Waste A Day

And it is done. Well, actually it's more like they are done. I managed a wholly productive day. First there was the last day of school which consisted of tests for history, math and science. She knocked them out so quickly that I was done and tatting in no time. Then I tatted and tatted and tatted some more. Seriously, I think that I was tatting for six or seven hours straight with time off for lunch. Normally I say that I tat all day, but that's often an interrupted activity. On any given day I still manage to take care of children, keep the house relatively livable and waste a fair amount of time with random internet silliness all while tatting on and off. Not yesterday. I was determined to not only finish the medallion order, but also the custom order that came in right after I wrote yesterday. I was successful in that quest. That also means I did little of anything else and the house looks like a kid based hurricane hit it.

So that brings us to today. Since I worked so non-stop I have nothing interesting to show you. I don't even have a new bruise picture. Not that you need to see another of those... ever. Since these last two orders were custom pieces, I don't even have anything to remake today. Today is a blank slate and at this moment I really don't know what I'm going to write. If I could take naps I just do that all day, but since I can't I might just find something lazy to do and pretend I'm back in school and it's my first day of vacation. I used to know how to really waste a day.

The Last Day

Ah, sweet relief. Here we are at the last day of schooling for the year. I remember the first year of home schooling and my wide eyed optimism. I was going to keep it going through the summer because who needs all that vacation time? Turns I do, she does and we all do. It also turns out that once you start homeschooling your brain goes to a different place where everyday things become mini lessons without any effort and the children actually enjoy that type of constant learning. So aside from casual reading and some serious math flash card practice over the summer, formal learning is over until August. I feel I need to celebrate...not for her, but me. It's been a long year.

In tatting news I did get that custom order I mentioned yesterday so I was busy all day making large medallions. I enjoy the pattern, but I had forgotten how long it takes to make, so they'll be at least another day of them if not a couple. I also got to experiment when I realized that I only had mauve, one of the requested colors, in size 20, not size 10 thread. I don't have enough time to order up some so I decided to double up the thread and see if it would work up to a comparable size. Well, it took some tight tension, but it did. I was also reminded as I continued to work with the other colors that they all work up slightly differently despite their 'uniform' size. I'm using six different colors for the order in three different brands and even the ones in the same brand are slightly different. I'm just crossing my fingers that the customer isn't looking for exact replicas in all of them.

After the husband got off work we headed out for another short family bike ride. On one hand it's much easier now that we're not running behind kids with bikes. On the other, going incredibly slow behind the five year old is not surprisingly incredibly hazardous with all the weaving to stay on balance and whatnot. Again I whacked my calf with the pedal. Since I don't have any lace pictures for you, you can see what my calf is looking like now. Oh, and keep in mind that there are a couple of other small ones surrounding these as well. They are really lovely, no?

So today then. Well, I'll still be working on the medallion order once school is wrapped and I just got a custom request in the shop, so if that purchase gets made I'm right onto that. Then I'm going to find some way to celebrate the last day of school if it kills me.

What A Day

What a Monday. To be fair I knew it was going to be an odd day from the start. I try so hard to get normal Monday things done, but when it's a holiday and the husband is home and there's no schooling, there is a limit to what I can do. I managed to finish the teal barefoot sandal and get all three pairs photographed and listed early in the morning. I opted for some outdoor pictures too. I thought they might be received better in context.

Next up was a bike ride with the family as predicted. We live about a block from a nice bike path, so we did a whole circuit around before coming back in time for lunch. I feel surprisingly good this morning despite the exercise. I was certain my legs would be annoyed since I got one of those cruiser bicycles with no gears, but they seem okay with it. I'm sure it helped that I spent much time coasting and stopping and going so the youngest could catch up.

Then we ran a few errands and I bought a bunch of seed beads just in case there are color requests for the new sandals. I have very few colors on hand because I use them so little, but it's always easier to have things on hand than to have to run out should the need arise. After the errands it was home again for the rest of the day. I got a few small sales throughout the day and actually had time to remake much of what was sold. It was quite the day indeed.

So what's on the agenda for today? Well, schooling is in session for two more days and the oldest has her annual doctor visit this morning. Those always throw the rest of the off a bit. I got a custom request yesterday for a half dozen medallions, but the customer hasn't made their purchase yet. If they do, I've got that to work on. If they don't. I might make yet another pair of sandals. I know I should wait until one sells, but they're kind of fun. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the day goes.

I'm Barefoot Again

Well hello there Monday, it's been another long weekend. Saturday was the last family birthday party for the year. Sure, both me and the husband have birthdays yet to come this summer, but we hardly count. There are no balloons, bouncy houses nor streamers to set up for us and I am so happy to be on the other side of all that for one more year, whew.

What's crazy is I was able to come up with a new barefoot sandal design and make a couple of pairs over the weekend among all that craziness. Let me back up though because this is all a friends fault. I used to do a lot of blog  interviews and they always asked what my influences or inspirations were. I always wished I had some intelligent, educated answer, a list of designers or art movements, but I didn't. I would try to fake it and tell people it was the Victorian era or some such nonsense. The real truth of my inspirations are much more mundane. A stroll through the internet, a random image on the television, a comment or request from a customer, or just flipping through a vintage pattern book with a wandering mind.

This time it was an email forwarded to me by a friend full of barefoot sandals. One detail of one design caught my eye and I proceeded to figure how I could use that one detail to create something completely different. The detail? It was a pair with two toe loops. You also know how I love to beat a pattern to death by using variations of it on as many different kinds of pieces as possible, so I used the same vine like pattern as my last necklace and anklet. Of course all I have right now are these phone pictures of them, but I made the first pair in black without any beads and the second I did in white with silver plated beads.

And before you ask, they are surprisingly comfortable. When I do an entirely new design element, I like to test it out a bit so I wore the prototype pair about the house for a while. I crocheted the loops this time too because I figure while most people are used to flip flops with something between their two big toes, the loop around the pinkie would be a tighter fit and I just didn't think a spiral chain would be comfortable. I also started making a third pair in teal with some matching beads. I asked on twitter and facebook for color suggestions and that was the only repeat color. Man there were a lot of color suggestions though.

Hopefully I'll get a few minutes today to finish the teal pair, get them all photographed, and get them all listed too. We picked up some cheap bikes yesterday so we can ride with the kids, so we're certain to do that today. On a side note while you may never forget how to ride a bike, after a decade or so the first few minute on one again are kinda hairy. Though it will certainly beat running along side the kids so they can ride their bikes. There's no schooling today, but we have our last two days tomorrow and Wednesday and then it's technically summer, so be prepared for me to go mad in a couple of weeks.

A Day At The Zoo

As predicted it was a tatting free day and not only that it was a completely non-stop day as well. We don't skimp on kids birthdays around here. We were up and out the door early headed for the zoo a few towns over. We spent many hours there and had quite a pleasant time especially after the zillions of school groups had gone. Seriously it was like an ant invasion, there were everywhere, but luckily only for the first couple of hours. After that the zoo was practically empty and the girls got their run of the place. They're actually posing for their dad here which is why they're not looking at my camera, but this exemplifies them so well.

Also it is here that I pause to show you what I did to their hair on Wednesday. Yes, I did that to both of them. Yes, I had to bleach the hair first. They both ended up wanted red even though I got pink for the youngest and they can always go purple or blue if they want. The piece of hair we dyed is under the part for both of them, but it's much more obvious on the oldest which is why you get her picture. Also it was her birthday and she is clearly quite happy with it. I'm currently waiting for the first, 'You're a horrible mother for doing that to their hair!' I'm certain it's coming, I'll be patient.

The rest of the day was spent shopping at stores we don't have in town like Toys R Us and a JoAnn's that makes ours look like a stand at the swap meet. The children came home with a couple of toys and adventures under their belt. The day wasn't quite done though. Once we were back in town it was a couple errands and out to dinner and then ice cream. By the time we were home for good it was almost time for bed. I managed to quickly get the Wunderkammer scheduled up and answer a few emails, but that was it. To demonstrate my level of exhaustion, we turn to the king of sleep, the sloth, who according to the zoo keeper, sleeps about 20 hours a day...in a tree. Are you jealous? I kind of am.