I’ve done something I’m not exactly proud of… because I was otherwise good. And because it was time. After finishing the doily book, which will be picked up from the publisher tomorrow – and in the process, learning a huge amount about the differences between tatting cotton of various brands and ages… (Shameless plug here – I’m really pleased with the way the doily book came out. If anyone wants a copy of the doily book, please email me at threads@empacc.net – cost is $10 plus $1 shipping… and yes, I do take paypal.) This below was the raw material for the cover.

And finishing projects I’m teaching next weekend for the Lost Art Lacers – please note, the background color is really black, not brown, and the thread is a beautiful vivid variegated green/blue that got totally washed out by the flash, but these are five original hearts, a few of them as-yet unpublished…

and realizing, partly thanks to concentrating on all those tatted hearts that Valentine’s Day is coming, I started yet another pair of socks. Those are the ones in brown that have a couple of wooden needles in them. They’re actually brown and blue. This is the fourth pair in progress. My only excuses are that they’re not for me – and it’s kind of an experiment, making socks for Bill that aren’t red. I’m trying to broaden his horizons a bit. The one that’s just a footling was begun about a year ago; the sparkly ones were begun about 9 months ago, and the one that’s just a blob of blue was begun last month because I was trying to show someone Dani Rotach’s hybrid innovation of beginning socks at the ankle with a provisional cast-on, knitting the foot and finishing with the leg. All the socks in the photo are done that way. I should be soooo ashamed. I’m not.