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.

Kansas Day

 January 29, 1861 is the day that Kansas became the 34th state of the United States. It's mostly celebrated in schools as children learn about the history of our state. I don't think about it much, either, but it came to mind a couple of days ago. 

I enjoy living in Kansas, I've lived here all my life. We've done a lot of traveling through the state and there is still a lot we haven't seen. A lot of people don't think about it as being a place to visit or vacation in, though it does have some interesting places to see.  Something it does have are wonderful sunrises and sunsets. 

This is a sunrise from from my front yard. Every day the view is the same, but it's like seeing a new painting every day. 

There is a tree row to the west of our yard, as well as power lines, so the view isn't as inspiring as the view to the east. That being true, you don't have to go far to catch a beautiful sunset.

This was taken about a mile from our place. That is a working windmill for a farm pond, so I was excited that it was angled so well for this picture. After making sure no-one was behind me, I stopped the car on the road to get this picture. If I had finished this post yesterday as I had wanted to, I would not have had this to share.

It has been cold and snowy here off and on for a week. We had snow instead of ice, which we are grateful for! It was no record streak of cold but five days below freezing is quite long enough for me. After a couple of days about freezing, we get a few more below. At least we had a few days of sunshine! 

I haven't gotten much tatting done for all that we've been inside due to the weather. My husband has been trying to get rid of a cold for about a month, and then he was generous and gave it to me. Instead of tatting I've been snoozing and watching TV whenever I sit down. I just couldn't get up the enthusiasm to tat much. Not that I didn't do a little bit. 

I tatted these up to wear when we play pool tournaments in our senior pool league. We play 8 ball, where that is the last ball of 15 to be pocketed to win the game. The 8 ball is black with a small circle of white where the the number is.  The 8s in my earrings are small wooden beads that I painted white and wrote '8' on. The beads spin quite a bit and I'm never quite sure if the 8 is showing or not. I've tried gluing them in place, but have not yet succeeded in getting it right. I still wear them. I've got some ideas of making a couple of other pairs with other ball colors, but haven't done them yet. 

I have several other things I would like to tat. Now I just need to do them! Maybe as I sit and watch the sunrise.

"There's never one sunrise the same or one sunset the same."  Carlos Santana