A Relief... And a Worry

Well, I am a free and easy administrative assistant now. No more bursting into tears, stress headaches, or queasy tummy. Well, a little queasy when I think about the rent. But I am smart and talented and will find a better position. Happier, anyway. And I love having the fishies at home again. They will love being fed on the weekends for a change.

The lace conference last weekend was spectacular. I set up the soap booth, sold some soap, took the Milanese lace class by day, tatted in the evenings, and even watched a little "Law & Order" on cable. Yay, cable!

I am working on Louise's second project - the Heart. The moon, by the way, is still finished but unmounted. One of the ladies brought in her finished one and I want to display mine the same way - in between 2 pieces of glass that were framed together. Anyway, in 3 days I managed to work up one side of the heart, turn the corner, and work partway up the other side. I have been working diligently on it since and finished the second braid. Just the third braid /last turn and the filling to go! The next class with Louise is in June - it seems like forever to wait. I have her permission to work on the Torchon lace fan design, so perhaps I will have something to fan myself with during the June workshop. Louise said I may not start the next Milanese project on my own, no matter how much I suck up. So the Fleur-de-Lis is on hold for me until I see her again. I have the thread though (and it was free).

I bought a small book on tatting and on page 16 I found the answers to all my questions - how to read a pattern and how to connect rings and chains. I am almost finished with my first squiggle that actually looks like lace and not a jumble of bits. Formerly I could make chains, and I could make rings, but not put them together. This is the second year I have been next to the tatting teacher in the vending room, and one of my roomies is an excellent tatter. It was like taking two workshops in one weekend.

I finally hit the point in making lace where I can see what is happening, figure out what the threads are doing, and anticipate how to move them to get a desired effect. During the last project I felt like I was just moving the bobbins where I was told to. My lace tensioning is getting better, and my body tension is going down.

In the sprit of "finishitis" I have a bunch of projects that need my attention. I need to blindstitch and quilt the quilt so I can use it now that it is cold and drizzly here again. I also need to sit myself down and seam that sweater I finished in December. I need to finish tinking back the green Icarus shawl so I can fix the mistake, finish it, and turn it into the shop for display. These are all things I can manage. I also want to get back into weaving (remember how much I loved it?) and get some dishtowels up for sale at the yoga studio. 9 yards of warp did not seem that much at the time. Now it seems like an eternity. I found the battery charger to the camera and will take a bunch of pictures tonight of projects that have been pending. Scout's honor. For real this time. I promise.

I am headed to a rabbit show with Denise this weekend. This time I know that I need to bring a furry friend of my own so that I do not come home with any new ones. I don't know yet if it will be Mr. Whiskers or Seamus MacCavy, but it will be nice to have a lap warmer for the afternoon.

One more thing checked off my to-do list - I managed to pay my library fine and checked out the new Harry Potter book and some audio book. I feel like an honest citizen. Except for the dog license issue, which we will not bring up.