Busy & Thanks

So with a task of remaking ankle corsets, I managed to do nothing else the entire day. Well, that's not entirely true. There was an unfortunate bout of cleaning first thing in the morning when one of the cats could not be bothered to 'go' in the litter box and someone stepped on it and tracked it throughout the house. I know, fun, right? Then there was a lovely walk after schooling the kids. Aside from those two events and the occasional break browsing the Internet, all I did was work on ankle corsets.

There are pieces I sell just often enough that I have their patterns and constructions committed to memory, but many of the things I've made over the years have been made just once or twice so every time I have to do one of those pieces, it's a much longer task. I try to have the existing piece in hand if possible so I can clearly see all my joins and stitch counts since they're not always the most logical choices. Yesterday's pair was once of those. So I'm not even close to done with the pair.

After I do finish them, I have another pair in a different style to make as well. Though the next pair I am more familiar will so it should be less of a hassle. The rest of the weekend will probably be dedicated to more family adventures so don't expect much om Monday unless something terribly interesting and unexpected happens. Oh, and before I go thanks to everyone who took the time to watch the new video and comment. I really appreciate it, you make me feel like I put something at least a little bit useful into the world, thanks!

Lock Stitch

It was quite a day yesterday. It was busy, productive and fun and relaxing though I'm still a little tired from all of it. First thing I managed to do yesterday after schooling the kids was get the lock stitch video filmed and posted.Yes, you heard that right, I actually did that. It's posted on YouTube and Instructables and of course right here.

It's really rather short, but I think it does what it needs to. Never mind that it took like an hour of babbling to myself just to end up with a two minute clip. I thought about waiting to post it with all the other pieces of the petals pattern puzzle on Monday, but I really needed the feeling of accomplishment that can only come from putting something finished into the world and getting any kind of feedback at all. The initial small flurry of views and comments were all I needed to feel justified in my effort.

After that I had my nieces and nephews to babysit for the afternoon, so I didn't get much else done. I was far too busy monitoring the playing and nonsense that only occurs when extra kids are about. It wasn't a bad afternoon, just chaotic. I did get a couple of interesting emails that may result in extra work, but it's too soon to tell.

The evening was rounded out with dinner out with friends, which I do honestly wish we could do more often because it makes me feel like an adult and because it allows me to actually talk to other grown-ups I'm not related to and because my friends are terribly awesome with ridiculous stories.

So that brings us to today's tasks. I woke this morning to the sale of some ankle corsets, so I have ready made tatting tasks in their remaking that will take me at least the day if not a few. Oh, it's definitely going to be a few days on those which I can deal with. Crazy as this week has been and next week is going to be, I'm feeling pretty good about all of it.

It's Something Anyway

It was an interesting day. Not exciting, interesting, but still. Schooling ran very long with the oldest working on her first book report. Of course I just sat there encouraging her to work while I played on the Internet. She doesn't need to know what I was doing on the computer though. When we were finally done I had vacuuming I needed to do. It's Spring and the cats are shedding, all six of them, so the dust bunnies look a little more like dust yetis and it just couldn't be put off any longer. All this meant I couldn't even think about tatting tasks until after lunch.

Timing was on my side though, it wasn't until after lunch that the sun came out making it perfect for taking the pictures I needed to for the pendant listing. So that is all taken care of and saved as a draft ready to launch when I wake next Monday morning. The next question was whether or not I really "needed" to make a lock stitch video. This question sent me searching for one and I could only locate a shuttle tatting one, so I accepted that if I did indeed want one to exist, I would have to get on it.

It was just too loud around here to even think about doing one yesterday, but I did get the prep work started for it including a couple of sample pieces. I thought I'd make one up with solid and variegated shade to show how decorative the different colors can be as opposed to the more utilitarian look of the solids. The sample got me thinking a little about a new piece as well. I also painted my nails because they were looking haggard and since that's all of me that you see in the videos, they should at the very least look taken care of, right?

So the hope is that this morning schooling will be quick, the sun will be out for natural light and dozens of lawn mowers will not be visiting the neighborhood. It should be a very short video, but I generally mess up several times before I finally manage to create something usable so I need plenty of time to work on it. If nothing else comes up to distract me and I actually get it made today, well, I'll be pretty shocked myself, but I'm operating on the premise that if I write it up confidently that I might actually follow through. Hey, it could happen. If I don't I only have a few days left before my self imposed deadline. Man, I have been ridiculous lately. Here's hoping I can pull myself together and get back to form soon.

Fail

I accepted a bit of a life lesson yesterday as I attempted to replace old photos with new ones in someone else's layout for my tatting pattern. I usually try to figure these sort of things out myself. I try to think of myself as moderately clever and adaptable, but about an hour or two...maybe three later I threw in the towel and accepted that I just did not have the requisite background skills to complete the task. I found myself asking for help again feeling a bit like a failure. It is quite difficult for me to put tasks in the hands of others, partly because I know I could learn how to do it myself given the time and proper instruction and partly because as a bit of a perfectionist I like to control things. Luckily in this case it was much more the former than the latter as the person I cried to for help is far more clever in this and has a complimentary aesthetic sense that I trust. I still feel like I didn't accomplish a thing all day given my repeated failed attempts.

I wasted much of my day with that adventure which left little time for much else. I did manage to remake a pendant and bracelet, but I didn't get round to any of the other tasks I had laid out for myself. I was also so focused on next week's events that I nearly forgot about several this week. I've got babysitting tomorrow and a dinner. Then on Friday we have a pizza party for the kids to attend for lunch. So between all that I really need to focus on getting that video done, if it's going to be done at all. I might just end up searching YouTube for an existing one and pass the buck if one does already exist.

Other than the video I still need to get the pendant listing ready to go which means pictures need to be taken. I think maybe I can handle that task today. Sales are still glacially slow so I've been making an extra pair of barefoot sandals just to keep busy. If I finish those I was thinking of making a mask that's currently listed as a custom order. I'm just trying to keep working and making knots. It's a charmed life.

Checked Out

I had one of the single laziest weekends I can remember. Sometime Friday afternoon I basically checked out. I'm not really sure what did it, but I was tired and I didn't want to do anything. So I sat there on the couch doing absolutely nothing of value even though I did have things that could have been attended to. I got back some lovely notes on the pattern from the test tatter who did far more than make notes, just wait until you see how nice the layout is. I should have spent the day redoing photo notes and finalizing the pattern so it would be done and ready for next Monday, but I didn't...I sat.

I didn't get round to any of that the rest of the weekend either. Instead I filled the time that wasn't taken by family errands and walks to read a book. Yes, a grown up novel. This is something I had not made time to do in a very long time. I used to read like a machine especially as a child. The amount of books I consumed was truly epic and now it's a rare thing indeed. I still read all day of course, but my reading is now online, kids text books and stories, the occasional magazine and when I can carve out more time, comic books. So I spent the weekend reading and sadly finished the book early Sunday afternoon. Apparently lack of practice on novels did not dull my ability to devour them quickly. I'm hoping that my little mini weekend vacation was just the break I needed and that I can get back to the grind today without the crazy malaise that took me down on Friday.

So today my plan is to get that pattern ready to go and also to get the listing ready to go for the pendant. I have the week to maybe get a video on the lock stitch up and just a couple of small things to get remade for the shop. Next week is going to be a doozy though. First there's Easter followed by the pendant  and pattern sale next Monday and the youngest daughter's birthday on that Wednesday. Then I have nieces to babysit on Friday followed by the accompanying birthday party on Saturday. I imagine all the free time next week will be filled with making the ordered pendant since I'm going for a 'choose your color' approach again. Maybe I should just stay checked out out this week because I think I'm going to need all the energy I can store up.