Ranting

Some time ago there was some discussion in Toronto about creating an afrocentric school. The idea was a school especially for black people that addressed black history and black culture in a way to engender pride in black heritage. I thought, and still think, that it's a really stupid idea because the curriculum in this specialized school is not what the rest of the population will be taught and when the children are re-integrated into the rest of society, they are going to believe that everyone learned the same things and it will be a bit of a culture shock to find out that the rest of the population doesn't share African roots. It makes much, much, more sense to me to bring the highlights of that heritage and those cultural issues into ALL of the schools so that everyone can be enriched by them. The children with African heritage can take pride in where they come from and the other children gain a greater understanding. Of course they didn't ASK me, and they went ahead and opened the afrocentric school and they are having some problems with it now.

Today they are talking about opening a gay, lesbian, bi, trans gender LGBT high school, (that has already been dubbed the queer school). Which has got to be a really stupid idea on so many levels. The thrust of the proposal is to create a safe place for students. Wait a minute, back up here. A safe place for students. So if you are fat and being bullied because of it, does that mean we need a separate school for fat kids?

The issue isn't that we need to create exclusive place for children and teens, the issue is that we need to teach tolerance and understanding of differences. There won't be specialized work places for people based of race, religion or gender, so it just makes a whole lot more sense to teach the younger generation growing up how to get along with one another. That IS one of the purposes of school. It isn't isolation we need, it's inclusion.

OK, I'm getting off my soapbox now.

What makes a good pattern?

I haven't been keeping up with the blog, I have been tatting a little, but not a lot. I saw a comment the other day about Anne Orr's baby bootie, or as it's called in the book, Baby Socklet and Shoe. I've tatted it, but the design is a stinker, at least , in my opinion it is. It is pretty and it looks all right when it's finished, but it's one of those piecemeal patterns where you tat a piece and lay it aside, then you tat a different piece and lay it aside, then you connect the pieces together by doing yet more pieces. Pieces drive me nuts.

When people talk about a good pattern, or a nice pattern, or a "go to" pattern, They are often talking about very different things, but they use the same terminology. It must really confuse new tatters. A lot of people looking for something to tat for a christening often choose this pattern. It isn't especially difficult and if I remember correctly it takes about 11 hours to complete. I remember the number because someone asked me what I would charge for making them and I had to figure out the hours and I can't remember if that was for one or the pair, although I think it was the pair. What I DO remember is that having to do the bits and pieces really irritated me, so much so that I did my own version, following along the same lines, but working the whole thing in only 2 pieces. The Anne Orr bootie calls for size 30 and I used a size 50 in mine

One of the things I realized as I was finishing it off, is that thread doesn't stretch like yarn. I know. You'd figure that after tatting for all these years that I would recognize something as obvious as that, but I just didn't think about the simple things, like getting a non stretch bootie over a tiny foot. Happily, I remembered this vital piece of information just as I was working on the last couple of boot rounds and  instead of working around the top of the bootie in a circle, I stopped at the front and worked back over the row just done, which meant that if I had been doing front side/back side tatting it would have been a real nightmare because I would have had to do everything on the row backwards. I don't do front side/back side, so I just turned and kept going.

Is it a good pattern? Maybe. It's pretty enough and it doesn't have lots of pieces, but if  front side/back side is a major issue for you, you'd definitely hate this pattern.

If you are just learning to tat, a design that uses just simple rings and chains is going to be a great pattern, but if you are experienced, that kind of pattern will drive you around the bend with monotony. If you need something for a quick gift, you might gravitate toward something that has a simple design, but if you want to make something with lots of WOW factor, you might want something more elaborate. If you were making a gift for another tatter, you might choose something with lots of clunies, because you know that another tatter will appreciate the time that goes into them, but a non tatter might be just as impressed with something that just uses chains.

Sometimes your definition of a good pattern is neither how the finished lace looks, nor the techniques it uses, nor how long it takes to complete, but depends solely on how the pattern is written. Some people don't like using written patterns, and some people can't stand visual patterns.

Now and then, people will refer to a design as being their "go to" pattern and often that simply means that the pattern is their first choice to tat, just because they have it memorized and they don't have to go look for the pattern or refer to a page when they are tatting. That doesn't mean it's particularly pretty, or quick to tat, or well written, it just means it's memorized.

So what about you? What makes a good pattern for you? Is it the visual appeal of the design? Is it the way that it's written? Is it the techniques involved? Or is it something else? Inquiring minds want to know.

The summer that wasn't

I have been tatting. Well, sort of tatting. I had an idea. It required a lot of tatting and a lot of fitting things in. The lot of tatting went all right. The fitting things together didn't so now it's stalled.

I tatted a picture. Actually I had most of the pieces done around Christmas time planning a gift, but my sweetie did a scroll saw piece instead, so I let it sit. Then we needed an impromptu birthday gift so I finished it off. I was trying for something Victorian and used dark red and gold with lighter blue accents, thinking I'd try for a mass of single ring flowers done sort of like babies breath but in navy, it didn't work. Or at least it didn't work the way I wanted it to and I opted for a 4 ring butterfly in navy instead. I mounted it in a shadowbox type frame that suited the 3D flowers, but it didn't look right so I changed the frame, re-mounted the flowers and ended up with this, which I'm still not happy with, but the recipient liked it and that's what matters.

This summer has been the pits. I picked up a summer cold AGAIN for the second year in a row. The cold was long gone, but I still felt totally lethargic. Then I started with the heart palpitations which really put a damper on things. I hate being sick. I hate going to doctors, they never have anything good to say. So I don't go.

Hubby has been working like a regular little beaver, churning out woodwork pieces to beat the band. He made a second work bench, replaced the wheels on the band saw and went to turn a round stool top on the lathe, only to discover that the motor was in the way with the lathe hung on the wall, so he had to make another bench for the lathe, before he could start. Then he made a stool that swivels for working in the garage. A second stool was made for a neighbor that helps him out from time to time. A third stool was made for me. Then he took our park bench apart to re-finish it.

I feel like a lazy sloth in comparison. An now that I have thoroughly depressed myself, I think I'll go lie down and read a book.

Pet Peeve number 1

I was rummaging through a bunch of old tatted bits looking for something I know is probably in there. I didn't find it, so I'll have to keep looking. What I did find is the Inverted Heart Snowflake from my Tatted Flurries book that I tatted in Lizbeth Summer Fun. I like the colours, but the short colour changes make the design look like a dog's breakfast.

The dimpled rings are almost invisible in this thread, but here's what it looks like in a solid colour.

The design pops out.

Here's Summer Fun matched up with one of the colours in the mix, a plain pink. This is the anklet design, Hearts and Bows from my Summer Tatting book.

Here's the scan to give you a clearer picture.

Of course in this design the variegated thread is just used for the chains and it's a subdued background accent.

But here is the same colour paired with a solid turquoise and a solid pink for more than just chains.

I like variegated threads. In tatting it usually take a long time to transition from one colour to the next, but in the new threads like Lizbeth, the colour changes are faster and the results like in the first snowflake, just becomes a jumble of colours so that there isn't any gradual change, but rather an abrupt switch. This, to me, makes the finished piece look chopped up. Your eye jumps from spot to spot in one huge chaotic jumble of colour. Pairing the variegate with a matching solid colour, gives the design some continuity and the eye a chance to rest. I didn't care where the colours landed on the butterflies, because of their final purpose, but I have to say that in my opinion tatters need to take a step back from the variegated threads, so that they can be enjoyed more. That's just my opinion, feel free to disagree.

Summer Tatting now available

After a long delay, a book I was working on LAST summer, is finally ready. A minor injury made it difficult to tat or to use computer keyboard and mouse, then other things conspired to keep me from working on it including software which just refused to cooperate.

Summer Tatting is here, full of bright breezy summer designs for bracelets, anklets and necklaces. The book is available from my web site in both print and E-book format.

The E-book is available right now, the print book will be back from the printers soon. The pricing of the book, which INCLUDES shipping and handling is:

Canada     15
USA     16
International     18

The E-book which is available in PDF format and downloaded from my web site is:
All countries   14

Why does one job lead to ten more?

I wanted a little something to put on a hair clip and I started with a flower. I didn't like the way it was working up.
 

Then I was going through some old designs and found this butterfly so I thought I'd give it a try. Lizbeth size 20 in Summer Fun and Light Turquoise were used for the first one. I was looking for mostly solid coloured rings and variegated chains, but I found the Summer Fun has long stretched of turquoise with much smaller sections of the other colours. and when you use 2 matched shuttles and the only part of the thread you can see is turquoise, it's hard to keep things straight.

I needed 2 for 2 little girls, so I did the second one in Summer Fun and Light Dusty Rose thinking that I'd end up with pink where the other one had blue, but I started with the pink and should have started with the variegated, so I got pink chains instead of pink rings.
 

 
The butterfly fits on the hair clips, but, I don't really like the way that they sit. Too much of the clip shows.

Then I thought maybe if I glued a bead over the body onto the hair clip it would help to cover up the metal, but I don't have a large enough attractive looking bead.
 

A 3D flower would cover more of the hair clip and you don't have to think about which side is up. I like my butterflies flying up instead of down. A downward facing butterfly just seems wrong. When I laid the first butterfly down so that I could pick up my scissors to cut the thread ends, it happened to land on a new ball cap in basic black and I noticed how cute it looked. When the second one was done, I realized the 4 of them would fit neatly around the cap. So if I did 2 more, I could attach them to the hat and dress it up. I'm not sure if I like the design so I might try to tweak it a bit, but if I tweak it, it won't match up with the other 2, so I'll have to do 4 more and then they might not fit the hat. I finally opted to remove the partial row on the flower and fill the inner section with some large beads. It gave some sparkle and filled out the flower without doing more tatting.
 

 Once I had the hair clips sorted out I went back and finished the butterflies and like snowflakes, no 2 are alike, partly because of the variegated thread and partly because I started with different colours and partly because a switched shuttles at different places. I probably ought to do another in 2 solid colours so that I can see which colour goes in which place, but I think I'm done with this flutter.
 

Now that I have them done I could put them on my cap, but I was hoping they wouldn't sit so high on the crown. Maybe I'll just stick them on and have done with it. I don't mind sewing, it's just the fussing with it to make sure that it's dead centre, because it'll drive me nuts if it isn't. I have some light and dark turquoise edging that I goofed up on which can also be added to the cap, except that it's only long enough to go around about a quarter of the cap. That means I only make enough to go part way around and taper it at both ends, or I tat a lot more edging.
 
This started as a, wouldn't that look cute project which is rapidly taking on a life of it's own and hubby is already in the middle of one of those. He started out to make a stool. So he needed to cut 2 x4's to the right size for a seat. One of the wheels on the bandsaw has broken bearings so it doesn't roll easily. All of the equipment is on wheels so that it can be pushed against the wall when not in use and make room for the car to fit in the garage. So the bandsaw needed new casters. The set he put on the first time were welded on so he had to cut them off, make a new base and tap holes in the angle iron base to screw in the new casters. Once the boards were cut to size he drilled holes for dowels in each board glued and clamped the boards and made a solid piece for the seat that he could turn on the lathe.

The lathe is mounted on the wall to keep the floor space clear for the car, but when the square seat block is mounted on the lathe for turning, it hits the motor housing. In order to be able to turn the seat, he needs to move the motor below the lathe instead of beside it and if he wants to have full use of the lathe it really needs a table, on wheels of course, so that he can move it aside when it's not in use. So he had to build a lathe table and he had to build supports for the motor under the table that would allow the motor to move when the pulley is shifted to change speeds.

Why is it that doing one job often leads to ten other jobs that you really didn't plan on doing? Is it any wonder that nothing ever seems to get done?

Unappreciated

I received an email several days ago from a freelance write doing an article on tatting for a Canadian magazine. The email asked about young people tatting and I don't really know a lot of young tatters and I emailed back with that information and thought no more about it. Today I got a call from the journalist asking for more information. As much as I can tell them all about tatting, tatters on the internet, videos to show you how and the fact that many of us tat in isolation rather than in groups, what they (the magazine) really want to know is how relevant tatting is to young people. I recognize that magazines need to address the interests of their readers and more importantly to them, the needs of their advertisers. Consequently, the articles that get published are the ones that relate to the largest segment of buying public, which happens to be those under 30. High school students living at home and just starting to work, university students starting their careers and families with young children all spend money on both necessities like cell phones, cars, and clothing as well as recreational things like ATVs, sporting equipment and hobby materials. So while grandma might buy an occasional ball of yarn, what the money making machines like the magazines and their advertisers, want to know is what is junior spending his money on.

 
 I may be useful for providing historical and practical information about tatting, but they don't really want to talk to me, they want to talk to kids. Suddenly, I'm irrelevant and I resent that. Or is it, I represent that?

Reading not blogging

I haven't been blogging. Could you tell? Last summer I fell and hurt my wrist so that I had a hard time using a shuttle or a computer mouse. Both things conspired to drive me crazy, since my usual pass times were severely curtailed. Needing an outlet, I renewed my library card and proceeded to drive hubby nuts driving me back and forth to the library because I don't drive. He wouldn't want me going by myself anyway, just in case something happened to me. He's such a gem.

My library bag will only hold about a dozen books, so it means making a return trip every couple of weeks. You should hear him groan every time he sees my bag parked by the front door. LOL Hubby's a do-er not a reader. His idea of reading is pouring over a technical manual and perusing schematics. For him, a trip to the library is an exercise in patience, but he does it whenever I want, I don't even have to ask him. I just leave my book bag by the door and as soon as he has the time, we go.

My book bag doubles as my craft bag and has tatting on one side. It's a basket of 3D flowers I did the basket and flowers for one of the newsletters and it's perfect for the bag. Surprisingly, no one has ever asked about it. I think most people must think the bag came that way.

All this extra reading means I've been using bookmarks more often. There's the book I read before bed and the one I read while cooking supper and then there's the book I'm not enthralled with that I might finish, or might just return unread.

So the other day while I watched a movie with hubby I decided I needed another bookmark. I wanted something kind of flowery that I could work up without thinking about it too much and I remembered a traditional edging one of the 25 Motif Challenge participants was doing. I've used a similar pattern for hanky edgings before so I had an idea of what it took. I used 6 small rings joined in the middle with short chains and 3 picots in between. Each flower shape is separating by a single ring.

I used some vintage size 80 thread in variegated red/green paired with a solid green. A crocheted chain with a modified flower shape on the end to hang outside the book. Here it is with the ends sewn in, even the ones from the break and the re-start when I ran out of thread. Not bad for a 2 hour movie and a bit of the news.

Of course, now that I have a bookmark, I don't have any books. It's time to go put my book bag by the front door.

I'm thrilled to bits

My tatting web page is an off shoot of our company web site which is maintained by my wonderful sweetheart. Consequently he prefers that he does all of the maintenance on the pages. That's OK, he's the programmer, I'm not. At this stage, he's probably forgotten more programming than I'll ever learn. Unfortunately Meniere's makes him periodically deaf in one ear and gives him sudden violent dizziness of the kind that drops him to the floor. I guess that's why they call them drop attacks. One minute he's whistling and working happily away and the next he's on the floor. Really not fun if you happen to be up a ladder! At the same time he gets violent eye rotation of the kind observed in REM sleep, except that his eyes are wide open.

Have you ever seen a lizard rotate it's eyes in opposite directions? Ever wondered what things would look like if people saw 2 different images simultaneously? Don't bother trying to imagine it. We have 2 eyes focuses forward because our brains are equipped to process a single panoramic view. It's very disorienting to have multiple images flashed on our brains. Sadly, that's what my hubby has to deal with when he gets a Meniere's attack. Sounds and images are suddenly distorted, there is internal pressure from the swelling in his inner ear, his eyes won't focus on anything with each one doing an independent jig, all attended with violent dizziness and nausea.

So for a long time now he has worked on modifications to my web page, but since it wasn't urgent progress has been very slow, just because it was't a priority. Of principle interest to me, was a simple way to add a new book onto the web site without having to re-design the home page. When there was only one or two items he had blended graphics into the home page image and that worked out quite well, but then as new books were done there was no space to add them in. So he started developing a secondary page that could be added to easily. He not only created the page to display current books, but he programmed in functions so that new books could be added with multiple mouse over images and the page automatically handles the input for PayPal transactions. The web site calculates the pricing including shipping and handling, by picking up the data from the location information input from the order form and then passes it through to PayPal when the form is submitted. He built in a printing function so that people can  print a copy of the order before submitting it, so they know what they ordered.

Everything was working perfectly in Internet Explorer, but then we tested it in Chrome and FireFox and some of the functions didn't work properly, so he re wrote it to cover those little oddities as well. Finally, after years of working on it, in fits and starts it's done. YAYYYYY!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Tis the season for people to be silly and sloppy about love. Love isn't about giving or receiving chocolates or flowers and it isn't about sex. Real love is what binds two people together so that what ever happens they would rather face it together. Love is when your spouse wakes up with morning breath or farts and it's enough to knock you over, but it's OK because the love you have for them overlooks those little things.

It's when they are sick and won't ever get better and you don't think of trying to escape the situation, you just accept that it comes with the package and having that package means more to you than anything else.

It's knowing that if you were sick or life dealt you a blow turning your once beautiful bod into something ugly, that it wouldn't matter. Your other half, really is another part of yourself and no matter how you look, they'll always see you as beautiful.

Love isn't a mushy feeling. Love is in it for the long haul, no matter what. It's give and take, share and care.

Of course that kind of depenable caring, sharing and loving does make for great sex.

Happy Valentine's sweetie I love you more every day. You're the greatest blessing God has given me and I don't know how you've put up with me all these years. I just consider myself lucky that you have.

Dear Canadian Tire

For years we have waited with anticipation for Thursday when the Canadian Tire flyer comes in the Newspaper. My husband's ritual is to separate out all of the flyers, then he reads the paper, browses through the other flyers and then carefully peruses the Canadian Tire flyer last. How he sighed over the titanium tap and die set. He was in raptures over the speed grinder. He positively drooled over the air compressor and the planer was almost an orgasmic experience. There seems to be no end of drills, routers, bits, screwdrivers, clamps, pliers, saw horses, drill bits and other tools both electric and manual that a handy man needs in his arsenal of repair tools. So over the decades he has patiently waited and carefully saved so that when these essential items are on sale he can pounce on the opportunities provided. So you will understand that his workshop resembles a Canadian Tire warehouse with every tool carefully stored in it's own little niche.

One of his more recent purchases was a scrollsaw, bought primarily because there are some jobs that can be done with a jigsaw, but they are done with greater ease and accuracy with a scroll saw. It was surprising when it was first plugged in, to find that it rattled so much that it walked across the table, suggesting that it was in some way out of balance, so we returned it to the store for a different machine. It too, walked across the table. We returned to the store and your most helpful staff agreed to plug in the other machines in the store so that we didn't have to make more trips just to plug them in and see whether they would sit still. We selected the machine that was the most stable and returned home.

Once we had a working machine, my husband discovered many lovely free scrollsaw patterns available on the internet and began a love affair with fretwork.

Lions, dogs, eagles and butterflies were soon appearing everywhere. After very little usage we noticed some metal bits sitting under the saw and were found to be pieces of bearings and a quick call to your service department resulted in replacement parts being sent to us the next day.

Sadly after this we had an endless list of things the went wrong with the machine. The bellows, a little rubber ball that is compressed with each stroke of the blade, puffs out a little blast of air to remove the dust from around the work. Except that the rubber has become brittle and cracked so that it no longer blows air. We called to see about a replacement part in October, but were told it might take some time as the parts were on order. No one likes to stop in the middle of a project so an aquarium pump was purchased and run at the same time as the saw to facilitate usage.

Then the light went out. You can't see under the saw arm without a light to illuminate where you are cutting. Again the staff was very accommodating and the replacement part was received. However, the light, which is at the end of the articulated blower arm has wires running through it which connect inside the machine. The replacement part received is an empty tube; no light, no wires. Another call resulted in the warehouse staff checking all of the parts in stock to find that they are all missing the light and wires. A special order had to be sent to China for new parts to be manufactured. My ever resourceful husband, jury rigged his machine again so that he could see to work and waited for the call back with news about his parts.




About this time the weather got cooler and he decided it would be more comfortable to work inside and he moved the scroll saw into the basement and made fittings so that the saw was connected to the vacuum cleaner. Sawdust in the garage is one thing, but sawdust in the house is a completely different mess. Especially when he's making the scrollsaw work in quarter inch poplar, then making the background frame to set it off nicely, staining it a dark colour and finishing it off by cutting a box out of solid one inch wood and adding a masonite top and bottom which creates more dust.We called again in November to see what was happening with the replacement parts and discovered that since we had told the staff not to send another empty tube without a light, that they had assumed the part was not required and nothing had been ordered. We asked for the parts again and requested a follow up call to let us know one way or the other. We were assured that we would receive a return call the next day. A week later we followed up again because no one had called back.

It was suggested that we just return the saw to the store for a replacement. We had already tried all of the machines in stock and had the machine that did the least amount of table walking which might have been caused by broken bearings and the ones on our machine had just been replaced. We had added an aquarium pump that gave better air flow and added a fixture to hold the vacuum hose, so we didn't want to just replace the machine and have to start again. We again requested the parts and asked them to let us know what was happening with them.

In the days before Christmas when hubby was scrolling some Christmas gifts the knob that holds the saw blade in broke. We again called for the replacement part and were informed that they would not be available until after Christmas. That's not good news when what you have half done is a Christmas gift that's needed in 2 days. The knob has a specific thread and just replacing it with a screw wasn't going to work. We called the store and when we told them our predicament they graciously loaned us the knob off the floor model until the replacement came in.

January rolled around and we didn't see the long delayed parts and made another call mentioning they previous tickets that had been opened for replacement parts. After the Christmas gifts were passed out several request came for additional pieces like the eagle my BIL fell in love with bat wanted a larger version of. That's when we discovered that the special order for the blower arm/light had not been placed. In fact, none of the replacement parts had been ordered, or they had been ordered and cancelled. I suppose the warehouse staff is terrific at sending out what they have in stock, but when their paperwork indicates a part that is essentially defective, they don't seem to have an efficient way of notifying the manufacturer and requesting a change.

After days of talking to various people, all of whom assured us that they would investigate and call us back without receiving a single return call, it was time to talk to a manager. We have a workshop full of Mastercraft products, we are very loyal (and lucrative) customers but 4 months is a long time to wait for things that you have been assured "are in the mail".

The parts are not currently, and may not ever, be available. Scroll saws are obviously not on everyone's Christmas list so while they sell the machines, they may not stock all the replacement parts. Not to be deterred by that, our resourceful manager scoured the stores and found one that had a floor model with all of the necessary parts and had them shipped to us post haste. The NEW replacement parts are still on order and will be sent if/when they are available. AND Both the manager and the representative who referred us to the manager followed up every day until the parts were in out hot little hands.

It took a while, but when it really came down to it you came through. Canadian Tire - you guys rock!

Quilts

My hiatus from tatting has included reading lots of books including some about quilts. I get quilts as something that uses up scraps and usable pieces of fabric from worn out garments. I get quilts that are one of a kind works of art to be displayed. I get appliqued quilts. I get making quilts as a relaxing sewing outlet. It's the other 90% that I don't get.

I understand that each one is unique. I get that. I really do. I'm just having a hard time wrapping my mind around buying fabric just to cut it up and sew it back together just for the sake of making a quilt.

Maybe it's because getting neat precise points while machine sewing has always been an issue for me. I can do anything with needle and thread and for several years I made all my dresses. Points where things had to meet were always hand sewn first because just throwing pinned together pieces on the sewing machine never gave the results I wanted.

How is it that a leisure art based on cutting up perfectly good sheets of fabric and sewing it together again to make a sheet can be an industry? How can tatting do the same thing?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Tatting on hold for fretwork

Last summer I fell while carrying groceries, tripping over uneven pavement assisted by some ill fitting sandals. I caught myself by landing with most of my weight on my wrist and some of it on my face. Afterward my wrist was sore. Too sore for tatting or using the computer mouse, so I spent a lot of time reading rather than tatting.

During this time my darling spouse took up fretwork also known as scroll saw work. After a few easy bits he searched the internet for something a little more interesting and found a lot of free patterns on line. This made it necessary for us to check out various hardware and building supply places for suitable wood. Meniere's makes him too dizzy for much travel and certainly not travel by himself, so I need to make myself available as a prop, just in case. I spent the fall mostly assisting in locating suitable wood and helping trim up larger pieces into usable stock. Here's one of his earlier bits.

Of course once the design is cut out it needs to be mounted or the silhouette effect is totally lost because you can see through it. That means more trips to find proper framing material. After several tries he settled on using thicker wood stock and adding a routed edge. Which, of course, added more work to making it.

Once he got started he found a lot of things he wanted to try. So, while it's usually me that goes crazy trying to tat more things as Christmas gifts than there are hours in a day to complete, this year the flurry of activity was left up to my other half. Which was nice for a change, but left me feeling somewhat like Christmas came and went without me.

He's also taken up fretwork of a different kind.

My sweetheart plays a 12 string guitar. He's never learned to read music so he just plays by ear. Recently he's been recording some traditional pieces that he can share on the internet. I thinks he sings and plays beautifully, but then I think he does everything well. So there you go, fretwork both carved and played.

It's not "Fair"

I am always intrigued by the yearly furor over tatting things to be judges in the annual fair. I have never visited our local fair. I might enjoy it, but my beloved other half wouldn't and to drive more than half an hour and pay to get into an event that he doesn't want to see just seems silly. However, I thought that this year I would check it out just so that I could enter some tatting and keep the subject in public view. I eagerly anticipated dozens of ways to enter tatting into the fair submissions. That was, until I saw the entire listing under "Homecraft". The whole list is 12 items long including 2 items specifically listed under woodworking, a picture of which is included here for your amusement. There are 2 PAGES of classes for quilted items. I guess that's what happens when there's a quilt guild in town.

I don't have time to design and tat a realistic 3D rose which is what I would have done if I had known that roses were going to be this year's theme. The tatting that I have done this year, a lot of which were snowflakes, don't fit into any of the categories. So I think I'm just going to give it a pass especially since there is a $10.00 registration fee and the "prize" in any of these categories is the fantastic sum of $4.00 for a first prize. (The prizes in the quilt category start at $8.00.)Kind of makes you feel like a poor cousin, doesn't it?

If these categories were posted earlier it might be possible to do something inventive for each category, but as I only have a couple of weeks, I think I'll forget it.

Pineapple Cake

This cake may not look wonderful, but it tasted yummy. The last time hubby asked for a lemon cake and I made a lemon cake with lemon icing. Then I discovered that he said lemon but meant orange. Orange? So the next cake I made was chocolate!

This time for a tangy cake, which is what I discovered my honey meant, when he said lemon, I went with pineapple, and it met with his approval. Since we have been experiencing a heat wave I wasn't interested in being in the kitchen with the oven going all day, so I opted for a basic white cake mix, instead of working from scratch.

The filling is pineapple and the basic buttercream icing is also pineapple. Both recipes are included here for your enjoyment.

Bake cake in two 8 or 9 inch pans and cool thoroughly.

Pineapple Filling
1/2 cup white sugar
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 cup pineapple tid bits packed in pineapple juice
3/4 cup pineapple juice
1 tablespoon butter

Directions
In the top of a double boiler over simmering water, combine sugar and flour. Stir in egg, pineapple and pineapple juice. Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture has thickened. At this point it tasted a little too sweet so I added a few drops of lemon juice. Stir in butter. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Pineapple Frosting
1/2 cup butter
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons well drained crushed pineapple
1 to 2 teaspoons pineapple juice

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar together. I drained the crushed pineapple through a strainer and used a large spoon to squeeze out most of the juice. Stir in crushed pineapple and blend thoroughly. Add
just enough pineapple juice to make it spreadable. How much juice is needed depends on how thoroughly drained the pineapple was.

The cake, while it tasted wonderful, was a stinker to ice because of the bits of pineapple and it dripped excess pineapple juice over the cake plate and onto the table after it was done. For the day or two it sat on the table before we gobbled it up we had paper under the cake plate to keep catching the puddles. I'm not sure if the juice was dripping out of the filling or the frosting, just that it made a mess. The reason for baking a cake in this heat? Our anniversary of course. My honey is definitely a keeper.

If I make it again, and I probably will, I'll do a sheet cake, remove it from the pan, split it in half lengthwise and put the bottom back in the pan before adding the filling. Then I'll put the top on and ice it keeping all of the mess in the pan.

There's a new book coming

Some of you saw the choker that Fox test tatted for me. In putting together the patterns for the book it occurred to me that this design had a couple of  features that might have caused some concern and my description might have added to the confusion. Thankfully Fox was able to identify the areas where I needed to tweak my drawings and make them more understandable. The new book features designs for summer that can make bracelets, anklets or chokers. Here is the Triad design as an anklet:

And here it is as a choker:

This book will have 10 patterns that can be used several ways  and without beads or finidings several of them will work as bookmarks.

Thinking out loud and looking for answers

When I started the design class a few years ago I waffled between thinking that I had a lot to teach and thinking that it was presumptuous of me to think that I had anything to share. Then I started the first class and had to cut off the participants when the class grew to over 60 people almost over night. I ran a second class for the handful of stragglers that didn't make it into the first class but again had to cut it off at 60 more participants, when the group got larger than I thought I could reasonably handle. As I started writing out formal lessons I kept thinking, "I should mention this", or "How do I explain that situation?" and little by little it expanded so that now, to adequately cover everything it takes about 6 months and the "stragglers" just keep on coming.

I structured the classes so that each lesson builds on what went on before in a logical progression so that even if you haven't ever designed anything before, you can successfully create your own pattern. For some people designing comes as easily as falling off a log, but for others it's a little more challenging. But whatever your starting point you CAN make a successful design just by following the simple steps we take in class.

Once you have created a design, you then have to get it down in a formal manner, and the second section of the course deals with using drawing software to create a pattern. For this purpose I created a step by step tutorial that shows you how to find the necessary features in drawing software and use them to the best advantage. Learning how to effectively manipulate a drawing program can have a steep learning curve.

The third section of the course deals with more advanced things like, using drawing software not only to draw your pattern, but also to actually create new designs. Then to take ideas and push the boundaries to see what more you can accomplish.

More recently, some of the folks who have joined the class are already able to design their own patterns, and they are more interested in the latter sections of the course. That means that while the rank beginners are struggling with learning to walk, these folks are champing at the bit to get running.

That leaves me with folks who want to slow down and take it easy and folks who want me to hurry up and get on with it. As the class is structured now, it isn't possible to do both. I have noticed that for the first couple of lessons about 90% of the class posts their homework. By about half way through the course only 50% of the class posts their homework and by the last lessons only about 10 % of the class gets their homework done.

On the surface, that suggests that people aren't getting enough time to do everything, so the last time around I tried giving people more time, but that doesn't seem to be the answer. The numbers of people getting their lessons posted still stays the same.

So, for the last year I've been kicking around a different idea. I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to break the course up into 3 separate courses. One course, just for how to start designing, a second course for learning to use drawing software and an advanced course for people who want some design challenges and some direction on where to go from here.
Since these would be less encompassing courses they would be of shorter duration and since they would cover different subject matter people could just take the section they were interested in. All 3 courses could even run simultaneously.

This would let me expand what's covered in the individual courses to cover more details on a narrower scope of information which might allow for more people being able to get their homework done, without feeling like they are getting further and further behind. It would also allow those eager to push ahead to progress at a faster rate.

It would also allow me to go beyond the basics and give suggestions as to how to push the envelope and come up with new ideas. Designing in a vacuum isn't nearly as much fun as working on projects together and sometimes just kicking around ideas can stimulate all kinds of new possibilities that you wouldn't have even considered otherwise.

The down side of this proposal is that it would cost more. The current course is at a very modest $20.00. By splitting it into 3 separate courses, to cover the same material may end up costing 3 times as much, if I charged $20 for each section. I'm still thinking about that part of it.

At this point, it seems like the logical thing to do, but I'd appreciate hearing what other people think.

12 days and counting

These guys and I have been hanging out together for a while now. I don't really like them and they have certainly overstayed their welcome. At the end of May I had mostly finished up the tatting I needed to do. By the beginning of June I had most of the diagrams completed for a small book of tatting patterns. Then about 2 weeks ago I started with a sore throat which rapidly escalated into stomach heaving. Things have settled down into non stop coughing and wheezing. I am so fed up with this.

I have made several attempts to bring all the tatting and pictures into book form, but it just isn't working. My brain just doesn't want to get into gear and this book of summertime tatting projects may end up waiting until Christmas at this rate.

And that's about the end of my energy. I think I'll go back to bed.........Zzzzzzzzz

No more mayhem

I have been tatting, quite a bit actually, enough for a book. The tatting is done and I just need to get some good weather to do a proper photo shoot in and I can pull everything together. In the lulls between blog posts there have been a lot of posts started, left languishing unfinished, and finally deleted as what felt important enough to say one day fizzled the next.

Today you get to hear all of those things that I've been storing up, none of which are tatting related. Last summer Toronto was part of the G20 summit and some folks thought it would be a good idea to assemble and protest anything and everything. I have no objection to peaceful protest. It sometimes shines a spotlight on an otherwise unknown ill. I am a firm believer in the idea that you can't fix what you don't know is broken, so sometimes a protest is the only way to be heard.

That said, there was absolutely no excuse for the car burning, building trashing mayhem that ensued. I have absolutely NO sympathy for the people that were strong armed as the police endeavored to control the crowd. People were asked to avoid the area unless they absolutely had to be there. Some people were peaceful while some were thugs. In a massive crowd of people there was no way for the police to distinguish and no time for niceties. A lot of people got hurt. TOUGH. They chose to be where they were asked not to go. They did not restrain their compatriots. They got the consequences. I say, take your lumps and shut up.

Then there was that mess in Vancouver after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup. I'm a Canadian born and bred, I understand the pain, but I am totally embarrassed that it was Canadians behaving this way. Where is the sportsmanship that says we tried but we lost to a better team and next year we'll be back? Scratch that. It wasn't the team, it was the morons who assembled to watch the game, who drank to excess and then behaved like cavemen when they didn't get the result they wanted.

I was raised to understand that I wouldn't always get what I wanted. I understand respect for other people and other people's property. I understand logic. What mental connection does someone make that says "my team lost I ought to go turn over a car, smash store windows, loot and set things on fire"? There is no logic. It is simply totally unprincipled behavior. It is letting go of all self control (and self respect) and just being totally destructive.

Today I ran across several blogs talking about swearing and when and where it is appropriate. I read a variety of comments on the subject, but the bottom line is that it's all part of the same malady. A lack of self control and a lack of good moral upbringing.

When I was a teenager (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth) someone told me that people who use a lot of profanity only do so because they have nothing else to say. After that, I paid attention to the people around me and I found that it was true. If you removed all of the profanity from some people's dialogue you realize that their mouth is moving but they aren't really saying anything. On the other hand, people who rarely swore usually had a lot of interesting information to impart.

I had gotten into a bad habit of repeating the profanity I heard around me but after that, I made the effort to remove it. I replaced "shit" with "sugar" just because once the -sh- sound was out of my mouth it was the only short word I could think of that fit. It stuck. I still say sugar when I get mad. There are a lot worse garbage words out there, but they don't really add anything to your vocabulary or your conversation and it's easier not to start using them, than to try to get rid of them after they are ingrained.

Controlling your language means disciplining your mind and it's the first step to living an ordered and orderly life. Some people seem to believe that total chaos is a good thing. The Bible begins with the words; "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void;..." Literally, there was chaos and out of it God created order.

More and more these days it seems that people need order. As a Christian I know that what they really need is God to help them create the order they need. Only with the kind of order He provides can we have the kind of society that's worth living in.

Not in my garden

Yellow is not my colour of choice. You may remember when I tatted the cover for the chocolate box, that one of my problems was the lack of yellow thread. Yellow, orange and green aren't colours that I gravitate toward. If fact I have bought, in my entire life, exactly 2 balls of yellow thread and 2 balls of orange, one of which was purchased to crochet a pumpkin for somebody else. I have bought more green, only because flowers need leaves.

When we went out to the garden centre I was looking for some perennials to perk up the garden. So tell me, exactly how did this happen?

Then a couple of days later, this appeared on my lawn. Not only is there a plethora of yellow and orange, they're all stinky marigolds. I HATE the smell of marigolds. I tolerate them in my garden in small quantities just to keep the cats from using the flower garden as a little box. The cats like them about as much as I do.

Me beloved other half, on the other hand, absolutely adores large yellow and orange flowers. So after creating and filling one garden with lots of yellow and orange, immediately went out and blew the budget on buying twice as many of the stinking things for the second garden. The only perennials in the whole bunch where a couple of Asian lilies. I don't hold out much hope for the lilies making it through the winter as the squirrels love to dig them up and eat them. They can have the yellow and orange one, but they'd better leave the burgundy and white one alone.

The other day we came across a new garden centre and had to peek inside. I was looking for something blue or maybe a new rose in red or pink. Guess what we came home with? More stinking marigolds and a bunch of packets of marigold seed so that he can grow more of the wretched things.

But today, today we bought this, much more in my preferred palette of pink and purple and blue. Not a yellow or orange to be seen. The blue clematis has gone to the back yard, and if I get a chance I'm going to grab some more rose bushes, NOT in yellow.