Ugh

Well, yesterday went better in that we had internet and television access all day. Schooling also went much more smoothly, but my cold grabbed on with both hands and made much of the rest of my day useless and miserable.

I did manage to focus long enough to get a few more rounds done on the doily. The next one should be the last one for the spiral section. It's still not completely flat on it's own, but a quick iron was able to take away the remaining ruffle with no issues, so I'm pretty pleased with that part.

I still feel fairly horrible this morning, so I don't expect much more out of today than I got out of yesterday. I'll likely sit about hiding from the newest rainstorm, read, and knot, all while wishing I could still breath like a normal human.

Well That Was Fun

Ah, everything is back to normal, or an normal as it ever is around here anyway. We had scheduled a service upgrade to take advantage of one of those reduced-cost deals and were unaware that this required that all our services, television, phone, and internet would have to be down all morning. Let's just say this made schooling interesting as I had to set the kids' computers to tether to my cell phone so they could get anything done.

So that was my morning, but I have been working on the doily for my brother. I just passed 9 inches, so I've just got a couple more to go. Of course each inch takes a hell of a lot longer at this point. I'm also working out what was a pretty pronounced ruffle a few rounds ago. I feel pretty confident that by the time I finish this spiral section that it will be perfectly flat again. It's already much better than it was when I started the section.

The only other things I did over the extended weekend and my day of technical difficulty was clean, read, and get a nice cold. Wait, I also did the yearly accounting for my shop so I could start the long, drawn out process of taxes for the year. So it's been a really fun few days. Here's hoping today runs more smoothly.

Fuzzy

I have a bit of the sick brain right now. You know, that kinda fuzzy, nothing is quite in focus brain. I mean it's just a cold, but it is definitely interfering with my ability to function correctly. I did still manage to school the children, but I haven't bothered reading any books that last few days. I'm pretty sure my comprehension skills are on the fritz as well. Luckily knotting thread does not use too many brain cells. Also, it's a really good thing that spell check exists or this would be a nightmare to read right now.

I'm still working on rounds of basket stitch. The ripple is starting to finally work itself out, but it's definitely still there. I'm thinking about switching to small loops after the last round, but I'm not entirely certain. I hope my brain clears up a bit today and I can make an intelligent decision. Of course I'm also hoping that my sinuses clear and I can breath properly again. There are a lot of hopes and wishes going on in my head right now. I'm crossing my fingers that a few of them come true soon.

A Bit Better

I was still pretty out of it yesterday with the cold, though I seem to be a bit better this morning. It's really too soon to tell how the day will progress, but I'm cautiously optimistic that I'm finally on the upswing. I'm even typing better this morning. I mostly worked on the knitted lace top I showed you yesterday. I'm using this Cancun Boxy Lace Top pattern as the base, but since I could never get away with wearing something so short, I'm doing it longer and I might muck about to give it more sleeve as well, but for now I've finished one side.

I also remade this tatted bracelet after sending one off to it's new owner. Well that's not exactly the right order. I checked to see if the measurement of the one I had made matched the length in the listing and it was too short so I made a new one first with the right length then edited the listing to reflect the length of the one I had on hand. I tat much tighter than I used to and I find that when I remake old pieces they get shorter. They look better too, but that's not the point. Replicating my older pieces is getting more difficult as I must now change stitch counts so they work properly. Luckily that's only something another tatter might catch as a difference. I try my best to make sure they still look like the photographs.

I did get another order in the shop yesterday, quite unexpectedly. That means along with my knitting I also have a pair of barefoot sandals to tat up. I rarely finish those in one day, so that gives some work for tomorrow as well. I'm still thinking on what to do for a giveaway, but I want to do something before the week is out. My brain seems less foggy now though, so perhaps today is the day I get a good idea. Anything's possible, right?

I Have a Cold

It was quite a whirlwind weekend. Adding to the excitement was the cold that my husband successfully passed onto the rest of us. Yep, I am currently pretty miserable and have been for the last couple of days. Luckily the worst of it didn't hit until after Christmas. We did have a lovely holiday with over 20 people in the house. There were gifts and food and pure chaos. We even managed to get it all cleaned up before misery won and I collapsed on the couch with a Doctor Who marathon for two days.

While my mind was muddled by virus...well, it still it, but that's not the point, I knitted. I found a pattern for a lacy boxy sweater that matched the size of the yarn I have on hand. It's been a nice, simple, repetitive pattern and that's exactly what I needed to keep my hands busy, but my mind resting.

I did receive just one order over the weekend, so I have a bracelet I'm going to tat up today. If history repeats, the rest of this month will see little to no sales in my shop, so it's time to see if I can wake up my creativity again. I think I might have to wait until the virus is dead though...I can barely type a coherent sentence this morning.

Here's to getting better fast and getting my brain back on track.

I Did Something At Least

I was feeling a bit better yesterday, well not better really, the cold had just shifted symptom sets and this set allowed me to at least breath, so I call it a win. I even remade a couple of pieces that had sold in the last few weeks. The general malaise from so few sales has kept me from bothering to remake anything really. I managed to make both a bracelet and a pair of earrings. I know that it doesn't sound like much, but between that and actually getting the laundry done, I'm calling yesterday quite productive.

I'm definitely still sick this morning, but I'm hoping that as the day wears on I'll feel even better. Not that I have anything that needs doing at this point, I'd just like to feel like I could get things done if I had to. Maybe that way the Universe will sense my readiness and send some sales. Hey, I can dream, right?

Ugh, Again

Oh, how I was I could tell you that I was feeling better, but alas, I'm afraid that I am feeling worse. I'd run down the miserable cold symptoms, but I'm certain you don't want to read all that. I did manage to do all the finishing work on the snowflakes. They all have hooks, are bagged, and ready for my mother-in-law to gift. Then I attempted to simply rest and watch some shows on my DVR, but despite feeling like crap, I couldn't just do nothing. So I spent the afternoon tatting up a pair of ankle corsets.

So I suppose today, I'll look and see if there is anything else I ought to remake for the shop just so I have something to do while I try not to move from the couch. I can really hardly wait until my cold has run it's course and I can feel good again. I guess I'll cross my fingers for that today.

Ugh

So I was off with the family all day yesterday. The husband had a doctor's appointment out of town an when that happens, we use it as an excuse to go to the fancy mall there. Luckily this allowed us to knock out a huge chunk of our holiday shopping, unfortunately this also allowed us to spend the money required to knock out that huge chunk of our holiday shopping.

I didn't get any tatting done, even though I brought some in the car. It was dark and rainy most of the trip and that makes me a nervous passenger. I just can't seem to allow my self to become distracted even though there is nothing I can do to help against the elements. I also forgot to mention that the oldest child picked up a cold over the Thanksgiving weekend and then proceeded to gift it to me. Of course she got the mild version and I got the, I feel like complete crap, version. I'm sure that didn't help either.

Today I should get my mother-in-law's snowflakes finished with their hooks and then maybe I'll try to get some rest to scare off this illness. More likely I'll spend the day miserable and complaining about everything I can think of. Be glad you live far away. Here's to feeling better, and maybe getting some sales in the etsy shop to cheer me up.

Floored

I received my karmic reward for complaining about being too busy. As the day wore on I began feeling more and more off. Then right after the children went down for their naps, which is generally my most productive minutes of the day, I was floored by a mysterious illness. I mean this sucker wiped me out for hours. Every time I stood up I felt horrible, so I just laid there. I could only tat with the speed of a tortoise, so I stopped that too. Then when my youngest woke up, she attached herself to me at first worried about Mommy, then she started running a mystery fever too. I woke this morning feeling relatively well, so I hope my punishment is over and I hope too that the young one wakes with her fever gone as well. See, now I have lost time to make up for as well. So to the universe, I apologize for the complaints, I'd like to say it will never happen again, but that is a lie. Instead I shall attempt to keep my mouth shut and my fingers from dancing the words.

In other news, the lovely Kelly of Tatfully Yours just returned from her needle tatting teaching engagement and returned with a few pictures. I had requested them after she asked to use my Cameo pattern as a beginners project.

It is awfully surreal to see folks I don't know working with a pattern I wrote. I was assured that many of the students actually 'got' the pattern and even finished their pieces. So congrats to all the new needle tatters and to Kelly for making it though her substitute teacher gig with apparently flying colors.I also find that I want to try and teach in my area, but I fear there would be little demand, also where remains a mystery. Perhaps I should just sit on the idea for a few more years until the kids are older or somebody local actually asks me.

I hope that my health remains intact and I can get some real work finished up today. There are still many pieces that need to be remade. I also ordered up some supplies for the wedding mask and a couple of random things caught my eye whilst shopping, so if time ever slows down, I'll have some new things to play with as well.

Sick

You know the whole doctor mom thing where they say you need two things no matter what you're sick with? What were those things? Yeah, plenty of fluids and...hmm, rest, right, rest. So, I didn't get any of that yesterday nor last night. I got sicker and the "sick" kids jumped around like crazy people. Then the two year old proceeds to cough all night long, effectively keeping me from getting any sleep. To make matters worse, I have an allergy. A very special allergy, to one single medicine. Acetaminophen. Don't know what that is? That's because it's Tylenol and it is in like 75% of cold medicines and 100% of the ones that we have in the house. This means no throat numbing, no cough suppressant, nothing. I had a cup of tea and while that worked for a few minutes...yeah, I'm running on empty over here.

I also discovered that even though my ability to talk is compromised, I can do the five year olds schooling okay. That is of course until I'm suppose to read aloud to her, then I become useless. Lucky for me I got a substitute in the evening to take up the slack. Though I managed to get a few things tatted as well, I fear today will not be much more productive. As I function on less sleep, I make far more mistakes with the tatting. I keep having to stop and pull out a chain or ring...or three. I even had to scrap a whole bracelet when I discovered my mistake far too late to effectively fix it. I am waiting on a few customers with custom requests, but as usual, I've no idea when they might manifest. I am definitely not starting work until they make those actual purchases. I still have another piece to make for the photo shoots too, so I'll get on that today...I think.

Oh dear, I hear the child coughing upstairs, she will wake soon and then I'm back on duty. Here's to a better day ahead.