Tatting To Stay Awake

 This last weekend I traveled with several ladies of our congregation to the 2026 Kansas District LWML Convention. (LWML used to stand for Lutheran Women Missionary League, now it's Lutheran Women in Mission.) There were 288 persons in attendance, including the women, some husbands, some pastors, and speakers. The convention is a large business meeting, along with mission activities, leadership seminars, Bible studies, worship services, as well as a lot of visiting with women from all over the state of Kansas. This year it was held in Manhattan, KS, about 90 minutes from our home church. There were nine of us from our church, five of us traveling in one van. 

Small crosses tatted at the convention

This time I did tat while traveling. I sat in the third row of the van, making conversation with the others somewhat limiting. Travel time one way was about right for tatting one cross except for hiding the ends. I also did some tatting during the business meetings. I wasn't a voting delegate so some of the items on the agenda didn't involve me, making it a great time to tat. During the times when people were presenting the descriptions of their proposed mission projects it also worked well to be tatting. 

There was that one time where I wasn't paying enough attention to my tatting while I listened. Can you tell which one I was working on?

I went to the convention with a few crosses already made, and I gave away two of them. One young woman came up to me to express how excited she was to see someone tatting. She said it had been awhile since she had her needles out. Unfortunately, I was being called away at that time and couldn't speak long. I gave her a cross and a card with my blog name before I had to run. I couldn't find her later. I hope she contacts me so we can talk more. 

The weekend was inspiring and fun; it was wonderful to meet up with old friends and make new ones. We were all tired by the time we got home, and looking forward to sleeping in our own beds.

On Vacation

 My husband and I took a short vacation to Colorado to visit our daughter and her family over Easter. While we were gone, I did very little tatting. We started out late in the day so some of the trip was in the dark, not ideal conditions to tat (though I do have a light I could have used). My daughter's house does not have lights in convenient places, making it difficult to tat while there. We also were busy visiting and doing things with the family. On the way home, I was just lazy. Overall, not much tatting was done, except for a few stitches while sitting in Estes Park. 

We watched our grandson's jazz band play at a jazz festival, and our granddaughter at a track meet. The entire family went walking in a park with our dogs and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We saw a lot of people out doing the same thing. It's amazing how fast a few days go by when you are busy.

On our last day the kids were back in school and our daughter and son-in-law back at work, so Jack and I went up to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was still not open across the divide, but there is still a lot to see on the west side. 

Still snow on the peaks in RMNP

We almost missed this moose resting in the grass. It was a distance from the road, resting beside a fence that was put up by the forest service to protect a stand of willows. If they don't protect them, deer and elk eat them beyond recovery.  Moose drop their antlers after rut and regrowth doesn't start again until sometime in April, so we don't know if this was a bull or cow.

Moose at RMNP

We drove up to Bear Lake but didn't hike to it as they don't want dogs on the trail. Which was fine by us, as we aren't in the kind of shape to do much strenuous hiking. We are not usually up there this early in the year and we saw things we haven't before, like frozen streams.

Still cold at Bear Lake, RMNP

We have been up to Rocky Mountain National Park many times, but have never been in the right place at the right time to see bighorn sheep, and we saw these right beside the road. They weren't even in RMNP, they were in Roosevelt National Forest as we headed east to Loveland on highway 34.

Bighorn sheep east of Estes Park

I need to get back to tatting now that we're home again, but I find myself busy doing other things. I'm sure I'll take the time again to tat soon as I still have a list of things I want to make. Soon.

"The ant is knowing and wise, but he doesn't know enough to take a vacation."

                                                                Clarence Day

International Tatting Day 2026

 

I have my current tatting project, my morning beverage, and chocolate, all ready for the day. 

What are you doing for ITD? 

Heart-shaped Paperclips

 While on YouTube the other day I saw a video on covering bent paperclips shaped as hearts. @Celyn Haf used a heavier thread than I usually do, but the clips looked so fun! She didn't use one, but I used a large-eyed needle to direct tat on these. The bigger the thread used, the faster it was finished.

Covered heart-shaped paperclips

These were so simple and ended up so cute! I had a variety of threads handy and I tried several of them on paperclips of different sizes. You can see that I don't quite have down the best way to bend the paperclips, but they all ended up looking like hearts, so all is good.

Heart-shaped paperclips

The clips don't have to be covered in thread to be used, but using thread is my thing, so they were covered. They go on the paper easier without the thread, but these were more fun! 😉

I am working on tatting around an egg, and have not gotten as far with it as I had hoped I'd be by this time. I didn't plan to do an egg at all this year, but my nephew bought it for me, so I feel I need to. I'm hoping I'll have it done by Easter. It is coming out very different than all the other ones I've made and I'm still working on what it will look like when it's done, hoping I'll recognize it when I get there.

"I think setting a goal, getting a visual image of what it is you want. You've got to see what it is you want to achieve before you can pursue it."    Chuck Norris

R.I.P. Chuck Norris 1940-2026

Playing in Clover

 The Ides of March have passed and St. Patrick's day is upon us. Have you been tatting up the green? Have you been enjoying the green out the window?  I have heard that some people are staring out the window to several feet of snow this morning, no green to be found outside. All the more reason to enjoy a bit on the inside of the window!

I wasn't going to tat clovers this year, as I have other projects I'm working on. That changed when my mom went to the hospital. She is still there after more than a week. They were going to send her to rehab last Friday, then determined that she wasn't ready yet. This happens when there are a lot of doctors involved and they don't necessarily talk to each other. So I spent time in her room with green thread and shuttles, making clovers. 

Playing in clover

My original plan was only to make what clovers came about when I cleaned green thread off of shuttles. While I was doing this at the local senior center a few weeks ago I noticed the director was entranced by the clover that came out of it so I gave it to her. She put it on her desk where she could see it. And then it was gone.

Framed clover

As I ended up making a lot more clovers, I decided to give her a few that would be harder to lose. I found a small picture frame and repurposed it to frame a few clovers. I'm thinking I could change out the clovers with other tatted items as I make them. If she wants, of course. 

I also made something for me that I have thought about but never done. 

Clovers on a pin

I've pinned clover to shirts and jackets before, but it's always been in an afterthought kind of way. This time I purposely added them to a safety pin, with beads even! Even though St. Patrick's day is tomorrow, this pin will be worn much longer. It gives out a 'spring' feeling, don't you think?

We're praying that my mom goes to rehab soon, which will be much closer to home. We'll be able to spend time doing other things instead of traveling back and forth. And she'll be working on getting strong enough to go home. 

I'm looking forward to getting back to my regularly scheduled projects!

What are your tatting plans for spring?

"In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours."

Mark Twain