So, I finished the cowl that I was making with the angora Malabrigo that we got in the mail a few days ago. It is stunning and beautiful and oh so soft. We found some lovely matching ceramic buttons that Laurie attached to each corner and a crochet chain figure eights around the buttons to close it. Unfortunately, there was only 100 yards of yarn and the pattern I used called for 120, so it doesn't fit me. :( It does fit Laurie very nicely and looks very amazing on her. She is very happy with it, too. Here's the final picture:
This past weekend, Laurie and I did a bit of traveling. Laurie's Aunt Carolyn was visiting Prescott because she was doing her orientation for Prescott College. We drove up Saturday, to pick her up (sadly, we missed going to the Prescott yarn shops because we took so long to clean up the house and they were all closed - I was bummed). We went to our favorite restaurant in Prescott, the Prescott brewery and took a little walk around the square. It was extremely cold! We stayed the night in Prescott Valley, and headed out Sunday to drive over to Jerome, where we did stop at Knit 1 Bead 2 and got some lovely alpaca/silk in a to die for purple color. Carolyn purchased two tatting shuttles - she had forgotten to bring hers (she used to tat quite a lot but has drifted off the past few years), and was very excited about finding them. We went on to Crescent Moon Rec area in Sedona, and ate a picnic lunch (did I mention how cold it was?) and Laurie and her Aunt took a walk down the river path (I napped).
When we arrived back home Sunday, Carolyn whipped out the tatting shuttles and was showing me how she did it and what could be done. This is what her work looked like:
I had heard of tatting before, but didn't really know what it was or what implements one would need to do it. Apparently there are a couple of types, Carolyn does shuttle tatting. Basically, the end result of all the types is a very fine lace made by tying knots. It is very work intensive and not many people do it anymore. It is, however, beautiful. Yesterday, while Laurie was at work, before Carolyn had to go home, she sat me down and taught me how to do it. She was a good teacher and said that I picked it up faster than she did. My pieces look nothing like her beautiful work, but I'm still plugging away at it. The only crochet thread that I had on hand was giving to me by Laurie's mom (Carolyn's older sister) and was part of a crochet table cloth project that their mother was working on before the birth of their older sister and never finished (it was given to me to piece it all together). So, the thread I'm working with is probably twice my age and tinier that a beginner should be working on. I'm hoping that at TYF tomorrow, Laurie will agree to let me buy a small ball of larger crochet thread so I can keep practicing - I keep breaking the antique thread because it's pretty fragile. It is fun, however, and I'm going to keep practicing, even if it's not my main craft engagement. Here are the picture of what I'm working on:
While Carolyn was here, I completed a ring and she showed me how to connect the next ring I was making to the first, then this morning, when I picked it back up again, I messed it up and couldn't take it back because the thread is too small, so I had to abandon that one. The one on the bottom of the picture, is the new ring I have started and that is going along well, so far, I'm crossing my fingers that I don't mess up again!
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