I stand corrected.

My daughter corrected me that the inner island ferry comes once a day to Met. I had to correct the name of the boat(which I did) and I can't spell. (Hey I knew that- what else is new.) That the school is only one story and you could see the boat in the bay from the front doors. OK Becki happy now? (Still makes for an exciting story and we can all happy no one was hurt!) :)

We all die famous in a small town!

Here is a picture of one of my new shuttles from GrizzlyMountainArts from Esty.com.(On the bottom right)

This is light enough that guess what! I don't drop it! whoopee!

I have been tatting earrings from ds9designs (Deb Arnold) and have been having fun trying to see all those tiny stitches! (size 50 will do that to you). Don't know what I'll do with 10 more pairs of earrings guess I just have to give them away to friends!

The other shuttle is bone from ebay. This is also very light and thin so it fits nicely in my hand. It came from Ireland is hand made. I have this one with another shuttle working on "Entwined Hearts". I'm not having as much luck as I could, but I just plug away.

Now for some exciting news!

On Friday morning at about 1am Met time they where having a spot of bad weather(rain and 85 mph winds). Well the Lituya broke free of it's mooring and grounded on an island of rock in the channel. A view that could be seen from the top floor of the High School. This wouldn't have been so bad but this IS the only transportation on and off Met this time of year and the ferry was damaged. So the other inter-island ferry that comes from Canada has to step up. That ferry only makes one round trip to Ketichan/Metlakatla a day.(there at 9 am and drop off again at 11pm). Not very convenient but hey you get to spend the whole day(literally) at Ketchikan!

How does that saying go-it doesn't just rain it pours? We are hoping that it doesn't take to long to get the Lituya up and running. Met provides bottle water to whole of Alaska and has other things to that they need to keep going to keep their economy going. They do have food and other goods barged in once a week.

The first pic is nice view of the fishing boats and tug boat trying to get it free. The second picture shows a view from the school, probably from a class room.(Believe it or not that ferry is over 100 feet long.)

Well Met made the news and it will be all right just not convenient.TaTa for now!

My second attempt at Jon's "Quantieque" snowflake done in Yarnplayer's "Pizazz" in a size 20. I am happy with this one. It seems to work better with a softer thread than a firmer one like Flora.

I am shuttle tatting the "Hearts Entwined" with my hand made shuttles I got on ebay. I was 3/4 of the way done when I found I made a serious mistake( hours of picking out to fix). I kept dropping my tatting needle I was using to unpick( not a good sign for my hands- my grasp strength is not all that great anyways) so my other option is to cut and re-attach. So I wound the thread on floss winders and set that one away until another day. I think I will try it again with the shuttles with my new thread "Roses" (also from Yarnplayer). I didn't do anything today because my hands have been too cold all day.(When you can't button your sweater you have problems). So tomorrow (wearing gloves to warm hands up) I am going to start shuttle tatting "Hearts Entwined" again!

My ebay shuttles are small and thin enough that I can hold them without too much pressure( part of the problem with regular shuttles for me). But they are not too thin. One is made of wood and shaped like a regular shuttle(eye shape), the other is made of bone also eye shape. They have a little groove on each side to hold thread and holes on opposite sides so you can put thread on them. Because they are natural materials they warm in my hands (when the hands are warm) and because they are less than 1/2 in thick I don't drop them as much! Yeah! There has to be a market out there for people who have hand issues and finding tools they can use to still do the things they enjoy. I have read several tatters who needle tat because they have arthritis and can't hold a shuttle. Maybe they need to try wood shuttles and see if that makes a difference.

Anyway I am enjoying shuttle tatting with something that I don't drop and doesn't hurt to use! ( I went to wood knitting needles-the best thing to use). So when I get this piece done I will share! Only I can only stand to shuttle tat at short bursts so it will take time.

On a happier note people need to check out Esty.com and look at all those beautiful hdt out there. The color combinations Ladyshuttlemaker and Yarnplayer have been putting together are just fabulous! There are other sellers like Heather(don't know her esty store name) and Jane E. that are great too. So much too choose from and so few funds what is a thread junkie suppose to do? Oh well it doesn't hurt to look and enjoy all those colors!

Well I have been typing way too long and need to sign off. But before I do let me say I enjoy reading all those tatting blogs out there. I realize I am not alone and there are other people all around the world who can't have idle hands either! ( Or sit still for very long either!) TaTa for now.

Happy Saturday!

I realized I was too complainy last time-sorry.
I've had a great week at work and it is so rewarding when you finally connect with the special children you work with! I had one of those moments on Friday. Yes it is a challenge to try and get responses from someone that isn't on the same page as you, but it is fun to some degree.
Becki has been asked out twice in the last week. OK that doesn't sound impressive but she is on an island of 1500 people all related some how because 89 percent of them are American Indian from one of the 5 clans on the island and the single guy ratio is slim. This all came about because she sang the National Anthem at the basketball game!
Well I want to make Curves so TaTa for now!

Hey it's cold out there!

Welcome to the land of sub zero temps! We have our second snow day because the temps are -21 degrees. Burrrrr that's cold! Of course I know we are not alone.( Hey, aren't we suppose to be having global warming?) Looking at the temps around the globe I'd like to be in England! Yesterday they were 44!It was even warmer in Anchorage Alaska at 40 degrees!

The picture is my first attempt at a design. (I'm not done with it yet) Yeh! Ok it's not all that impressive, but taking it from paper to thread is not as easy as it looks. I made several sketches and the work up piece doesn't look like any of them. I know the picture isn't that great. But let me give you what I did. ( still don't know what to call it).

Motif

Round 1

R 3-3-3-3

LR 3+3-3-3-3-3 (join to last p previous ring)

R 3+3-3-3 rw ( join to last p previous ring.clover made)

C 8-8

R 3+3-3-3 (Join to last p previous ring of 1st clover)

LR 3+3-3-3-3-3 (Join to last p previous ring)

R 3+ 3-3-3 (join to last p of previous ring) 2nd clover made

C 8-8 ( chains will over lap )

R 3+3-3-3 (Join to last p of previous ring)

LR 3+3-3-3-3-3 ( Join 1st p of previous ring)

R 3+3-3-3 ( Join to last p of previous ring) 3rd clover made

C 8-8

R3+3-3-3 (Join last p of previous ring on 3rd clover clover)

LR 3+3-3-3-3-3 Join to last p of previous ring

R 3+3-3+3 Join to last p of previous ring second join to last p of 1st clover. 4th clover made.

C 8-8 join to 1st clover. Tie and hide ends.

Round 2

Starting at the third rings between two clovers make :

*LR 5-5+4+5-5 Join last p of those two rings. rw

C 7-7 rw

R 5+3+3-3 Join to last p of ring just made and to first p of LR of clover from previous round. rw

C5-5 rw

R 3+3+3-3 join to last p of previous ring join to middle p of LR clover from previous round rw.

C 5-5 rw

R 3+3+3-5 join to last p of previous ring and to last p of LR clover from previous roundrw.

C7-7 rw*

Repeat from *-* two times.

Than :

R 5+5+4+5-5 Ist join to last p of previous ring 2nd & 3rd join to last ps of the two rings of the clovers from previous rounds.rw

C 7-7 rw

R 5+3+3-3 1st join to last p of previous ring 2nd join to first p of LR from previous round. rw

C 5-5 rw

R 3+3+3-3 join to last p of previous ring and middle p of previous round of LR. rw

C5-5 rw.

R 3+3+3+5 1st join to last p of previous ring, 2nd join to last p of LR 3rd join to 1st p of 1st ring of this round. rw

C 7-7 join to 1st ring of this round. Tie and hide threads.

*

Hope you try it. I made it in size 10 thread needle tat, but I think ball and shuttle will work just fine. I hope there are no mistakes and I explained my idea clear enough. I will try to put a diagram together and post that some time. As this is just a beginning I think it may have more rounds or evolve into something else. Well from a very cold Midwesterner I bid you TaTa for now.

Don't worry-be happy!

It wasn't bad enough husband got that 'thanks for the great job you did for our company last year but we have eliminated your job' letter just before Christmas-when I came back to work there was a surprise letter for us! I don't know the total effect, but even schools are tightening their belts. At the worst I could have more time to get that degree finished and have more time to do my needle crafts. Maybe even figure out some patterns that are running around in my head and put them in print! When you see the all the beautiful patterns out there done by some amazing tatters you take for granted all the talent that goes into creating those patterns. So thank you all the talented tatters out there-like Jane E., Ruth P., Mark M., Sherry P., Marilee, Tatting Chic, Laura and Jon Y.( And all the others I have forgotten.) It is hard to live up to your quality, but I'll just have to keep trying.

I posted a picture of my kids. This is what I am truly grateful for. So no matter how hard the times get we will all survive as long as we count our blessings and help those we can.

I feel very blessed for my family and the fact that at least this far I still have a job. There is a song that we sing at church that goes ' ..and you are discouraged thinking all is lost count your many blessings name them one by one and it will suprise you what the Lord has done.' How true. TaTa for now.

Snowmen. flakes and planes

Here are a few pictures of my Christmas adventures. Pic # 1 is a snowman in 20 flora thread from a pattern by Debbie Arnold. Though the pattern is for shuttle I figured it out for needle tatting and I think he worked out fine. Next to "Frosty" is "Quantiesque" pattern from Jon. This was my first attempt and am working on another. This is done in Flora thread size 10 variegated. The third picture is one of my many crocheted snowflakes I did before Christmas in bedspread thread by DMC. (Way too many of these made this year.) Sorry about picture quality- I used my scanner. But my daughter gave me her old digital that can zoom all I have to do is fine a surface that doesn't reflect the light back.

We got back from dropping Becki at the airport a little while back. I already miss her. Her flight had been canceled on the 21st of December and she had to wait until Christmas Eve to leave Alaska and flew into Chicago on Christmas Day.

It was great to see her and have her home for Christmas. She brought the school tuba to be repaired home with her. The place that fixed it is in Elk Horn, Wis. a stones throw from us almost. And they fixed it in one day. It was cheaper for the school to do this way than to send it to Ketchican, who would ship it to Badger State and they would ship it back. This saved the school over 600 dollars in shipping and 4 ferry trips. Of course for those who don't know a tuba weighs about 50 pounds.( Drag one of these babies through airport some time. Becki has muscles!)

I gave my daughter-in-law a membership to Curves and guess who she has been dragging out to exercise with. This is good for both of us. The only way to get healthy is to move . Of course sewing my mouth shut might help too (so I don't eat everything- low will power. And I still need to get rid of my fudge- too many relative trying to be good!) My goal for this year is 50 lbs. That is only 1 lb a week a very reasonable goal. Of course I need to add leaving desserts and sweets of the menu and add a nice walk daily to the routine. It also helps to get all that lovely water in so that we don't have time to eat all that bad stuff because we will be indisposed so much!

I can't believe it is almost time to go back to work. I do miss my kids I drive and the people I work with. It has just been nice to be home and enjoy my family. Well I hope the New Year brings everyone that needs it blessing and prosperity.TaTa for now.