Distracted

Okay, so I didn't get that choker put together yesterday at all. I do have a valid excuse though. The child who was working on the other latch hook kit as a gift realized that she was not going to be able to finish it on time by herself, so I was drafted to speed it done. I spent much of the day with that canvas on my lap hooking as quickly as possible. I did mange to finish it including the sewing of the edges. Now all that needs to be done is to make them suitable for hanging.

All that latch hooking gave me zero time to work on any tatting at all, but I did squeeze in a little bobbin time. This is the second thing to come off the bobbins in a complete piece. Of course it's all twisty and unstable, but the website said it would be without the proper headside to it. The point is, I think I'm getting it. It really was the best idea to focus on one author and just work through everything that way. Things are starting to make sense and I think if I just take it one step at a time, by the end of the book, I should be able to figure things out a bit better on my own.

Aside from making the latch hooks creations into proper gifts today, I should have the time to create that choker. That is of course, unless another distraction pops up. Then it will be back to the bobbins. I got a whole batch of them winded and ready for whatever comes next.

Pride

As soon as schooling was done yesterday I pulled out that edging that I was working on last week. It amazing how few days it takes for me to forget what the stitch counts for something was. It took me a bit of counting to remember what I was doing, but eventually I had the piece worked up to choker length. It has yet to be turned into a choker because I just didn't fancy getting it put together and taking pictures yesterday. I suppose I really ought to try to get round to that today.

What I'm incredibly proud of achieving yesterday is my first piece of bobbin lace. Now mind you it's nothing real, nor useful, it's simply the first lesson I followed from beginning to end actually pulling off a piece of something completed. I'm using Jo Edkins' website and I just downloaded both of her books to help as well, though I haven't looked through them at all yet. The books were actually available through Kindle Unlimited so I get to look through them for free, but I digress. The piece here is just a simple footside, but like I said it's the first one I did to any length and didn't undo to try something else.

So today I'll try to muster up the motivation to get that edging turned into a choker and listed in my shop. I'm certain to be playing more with the bobbins as well. I currently have a torchon lace ground section in progress. It is so hard for me to just start from the beginning and do these practice pieces. I want to be making finished pieces already and incorporate them into my tatting, but patience is indicated here, so I'll slow down and work my way up. One day, far in the future, I might even be good at this.

That and This

Yesterday was just as satisfyingly busy as I hoped it would be. I started the day by finishing the latch hook kit that will be a Mother's day gift for one of the children's grandmas. Well I mean I started the day after schooling with that. It took a while, but I figured out the best way for me to sew the backing down. This was important because I think I'll be the one doing that part for even the ones the kids make.

Just before that was finished I got an anklet order in my shop. This was the perfect excuse to get tatting.  I remade the anklet while watching television with the kids. This one is made with Lizbeth medium raspberry thread ans some silver seed beads in a fairly classic pattern.

Once that was done I pulled out the bobbin lace again. I've bookmarked a site on the subject and I'm trying desperately to make it feel familiar to me, but I think there's just so much to it that would be loads easier with an actual teacher. Of course that's not going to happen, so I'll muddle through. I do think I've got the hang of the torchon lace ground though.  Perhaps I'll just stick with that for a bit before moving on to more complex maneuvers even though the fancy ones are so neat looking.

Since I finished the latch hook I've got a little less on deck for today. I can still go back to the edging I was working on last week for tatting and of course I'll try to spend a little time each day with the bobbins. Other than that I'll just have to wait and see what the day brings.

This and That

Well, we had a nice long weekend around here including adventuring, The Avengers, and Free Comic Book Day. On Friday while one child was testing the other asked to go to Michael's so she could get a 'string thing' to make. The 'string thing' she was asking for turned out to be a cross stitch kit. While we were there I looked about for anything bobbin lace related, there was of course nothing, but then we saw a bunch of latch hook kits on clearance. I thought, here's something the kids can do all by themselves and feel a nice sense of accomplishment, so we bought a few. They both took to it rather well, so I'm pretty glad I spent the $5 or so for each of them. We even decided to make two of them Mother's Day presents for the grandmas. I was also roped into working on one so it would get done in time and I have to tell you it is so relaxing to do a project that requires so little thought, just the meditative movement of my hands and yarn.

Other than the latch hooking, I did attempt my first go at the bobbin lace. Again, this is only possible because some wonderful people made videos and websites with clear information. That being said this seems to be a very complex world. The worst being that between the different sites and the written information in the kit there appears to be terminology confusion. It seems that some people refer to one combination of movements with one name and others with a different name. Worse some of the same names are used by different people to describe entirely different combinations of movements. I have to admit to some steady confusion personally. I'm hoping as I read and watch more things will sort themselves out. I've clearly made some mistakes here, but this is the first bit that looks even remotely like it's suppose to. This undertaking is going to take some concentration.

We're back to a nice normal week as far as schooling is concerned. The weekend lacked any sales in the shop, so I don't have anything needing remaking, but I'm hoping that I get some relaxing time to get to some tatting, a little latch hooking, and some bobbin lace. That's actually sounds like a lot to stuff in the day, so I guess we'll just see how it goes.

Stress

Yesterday was a bit of a stressful one. It wasn't any one thing, but a whole lot of little ones that I suppose have been building up for awhile. It seems to have culminated in a very knotted up back this morning. It seems that testing season is almost as stressful for me as it is for the child. I won't get into particulars, but let's just say I think I need a vacation from everything. Since that's not going to happen though, I really just need to try and not let every little thing add itself to the pile that is apparently stacked on my back.

Back to tatting though. I still haven't finished the choker yet. I was distracted by other things. I did work on the slave bracelet that sold in my shop though. This one is made using the same elements that are in my Petals Pattern. I didn't add this one to the sale pattern because I wanted to keep a little something for myself though. It was fairly quick to work up which is good because of all that distraction I was talking about earlier. Let me just say how much I hate having to be the 'grown up' sometimes. It's really the worst.

In other lace news, I decided that it was about time for me to learn something new. I've been tatting almost exclusively for a decade now and while I'm still pretty far from being an expert, I've certainly gotten the hang of it. So for my new craft attempt, I picked up a bobbin lace kit. It was at a nice reduced price and the kids are old enough for me to leave pins and bobbins around, so it was time. I'm sure I'll show you what I'm up to once I'm confident that I have half a clue. So far, it's a bit of a mess. If I didn't have the internet to supplement the  inadequate instructions included in the kit I would have tossed the thing in the trash. Thank goodness for how-to videos. I'm also hoping that this will reduce, not increase my stress level. I'm not sure that will be the case yet though. I'm crossing my fingers.