meeting. I suppose after I hand all this stuff over, I can at least relax a bit. Of course there's always the chance that they will refuse the requests and then I'm not certain what happens, but I really ought not worry about that now.

I did get to a little tatting yesterday, mostly cat ear headbands. I have three complete ones now, so I think that I shall stop for now. I also remade one pendant that I actually sold sometime ago and forgot to remake. I did make another small sale yesterday, but it was a one off necklace, so I don't really have anything to remake from that. Of course I'm not sure how productive I'll even feel after the meeting this morning. Hopefully something will present itself over the weekend, a sale, or some inspiration to get me back to work. Here's hoping. I'll leave you with some cats in their new favorite spot under the Christmas tree. Everything is better with cats.

Not Much

Anther day of plodding along with work samples for the kids promotion. We only have one more day really to get everything done and I've saved the more laborious tasks for today. That's partly because I'm a procrastinator at heart and partly because there's a storm coming through today and the children will really be stuck in the house as soon as it starts. Nowhere to run and all that.

I also got a little tatting done as well. Not a whole lot of it and nothing worth photographing really, but I did it. Once more cat ear headband was completed and a third started. I also tatted up a small pair of earrings, which was the last thing to sell in my shop. So today, after schooling, I'll just keep working on cat ear headbands until my attention is requested elsewhere and I honestly hope that it is. I really could use a pleasant distraction soon.

Well That's Done

It was definitely a jam packed Tuesday. We weren't even finished with schooling until well after lunch. I know that doesn't sound like a long time especially given that traditional school is always that long, but we usually wrap it up much quicker. After that and several other related tasks were finally done, I had time to sit down and tat.

I actually managed to not only finish the gift project, but I also remade the piece I needed to for the shop. I even started working on making another backup piece since it was my cat ear headband that sold and it seems to always sell in small clusters. Having more made at a time is just wise. The picture is just the centers of the pair still in progress. I'll try to remember to get a photo of the gift to share after the holidays.

I still have more things to do for the kids promotion. We've managed to gather most of the work samples save for the composition ones. They are the ones I am personally most worried about. Neither of the kids enjoy writing much and that is definitely reflected in those pieces. I'm sure we'll come up with something good by Friday though and then hopefully I can collapse for a while. Other than that, I'll work on the cat ears and keep crossing my fingers for more sales.

Yikes

Whew, yesterday went off the rails quickly. Not tatting wise, no that's coming along just fine. I didn't have much spare time to work on my gift project, but I did manage some progress on it. There's still been no major uptick in sales from my shop, but I have gotten a couple in the last few days. Enough that I finally have something else that I should remake for the shop. Of course all that supposes that I get any free time the rest of the week, which brings us back to that 'off the rails' comment earlier.

As you probably know, I homeschool both my children. Over the last few years they have accelerated in classes that they found easy and eventually they were both working a full grade level above what they are. There has been talk of promoting them to the grade they are working in for some time, but I just got word that we need to provide a bunch of work sample before the end of next week to make the request this year. So, my week and by extension, their week is now devoted to assembling work packets. This is only a drama because they do much of their work online and orally that there really is little actually on paper to choose from. I'm sure we'll get it done, but I probably won't get much else done with the week.

If by some miracle I do get some spare, sitting time I've got this mystery gift to finish, a piece to make for the shop and there's still that cleaning of the house I should get to. Personally I'm hoping for just enough time for the tatting and not quite enough for the cleaning. Really I'm just hoping we all survive the extra work we just got for the week.

Weekend Recap

Well my cold seems to be on it's last legs. It's still not gone completely as it's been reminding me with occasional coughs and popping ears, but I have most of my energy back. Thanks too, for all the remedy advice a couple of you commented with, I appreciate it! I even managed to to a little remaking for the shop including this ring.

Over the weekend we tackled the task of holiday shopping. With my shop doing so poorly lately, we really had to revisit who and what to gift this year. I also decided that there were a few people that might actually appreciate a tatted gift. I still feel bad about giving my handmade gifts, mostly because I worry people, particularly my family, still look at it as if I made a crayon scrawled card for them instead of buying something. Never the less, I'm tatting up a couple of gifts with all the extra time I have. I figure since I'm not making much money, at least I contribute to the gift giving this way. I'll try to take some progress photos without giving away what it is I'm making today.

Other than the gift making, I've got a teacher meeting for the kids to plan for this week and I really ought to do some maintenance cleaning. The time between the holidays always gets me stressed about the house. I do wish that I actually enjoyed this time of year, but I can't wait for the calm of the beginning of the year.

I Did Something At Least

I was feeling a bit better yesterday, well not better really, the cold had just shifted symptom sets and this set allowed me to at least breath, so I call it a win. I even remade a couple of pieces that had sold in the last few weeks. The general malaise from so few sales has kept me from bothering to remake anything really. I managed to make both a bracelet and a pair of earrings. I know that it doesn't sound like much, but between that and actually getting the laundry done, I'm calling yesterday quite productive.

I'm definitely still sick this morning, but I'm hoping that as the day wears on I'll feel even better. Not that I have anything that needs doing at this point, I'd just like to feel like I could get things done if I had to. Maybe that way the Universe will sense my readiness and send some sales. Hey, I can dream, right?

Ugh, Again

Oh, how I was I could tell you that I was feeling better, but alas, I'm afraid that I am feeling worse. I'd run down the miserable cold symptoms, but I'm certain you don't want to read all that. I did manage to do all the finishing work on the snowflakes. They all have hooks, are bagged, and ready for my mother-in-law to gift. Then I attempted to simply rest and watch some shows on my DVR, but despite feeling like crap, I couldn't just do nothing. So I spent the afternoon tatting up a pair of ankle corsets.

So I suppose today, I'll look and see if there is anything else I ought to remake for the shop just so I have something to do while I try not to move from the couch. I can really hardly wait until my cold has run it's course and I can feel good again. I guess I'll cross my fingers for that today.

Ugh

So I was off with the family all day yesterday. The husband had a doctor's appointment out of town an when that happens, we use it as an excuse to go to the fancy mall there. Luckily this allowed us to knock out a huge chunk of our holiday shopping, unfortunately this also allowed us to spend the money required to knock out that huge chunk of our holiday shopping.

I didn't get any tatting done, even though I brought some in the car. It was dark and rainy most of the trip and that makes me a nervous passenger. I just can't seem to allow my self to become distracted even though there is nothing I can do to help against the elements. I also forgot to mention that the oldest child picked up a cold over the Thanksgiving weekend and then proceeded to gift it to me. Of course she got the mild version and I got the, I feel like complete crap, version. I'm sure that didn't help either.

Today I should get my mother-in-law's snowflakes finished with their hooks and then maybe I'll try to get some rest to scare off this illness. More likely I'll spend the day miserable and complaining about everything I can think of. Be glad you live far away. Here's to feeling better, and maybe getting some sales in the etsy shop to cheer me up.

Snowflakes Again

Yesterday, while I got little tatting done, I did continue to work on the snowflake project. Since their destiny is to be Christmas ornaments, they look much better with a little sparkle. I use Sparkle Modge Podge for the task. I coat them on both sides so it takes a good day for them to be dry enough for me to add their hooks.

This is just one set of them on wax paper. There are about 2 dozen of them in total. We're off on a family adventure today, so I'm awake far too early if you ask me, but that also means that I won't get to the hooking of these until tomorrow. Once that's done, I'm all out of projects.

I did use some of the drying time to work on a pair of ankle corsets, not that any of them sold recently. I just needed something to focus my energy on and I chose that. There's still been no uptick in the shop, so I'm just going to keep plugging away and crossing my fingers some more.

Weekend Recap

What a long, busy weekend. Not tatting busy unfortunately, but busy none the less. On Friday morning I finished up the crochet blanket that I've been working on. For some reason I actually kept track of how long I worked on it, I guess just so I'd have a ball park for next time I'm asked, and it was about 30 hours in all. It was so much crochet that when I finally picked up my tatting needle again the thread felt beyond miniscule.

I was pretty happy with how it turned out, particularity once it was washed and soft. Oh and I told you I'd get you the link to the edging...not that anyone asked, but I really liked using it, so I feel it's only right to share the source. It's the crochet All Shawl by Doris Chan. It's a free pattern and if you're comfortable modifying patterns, it's quite versatile as well.

The rest of the weekend was visiting wonderful friends and family and eating far too much. There was a little more cleaning of course and we managed to put up all our holiday decor. We're still only using the unbreakable ornaments because we still don't trust our army of cats, but the tree still looks as if Christmas threw up on it, so we'll call that a win.

Unfortunately I sold only one small piece over the weekend, so I have little to do today besides get back to schooling with the kids. I also finished tatting up my stack of snowflake ornaments for my mother-in-law over the weekend. I still need to glitter them up and get them on hooks, but once that's done, it's all just sitting about hoping the shop picks up so I can feel less guilty and actually do some holiday shopping. Here's crossing my fingers for some business.

Almost Done

The meal has been eaten and most of the house has already been returned to its preholiday position. While most of my attention was on last minute set up, babysitting a turkey and a ham, and stressing about time, I did get some crochet done. While I lamented that it was going too slowly, I started to look for solutions. The best one by far was the wide edging. It did take quite a lot of digging about to find the right one that could be modified to fit my needs,but once I found it, I was off.

The edging was from a free shawl pattern on ravelry. I'll find the link for it and share it on Monday if anyone is interested. I had to make a few changes to make it work not only around the corners, but since the shawl is rounded and the blanket is not, I needed to change some stitch counts so it wouldn't curve out too much. Of course then as the day was almost over and I was on the last round, I ran out of yarn, oh, maybe 8 inches from the end. So I undid the whole round and began again, this time removing another small element to make sure I'd have enough yarn this time.

 I should be able to finish it today and get it to its new owner for gifting. Then I guess it's back to making snowflakes for my mother-in-law, unless by some miracle, things pick up in the shop. It should be a pretty long weekend, hiding from the retail outlets.

Thank You!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of those out there that celebrate. To the rest of the world, happy Thursday! I am, as usual, hosting the family meal today. This means that yesterday was devoted to cleaning and then worrying every time the kids walked by that they undid some part of my cleaning.

When I wasn't cleaning, I was working on the crochet blanket. When I stopped to measure it, I got an unpleasant surprise. It seems it is not growing at the rate I thought it was. Good news though, my blind crochet on the car trip yielded no major mistakes. I'm afraid I'm going to be at it longer than I had hoped. I'll still get it done by the time it's needed...I think, but with not much time to spare.

Since it is Thanksgiving, I wanted to take a minute to thank all of those out there that read my nonsense and ever so occasionally comment on it. Thank you to all of you who have ever bought a piece from me or a pattern, your support is appreciated more than you know. Thank you to all of you who have helped or encouraged me in my tatting journey. I have definitely been going through a rough patch, both creatively and sales wise lately, so thank you too for letting me vent here. I wish the best for all of you and I hope your holiday seasons are stress free and enjoyable!

(p.s.  If you're interested, you can get free shipping this season in my etsy shop with the code THANKYOU and do feel free to share the code)

Nothing Much

Well yesterday was the last day of schooling until Monday, but we went off visiting family here from out of town for much of the day. I did bring my crocheting to work on while we were gone, but like I thought, progress is getting very slow on it. I think that I only managed to finish 2 rounds during the day. Then in the evening we took a trip out of town for dinner and I crocheted in the car, in the dark. While it's good to know that I will likely be able to crochet should I go blind, I still haven't looked at it in the light of day. I'm really hoping that I won't have to undo anything due to my lack of sight while working.

Today is the last day before we host everyone over here for the big dinner, so they'll be some cleaning to wrap up. After that though, I'm just going to sit and crochet some more. I guess I'll also be crossing my fingers again for some need to tat something. Here's hoping.

More Blanket

After schooling yesterday, the entire day was  given over to crocheting the gift blanket. It's growing steadily, but since it's done in a round, each row takes longer than the last. I reached about the three square feet make last night, so technically I only have ten rounds left to go, but I'm fairly certain that I won't knock those out today. They are the longest rounds ever.

Today is the last day of schooling before the kids are off for the Thanksgiving holiday. That means their crazy is about to be unleashed and I'll have to expend quite a lot of energy to keep the house clean until we host the big meal. Most of the energy will be in the form of constant reminders to the children to not make a mess though. I already got the bulk of the cleaning done.

Here's hoping I get a reason to tat something up soon. All this crochet is giving me a bit of the claw hand.

Crochet Away

You know the funny thing about making things all the time, is that you get a reputation for doing so. While I obviously spend most of my time tatting, I also crochet, knit, sew, embroider, felt, etc... a fairly wide swath of crafts. I'm sure many of you are the same way. Of course at this point I am a much better tatter due simply to devoting so much time to it, but I digress. On Friday I was called and asked to crochet a baby blanket by my in-law's neighbor for a family gift. She's an absolutely lovely person, so of course I agreed.

I went right out and got yarn and started working. She wants it to be quite large, 4 feet by 4 feet and she'd like to take it with her back home in just over two weeks, so it's pretty much all I've done all weekend, except for cleaning. I chose a nice simple pattern so I was sure to get it done in time, but I'm still working as fast as I can.

The best part of receiving a request like this is that it completely takes my mind off my shop, which is still dangerously quiet. I now have far too much to do to worry about that. Too bad I have no intention of charging as much for the blanket as I probably should. Some people always get the 'friends and family' discount especially when they would never ask for such a thing.

So I guess this week is likely crochet, family, house guests, and food followed by cleaning, more crochet and crossing my fingers that the shopping begins in my etsy shop, so I can shop a bit myself. Yep, it's going to be quite a week.

Crossing Fingers

Well, there wasn't a single snowflake in my life yesterday. Quite thankfully, just as I was finished writing for the morning, I got an order in the shop. So I spent the day working on remaking the pieces sold. Among them was one of my larger bracelets and a tatted ring.

The bracelet took most of the day, but the ring is what I managed to take a photo of for the blog. It had been a long time since I made one of these. They're fairly simple, but with the weaving, they take a bit longer than an ordinary, or smaller one.

Just as I was finishing this for the day, I sold one more small piece as well. That gives me something to work on for today. Though it is just a pendant, so it shouldn't take long and then I can get back to the snowflakes.  I'm just so very glad to have made one sale, let alone two for the day. You have no idea how much I am crossing my fingers that it is the beginning of a trend and not just an isolated incident.

Snowflakes Again

It certainly wasn't an exciting day for me, but I did manage a little tatting done at least. After schooling I sat down, cuddled under a blanket, and started tatting. Then I remembered that I was also doing laundry, got up, got cold, and did that for a while. When I did sit down, I worked on more snowflakes for gifting. I thought I had made a lot more than I could find about the house, but apparently I overestimated my lace snowstorm. That only means that I really ought to stick with it for a few more days.

The snowflake I'm making tons of is Jane's Flurry Snowflake. Honestly I've lost track of how many I have designed myself over the last decade, but I always come back to hers. I made a few itsy changes, mostly to make it a single round and make the joins and shapes easier for me. The pattern is so pretty and interesting. I adore interesting design. It makes it easier to make dozens of something without getting sick of them.

So as you have already guessed, the shop has not yet come back to life, so I'll be making more snowflakes today. That is of course unless something, anything, changes.

It's Something Anyway

Well, I was a little more on task yesterday, but just barely. It's finally gotten cold around these parts...not cold for most people, but cold for us, so I was cuddled on the couch most of the day which a good position for tatting. The first thing I did was remake the piece I sold on Monday, a Star Flower boutonniere. I didn't really need to as it's listed in the shop as a custom order where you can choose your own colors, but I needed something small and interesting to make.

I used the same pattern for this that is available for sale in my shop as a pendant pattern, The Star Flower Motif. It's always a little more fiddly to make anything attached to a pin finding, but again, I needed something a little interesting so I would focus and get tatting again. It worked too, because after this I started making more snowflakes for my mother-in-law. I've made tons of them already, but she was never clear about how many she would eventually want for gifting. I figured if nothing else, it would get me back into the groove of tatting at a normal pace again.

I'm still hoping for more sales in the etsy shop for the upcoming holidays, but so far this November is about half the sales as last November which was down already from the years before. It's been a sad steady decline. Oh well, nothing for it, but to keep tatting and crossing my fingers right?

Fingers Crossed

Yesterday did nothing to really change my outlook for the week. I did however get one small sale late in the day, so I do have something to remake for the shop today. This means that I should also have a photo for the blog tomorrow and that's at least more visually interesting than a page of meandering text.

Aside from schooling and some cross stitching to hold the boredom at bay, I did little throughout the day. There were a couple of things I could have tatted up, but after the weekend full of speed tatting with no purpose in the end, I felt like avoiding it for the day at least.

That, unfortunately, is all I have for you today. Hopefully, working on the sold piece will get me back into 'work' mode and I'll get other things done as well. I also really hope that getting back to any useful work will inspire the Universe to throw some sales and/or inspiration my way. This is most assuredly a fingers crossed sort of morning.

Less Than Fun

I'm afraid all the weekend had in mind for me was a ton of work and really not a bit of relaxing. Sure, I sat a lot after cleaning, but it was not relaxing. Well, let me back up a bit, I didn't hear from the buyer with the missing package all weekend and since the whole matter of missing packages stresses me out, I simply decided to remake all the lost pieces 'just in case'. So every time I got to sit, it was to work on those pieces. When I wasn't sitting, I was cleaning.

The husband had decided that we should get the carpets clean before the holidays, since 6 cats make them, well, less than pretty even with regular vacuuming. This meant I was using the carpet cleaner to deep clean them all after he vacuumed. It's times like these that I seriously regret purchasing a two story house. Anyway, the carpet cleaner made my hands sore, well it made all of me sore, but my hands specifically, which meant sitting down to tat when I was done with a few rooms was less than relaxing. I felt like I was on a 'just in case' deadline though, so I needed to work fast.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I'm tired and have little to show for it. To make matters worse, I emailed the customer again last night, this time directly, to find out what they preferred and wouldn't you know it, I heard back this morning that they would prefer a refund. This means I now have double pieces that I don't really need to have on hand and money I don't have until the shipping insurance, hopefully, pays out to refund. I do not like the look of the week to come. I sure hope that the Universe proves me wrong on this one.

Away

As expected, we were out of the house the entire day and since I could not bring tatting with me on the trip, I did none. The field trip was a train trip to the state capitol where we went to a museum and then toured the capitol building. After that it was a bit of shopping in Old Town Sac and back on the train.

This is the kids at our first stop, the California Museum. Honestly, I am just wiped right now and I can't believe I still have to do a day of schooling today. Not to mention the depressing message I got upon returning home in the evening. Okay, maybe not depressing, just frustrating. A rather sizable order has not arrived at its destination. Like others before it, it appears to have gotten lost or stolen just after leaving my hands. I did insure the package, so hopefully the claim will go smoothly, but I still need to hear back from the customer to find out whether I'm returning their money or if I have some large pieces I need to quickly make and send as replacements. It will certainly put me in a funk until it is resolved, but there's really nothing for it other than to deal with it as it comes.

So here's to a quiet weekend with some rest both for my sore feet and my stressed out head.

Looking Up

My shop had a pretty good day yesterday. After I got the white barefoot sandals in the mail I got an order for a corsage bracelet, so I rushed that out the door as well and started working on its replacement for the shop. It's definitely one of my older designs, so I've made a few small adjustments over the years to make it sturdier. It's always a tough call to change a design when I have no plans to retake the photos for it, but I don't think anyone, but another experienced tatter could find my adjustments.

Then later in the afternoon I got another order in the shop, this time for a pair of my ankle corsets. Luckily I actually had two pairs already made, so I quickly relisted them. I'll still work on getting another pair made though.

Today we have an all day field trip, so I will get absolutely nothing done. I wish I could bring my tatting, but our end destination has a strict 'no pointed objects' security policy. I'm fairly certain that a six inch needle and a pair of scissors will not get through. So I apologize in advance for the boring, tatting free post you'll get tomorrow.

Well, I Did Something

Yesterday was supposed to be a nice, lazy day, but apparently I am incapable of really doing that when I'm suppose to. Instead of sitting about I did laundry and the dishes, I went outside to pull weeds and we managed to do a little schooling as well. Then when I finally did sit down I couldn't stop trying to come up with something to make.

Then I remembered that I had not yet made the Celtic motherhood knot motif I created for a friend for the shop. Of course I couldn't find any of my prototypes and it's been just long enough that I could quite remember all my very carefully thought out stitch counts. Also, I only had very small pictures of it so stitch counting was almost impossible. All that being said, I managed to recreate the design and get it in the shop.

I should really make it in a few more color variations for illustrative purposes, so if I can't think of anything better to tat up today, I guess I'll do that. I might even attempt to create a pattern for it. It's quite small, but the weaving of the design can be a bit tricky. It also has a tendency to look like you've made a mistake until it's been pulled tight and finished. So I guess the emphasis is on might here. We'll just see what the day brings.

Lazy

Well yesterday wasn't particularly exciting, but I did manage to get some tatting done. Of course it took longer than usual because me and the kids, well one kid anyway, attended the first virtual assembly for their online school. It was mostly a waste of time, but the kids saw their names on the screen so that made it worth it for them.

It was well after lunch before I had some time to get to work. I took a picture early just in case I didn't finish the barefoot sandals, but I plugged along all day and got them done late in the evening. I was hoping to wake up to something else that needed doing, but no such luck.

The kids have the day off school, but since we have a field trip on Thursday we'll probably do a little anyway just to make up for that. Either way, it should be a lazy day unless my creativity kicks in. What? It could happen.

Things To Do

Well the weekend started on task. I mean I managed to get the new bracelet made, photographed and listed in the shop. I even took some extra time and made it in an additional length. Every change I made during the design process seemed to lengthen the piece. So while it started out fitting me just fine, by the end it was too big. That's completely fine though since one repeat less did fit me and that means I can make it to fit a much wider variety of people.

That was it for tatting over the weekend though. We had a bunch of family things, visiting and whatnot. We also went to see Big Hero 6, which I we loved. That, however, was pretty much it.

I did wake up this morning to a sale in my shop. It's a custom item as well, so I do have a task for today. The customer had contacted me late last night with a bunch of questions, so I hoped that it would result in something getting sold. That means not only do I have something that needs making, but I also will have something that is at least a different color than usual to take a picture of for you. It's a win-win.

Five Tries

It took me a while to sit down and get to tatting yesterday. It was a laundry and dishes sort of day. You know the kind where every time you sit down, you remember that there was something else you needed to do.

When I finally did get some tatting in, I ended up with two more passes on the new design. I know, I know, it's not that complex. Why couldn't I get it right faster? I guess I was just feeling a bit like a perfectionist. This go here was just about there, but there were stability issues.When I pulled on the piece, it stretched apart too much. I know that's not much of a concern unless of course you intend the final product to be worn, but I do.

I took one more pass after this adding another critical join and it passed the pulling test. However, I didn't finish up the piece until far too late in the afternoon to get it photographed and listed as a bracelet. At least yesterday's slowness leaves me with at least one task for today. I'll get this pressed, photographed, and listed in the shop. I'm not certain about it becoming anything else though. It's possible I'll make it into a choker, but I think that's it for this one.

Hopefully today or the rest of the weekend will offer me something interesting that I can work with or on. This time I hope it doesn't take five tries to make something.

New!

You'll never believe what I did yesterday! Okay, yes, I tatted and it was something new. To my great delight, the early afternoon brought with it a sale in the shop with a small piece to remake. Once I was tatting that simple bracelet, I finally had a smallest burst of creativity and I went with it. The first go wasn't quite right. Well actually, it was just fine really, but I wanted something a little more creative. This version seemed too straight forward, so I stopped and started over to make some different choices with the basic idea.

This is the second try and I liked it better right off the bat. There is more complexity to the pattern and more stability actually. Of course you might be able to tell that the stitch count isn't quite right here yet.  I only changed the one element, but kept the same stitches for the rest of it and that was not quite right either.

I'm not even going to show you take three because while I fixed the stitch counts I somehow forgot the outer rings entirely. While it looks fine without them, it wasn't what I was trying to do. So today is take four where hopefully I manage to incorporate all the changes into the final design and it becomes a nice bracelet and maybe even a choker if I have the time and inclination. I'm certainly hoping that this is just the beginning of a creative phase because I'm a much more likeable person when I'm happily making things.

Yet Another Day Wasted

So all things considered, I had the sort of Jury Duty day one would want to have. I went to the courthouse in the morning, sat down and started reading. After paying a modicum of attention to their presentation, a list of names ordered to return at 3 was read off. The entire time I was crossing my fingers that I would not be amongst them. Once the list was finished and a small pause was observed, the rest of us were freed for the year and home I went. Only an hour or two of my life wasted.

You'd think that that would have put me in enough of a good mood to start creating, but it really didn't. Between the Jury Duty in the morning and getting to the polls to vote in the evening, I was feeling far more civic minded than I really ever want to. So no creating for me. I did manage to do a little cross stitching in the afternoon, but I really need some tatting related inspiration soon.

The rest of the week should be better now that I don't have to devote it to the courthouse. I'm going to try my level best to get in a creative space regardless of the state of my shop. Hopefully I'll succeed and have something mildly interesting to share soon.

One Day Wasted

Nope, I didn't get to any tatting yesterday at all. Well, it started with our schooling being delayed due to technical issues at their school site. Trying to keep them in a learning place while waiting for a website to come back was a bit of a challenge. When it finally came back about an hour late, we were basically an hour behind. Once I was off the schooling for the day, I was a tad more exhausted than usual, so I chose to mindlessly cross stitch and catch up on television.

I'm still waiting patiently for things to pick up in my etsy shop, but it is showing no signs of holiday influence yet. I'm hoping that it picks up, not only because I need the income, but the busier I am, the more creative I begin to feel. The more creative I feel, the more likely I am to get real ideas for new pieces and make time to create them.

Of course that creativity will not be with me today as I have jury duty. I am crossing my fingers that I will not be needed beyond today, but if history has taught me anything, it's that I have awful luck with this civic duty and it could waste days of my life. Since needles and sharp objects are prohibited in the court house, I'll just have to read to pass the time, hopefully I won't need to do so for long especially for the sake of the kids education.

Halloween

Friday was indeed, all about the kids. There was much makeup and trick or treating. Yes, in the evening the skies did open up and unleash a torrent ruining the trick or treat for any kid that waited until dark to go out. Lucky for my kids and their cousins, we were paranoid about the rain and went out early with umbrellas in an effort to beat it. We finished our rounds just as it began to really pour.

In case you're wondering, the oldest is a sugar skull or La Catrina and the youngest is Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy. Both required much makeup by me, so I didn't bother dressing up myself.

The rest of the weekend was errands and movie watching. Well that and trying to regulate the flow of candy. Did I mention that because of the rain, we had only one trick or treater at our door? Yeah, that means we have an excessive amount of candy in the house...very dangerous.

On Sunday, I did get an order in the shop, so I got some tatting in while we watched a movie. It was definitely a nice way to wind down the weekend, Too bad I have yet to convince the cats that the time has changed and my morning is beginning far too early. This week also has the dubious distinction of being the week I have to remain available for Jury duty. It is truly, most frustrating since I home school and I can't exactly call on a substitute teacher. The best I can hope is that I'm only needed for a day or so and that I can get most of their shooing worked out before I have to be there. I'm not scheduled until tomorrow, but don't be surprised if it puts me in a mood for the whole week. So here's to some calming tatting in my future.

Nothing

I'm afraid I don't have much this morning. With no tatting in queue, I worked on fixing one child's costume, did a little cleaning and I mean a very little and then I sat down and cross stitched. I didn't even remember to take a progress picture to share.

Today is bound to be just as unproductive. Right after schooling, I'll have to get the kids all made up in their costumes and makeup. Then we have a trip to the husbands work for early trick or treating. After that it's cousins coming over to brave the rain for real trick or treating. I assume that second trip will be short, but unless the skies open up in a torrent, the kids will still want to go out. I can't image that I'll get either time nor inspiration today to create anything, but perhaps the weekend will bring some of those ingredients. Here's hoping!

Listed and Remade

It's always a much longer day when we have to have a teacher meeting. Not because the meeting itself is long or stressful, but just because it breaks up the routine a bit. That means when we get back, it takes additional prodding to get the kids back to work. Then it takes additional motivation for me to get to work after schooling is wrapped.

All that being said, I did get the new necklace listed in the shop fairly early in the afternoon. I was having one of those running about afternoons with laundry and other such nonsense, so I really had to force myself to stop and take pictures, but since I knew I wasn't going to get to sit until it was done, I did it.

Right after I listed this I heard a sale notification and I thought this piece sold, but no, it was another necklace. That gave me something that needed tatting just as I needed a fresh task to keep me from cross stitching. This one is one of the simplest choker necklaces I make. It was modified slightly from a very common vine like pattern. I love it because it curves perfectly into a nice rounded necklace. Well that and because I can make it while paying little attention to what I'm doing. It's all muscle memory at this point.

I don't really have any tasks in queue for today, but with Halloween tomorrow, there's some last minute costume stuff to work out with the kids. Of course we have a 100% chance of rain predicted here for Friday evening, so I'm not even certain we'll get to go out at all. It's a shame, but we do desperately need rain. Hopefully a solution will present itself.

New

I didn't get too terribly much done yesterday, but what I did do was make something new. Sure, it's a pretty simple piece and it didn't take too long to create, but it's new right? I went looking for bits to do a one off piece and was lucky to find some that I had already put in a baggy together when I was apparently in a more creative mood. I've used this round bit before, but I tried for a slightly different usage this go around. I also wanted it to be really one off, so I used the only Twirlz thread I have, still in size 20 because I haven't been making enough in the shop to justify whimsical thread purchases.

It's not in the shop quite yet, hopefully it will make it there today. We have teacher meetings this morning and I've got a couple other tasks to complete along with schooling, so don't be too surprised if it doesn't make it though. I've been getting supremely lazy about photographing pieces, like I just can't be bothered to do it right anymore. Hopefully I'll get a nice bit of motivation again today and something more interesting will happen. I can always hope, right?

On Task

It's amazing how much better I stay on task when I have a piece to remake for the shop that I know should be there. I actually wanted to get tatting and I wanted to finish the piece, so I did. It wasn't anything new, but it sells eventually, so I was happy to make it. This is one of my Grand Daisy pieces, I think I have three choker using the same basic beginning and then they progressively get more complex. They do take a while to make since they are essentially pieced together with many daisy motifs, but I was glad for the work.

I also got another nice sale yesterday, but it was for one of my one of a kind pieces, so that doesn't really give me anything to remake today. Though if I can manage some inspiration, it does give me an excuse to make another one off piece. I guess we'll just have to see if the Muses visit, if not, it's back to the cross stitch which is still managing to keep my hands busy when they would otherwise be idle.

Well it sounds like I have at least the initial rumblings of a plan for the day. Here's to inspiration, motivation, and a spot of old fashioned luck.

Weekend Recap

Well I had a nice long weekend, but I fear not much tatting was even thought about. We had our pumpkin patch outing on Friday morning and then I was coerced into attending my nephew's high school football game that evening. While I love the child and want to support him, let's just say, football game, not my idea of a good time. Mostly it just induced flashbacks of my high school days. Between the two events of the day, all my free time was occupied.

Saturday was errand running and catching up on television with the husband. So there was plenty ofsitting on the couch that could have been used for tatting, but with the shop a ghost town, I'm barely motivated. Sunday we cleaned the house because the in-laws where coming over for dinner. They don't really care if it's clean, but it was a good excuse to do some anyway. It had been awhile and just like tatting lately, I need the motivation in order to get anything done.

So that's the weekend in a nutshell. I know, not particularly exciting. I did wake up this morning to the sale of a necklace that I can and should remake, so there is tatting on the schedule today. Since I apparently couldn't be bothered to create anything to share with you, I hoped a cat picture would fill the space up instead.

Eclipse

Yesterday was generally a much better day, mostly because, at no point in the day, did I lose my ability to see. I spent most of my time on cross stitch and catching up on the television that I couldn't watch the day before. I know terribly exciting.

We did take quite a few trips outside to watch the partial solar eclipse. I feel bad sometimes that the
kids haven't seen many astrological events because you know, they're late at night. So any chance to get them out to see something like this is worth it. Luckily we bought some eclipse glasses years ago, so we were all set.

Yes, I did play with a photo filter program to make this picture, but the oddest part is that unfiltered, there was an image of the eclipse in the top right and in the center, that ball of light. I'm sure it's some sort of common photo effect when dealing with an eclipse, but I thought it looked neat, so I'm sharing it.

Today is the kids annual outing to a pumpkin patch. It is of course also going to be the hottest day we've seen for a couple of weeks. So I'm fairly certain that exhaustion afterwards will prevent me from doing anything too taxing, but man do I hope that the weekend offers up some sort of change in the shop or my creative outlook, so I can once again, fill this blog with tatted lace and complain about being too busy.

Headache

You know how I was worried that my doctor's appointment was going to put me off the rest of the day, well it didn't. Nope, the Migraine I got after lunch did that. I've only gotten a handful of these crazy things, but man I can't imagine what it must be like for chronic sufferers of them. This one's aura started as little shimmery dots that made me stop cross stitching because I couldn't count stitches. Then it got bigger until it encompassed my whole filed of vision making it nearly impossible to do anything. The aura faded about maybe and hour or two later and left me with the headache.

Once I could see again, I went back to cross stitching. It was honestly the quietest activity I could think of doing. The oldest child asked why I didn't just lay down and mostly it's because I would have felt useless and bored.The headache stayed with me, dulled by some generic aleve, until I went to bed last night. I seem okay this morning, so here's hoping its another six months before I experience all that again.

I think I'll have to get some cat ears made today to make up for the lack of any tatting yesterday. I think I just move too fast when I tat for it to be okay to do with my head pounding. The cross stitch is much slower and steady. So I suppose after the sidelining events of yesterday, I can probably look forward to today being at least a little better...I hope.

Nothing Interesting

Honestly I could have simply copy and pasted yesterday's blog post and it would have been a completely accurate description of yesterday as well as the day before. There was schooling followed by hours of tatting cat ears and sewing them to headbands. That was interrupted on occasion by some cross stitching and video game playing. I didn't even bother to take a photo of any cross stitch progress. Of course that's because with this sort of cross stitch progress is ridiculously slow and it still looks like nothing much.

Today will probably be only slightly different as I have a doctor's appointment in the morning. I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't put me off for the rest of the day. Even if it doesn't, I really have nothing better to do than more cat ears and some cross stitching. That is unless something more interesting comes up, which I sincerely hope happens. I am getting dangerously close to a rut here and that's no good for anyone. So here's to something interesting happening.

Not Much

The day is always a bit more boring when I have a plan to remake things all day. You really can't have any interest in seeing more pictures of my cat ear headbands. I checked the other day and since I first designed and made them I've sold over 75 sets of them. I find that to be absolutely nuts, but then again you never know what will be popular. Some of my more favorite and complex designs have never sold a single piece and some of the most simple have.

I did manage to take one photo yesterday to liven up this text heavy post. I took a few cross stitch breaks throughout the day. I also took a few video game breaks as well, but that's not really picture worthy. It's one of those really complex designs with mixed colors. I've done them before and they take forever, luckily that was just what I needed when I started it, a side project to work on when I needed a break that would be around for a while.

So today's plan is the same as yesterday's. More cat ears tatted with cross stitch breaks and probably those video game breaks as well. So I guess that means another boring blog post for you. I apologize in advance.

Weekend Recap

I tried to do something original on Friday, but that was about it. I doodled this for no particular reason and I'm not sure that it really has any purpose. It is an odd shape and it definitely reminded people of different things, but I'm not sure it stands on its own. I might play with it a bit to see if I can add a way to extend the design, or I might just let it be an odd little doodle that gave me something to do on a Friday afternoon.

The rest of the weekend, I cross stitched and hung out with the family. We mostly watched movies both at home and on Sunday in the theater. We went and saw Book of Life, which was beautiful and fun and I recommend it. Not that my opinion carries any weight.

The only thing I sold in the shop over the weekend was a pair of cat ears. I'm down to just one pair  left so I guess I will need to spend some time making those again today. Their time is almost up for the year, though I do sell a few year round, Halloween is the only time any one thing flies off my virtual shelves. So today, it's tatting ears and sewing them to headband. At least it's a plan.

Argh

If I was bad earlier in the week, I was much worse yesterday. I did nothing of consequence, not a damn thing. Well that's not entirely true, I did spend the morning homeschooling the kids, so I suppose that counts as something worth doing, but after that, nothing. I didn't pick up a tatting needle at all and while I tried to start an embroidery project, I stopped and undid it after just a few stitches as I quickly realized that it was not going to work like I hoped and would be an utter mess instead.

So what did I do with my day? Not much else and it put me in a bad mood which was only exacerbated by an uncharacteristically clingy child who wouldn't leave my side all day. Don't get me wrong I love my kids and being around them all day, but sometimes I need a just little space in order to create. Having every step watched so closely kills my creativity dead.

So here's to a turnaround today and over the weekend. Here's to sales in my shop, ideas in my head and just enough time and space to bring them to life. Here's to something, anything interesting and surprising.

A Little Something

I spent the time after schooling engaged in household tasks, my favorite. All the time I was racking my brain about what to create next. When I finally sat down, I still couldn't quite decide on anything. As luck would have it, that was the moment someone purchased a bracelet from my shop. This meant I had something that needed remaking.

It had actually been quite a while since I had made up this pattern and I couldn't initially remember how I did it. I had a little time to figure it out before I needed to put the order in the mail, so I sat down, counted stitches and slowly remembered how to recreate it. Yes, I realize this is a strong argument for writing down my patterns when I first create them, but you know that's about as likely as tatting making me rich and famous.

I got the bracelet finished and back in the store along with the new bracelet that I showed you yesterday. So I start another day with nothing much to do, unless of course I want to clean the house, which I don't. I'll think of something eventually because I just can't abide idle hands.

Oops

I was bad yesterday. Not only did I forget to list the new bracelet in the shop, I spent the rest of the day embroidering. That in itself it's particularly bad, but I was embroidering a gift and I failed to take a picture when it was finished. Nope, I just wrapped the sucker up and gave it to its intended recipient. So aside from a picture of the bracelet that is made, but not listed, I have nothing to show to you today.

I don't even really have anything else to tell you today either. I was determined to get the embroidery present done so it could be gifted, so I really did little else at all.  I should be able to list the bracelet in the shop sometime today, but then I have no more projects in queue. I'm kind of feeling stuck in this cycle of rushing to get one or two things done and then having nothing to do for days on end. Nothing for it I guess, I'm sure to find something that needs or at least wants doing.