One Done

Let's see, I finished the novel I was reading early in the morning and ordered book three in the series. It won't be here until Saturday, so I read comic books much of the day. I think I knocked out at least twenty of them in a quest to finish a whole short box full of them. Oh, and yes I did get some tatting done as well.

I decided to avoid the mistakes of the previous day, I would do the ankle corsets one at a time. I did finish one of them and it looks great. Unfortunately, it's a bit bigger than I anticipated. Not too big really, just too big for me to wear properly. I do have really small ankles, so I figure that they'll probably fit other people better than my other ones do. Only problem is, I am my only model currently. I mean, give my oldest daughter a couple more years and she'd be perfect, but not quite yet. So today while I work on this one's twin, I'll also be trying to figure out the best way to wear them so that they photograph well.

If I do finish this, then it will probably be onto the other pieces I mentioned yesterday. A label pin, hair pin, maybe a pendant. Man, I really do hope that these are well received, because this is a lot of effort if they turn out to be unloved. Why am I just now thinking about this? Oh well, the only way out is through.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Things were going so good yesterday. I was hard at work tatting up the pieces for the matching ankle corsets. I had decided due to fog, that I wouldn't even bother dong the finishing work on the necklace. Anyway, I'm doing both pieces at the same time. Well really I'm doing one center motif, then the other followed by the smaller motifs around each one. See all that progress there.

Then as I started the second rounds of the smaller motifs, my mistake showed itself. I had attached every single one of the smaller motifs in the wrong orientation. At first I thought, well maybe it won't make that big a difference and I'll just  make some small adjustments. So I went ahead and did the second round on a couple of them to see. Turns out I was really wrong, the difference was significant and the results would have been an entirely different looking piece.

Since I'm making these to match the necklace, that wouldn't do at all, so out came the scissors and I clipped them down to the center motif. The sense of defeat kept me from picking them back up and starting over. Instead I just read my novel, which is incredibly near the end, and ignored the lace for the rest of the day. Thankfully the day was already close to over, so I didn't lose too much time.

Today I'll start fresh, pay more attention and hopefully get these made up. No sun is really expected today either though, so it will still be a while before I finish up the necklace and get it in the shop. I also thought perhaps the motif might make an appearance as a new lapel pin or hair pin. I also have yet to just make it up as a plain pendant. Maybe I'll just get all these pieces made up and photograph them at the same time. Then I can put them all in the store and pretend it's a 'collection'. That sounds fancy, right? Who knows, I do have to get them all made first and that should take a while so I can decide all that later.

That's Done

Yesterday was a packed school day for the kids, last day of the semester and all that. I seem to remember it always being more of a busy work and movies sort of day, but then again that's one of the biggest differences with the homeschooling. Almost all their work is worth doing and then they have the rest of the day for nonsense. They had a bunch of tests, I read, and after that I got back to work.

Yes, I was again trapped beneath a cat on the couch with a book on my lap, holding my tatting above it all. The best part is, I did get the necklace finished, save for the findings, and pressing it. That was definitely the bulk of my day, so I didn't get around to starting anything else at all.

School is out for the rest of the week for 'administrative days', so today, I have more time to work, theoretically. I need to press and finish this and ensure that it's wearable once that's done. I was checking it while working on the prototype, but since I left that one incomplete, I don't have the final data. Once that's complete, if there's sun, I'll take photos, if not, I'll just move onto the ankle corsets. Of course I'd be glad to be distracted by an order or two. I'm just putting that out there for the Universe. Otherwise I'm sure the ankle corsets won't be even close to finished today. They each will be smaller than the necklace, but the necklace took two full days and there are two of them needed, so it should be a while before they're done. Alright, off to it then. I'm crossing my fingers for a productive day off.

Trapped

We had a long day of schooling, like I knew we would. It was well after lunch when I sat down to do some tatting. I got my blanket and my book and before I'd tatted stitch one, ninja lap cat was upon me. I spent literally hours like this. I read over the cat while I tatted the final version of the new necklace. There have been a few minor alterations on the new piece, but for the most part, it's going faster since I know where it's going this time around.

There's a good chance that I'll actually get the necklace finished today, especially if today plays out like yesterday. I still probably won't get it in the shop today though. There's just so little sun around here lately for proper pictures. I'll likely just move on to making the matching ankle corsets and get photos whenever the sun decides to make an appearance. Or I could remake the last mask that sold in the shop, I don't need any findings to remake those. Either way, I have plenty to of things to tat, more to read, and quite likely a cat waiting for my lap.

Nothing New

On Friday I got the custom sized bracelet made for the order I got on Thursday. Then Saturday morning while I was packing up the pieces, I realized that the necklace in the order was also supposed to a different size than the one I had on hand. I'd forgotten that I had made the size an option in the listing since I don't think this particular necklace had ever sold before. So I spent Saturday morning speed tatting the right length so I could get it in the post that day as I had promised. Luckily  had just two more of the clasps I needed on hand. I really am getting dangerously close to absolutely needing to order finding supplies. I'm likely going to continue to put it off until I actually do start cannibalizing older pieces for them, because I am loathe to spend the money right now.

It seems I really have developed a taste for having the weekends off from anything of consequence. The rest of the weekend was fairly tatting free. While I did finally start making the final version of the newest necklace last on Sunday, I only got to the second round on the first motif. Not exactly what I'd call progress. I didn't even read my novel all weekend. I just binge read a couple of comic book titles to catch up a bit. The family went to see a movie and then spent some lazy time watching TV.

This week is going to be a weird one. The kids have only two days of school, but they are days full of tests. Then they're off the rest of the week. I suppose that should give me enough time to get the necklace made, read some more, and even rest a bit. Of course not until after these two days of tests, so yeah, it's going to be a weird week. Here's hoping that it tries to be weird and good.