This and That

Let's see, I finished making the custom order necklace late in the afternoon yesterday. Seriously, adding beads one at a time slows me down so very much. It is however the only way to add beads without having threads across them and that was the design I created, so that's what I did. The burgundy is actually a little more purple than it appears in the photo, but it is done now and I should have it out in the mail today.

I also got an order for a choker yesterday. When I went looking for it, it could not be found. Luckily, it's one I could make in my sleep, so I got right to work on that piece as well. I won't have it in the mail today, but that's why I say I ship in 1-3 days now. It gives me a little cushion to cover my own incompetence. I'm also fairly certain that once I finish the new one and get it out, I'll find the one I have on hand in the wrong box.

Between those two projects I also got a little work done on the doily. I'm working on a nice simple spiral section that I didn't do one any of the other doilies. It'll take awhile before it's really an obvious element, so I'll just keep at it until it is. This weekend we have the holidays to remove from the house and then some early spring cleaning to do, though I'm sure I'll sneak in at least a little knotting time.

Oops

So I just discovered this morning that I hadn't apparently clicked the 'publish' button on yesterday's post. That was weird. I could have sworn that I did. Oh well, can't go back now. I guess that means you get the post I wrote yesterday morning along with today's update. Yesterday was a lot of reading as well, but I also got a custom order in the early afternoon that kept me busy much of the day.

It took me while to remember how I even made this piece. I strung all the beads on the the thread, started tatting and then remembered that each bead was actually added onto the whole picots when they were joined, oops. I started over and as I got it right, I remembered just how much longer it takes to do it that way. Needless to say, I'm not even done with this one necklace yet. I still have about halfway to go on it. I definitely won't be making another of these for the shop not least of all because I just don't have all that many beads on hand anymore.

I should get this finished today after schooling and then I'll get back to the doily project and reading too much. Oh, I think I have some laundry to get done in the middle there too. I've heard tale that the sun should come out for a couple of days before the atmospheric river plunges us back into rain for another week, so I'm looking forward to a little light today as well.

I actually had a pretty good first day back. I finished reading Leviathan Wakes and started on the next one, Caliban's War. I was going to wait and take a break from the 600+ page novels, but I was seriously sucked into the story. If you like science fiction mixed with a little noir crime and maybe some horror and of course space battles, it's great.

Don't worry I also worked on the the doily this time. If I employ something as a page weight, I can still do both things sufficiently well. I'm not trying anything new or groundbreaking with this one, just doing some of my favorite stitches for an expected result.

I'll keep going on like this until I get it done which means that I'll be at this awhile. The shop has gone pretty quiet, so I suspect that I won't have any tatting to distract me this week at least. I set my good reads reading challenge to 100 books this year, so I have that to focus on if nothing else.

Day 2

I used my first Monday of the year to read and I read a lot. I finished up one novel and got over halfway through Leviathan Wakes, the first book in the Expanse series. I got the first three of those as Christmas gifts and since I can't read a paper book while I walk on the treadmill, I'll start another kindle book this morning as well. Reading is never a bad way to start a year, right?

I did get a photo of the doily I'm making up for my brother. I'm doing it in black because that was what was requested. I didn't work on it much because reading a paper book and knotting isn't very easy either and I promised myself I could read the day away. I'll try to get back to it more his week.

Today it's back to the routine though. There's schooling for the kids and as it's the end of the semester very soon, there's a lot of things that need doing for that. The husband is also back to work and the house really needs a bit of a kick, though that might wait until the schooling stuff has wound back down a bit. I don't really bother much with resolutions as such, but it's a new year and I'm going to try to make it better than the last one.

2017

The family has today off as well, but I figured it was best to get back to a sense of normality before I completely lose my routine. If it wasn't for all my morning habits I don't think that I would get anything done at all, so here I am the first Monday of the year writing about the not much that happened over the weekend.

I started making a doily for my brother. I didn't make him one for Christmas, because I thought he wouldn't want one, but after consulting him, it turns out that he actually would. It'll be in black and hopefully I'll remember to take some photos for you. After I get that wrapped in a week or so, I think I am going to start to put together a tutorial for Armenian knotted lace, at least my version of it. No promises on the quality of it yet, but I'm making an actual plan to do it.

Also at the last minute of New Year's Eve, I added a sale to my shop. There won't be another one until probably April. You can get 25% off with the code YEAREND in my shop. The code is good through Friday, but there have been no takers yet. Here's to the year ahead, may we survive it and perhaps thrive in it.