Autumn Earrings

While working with all the threads in autumn shades, I thought it would be great to make some earrings. I have some really cute owl beads I wanted to use, so I tried a few different things in an attempt at earrings I like. Most didn’t work out as I envisioned but what I ended with looks okay.

Owl bead earrings on wandasknottythoughts
Owl bead earrings

The split rings have a tendency to twist, but that’s the nature of split rings. They are fun to wear.

When you think of fall, Halloween, or Thanksgiving, pumpkins come to mind. I came up with these earrings.

Orange pumpkin earrings on wandasknottythoughts
Orange pumpkin earrings

I think I’ve seen patterns for pumpkins similar to these, but this is my take on them. I gave them to one of my daughters, who was thrilled to get them. She has a sweater that they look great with. Sometimes I get things right!

I’ve been working on several other tatted things, but I’m not quite ready to share them yet. So I’ll share a few pictures of our most recent vacation.

We spent the last week of September in Colorado with another couple. We rented a house together in Grand Lake, an area we’ve been to several times, but the first time in town. It was a terrific house with beautiful views.

The view south from the deck on wandasknottythoughts
The view south from the deck

This is the view south from the deck of the house, overlooking Shadow Mountain Lake. The colors were wonderful! I took pictures from this vantage every day so I can look back and see the changes in the trees. We loved the time we spent on the deck.

A magpie on the post on wandasknottythoughts
A magpie on the post

We had several magpies that came around the house daily and entertained us with their antics. Between the cost of gas and eating out, we spent a lot of time at the house instead of traveling around the area as we usually do. This was not a hardship. We took turns cooking which somehow is not so much of a burden when shared with friends. We also enjoy playing cards together, something we do every year on vacation with them. This year we just played a lot more.

I didn’t get much chance to tat while we were at the house but I took advantage of the chances I did have.

Tatting with a view on wandasknottythoughts
Tatting with a view

I sat by the big picture window to tat so I could enjoy the view and the light. It did rain a few times while we were there as you can see by the drops on the window.

Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park on wandasknottythoughts
Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park on wandasknottythoughts

One of the reasons we like the area around Grand Lake is how close it is to Rocky Mountain National Park. This gives us a chance to go into the park to see the wildlife, mostly the elk. We go in the fall so we can hear the elk bugle during the rut. It is exciting to hear!

On our way home from Grand Lake, we caught sight of a herd of bighorn sheep. Amazingly, they were on the outskirts of the Colorado town of Empire. They were obviously used to traffic, just keeping an eye on us but not running away.

Big horn sheep in Colorado on wandasknottythoughts
Big horn sheep in Colorado

FYI, we do not approach too close to wildlife. We keep a safe distance from the animals to take pictures, usually staying in the vehicle. These sheep were very close, but we never got out of the truck.

We’ve had a hot and dry summer here, and most of the state is in extreme or exceptional drought. This morning we awoke to rain! It was not heavy and not much of it, but the right kind. If it had been much heavier it would have just run off instead of sinking into the ground. We’re hoping for more, but we will take what we can get. Sunday we had high winds with a lot of blowing dust and temperatures in the upper 80’s. Today the highs are supposed to be about 55Β° F with much less wind. Maybe autumn is finally here!

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.Anthony J. D’Angelo

What to tat while on vacation

Every year before vacation I start thinking about what I will take to tat while we are away. What thread, what patterns, what findings if necessary, and how many shuttles. And every year, when it’s actually time to leave, my mind goes blank. Maybe because there are so many other things to think about, but whatever the cause, it happens. This year I had thought I would be working on my china hutch edgings. Surprisingly, I had them all done before we left. The unfortunate part is that now I had to think of something else to take with me.

I checked what threads I had on shuttles, to see if any would inspire me to finish off those threads. It would be a handy way to empty them, right? I looked through my thread collection to see if any of them would spark an idea to create a new project. I tried to think back on my wish list of patterns I wanted to try (I wish I wrote them down!). I really didn’t want to take half of my thread or shuttle stash with me this time.

I finally settled on the green I had used for my recent ice drop, as both shuttles still had thread on them; a ball of Lizbeth 129, Purple Splender, because it looked fun; and a few others that tickled my fancy at the time. I also brought a small selection of findings in case I wanted to make earrings.

Vacation purple doodle on wandasknottythoughts
Vacation purple doodle

Just to get the juices flowing, I started with a little doodle in Purple Splender. The finding in the center I had recently picked up at JoAnn’s thinking they would be good for earrings. Not a bad doodle, but I only made one. So I put it on my billfold.

vac purple doodle on billfold on wandasknottythoughts
Vacation purple doodle on my billfold

Then I doodled a bit more. I’m thinking I might try and put this on my billfold as well.

Vacation doodle 2 wandaknottythougthts
The second vacation doodle

Then I picked up the shuttles with the green thread from the ice drop. And then I added just a little more thread because it got bigger. And then I added just a little bit more thread again because I thought I was almost done. Then I wasn’t, so added thread one more time.

Vacation snowflake 2020 on wandasknottythoughts
Vacation snowflake 2020

This snowflake is the end result. I noticed that it has some kind of stain in the center after I had gone on to the second round. Not sure what it is, but it doesn’t want to come out. As this was tatted by a lake and while on a pontoon boat day trip, I didn’t get it cleaned and didn’t worry about it. I have no pictures of the individual rounds as I did them, just this one is as finished. Not bad for doodling.

I enjoyed some beautiful scenery while on vacation this year. We like to go in September to see the Aspens while they change into their fall colors and we were not disappointed this year.

Colorado River from Lake Granby on wandasknottythoughts
View from a pontoon

Though the water levels of Lake Granby and the Colorado River were down a long way, it was still fun to mosey up the river while the guys fished and relax in the quiet and beauty of a pontoon trip.

Tatting at Lake Monarch on wandasknottythoughts
Tatting at Lake Monarch

This is the view I enjoyed while tatting beside Monarch Lake.

Hiking trail by Monarch Lake on wandasknottythoughts
Hiking trail by Monarch Lake

I did not take my tatting along when I hiked a little ways up this trail. The colors were so splendid and changed a little bit every day I could have gone back daily while we were there.

I have a lot more vacation photos I’d love to share, and I will share a few next week. Including one of an interested observer of my tatting.

“Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.” Wallace Stevens

Vacations

Vacations this year were a lot different than usual. Β We try to take a long weekend with our daughters and their families sometime during the year, usually early summer, then a week in September for us. Β This year, due to scheduling done by others than ourselves, we had two week-long vacations almost back-to-back. Β  We went to Alaska with extended family at the end of May, then to Colorado with our daughters the beginning of July.
We had a lot of fun in Colorado and did a lot of things.
The Big Stump at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado on wandasknottythoughts.com
Β We visited the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and saw the petrified giant redwoods. Yes, like the ones now in California, except petrified. Β This one is called the Big Stump.
Tatting at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado on wandasknottythoughts.com
We were so busy this is the only picture we took of me tatting on this trip.
If you are interested in this sort of thing I recommend you stop in and see it if you are in the area.
A visit to the Denver Downtown Aquarium on wandasknottythoughts.com
We took a drive one day and visited the Downtown Denver Aquarium.
The kids loved it! Β It is a pretty cool place to visit.
Butterfly seen at the Butterfly Pavilion in Denver on wandasknottythoughts.com
While in Denver we also visited the Butterfly Pavilion. You can go into a room with a 1000 butterflies flying around. There are some very exotic ones there.
View from Pike's Peak, Colorado Springs, Colorado on wandasknottythoughts.com
And what is a visit to Colorado Springs without going up Pike’s Peak? We drove up instead of taking the Cog Railway. Β The elevation at the top is 14,114 ft.
Visit to Cave of the Winds, Colorado Springs, Colorado on wandasknottythoughts.com
We visited Cave of the Winds, too. Β They have a ride there called Terror-Dactyl. Β My oldest daughter and I were brave and rode it. What a thrill!
We also went fishing a couple of days, took the kids to The North Pole on the slope of Pike’s Peak and did a little shopping in Manitou Springs. We were busy every day of the week we were there.
I got very little tatting done this week. Β With all the places we went and four grandchildren there just wasn’t time or energy. Β There were a couple of evenings I had time but was so tired from the day I didn’t feel up to tatting. Β I did take it with me everywhere. Β On one of our outings my ‘spare’ thread got wet (thread I had along just in case I needed it). Β Good thing I didn’t need it!
The project I took with me I started while we drove out there. Β As it was the 4th of July weekend I thought I’d tat in patriotic colors so wound a red, white and blue Flora size 20 thread on my shuttles. I can’t tell you the name of the color because they marked the label in a bad way. Β I had brought white thread along to use as the ball (or ring) thread, but the white in the Flora was not the same white; it would have looked really odd if I’d used it. Β I wish I would have found time to find a plain thread that would have worked. Β I do not like how this came out at all. Β It’s hard to even make out the pattern! Β I suppose I’ll have to try again with different thread.
A little vacation tatting on wandasknottythoughts.com
This was going to be a trial for a doily center for a Round Robin I joined in Craftree. Β I think I need to start again.
Though I wasn’t that happy with the tatting project I was very happy with the rest of the trip. Β Everyone had a good time and are talking about what we are going to do next year.
I’m ready!
“Are we there yet?” Hunter, age 6 (one of my grandsons)
“Have we reached our destination?” Mercutio, age 6, (the otherΒ of my grandsons)

Dragonfly earrings

On our vacation to Colorado a few weeks ago I never got into a large project, just several small ones.  After the zipper pulls it was earrings.  I had picked up these cute dragonfly beads somewhere and had thought to bring them along, just in case.  The Autumn Spice thread that I used for the zipper pulls just wasn’t working for earrings as they were a bit too small for the colorway – when a pair was done they didn’t look like they went together if you weren’t careful about where you started.  So I switched to Victorian Red.
Dragonfly earrings Lizbeth #670 Victorian Red size 20
I had brought a variety of things with me, hooks, jump rings, beads.  I brought silver beads, silver jump rings – and copper earring hooks.  Oh, well, they are for me so I used them anyway.
After we got home I tried out another idea with the dragonfly beads.  I think these came out pretty good, too.  But even at home I couldn’t find the silver earring wires.
Leaf and Dragonfly earrings Lizbeth #684 Leaf Green Medium size 20
I’m sill looking through all the pictures we took on our trip (we took a lot of them).  Here’s several from an excursion to find Stillwater pass.  It is so insignificant a pass we can’t find it on the map, but there is a ‘Stillwater Pass Area’ and it was beautiful while we were there.

View of Granby Lake

We stayed at Mountain Lakes Lodge, which is between Lake Granby and Grand Lake.  The cabin had three bedrooms, each with their own theme.  Ours bedroom’s theme was birds/birdhouses.  

I didn’t get a good picture of it, but there was a picket fence all around the room.

The Lodge is not on any of the lakes but on the canal that goes between Lake Granby and Shadow Mountain Lake.  They – the locals and the proprietors – say there is usually good fishing in the canal but there wasn’t while we were there.  In fact, there weren’t very many people catching anything that week, but we didn’t go there just for the fishing so it wasn’t too much of a problem.  We just found other things to do, like admire the trees and watch for wildlife.

“Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods.  Wash your spirit clean.”
John Muir
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Vacation tatting

We just got back from a wonderful vacation to Colorado.  This year we went to the Granby area instead of the Buean Vista area where we have gone for the last several years. 
It was wonderful!  And the trees were absolutely gorgeous while we were there!
I, of course, took tatting with me.  I didn’t have a tatting plan when we left home so I took a variety of threads with me, including Lizbeth #136, Autumn Spice in size 20.  I thought it was a perfect choice for making zipper pulls for my purse.  I lost the last original pull on my purse just after we got there, so it was a needful project. I had also taken split rings and hooks, which came in very handy.
The pull on the right is the first one I made, the others are similar but with a few differences.  I thought they came out well, and look great on my purse.

I actually made four pulls, all in the same colorway.  This one went to a friend who needed a pull for a light jacket.  This one is the only duplicate I made, I guess because it was the easiest and I liked it the best. 

My husband snapped a picture of me tatting by the shore of Grand Lake, where he was fishing.  We had just finished hiking to Adams Falls and were enjoying the beautiful area.  There were picnic tables available to sit at but they were in the sun.  It was much warmer there than usual, so sitting in the shade was much more preferable.
The hike to Adams Falls is very easy and beautiful. The following pictures are from our hike there. There are not that many aspens here, having more pines than anything, so the colors from the aspens really stand out.  If you are in the area I highly recommend this hike.

“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”
Aristotle
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Autumn tatting

Isn’t fall wonderful?  With cooler weather and spectacular colors it is one of my favorite times of year.
It would be nice if that were true here, but I guess I’ll have to wait a little longer.  We’ve finally had some days that were cooler but we’re still looking at 80ΒΊ F and the trees have not yet begun to change. 
So I’ve been working a little bit with fall colors to give me a better sense of the season.
Lizbeth #136 Autumn Spice in size 20
added 10/9/13 Motif by Wanda Salmans 2013
I really like the colors in Autumn Spice, lovely colors and very nice color changes. 
And how about my new shuttle?  I know the Aerlit has been out a little while but I hadn’t bought one yet.  But during our stay in Buena Vista last month I stopped in a shop that carried them and just had to pick one up. I usually use Clovers with picks though I have a few Aeros and am familiar with this type of shuttle.  So far this one works well, though it made my thumb a bit sore when I started as I’m not used to adjusting the thread in and out with a bobbin.  But it didn’t take long to get it working well. 

The shop I got it in is called “Serendipity”.  It is a really nice shop that sells items for knitting, crochet, tatting and spinning.  They have some items already made up as well as hand-dyed threads and yarns, besides the more normal yarns and threads (including Lizbeth).  It carries gift items as well (it would have been easy to spend a lot of money here!)  The owner has classes for the different fiber arts, including tatting; a tatting class  was planned to start the first week of October.  She does both shuttle and needle tatting but prefers using needles.  I’m glad we were able to stop in. 
A still-living tree growing sideways on the trail up Mt. Princeton
One of the trips we took while in Colorado was up Mt. Princeton.  The road is very narrow all the way up, with very few wide spots to let on-coming traffic pass.  We were fortunate that we met very few people driving while going either up or down.  We did not try hiking to the top so we didn’t become 14ers, we just drove as high as possible and looked around from there.   That is still about 12,100 feet.  It has a fantastic view of Buena Vista.
As you can see by the trees in this picture there was very little color change yet.  There were some aspens that had changed on the trail but we hadn’t yet reached them. We were somewhat disappointed that we didn’t see everything in their fall colors as we had hoped, but the trees were so green it was only a small disappointment. 
There is autumn yet to be enjoyed at home.
14 Fabulous Fall Quotes: Wonderful Words for Autumn!

Small threads, vacation and TIAS

I did a little bit more with those small threads, King Tut and Perfect Quilter.  Okay, mostly to work them off my shuttles πŸ™‚
The butterfly at the top is in Lizbeth size #20, the yellow on the right in Perfect Quilter, the smallest in King Tut.  They are tatted with the same number of stitches (though the picots may not have the same ratio to stitch size.)  The edging is also Perfect Quilter.  Making this, and the crosses I posted about last week, show that I have trouble getting the picots the right size for the size of thread.
IsDihara left a comment on last week’s post about what she found out about the quilting threads.
“Since I have a ball of size 100 thread to compare against, I can confirm that WPI (wrapas per inch) for King Tut thread matches size 100.  Perfect Quilter has more WPI than size 80 Lizbeth but less than size 100 thread.  So it seems to be in between sizes.  But that could also be an issue of different plies.  Pretty sure Perfect Quilter is not a 6-ply cotton. (Don’t know why I didn’t think to check these details before now.)  Thanks Madtatter80 for wondering!”
Thanks, IsDihara, for sharing this information.
We recently went on a vacation to Colorado, to the Buena Vista area – yes, again.  For the last several years this has been our favored vacation spot, and September our favored time of year.  We have been very blessed with seeing the Aspens change to their fall colors – until this year.   They have had so much rain all summer that, unless you were at a pretty high altitude, the aspens were only barely starting to change. 
This is the Mary Murphy Mill, not far from St. Elmo, Colorado. You can see that the Aspens have turned here, but this is at about 11,000 feet.

We stopped for lunch at a likely looking spot – there was a somewhat flat area with a convenient large rock to use as a table. The altimeter app on my phone showed we were at 11,433 feet. 
After lunch I took time to take a few stitches using our ‘table’ to sit on.  You can see it was a little cool here.
Sherry Pence, LadyShuttleMaker, is doing a TIAS, found here. Her pattern won first place at the 2013 Idaho State Fair.  This is my day four.  It doesn’t quite look like the pattern πŸ™  I might have to un-tat a bit and try again.  That’s okay, it’s still fun!

“By all these lovely tokens 
September days are here, 
With summer’s best of weather 
And autumn’s best of cheer.”
Helen Hunt Jackson
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Where have they gone???

The pictures of tatting I took while on vacation??  I can only find the one of green thread on a red button that I already posted about, all of the other ones are gone! What a bummer!
Taking a suggestion from Kathy I’ve been making zipper pulls instead of hair clips.  Each one of of these blue ones has some form of mistake so they are mine, but I’ve been trying out different ideas to see what works, what doesn’t work and if I like the results or not. I had a pink one that I gave away to a friend and a green one that I put on my coat zipper.   I had taken pictures of them while on vacation with my phone so didn’t worry about taking one with my camera.  They should still be on my phone but I can’t find them anywhere:(
 I also forgot to take a picture of these at home before I came to work.  It’s been interesting trying to find a way to get a good picture that doesn’t have my shadow in it.   You can see how they don’t hang very well.  I’m still trying to figure out what I need to do to fix that.
We are slowly getting back into the swing of normal days since returning from our vacation, but it is hard.  We had such a great time it was very hard coming back. I’m still going through the pictures trying to label a few and pick out some to print.  
On Wednesday, September 12, we decided to go over Weston Pass because it is an easy pass and it was misting and raining that day.  We aren’t that skilled at driving in the mountains on rough roads so thought we should do something that wasn’t too challenging.  In trail books this pass is rated about a 1 or 2 for difficulty but a 10 for the scenery.  
We saw a lot of color on our drive up through the mountains. 
The rain turned to snow as we got to the top. It was great!
As we came down the other side it turned back to a light rain. It was a wonderful drive. Here’s some information on Weston Pass if you are interested. 
We went over starting on the Fairplay side so ended up close to Leadville.  We went on in and had lunch there, at Callaways Restaurant in the Delaware Hotel. We enjoyed a great lunch then did a little shopping.  We also drove a little ways out of town to see some of the mines.  We could see it had snowed enough in the higher elevations that the mountains tops now had a covering of snow. 
I have no idea which mountain this is, but it was beautiful.
Today for Tatting Tea Tuesday I sipped hot tea and looked through pictures instead of tatting.  I’m still hoping to get a few minutes of tatting in but it may have to wait until tomorrow. 
“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.”
John Ruskin

Home again

We are home again after spending a week vacationing in Colorado.  I now have a better Internet connection.  Oh, happy day!
We spent the week in the same area we did last year, close to Buena Vista.  There is still a lot of things we haven’t done there, but we had a lot of fun checking a few things off our list of things to do.  
We went back through St. Elmo and this time went all the way over Tin Cup pass (we didn’t make it last time). We stopped in St. Elmo for a few minutes to see what had changed since last year and to take a few pictures. The post office in this picture is a good example of the state of most of the buildings in the town.
Me tatting in front of the St. Elmo post office, elevation 10,006 feet (3050 m)
Jay seen flitting around St. Elmo.
Can you believe I actually caught this guy sitting still long enough to get his picture?  I just got lucky.

Flying chipmunk
The chipmunks were unhappy with us that we didn’t give them any seeds.  They would come right up to you in search of them.  One even climbed part way up my leg (it’s an odd feeling!) I was snap-happy with my camera and was able to catch this guy jumping from one rock to another. 

Aspens at St. Elmo
We came up a week earlier this year than last and weren’t sure we’d see any of the Aspens in their fall colors, but they were just starting to change while we were there.  Here you can see that some have changed while others are still completely green.  You can see some of the color change on the mountain side in the distance, too. 
We spent a lot of our vacation in a jeep going up and down mountains.  The roads are not conducive to tatting while in the car!  I was able to get some tatting done but very little.  I’ll share some of what I worked on later.
Deer in someones yard in Buena Vista.
We saw more wildlife out in the mountains this time than we did last year but, like last year, most of the deer were seen in Buena Vista.  They have become quite the pests.  This lovely buck was seen in the front yard of a house, along with four other bucks and three does.  You have to be at least as careful driving through town as you do out of town so as not to hit them. 
I had a cup of Refresh tea yesterday for Tatting Tea Tuesday, but due to life’s twists and turns was not able to post.  I’m hoping that next week I’ll actually get to post on Tuesday!
We had a wonderful vacation and are sad it’s over and we have to return to our normal life, which includes working, though I am glad to have a normal Internet connection.  It is (very) likely that I will be sharing more vacation pictures next time πŸ™‚
“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.  I travel for travel’s sake.  The great affair is to move.”
Robert Louis Stevenson