A Little More

I sort of feel like starting out this post with, second verse, same as the first. What I really mean is that yesterday was an awful lot like the day that preceded it. Both kids are reading more in their lessons, so I've had time to read while they do. This has sucked me further into the book I'm reading, so I keep going back to it rather than doing other things. I'm still rather scattered though and managed some knitting and just a bit of tatting as well.

I finished up the main section of the necklace and was gratified that the pieces fit together like I had hoped. I think I'm getting some rough ideas for the connecting pieces, but I haven't put anything into thread yet. Normally I would just work straight on the existing pieces, but I think I might try some prototyping first this time. It'll save me cutting out different versions as I try to get the shape and density right. I guess that's the plan for my tatting time today. I'll try to get a little design work in between my obsessive reading sessions. One small step at a time, I'll turn this into something wearable, I swear.

Necklace

I spent another scattered day yesterday. There was more knitting, more reading and yes, there was some more tatting. This new motif of mine is a frustratingly slow to tat piece though. This go around I made a few small modifications to the basic design as well. Originally the rings stacked in layers all by themselves. Okay, so I nudged the small ones in front, but it was a simple process. This time I added a joining picot to lock them in place making it much more fiddly to create. I figure it may be hard to make, but it should make for a sturdier finished product.

This is the backside of the necklace as it's growing. Clearly I still have tons of work left to do and this just represents the large center section. I still haven't even attempted to work out the connecting sections. I feel like I'm going to have to design a few smaller, complimentary motifs for it, but that part hasn't come to me yet. I think allowing myself time to mindlessly knit and time to read and escape into a story should keep me from burning out on what is clearly going to be a longer project than I anticipated. Stretching it out a bit also gives me more small developments to share as they occur, so I don't lapse into the 'nothing to share today' blog posts. I guess it's a win win...as long as it works.

One Thing Done

I got so very lazy over the weekend. Maybe I had pushed myself too much on my first week after vacation. I don't know, but I had the creativity level of a brick. On Friday I did manage to finish the new version of the bracelet. It's a much more manageable size than the original one and thankfully, it looks just about the same on my wrist. Of course I do have to hook further into the lace to make this version fit me, but as I'm sure I've said before, I have twig wrists. It's in the shop now and I named it Floral Mandala because the first motif elicited a comparison to a mandala on twitter when I first posted it.

Other than that achievement on Friday, I did no more tatting over the weekend. I knitted on my newest project, hopefully a nice cowl scarf. I say hopefully, because instead of using a pattern for a cowl, I'm just using a lace stitch and working it in a big round. I get to hope that it will be big enough when I take it off the circular needles because I can't really tell for certain now. I'm just using up the rest of the skein of yarn that I used for my arm warmers/fingerless gloves, so I guess it'll be done when the yarn is gone.

I've also been spending more time reading than I have in quite some time. I just finished War of the Worlds, partly because the oldest child will be reading it in school soon and reading it makes me much more useful to her. Before that I read some free Kindle First book called, The Fire Seekers and now I'm onto a book recommended by a friend called The Darkness that Comes Before. This one has been an infinitely tougher read. It's full of hard to pronounce and harder to remember names. I wasn't certain I was going to get through it at all in the beginning, but a few chapters in, I'm getting comfortable with the rhythm and the plot is beginning to coalesce.

I guess when I write this all out, I think I seem less lazy and more scattered, like I just can't focus on one thing. Well hopefully, the set schedule of the school week will keep me on track to at least try to come up with the next Mandala design. If not at least I know I have plenty of other tasks to keep me busy.

Almost There

I managed to make the morning of schooling seem even longer by ending it with an errand to the post office to mail more work samples. I'd like to feel relieved that it's done, but in just another couple of weeks we'll be scrambling around to collect more and then they'll be testing and other nonsense that fills up the back semester of school. It's about as much fun as it sounds. It's a good thing it's worth it.

I sold a cat ear headband yesterday, so I opted to get another of those made before I started to work on my motif. I thought I would at least get the new bracelet idea made, but I just didn't have enough time. Of course I might have had enough time had I not tatted while reading. It does slow me down, but it's the only time I can read uninterrupted and my brain needs the stimulation.

It might look like it's done in the photo, but  the farther motif is just lying under the center one to show you what it will look like once I get that last motif made and attached. At the very least it will be a bit longer than my last try and it should look the same from the front, so it should make it into the shop...once it's done of course.

So it's finishing this bracelet today and if I'm granted any more free time today or over the weekend, I'll work on the necklace idea. I think I need to develop some more pieces for it before it becomes what I want it too though. Hopefully, I've got some reserve creativity waiting to work that all out. Only time and thread will tell.

Oops

Schooling continues to suck up more time from the day than it once did. I suppose it makes sense that as the year wears on, the work is harder and takes longer. It doesn't help that the youngest is reading a novel now, so that just simply takes more time to get through. I will simply have to adjust my expectations of available tatting time accordingly.

I got an order in the afternoon, so I used said tatting time to remake the piece that sold rather than play with the new motif even though I have a couple of ideas burning a hole in my brain. I kept getting distracted by things while working though, so I made a big mistake halfway through and had to pull out the scissors. I like to document a few complete failures now and then so I can remind myself that I still have to focus a little while working. I occasionally forget that and the results are often worse than a small piece of snipped up lace. This time I was trying to read two different books and pay attention to whatever nonsense the kids were up to. That's just too much multitasking.

So today's task is to get back to the new motif and try out at least one of those burning ideas. I will try to do so with fewer distractions so I don't have to cut that up as well. I also need to do the year end books for my shop. I may be stalling on that one for a while longer, but just writing down as a reminder is a good first step, right?