Day 8

 

 That certainly looks like a foot, but my creature seems to have a crick in its neck. 

Day 7

Well, I still don't know what we're tatting. My tatting is now not as neat as it should be, as I distorted a picot while opening a ring, after joining in the wrong place. Sigh. 

Saturday's market has been postponed because the weather people had told us it would be raining all week. Actually, it's not. But you can only go on what you know at the time. We cancelled the retirement home meeting for the same reason. Anyway, I have more time to work on puppets for market, providing there are no more power cuts. 

Cushion

 

My Maths was pretty good. I used some of the last ball, which means I couldn't have bought any less to finish my blanket. But there is quite a bit of the 300g grey ball left, plus a little of some of the other colours. I'm using the same Grace blanket pattern by Lucia Stepankova and the left overs to make a co-ordinating cushion for the bed. 

Towels and Day 6

 

I've been sewing hooded towels in preparation for a market on Saturday. It's quite a while since I've made towels. In the interim, I've aquired felt. I've used felt for the features on these. It means that I can use a straight stitch rather that zig zag for attaching things like the eyes, which is quicker and easier. Using felt for ears and spines means that my sewing machine doesn't have to battle with four layers of toweling. All these patterns are from the Crazy Little Projects blog.

Day 6 of the tat it and see. Whatever the creature is, my version looks rather malevolent!

Day 5

 

Someone suggested an elephant's trunk after day 3 or 4 and I thought that could be it. But now I'm thinking sea horse, which has been others' thoughts too. 

Simpler Version

 I really like my jar opener, which I wrote about here. Every time I use it, I think it would be a good project for the retirement home craft group I'm involved with. But mine has a fabric backing and  I used a sewing machine to attach it. I really don't want to haul my sewing machine to the retirement home and then do all the work! So I've been fiddling, trying out different ways of finishing off the non-stick fabric in a way that would be suitable for the craft group. 

 You could glue a wide ribbon, but glue is messy (at least when I use it) and might not be secure enough. I tried crochet, after seeing examples on Pinterest, but not everyone in the group crochets. I decided that wrapping narrow ribbon through the holes in the fabric was the best option. I tried threading the ribbon with a needle, but that doubles the ribbon, which didn't go easily through the holes. Making a point with tape worked better. I used the  ends to make a loop for hanging, so that there's no need for a secure start and ending. 

Today's meeting was cancelled, so this will be next week's project. It's not easy to find projects that are easy enough for everyone to do, but not childish! 

Day 4

 

 I'm reminded of a meerkat on day 4, though I don't really think that's a valid guess! Come to think of it, why not? It could be a meerkat. 

Blanket Reveal and Day Three

 

Well, my blanket or bed cover is finished and on the bed. The pattern is called Grace blanket, designed by Lucia Stepankova, a free download on Ravelry. I crocheted it in acrylic double knit yarn, using a 4.5mm hook. The original is in a finer yarn, using a 3mm hook. It's a wonderful pattern, with enough variation to keep it interesting, and is well written, with written instructions and a diagram. I started crocheting in September - my speed is not up to Diane's standard, but I'm in plenty of time for the Southern Hemisphere Winter! 

Here's my day 3, am tatting but don't yet see! 

Day 2

 

I'm a bit quicker with day 2. Mind you, yesterday and today I forgot to add the picot on the second side of the split ring and had to undo a ring. Have to pay attention!

We had a lengthy power cut yesterday, 11 hours. The good thing about that was that crochet was one of the few things I could do, so I made progress on my blanket. I only have the very simple outer edging left to do. 

Slow Off The Starting Blocks

 

Jane Eborall's Tat it and see started yesterday, but I've only got to day 1 today. That's ok, there's no obligation to be bang on time! I'm using my silver shuttle, my own TIAS tradition. The other shuttle was wound full of thread, so I'm just using that. When you don't know what you're tatting, colour is not a factor. I'm happily using last year's fox bookmark in green and cream. 

Nearly There

 

 I only need two more grey rounds before I do the edging. But.... Life is rapidly returning to normal after the Christmas break and I will struggle to put in as much time as I have been doing. I'll get there though. 

Last Repeat

 

Happy New Year. I hope everyone's 2022 got off to a good start. 

I've been putting the time in and have definitely made progress on my blanket. I've added another colour stripe at the beginning of a sequence. This will be my last. I've been assuming that as I worked, but this morning I put the blanket on the bed and yes, I'm nearly done. I hope to be able to do the edging row in cream, but I'll weigh the grey at the beginning and end of the penultimate round to see if I have enough cream left. I don't want to get half way round and then run out!