Belated Christmas Greetings to All & update

Belated Christmas Greetings to All.

Thought I'd give you a quick update on what's been happening here. Firstly, we are starting to be able to see the ground again after 2 weeks with about 3ft of snow & seriously subzero temps (-15 C etc) so that is great. We even had an official white Christmas - like we need any more LOL!

I want to show you what my wee boy got me for Christmas (with a wee bit of helpful pointing in the right direction from Mummy, that is).

Isn't it just stunning - the photos show either side of it. It is the Maacki Chinensis wood that Sally spoke about some time ago here & I sent her down a 0.6mm crochet hook rather than the one that comes as standard - I can't describe just how lovely it is, the photos really don't do it justice. 'Im-in-the-garage has really surpassed himself this time - Thank you so much.

The other stuff I have been doing is Miranda's Ice Crystal in 2 colours but you are not going to see it as the DYK sections are truly appalling and it shames what is a stunning pattern. I have also done Miranda's Angels in the Snow that I won from the very kind giveaway of the anonymous donor but I can't find the image at present so will update you later - again a gorgeous pattern.

Our GP is retiring unfortunately as he has gone over and above the call of duty on a number of occasions over many years so I thought he warranted a couple of gifts - a bottle of whisky &.....


This is Jane's Double Self Closing Mock Ring Bookmark but my choice of thread was not the best - it is a variegated blue and a mint green but unfortunately the mint green & the pale blue are hard to distinguish apart but apart from that I really like it.

Can't think of much else at present except hope you all have a safe & prosperous New Year. We are going to my Aunt's for Hogmanay which will be bittersweet as it will be the first without my uncle but hopefully she'll cope okay.

TTFN

LOOK - Pop-A-Bobbin Alert!!!!!!!!!

Well I'm feeling very pleased with myself and a little smug - I think I'm the first to post about the Pop-A-Bobbins from Sally's "Him in the Garage".

I got mine on Friday and have been playing with it a little since then. As you are all aware I'm sure I LOVE Aero Englands and it will take a lot to beat them in my eyes but this just may do it! It is a really great shuttle - light with a good "feel". I have a Silent Tatter too which I like the feel of but find just too heavy as I keep dropping it - the Pop-A-Bobbin does not have this dropsy effect as it is much lighter. My only tiny criticism (which I have relayed to Sally & Jane already) is that the hook is not a proper crochet hook and I'm finding that a bit awkward but I'm sure that I'll get used to it. Here are a few piccies of the wonderful new addition!




Now all I need is another one to keep it company!

WOOH HOO - HAPPY DANCE

I WON!

I'm getting the stunning new shuttle from Shirley (see here) to test!!!!!!


I'M SO EXCITED - just as well you can't see me bopping around the study - not a pretty sight I'm sure LOL.

I've promised Shirley to give an honest opinion of the shuttle and will relay my feelings here as well after I have told Shirley first. As I told Shirley in my comment to enter the draw for testing the shuttle - my preference in shuttles is for bobbin shuttles in particular my absolute favourite Aero England shuttles, so it will be very interesting to see if I can be converted lol. I must say that by look alone I'm sold on the picture!

What a lot of creative talented & generous people there are

I have spent a bit of time over the last few days wandering around the One World-One Heart Gypsy Caravan that both TattingChic & Marilee are very generously participating in. (I wish I was more organised and then I might have been able to participate in it as well, hopefully next year). I am just staggered by the generosity, talent and creativity there is - the only thing I would have thought to do with a rusty key was throw it away not use it for any type of craft purpose!

Back to tatting for a while. I have finally designed a pattern I am happy with - a little heart - so after writing it down I will possibly post it. I have doodled with designing for a few years but am usually not entirely happy with the end results so have never taken them any further - maybe I should try again? What do you think? I am going to do the thread exchange with the celtic group so may send a little heart as well!

I am nearly finished Jon's "Quantiesque snowflake" in variegated red and variegated green, but think I shouldn't have combined the two threads for the last round as it isn't quite right colourwise. We'll see when I finish it, I'll post a pic and see what you think. I have also been using my Silent Tatter shuttle from Roseground, which I must admit I find hard to use but love the feel of it in my hand - it is just a fraction too heavy (I keep dropping it) after the Aero Englands I love & use always. I have had it for about 3 years now and keep trying it every so often, but I suppose to be fair I don't use it enough to get used to it. It's funny how the shuttle you learn with remains your favourite no matter what - or so I've found anyway.

FIL got out of hospital on Thursday but for how long is anyone's guess. We were up to see him today and he does look better than he did but still terribly unwell. I just hope he doesn't suffer too long.

One of those days........

You know when you have one of those days where everything that happens is not right - well recently we, as a family, having been having quite a few. Like, when Ally decided to open some of his Xmas presents before Mick & I got up, which put a complete damper on Xmas day; or having a stinking cold and wrongly going to work to realise that by 11.45 you were not going to last much longer & then having your normally understanding boss shout at you when you asked to go home which was what happened on Monday; or finding out that your FIL has inoperable pancreatic cancer and having your DH pretend it doesn't matter (he doesn't get on with his father), which was what happened in November.

Anyway, finally on Friday I had one of those days where everything was right (finally). I had seen another pot-luck lot on eBay the week before - it was decribed as "YOU ARE BIDDING FOR A JOB LOT OF SEWING ACCESSORIES, COTTONS ETC. IT IS ALL THAT CAN BE SEEN IN THE PHOTO." and the photo was as below.



Now if you look very carefully in centre left, near the bobbin of sewing thread I spied what I decided could be a tatting shuttle. Basing my hunch on this and that the tangled mess that looked like tatting, I thought it was worth a chance and decided to bid the princely sum of nearly £3 (about US$4.50). To cut a long story short (well at least shorter, LOL) I got the lot for 99p (~US$1.43) + p&p, which was a grand total of £3.98 (~US$5.85) as no-one else bid. It arrived on Friday in a shoe box, which when opened revealed a tangled mess of thread & tatting. After over half an hour of untangling this is what I found.

A couple of fine crochet hooks, a thimble & several offcuts of material.....








.....a whole lot of pieces of edgings and insertions.....











......... various balls of thread........


...a lovely doily....


.....and TA-DAH (drum roll)......not one....






........not two........


....not three.........






........not four........




....................not five (and an Aero England in its packet!!!!!)..........



...........................but six shuttles and the cherry on top - another Aero England still in its packet.





I just sat there with my mouth open (it must have looked a sight LOL) - I simply adore Aero England shuttles, they are what I learned to tat with and no matter how hard I try I just cannot like the non-bobbin type (eg Clover) shuttles - so as you can imagine I was (and still am) in seventh heaven.