Tatting, sort of

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth and I have been tatting, just not tatting things I can show. I've been test tatting the motifs from the Design-Tat class.

I've also been doing a lot of creative work for a new book. Sadly, most of it is a jumble of cut off thread and hours upon hours of tatting just to find out what doesn't work. As soon as I have them done right I'll do them again in the right colours.

Of course hours spent in the garage waiting while they work on the car makes for lots of tatting time.For the first time ever, the car didn't pass the e-test. It's a 23 year old car that hubby has kept in immaculate condition. I kid you not, he shampoos the engine. The top of the engine block is the same shiny aluminum it was when it rolled off the assembly line, so we were really surprised when it didn't pass the test. So it went into the shop for a diagnostic. We knew when one of the fuel injectors failed in the fall that another one of them was not at full capacity, so we assumed that was the problem, but the test suggested a vacuum leak. Hubby asked the mechanic if it might be the catalytic converter but he said no, definitely not. So we (we, meaning hubby, I just stand around and act as a third hand) changed the faulty fuel injector, tightened all the hoses and clamps and tested for leaks before taking it back for another e-test. It failed again, although just barely. It went back for another diagnostic. No vacuum leaks and no indication why it shouldn't pass, but there was a smell of gas. On further discussion with the mechanic it was suggested it might be the catalytic converter. It was, but it took trying several shops to get one for a 1988 Z24, and several other shops to get one that could put it on right away. Once that was done it passed the test with 0 emissions. Good old car. 300,000 km and it has more get up and go than most new vehicles. We're going to hate to part with it, but they don't make parts for it any more and you can't even get parts from the junk yard for it, so it's days are numbered.