Yay!!!

I feel like I am constantly thanking people and, to me, that's not a bad thing.  It shows that I have been in contact THE MOST AMAZING people in this world.  Tonight is no different!  A BIG BIG BIG thank you goes to Ms. Eborall for lighting a fire beneath my butt...  It took me a long while, but I actually got the scanner working!  (Funny; I ended up getting it working from instructions completely in Spanish --I don't know Spanish. LOL). 

Without further ado, here's the first scan that I did.  It's a Beeton Edging, though without the crocheted part.  To me, it looks like moths; what do you think? LOL.  It's done in Perle (Pearl?) Cotton in what I think is Size 8.  

Hopefully, I'll have more scans for you soon, and maybe even this one straighter, but I think I exhausted my energy fighting to get the scanner installed, LOL... Let me not fail to mention that I also went bed probably 2-3am and was up at 6:30am and it's now 10:46pm. LOL.  It might just be bed time for me tonight...  :-/


-Stephanie Grace

Camera Wos #2. LOL.

Call me lazy, but I didn't take the pictures... How is this being lazy?  Well, because I keep looking at the camera and just not wanting to go into the other room and get batteries... Oops.

As per Ms. Eborall's comment to the last post, I'm going to try and hook up my printer/scanner --another lazy thing waiting to happen. LOL.  I know it won't print (It ran out of Cyan, so I bought it Cyan... Got it home, put it in, and it told me then that it was out of Magenta too...) but I'm hoping that I'll get it to scan.  This will require some research, too, since I'll have to get it to work with my Linux OS.  I never installed it after my switch from Windows since I doubt I'll ever get ink.  *rolls eyes*

Okay, okay... going to try it.  Not to mention, I have a few more little "flutterbys" to add to this chain.... Still have to do the crochet part of the first edging attempt too... And still have that bear to put together.  What the heck have I been doing with my time? LOL. 

-Stephanie Grace

Camera Woes

I haven't quite mastered the shuttle yet, but I *have* been tatting.  I tatted a bit of edging found on inTatters?KNOTS --yes, one of the "photo needed" patterns. ;-)

It reminded me of flowers, so I chose white for the rings and green for the chains... Of course, it doesn't look like flowers.  I put it down with the rings on the bottom and laughed... It looks like a string of moths!  Determined not to be discouraged, I decided to try my hand at the same edging, but with, a better visual, I chose what I hope to be better colors.  The rings are now being done in a white-yellow-orange variegated thread and the chains shall be black.  Yes, that's right... It shall be a chain of butterflies!  Well, I hope it will resemble that to someone other than me anyway. LOL.  

I wanted to post pictures of these, as well as something else, but, of course, no such luck.  Apparently, the flash on the borrowed digital camera that I have as well as the one on my cell phone, is too bright for any color to be seen... Not to mention how many pictures end up just being all white.  :-(  I was hoping to take them today while the sun was out, but, of course, 'twas laundry day so I wasn't home and it's been too dark ever since I returned.  Hopefully, I'll get to take them tomorrow.  If not, or if I feel so inclined, perhaps I'll just ask my mom if I can borrow her camera and have Hubby pick it up on his way home... I need stuffing from her to finish the bear anyway.  ;-)

So, it might be late, but anyone want to encourage me and say, "Yes"? LOL.  I've been sitting on the fence about joining the 25 Motif Challenge.  I really want to, but I also have a hard time finding things to tat.  I want smaller things to practice with, but I also want them to be useful --or, at least, something that I like...  While at the parents' house today, I looked at the books I'd handed off to my mom and, well, I didn't see anything I liked in them.  I have a bunch saved on my computer, but a lot I'm just plain not ready for yet and I keep seeing things like that all over.  Add to that that SOOOOO MANY patterns are flowers.  They're all so pretty, but I only have green in the way think thread that I started with and in Perle Cotton (Size 8?) from the aforementioned incredibly generous woman who sent me threads to work with.  


Okay, okay... I'm ending this entry. Enough rambling already! LOL.


-Stephanie Grace

Can we say, "Duh!"?

Yes, yes we can --all of us.  So, I picked up the shuttle and started again.  Guess what?  I think I figured out my problem: I think I've been doing it right and thinking it was wrong --Then, when I was actually doing it wrong, I thought it was right.  Perhaps it's just the blonde in me? LOL.  I am now going to attempt to make a ring and then, maybe, I'll even try to make a clover. LOL.  Slowly, slowly...

In light of this observation, the bear will remain waiting for a little longer...


-Stephanie Grace

Done with hooking! :-)

The bear is hooked.  :-)

Doesn't it look just lovely? LOL.  Now, I just have to cut out all of these pieces and put them together to somehow create a 14" bear... This is the part that I was least looking forward to.  The blob in the bottom left of the picture is the center and right of the head that I put together... Perhaps not correctly as they can bite me with the stitch they wanted me to use, but they're together and that's all that matters. LOL. 

So, after my drama of running out of yarn and having to call the company and have them send me more, I was nearing the end and realized that AGAIN, I was going to run out...  Thankfully, I'd kept three pieces from the last time...Got to the end and then realized that I actually had a few extra because I'd added an extra piece in each of the rows for the back of one arm (That's what I get for doing both backs at the same time since I just wanted to finish. LOL).  I thought I was going to scream!  640 pieces of yarn seemed like plenty to finish. LOL.  As it turns out, it was basically just enough... Ugh.

I picked up the shuttle again today and went to make another attempt.  Naturally, all of my foul-ups, however, left me with very little string on it and, while unwinding some to begin, it emptied the thing completely... Now, I'm debating which thread I wind onto it to try with next.  I also have to look up how to handle the metal shuttle.  The plastic ones that I was given were easy to wind, but I'm not sure about this metal one that keeps laughing at me while the plastic ones are taunting me.  I swear they are... They keep chanting, "You can do it, Stephanie... I'll help you... Just try me," and then they crack up laughing when I end up with a knot and just go, "Psych!"  Plastic can be so childish sometimes... 

Now that the bear is hooked, I'm a bit more relaxed and thinking that I may take the night off to tat and put this thing together tomorrow.  I should probably try writing something too since I haven't been doing any writing.  So much to do and so little time in the day.  I need to come up with a routine that squeezes all of this into twenty four hours without disrupting things like cleaning and cooking. LOL.  

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!  I can't wait for Monday to come; I may need a divorce if Hubby is home any longer! LOL.  I'd like to smack the person that approved his vacation!  He's been driving me crazy all week --but at least we didn't fight. :-)

-Stephanie Grace

Still here. :-)

Sorry for the lack of posts; things got a little crazy here. 

My aunt asked me to finish a latch hook project for her, so two days also went to that --two days which ended with a very angry Stephanie as I realized that there wasn't enough yarn in the stinkin' kit.  Called them up and got the yarn today, so I'll finish the hooking tomorrow and then will come the very fun part --putting this thing together.  It's a bear; not a picture of a bear, but an actual bear.  :-/  How much do you want to bet that I mess up cutting the pieces out or in constructing the thing after all the hours of hooking?  Pray for me!  :-*

As far as tatting is concerned.  Yes, I have been tatting.  :-)  Nothing to show off, but I've been doing it, I swear!  Thanks to a woman incredible generosity, I even got some proper threads to play with!  :-)  Thank you, incredibly generous woman!  ;-)  She also sent me shuttles, so I've been getting frustrated with those.  It seems like I'm doing it right, but I can't move the thread to get more nor can I move the stitches on the string.  I'm pretty sure I'm not getting the "flip" right.  :-(  I was really hoping to learn it quickly since it seems so much better for times when I'm in a car. LOL.  I don't like the idea of playing with a needle in the car... just doesn't seem safe. LOL. 

I sat down with the shuttles, a book of needlecrafts (it has about 5 pages for tatting -shuttle. LOL), the computer, and string and still got frustrated.  Hmm... maybe I'll try it again tonight... Or maybe I'll just grab a needle and tat something. LOL. 

OKay, enough rambling.  Time for me to try and get into my InTatters account which for some reason doesn't want to let me in!  :-(

I shall be back later --hopefully with something to show for my time!

-Stephanie Grace

My problem?

So, other than just plain being new to tatting and using wrong threads, LOL, I think I have figured out another reason why I don't like anything I tat: The thread.  It seems like a lot of the prettiest things are done in either multi-color thread or just in pretty colors --That explains a lot to me and has made me re-think my "To Tat" list. :-/  Ugh.  

Okay, maybe an update later.  I kind of feel like tatting right now. LOL.  ;-)

-Stephanie Grace