Afghan progress and Motif #4

The baby afghan is coming along. I have 12 rows left to crochet. I have to admit, it's adorable. A pic will go up once I'm finished. The deathly cold temperatures finally broke and another four inches of snow have fallen. It's a sultry 23 degrees here today and the icicles have been falling off the eaves with deafening crashes all day today. I've had enough. Please there be an early spring!

I had to put the crochet aside so I could do another motif for the challenge. Meet Seaweed the Seahorse. He was tatted with Lady Shuttlemaker's 'Seaweed'(quite fitting, don't you think?) HDT in size 80, which makes him about 3-1/2" high and 1-1/4" wide.



You can find the pattern at the DS9designs website. For those who are not familiar with that site,Deb has some great patterns for free and for sale. She also sells beads, King Tut and Valdani threads, and some beautiful tatting bags.

Baby afghan start!

I struck paydirt while searching for yarn for the afghan! There were a bunch of skeins of baby yarn from Mary Maxim at the very bottom of one of the bottomless tubs. If anyone is familiar with Mary Maxim through their catalogues or website, I have to tell you that it is a poor representation of just how much stuff the store has. You'll be lost in there for hours if you ever make the trip up there.



And here is a sneak peek of what I've gotten done so far:


I should be done by this weekend or the beginning of next week. Then I'll unveil it for the world to see!

Lazy weekend

It snowed and snowed and snowed all day Saturday. Days like that are usually my favorite for tatting, but not yesterday. I was content to read all day. There probably won't be too much tatting in the near future. I'm about to begin crocheting a baby afghan for a baby due who is due to make her entrance into the world in a few weeks. I have approximately 200 pattern books to go through and tubs of yarn to use. This Sunday will probably be spent trying to match a pattern to something in the tubs. I seriously need to destash, but it's so hard to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. The one piece of tatting I did get it is Motif #3, Inga Madsen's Elephant, possibly one of the world's smallest. He's only 2-1/4" high, 2-3/4" wide.

Gray hair and Motif #2

On Sunday as I was hanging fresh towels in the bathroom, I saw something odd looking back at me in the mirror. "What?!...it better not be....Oh no, NONONONONO, IT IS!" A gray hair, my first (that I know of). It couldn't be in an inconspicuous place, oh no, but right in the front in my bangs. Not a pale brown or light golden blonde that would blend in, oh no. It was a blinding platinum, bright-as-a-thousand-suns bright. *cries* Off to the nearest Walgreen's I go to pick a new color. My hair is too long for just one kit, so I always have to buy two. Back in the old days when I used to get my hair highlighted, it would cost me $200 a pop. No more of that nonsense.

Yesterday was my first day of work after being off for almost three weeks. It went by fairly quickly, but it also made me realize just how much I enjoyed my time off. I always take a little bag o'tatting and a book with me whereever I go, because I cannot just sit and do nothing. In my job, there is quite a bit of free time, so I can indulge in a chapter or two or a motif. Challenge Motif #2 was started at work and finished last night when I got home.

Motif #2 is Pam Palmer's Miniature Peacock from Tatting Treats. His tail is tatted in size 80 'Helms Deep' from LadyShuttleMaker's Etsy shop with blue beads for the eyes in the feathers. His body is DMC color 3747, very light gray. Hmmm...there's that word again.

'Royal Diadem'

This was a fun one! It came together fairly quickly over a span of three days. My one big 'OOPS!' came on Round 6. I missed one of the small rings that join the Dimpled Yorkie ( the last one in the round, too!), but I didn't notice it until I was finishing Round 7. Too late now. It still came out beautifully, I think.

Before I did the Yorkie Dimples on Round 6, I practiced them using leftover thread on a shuttle that needed to be emptied. This was tatted using Yarnplayer's 'Pansy' in size 50. I love this thread! I didn't think to measure how much thread I used, but I can tell you all that I wound two SewMate Shuttles with 350 wraps -- twice. One shuttle had about 15 wraps and the other had 5 when I finished. The finished doily is 8-1/2" across.

The Inner Doily



The Finished Doily

25 Motif Challenge

Well, I've decided to jump into the 25 Motif Challenge this year. I'll start with something easy -- 25 animals in size 80 thread. I'm ready for it. I'm pretty sure I'll do more than one challenge, too. The reason I didn't jump in last year was because I wasn't sure I'd be able to do that many. At the time, twenty-five motifs seemed like a lot of tatting, but now I see it really isn't. So without further adieu, I give you Motif #1, Jane's Giraffe. He was tatted with Star Tatting Cotton, color 158.



It's only fitting that a giraffe would be the first, as they're my favorite four-legged critter.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Happy New Year to all my friends is Blogland! Much love and happiness to you all in 2009!