Facebook - what I'm going to do next!

Having thought long and hard (yes, it HURT) I've decided to unfriend a lot of the friends I've got on Facebook. 

Now this isn't because I'm an unfriendly sort of person but simply it's to make my life easier!!! I didn't understand the difference between 'friends' and 'following' on Facebook so I looked it up and it seems that anybody can 'follow' anybody but that means they don't show up on their timeline. If you're 'friends' with people then they show up when they post!!! Now this has meant I've lots and lots of 'stuff' going on on my timeline which I'm simply not interested in. People's private lives just don't interest me like I'm sure mine doesn't interest many others.  This unfriending will take me a while and I'll probably have accidents and delete people I don't mean to delete so please bear with me.

So, if you don't see me on your timeline in the future it's because I've 'unfriended' you but I do hope that IF you're interested enough you'll 'follow' me instead. Particularly the Jane Shuttle Tats Lots page.  I hope this isn't going to upset people but I do need to protect my sanity and it's going to mean that I may use Facebook a bit more if I'm not overwhelmed.  

Well, that's the plan but who knows how long it will take!  

One done but ...........

A few days further on and the first diamond flower is finished!!! I must admit I'm enjoying continuing my 'not designing' phase but will also admit to fiddling around with something which is now beginning to annoy me. 

Well the 'something' isn't the problem - it's my BC3 that just can't get my head round what I'm trying to do with my hands.

You see I don't appear to design like most people. They have a drawing and notes to start with but I have - well, simply, shuttles and thread!!!! I tend to just fiddle until something works. If I'm doing an animal or something that has a definite 'look' to it then I do study images - and lots of them too. 

Meanwhile I'm going to start another diamond flower but will have to raid my stash and decide which colours I will use next!!!!

A Christmas present

Now this is for a little girl I know who is 'into' unicorns!!! Anything (particularly cuddly toys) with a horn is what she loves at the moment!!! Ten years old and easy to please.

I just LOVE Martha Ess's designs. They are just SO easy to follow and work out exactly right too. You can find her books for sale in many places and I've given you a link to her blog. If you've never bought one of her books before then you don't know what you're missing.

The unicorn I've done is from the book Flights of Fantasy.

The picture below hasn't really worked out that well under the scanner as the pink background is VERY bright. I'll hopefully remember to take a photo once the picture is put together. Keep your fingers crossed that I do remember!!!

Another project started AND finished

I just LOVE this pair of gloves that I made last year. They are SO useful when out shopping.

A couple of weeks ago I came across the yarn I'd used for them and wondered if there was enough to crochet another pair. I weighed the original gloves and then the 'leftover' yarn. Result - PLENTY. So, out came the crochet hook and off I went on another journey.

Now what I love about crochet gloves is that I don't get those wretched holes at the bottom of the fingers that you get when you knit gloves. Well, probably nobody else gets holes but I do!!!! However careful I am I have 'air conditioning' in my gloves. 

This pair have full fingers/thumbs so are now designated 'out for a walk' gloves!!!! 

I managed to make these (I find crochet a lot faster) while I was fiddling with the TIAS during the day. Crochet in the evening was a lovely change.

Facebook mumblings

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. Actually it verges more on hate than love!

I like that I can meet people there and that there are lots of tatting groups which I belong to too. I have turned off most notifications that used to come into my mail inbox each time somebody from each group posted something.  I found that it was all impinging on valuable time especially if I wandered off to follow them!!!  I do keep about two or three groups 'actively' sending me notifications and if somebody mentions my name then that seems to trigger an email too.  

When I do get a notification with a question in it and when I think I can answer it then I normally click on the email link, go to the page and then turn on 'notifications' for that thread. Sometimes I actually go and offer help or advice immediately but not very often.  I like to see what others have to say first.  Once I see that somebody has answered the question I take off the notification.

What really, really annoys me about Facebook is that people don't read what others have put and so there's lots and lots of repetition. I've thought long and hard about closing my Facebook account but I'm a nosy old person and once every so often something that interests me does come up!! 

So, if anybody wants me on Facebook then they've just got to mention my name on there - think it's called tagging? I will then bumble along and see what I can do to help. Getting 30+ emails from Facebook in my inbox each morning meant that I tended to be later and later getting on with the day. Sometimes I think I had more time when I was working!!!!

Below is a TIAS teaser!!!  Well, actually, it's just a picture of a shuttle and we'll be using shuttles in the TIAS so it's no help at all to you!!!!!

Still not sure!

I'm still not sure what I want to do or how I want to do it but I THINK I need a big ongoing project that I can pick up and put down when I want to. 

I sort of know that I want to play with HWT (Hand Wound Threads) as they give SUCH a lacy look. This is going to be one of those decisions which I may well regret (starting out on a big project) although I've done massive ones before. This is sort of what I think I may replicate BUT with a different layout and with negative spaces. The one I did before back in 2011 (remember sitting in the yard in Blue Ash, Cincinnati childminding and making this) was done in a size 20 thread and is ENORMOUS.

This is going to be known as the 'diamond project'!!!!  Yes, it's one of my patterns which is somewhere on my free pattern site!!!!