The Non-resolution

I have never started a new year with any kind of resolutions, and I don't plan to make it any different for 2014.  But, I received this meme on my phone which I think are both fascinating and compelling at the same time.  I don't know where this originates but thank you to the one who shared this with me.

Like I said, this is not a list of resolutions, but I am just sharing some of it here.

Drink plenty of water

I can do this and will continue to.

Eat Breakfast like a king,  Lunch like a prince & Dinner like a beggar.
I try not to skip breakfast, but certainly not to have one like a king.  Sometimes I skip lunch but not dinner.

Live with the 3 E's - Energy, Enthusiasm & Empathy.
So true

Make time to pray.
Food for the soul.

Play more games.
Huh? I play with my shuttles - does that count?

Read more books than you did in 2013.
Ha ha .... I just need to read one book and I have met this target.... errr... does this include tatting books?

Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
I do this all the time when I tat - not a problem here.

Sleep for 7 hours.
hmmm .... sacrifice my tatting to sleep?

Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily And while you walk, Smile.
It feels much better when people smile back at me, :)

Don't over do. Keep your limits.
What? Don't know if I can when I am tatting!

Don't take yourself so seriously.  No one else does.
Oh, I never do.

Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
I can't afford to gossip, I will miss my stitch count.

Dream more while you are awake.
I don't dream during my waking hours, I tat.

Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
I have enough shuttles and thread, I don't need to envy anyone ... I think.

Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
Teach them how to tat.
Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
This is difficult - I won't be at peace until I correct that mistake in the last round.

No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
I am happy tatting what I want and the way I want.

You don't have to win every argument, agree to disagree.

Tatters call this creative diversion.

Each day give something good to others.
Yes - give them a tatted butterfly

Forgive everyone for everything.
I am not strong enough yet for this if it affects my tatting patterns, I am sorry.

Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
Learn from the senior tatters and teach the young ones.

Try to make at least three people smile each day.
TIP - Tat in public

What other people think of you is none of your business.
But I'd love to know what other people think of my tatting - good or bad.

When awake in the morning thank GOD for it.
Aamiin

Your inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

This is a no-brainer - tatters are happy people.

I hope this made you smile, :)

Happy New Year everyone!

Me! A perfectionist? Naah!

I know that I have described myself as being a perfectionist. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not.

Okay, this an online dictionary definition of a "perfectionist" -
Perfectionist - a person who strives for or demands the highest standards of excellence in work, etc.
By that definition - Yes, I am a perfectionist.  But, by whose standards? It is all very subjective to me.  What I deem as perfect may not be so to another person.

I don't do FS/BS tatting.  I reverse my work and start with the first half-stitch almost all the time.
I don't mind the little blips of colour that show up when working with different coloured thread.
I can overlook gaposis, only sometimes.
I eye-ball my picots and they end up in all sizes, without actually affecting how the design looks.  I only measure the picots if the design requires them to be of equal in length.
I don't like ruffles appearing in my work, unless the design calls for it.
I give extra time in determining the stitch count when I design so that they lay flat when done and do not need blocking.
I seldom block my tatting, but I press all the time under a stack of heavy books, if possible.
I am very particular with design symmetry, such as in the turn in the chain of the next repeat.
I don't always match the colour flow of variegated thread when I need to add new thread.
I don't mind starting over with a new design if it does not appear like what I had envisaged, though the design itself is acceptable as it is.

I aim to be perfect in my tatting, but by my standards.  I sometimes feel that we are trying too much to measure by others' point of views. There, I have said it all.

Thank you Tally Tatty for leaving comment earlier and giving me an idea to write this post.

Hey, this post is not as serious as it sound.  So, get that chocolate out or brew a cuppa tea, and get tatting.

Starting Round 4 of the Mystery Doily.  This photo is after I had pressed it overnight under a stack of books 6-in high because I forgot all about it after that.

I kept forgetting to include the link to the pattern.  Here it is, http://www.georgiaseitz.com/mystery/reynolds2.html.
Towards the end of this page from BellaOnline, http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art748.asp, there a chart for the doily prepared by Patty Dowden.

I made slight adjustments to the stitch count where necessary as I worked this pattern.  You can choose either one and make your own adjustments, if required.

Satin cord tatting

So, I tatted a flower motif using satin cord and another using size 20 cotton thread. The stitch count is the same for both.  Here is how they measure up in size compared to each other.

Out of hiatus for a while

Not much tatting done due to other commitments but I am popping out from the tatting hiatus for this announcement.

My three tatting books can now be ordered from these three online stores:

Roseground

Tatting Corner

Handy Hands

Tatters in the respective regions should be able to get the books much quicker now.  It does take a while if they are mailed out from Malaysia.

I had not been tatting seriously for over a month, but I did try something different - tatting with satin cords

This is the largest/thickest kind of thread/yarn/cord that I have ever used for tatting.  The cord is the type usually used for making chinese knots and is about 3mm thick/wide. Because of the thickness of the cord, I hand-tatted this rosette.

The centre of the rosette is an actual tatted ring hand-tatted with the direct-tatting method as explained in the book The Complete Book of Tatting by Rebecca Jones.  Once I get into rhythm, it was not difficult to do direct-tatting, though a bit slow for me who is used to the sliding method with shuttles.  But, for someone who is struggling with the flip in shuttle-tatting, this could be a solution.  And, in direct-tatting, you can choose not to use a shuttle at all, since a shuttle is merely a thread carrier.

The chains in the outer rounds of the rosette are not worked like a standard tatted chains.  I placed a round of bare thread over the centre ring, joining the thread at each picot of the ring and back to the beginning.  The double-stitches are then added over the bare thread using the Dora Young knots used as in making split chains.

By doing it that way, I can start from the beginning of the cord and not somewhere in the middle like you usually need to when tatting chains - if you get what I am trying to say.

This video by Karen Cabrera shows how the double stitches are made over the bare thread.  It is also the method I used to wrap stitches over a cabone ring.

Winning and Winners ... among other things

'Eid Mubarak to all my Muslim readers

Selamat Hari Raya  

Last Sunday was 'Eid-ul-Fitr, the day to mark the end of one month of fasting for Muslims around the world.    During the fasting month of Ramadhan, it was about devotion to Allah SWT, of refrain from all things bad and negative, and about exercising moderation in most other things.  With 'Eid-ul-Fitr, it is about coming together and strengthening family relationships, mending broken ties and making new bonds and holding to new hopes.  It is also about winning the fight against temptation and greed and all things evil within ourselves. It is our hope that what was learned and practised during Ramadhan will continue and take us through the following months until the next Ramadhan comes by again, InsyaAllah.

Final result of the Giveaway

Next, the matter of the giveaway winners is finalised.  As in the previous post, the two names picked in my giveaway draw were God's Kid and Sandy C.  But, only one will get the oval doily.  I flipped a coin to decide who from these two will get it.  Just to be fair, I flipped it five times and in four out of the five, God's Kid's name came out top.
I am pleased to announce that the winner of the Oval Doily is God's Kid.

Update on the NB doily.  

This is where I am currently at.

As you can see, I have finished the current round and blocked it, even though the full doily is not yet finished.  When working on a large piece, I usually block the work mid-way through the  rounds to smoothen out the piece and prepare it for the next round. I find this useful because I will be able to gauge the kind of tension that I need to apply when tatting the next round.

While working on that last round of the doily, I got an inspiration for a new design working with some sections of the design from the doily. This first one was inspired by that part of the doily with the thrown ring in it where  I added a corner to turn it into a square.

 Expanding it slightly by adding a small clover leaf in the middle, I got a bigger square,

I have yet to figure out the shape of tatting to fill in the centre of this square.  This was tatted in size 20 (as I usually do when working on a new design) and the finished size is about 3.5in wide.  Using a smaller thread like a size 40 will give a smaller finish .. hmm ..  one of Fox's doodads will work very well in the centre, I think.

This thing called Tatting

1. Instead of asking you to get help, you will received applause, pats on the back and hearty welcome greetings when you admit to be an addict!
2. You openly admit to making a mistake people think you are creative!
3. You actually enjoy unpicking your stitches! well ... at least some do
4. There is never a wrong choice! You can do up/down, front/back, reverse order, count/don't count the join, needle/shuttle and you still get to where you want to go.
5. There is only one stitch to learn, but oh boy, imagine what you can do with it!
6. It is the only thread craft that can't be duplicated by machine (?)  ... at least, I have not seen any.  There are machine embroidery that is made to look like tatting but it certainly does not show that actual doublestitches that identifies tatting!
7. You enjoy that feeling you get when people ask you what you are doing and seeing the look on their faces when you say that its tatting.  Admit it ... you do!
8. You can survive with only three brain cells. (just had to add this after reading Jane's comments)

 *enough rambling - break over, back to tatting, LOL

Vintage or just plain Old

I had a three-some tatting session with Zarina and Diyanna last Saturday. As usual, we chat a lot and tat a bit.  Zarina worked on a Rita Weiss doily which you can see in her blog from the link.  Diyanna wanted to be refreshed on how to add the tiny motif in the centre of a ring as in my Tatting With Rings patterns.  I was working on my snowflakes models.  Nobody remembered to take any photos so I don't have anything to show on what we tat.

During the meeting, I got off Diyanna a couple of early tatting booklets.  One is a DMC publication published in 1965 and the other is a J & P Coats Book #469 published in 1962.

Inside the Coats booklet is a leaflet with a pattern for tatted doily or trolley cloth published in 1967.

 

I seems to have an incline for old tatting patterns lately.  Late last year, I had a swap with PattyD for a workbasket magazine.  Patty was asking for threads and I was attracted by the issue date of the magazine.

Here it is enlarged so you can see it better,

Imagine that, this workbasket magazine is as old as I am, up to the month!  Well, I almost did not get it because someone has asked for it before me.  But, after I pleaded my case, she agreed to let it go for me.  Thank you, Soyquelesoy.  Tatters make the "bestest" of friends, he he he...

I checked the definition of 'vintage' in the Oxford online Dictionary and this is what I found,
Vintage - denoting something from the past of high quality, especially something representing the best of its kind
Hmm .... I wonder ... I guess at this time I am plain 'old' and will never be of vintage category.

Poll - Are you a Tatter?

A little bit of fun ......

I am interested in finding out the profile of readers that come over to my blog. I have created a simple poll for this and it is in the sidebar on the right.

Please leave your mark in the poll by clicking the button that closest describes you.
I appreciate your participation. Thank you.

p.s. I had not showed any pieces of tatting in my last few posts. I have been tatting but I am not ready to show any yet. They will come soon, :)

Happy New Year!

Am I being selfish?

I have been thinking about this for a while now.  Still, as I write this, I am not sure if I should. 

One thing I know about tatters, ever since I join the tatting community, is that tatters are clever people.  Some can just look at a picture of a tatted piece and can figure out the stitch count and reproduce the design as per the picture.  This has happened to a few of my designs that I have posted pictures of in my blog or in my online albums.

While browsing through the many tatting blogs I sometimes come across  designs that look so familiar, and realised that they are very much like the designs that I have shown somewhere.  I read the post carefully to see of the designer of the tatting piece was mentioned anywhere.  I just want to be sure, in case I may have come up with a design that has been created by someone else before I did.  But I can't find it mentioned anywhere. Then I wonder, has the tatter reproduced it from my picture because I am very sure I have not published the pattern for it.

This is happening more frequently now.   Well, some may think that it is a compliment that someone had taken a liking to my design and took great effort to count the stitches and make one very like it.

Okay, so maybe you'll think I am being selfish, but I am cutting down on the sharing a bit from now on.  I will be tatting but I will not show the finished pictures of my designs.  I will only do that if I chose to share the pattern publicly.


I don't know how long this will go on, maybe for just as long as I need to finish the next design out, who knows.
But for now, I am sad and I am disappointed.

Hastings Pier - another landmark destroyed

Reading about the ravaging of Hastings Pier by fire a few days back brought a lot memories of the time when I was in Hastings & St. Leonards.  I look into my old albums of pictures of the pier taken when I was there and only found a few, how sad.

Hastings Pier in the distant background

The pier was built in 1869 and opened to the public in 1872.  I should say it has passed its prime when I was there.  You can read a bit more about Hastings Pier here and view postcards pictures of its heydays.

I had left my footsteps on its wooden floorboards

I remember walking out to sea the length of the pier feeling the cool breeze blowing, and hear the waves breaking beneath against its support pillars.  There were small shops selling souvenirs and offering penny slot machine games when you reach towards the middle.  I never did get to the very end of the pier, all 275m out to sea.  Now, I recall the smell of freshly made doughnuts and the taste of the ice cream .... ahh  memories!

Please excuse the grainy photos.  There were none of the digital thingamajig in those days, after all it was taken over 34 years ago.  Yes, that was how long ago that I was in Hastings as a student in the Hastings College of Further Education studying for my A-levels.  I have visited it again twice since then.

I hope the people concerned can restore the Pier but it would be hard to imagine it being possible considering almost 95% of it was destroyed by the fire.

Now I get it!

Finally understood the single-shuttle split ring, or SSSR.  I tried a few times before but never could follow the instructions.  I was on chat in InTatters with Cannalure and Soyloquesoy and casually mentioned that I am having problems with the SSSR.  Being good tatters, as all tatters are, they guided me through as I attempted it and finally managed to get it done.

And to prove that I really did it, here are some of my attempts,

The creative mind then sets in and I decided to try adding beads.  First I made it using bugle beads, shown in the middle in the picture above.  Then I made another sample using seed beads.  I should have used another thread with the seed beads because it didn't show up very well with this thread.

I think I like the bugle beads better.  I can imagine pretty bracelets with some fancy beads made with this method, maybe two or three rows joined together side by side.

A note about the SSSR.  There was some discussion earlier about posting the shuttle through the loop before closing a ring.  I don't do that when closing my rings.  However, for this SSSR, I find that the ring looks better when I post the shuttle through before closing the ring.

Another happy note, the postman dropped me a few goodies this past 30 days.

My first order of Lizbeth thread was the first to arrive. I have never bought any Lizbeth before though I have tatted with it using thread that I received as gifts.   BJ, the Sanguine Stitcher gave me a discount coupon from Handy Hands and I ordered these.  These are part of my birthday present form BJ.

Lizbeth all in size 40

The other part is this.  BJ is an expert quilter and she made a quilted carrier bag that is just nice for me to carry my tatting.There is also a needlebook, a ball of Cebelia and a book titled 'Gardens'.

Birthday present from BJ

Diane promised to send me some EZ-bobs when she read that I could not find any of them here. And they are the next thing to arrive.  Boy, did she send me some!  24 pieces in all.  Certainly more than what I was expecting.  Thank you Diane.

EZ-bobs from Diane

Finally, I ordered Ruth Scharf books from Georgia and they arrived the same day as Diane's EZ-bobs.  I was trying to figure out how to read the patterns because they are all in German.  Luckily, I received an e-mail from Georgia with some English translations of the German tatting terms.

Ruth Scharf books

All in, it was a good 30 days.

Oh Darn! Not at this point.

Another exasperated tatter!  Can you see what is causing this?

I was so eager to finish this last repeat of the motif.  When I reached the last chain, then only I realised that I had made it short of one picot.  That chain should have 5 picots and I made this one with only four.  Worse still, I started the next round at this 4-picots chain.

If I had noticed it early on, I would have saved the time (and thread) and start the first round all over again.  I don't think I could have corrected it because I had cut off the thread after that first round.  This is destined to the bin ... after I have salvaged the beads, that is, :)

In case anyone is wondering,
"Now, why did she leave the centre gaping and empty like that?"

Well, I started this with Round 2 followed by Round 3.  Round 1 is to come after I had completed Round 3.  I suppose you can say that I am working this motif outside-in as opposed to the usual working of inside-out.  This is a sketch of what it would have looked like when finished, drawn on a polar graph paper.

I deliberately started on the middle round because by doing so, I will not be restricted by any stitch counts.  If I had done the centre first, I had to really gauge the stitch counts of the next two rounds so that they fit in with the centre.  If they are small in number, the motif will cup up and if more, I will end up with ruffles. It is possible for me to do that here because the rings in the middle round are not joined to each other.

If everything had gone as planned, when I finished the outer round, I just need to see how big the gap in the middle is and close it up with a suitable design.  Looking at the tatting that I had done so far, before I realised the blunder, the centre may turn out different from the sketch.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day!

Experimenting

 I was playing with the balance of some thread in the the shuttles and made this up.  I don't know if this going anywhere, but just to share this ring-inside-a-ring thingy.  And, to satisfy my curiosity, has anyone done something like this before?

On another front, tatting may take a back seat for the next couple of months for this,

I'll be doing some sewing, clothes to be exact.  It is in preparation for Raya, or the Eid ul Fitr, to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadhan.  Ramadhan won't be here until early August but I thought I'd make a head start and not leave it too close to the day. I did not sew my own clothes for the last two Rayas mainly because I left it too late.

Question of Colours

Take a look at this and see if you agree with me that the colours are really chaotic here,

This thread is a Lizbeth sample that I receive from Handy Hands together with my order many months back.  I have not used it mainly because of the colour mix.  Individually, I could have liked the shades but when put together like this, it is too much for me to handle.  I decided to give it a go just to have a feel of Lizbeth since most tatters have shown a liking for it.

My first feel of this size 20 thread is that it is like Flora and I am not taken by it yet.  I need to play with it a few more times to see if it will grow on me.

Now, back to the tatting above.  Like I said, the colours are very chaotic.  I can barely make out the shape of the design because the change in the shades are too stark and sudden.  The colours are distracting me from  the design itself.

Compare it to this one below,

I tatted the design again, now in two colours.  Here, the design is more defined and the shape clear cut. BTW, the thread used here are Olympus 40.

And the point if this exercise is to gather opinions of fellow tatters on this question -

How does colours shape your opinion of a tatting design?  Do you see the colours first then the design, or the other way round?

Granted that my choice of the multi-coloured thread for the first sample may be extreme, and that I have used solid colours for the second model, but the next point to ponder is,
Do you make a study of the design before choosing the thread, whether it would look good with variegated/mix coloured, or solids? 
Or, do you just pick a favorite thread and start tatting?

As for my own thoughts, I feel that variegated/multi-coloured are better suited for a sparse design, or one where the blank spaces in the design compliments the tatted portion.  I would not use variegated/mix-coloured where there are many switching of shuttles because of the many breaks in the colour flow of the thread, unless you keep with the SLTs.  I would consider varigated/mix-coloured for a design that have more chains than rings because colour flows are reflected better in chains rather than rings.

These are my own personal views.  I would love to read how you see colours in tatting.

T.A.T.T.I.N.G

T - is for Tatting that was said to be a lost art but we now know is totally untrue.

A - is the Addiction that comes with it.  Most have gone through the experience, when it is always one more ring, one more chain, one more repeat ........ and so it goes.

T - is for the must-have hand-dyed Thread that never cease to delight tatters all over.

T - is a big Thank You to the generous tatters for sharing patterns, tutorials, tips and for the friendship that comes with it all.

I - is for the Insatiable Desire to stash for shuttles/needles, thread, buttons, beads, ribbons and more even when you know that the storage boxes are already full to the brim.

N - is Never giving up on getting the first double-stitch right, being unaware, at that time, of the addiction that you are getting yourself into.

G - is the Glee and great delight upon completion of a project and doing a happy dance before quickly picking the shuttles/needle again for another project.  Didn't I say that tatting is addictive!

Well ... okay,  so that was not much of a ditty.
But this being my first post after my long break, I felt that I need to write something.  And I really wanted to end the year with this 200th post about tatting.
Just picked up my shuttles again, so there is nothing new to show.

The Word is .. Beautiful

I am going to try and avoid using the word beautiful when commenting on beautiful (ooops ... ) tatting that I see on other blogs. But my vocabulary is so limited in this area, and I kept going back to these same words -
beautiful, pretty, nice, lovely.

Well, I have enough of it! Yes, I do.
I looked up the word 'beautiful' in the thesaurus and I found this.

Some interesting words there ..... hmm

Exquisite would nicely describe fine tatting.
I don't know what kind of tatting would be alluring, ravishing or sexy.
Magnificent would be for tatting that is beyond my own tatting skill.
Irresistible is something that I have to try and tat myself.
Some of the tatting collages that I have seen earn the word picturesque.

And, what do you think of this one, pulchritudinous? I don't even know how to pronounce it. LOL

The charming bookmark was given to me by Felicia when I met up with her in Bandung a few months back.

Ha ha ha ... by now you'd have guessed that I don't have much to do at the moment. I just came back from the post office to mail off the books to the winners of my Celebration giveaways and a couple of book orders for the Tatted Snowflakes Collection.

Ok now, off to snap a few more pictures.

The Un-Learning

or .... another way of looking at it ... it's not just about the flip.

Do you still remember how you first learn to tat, shuttle tatting in particular.

How your fingers have minds of their own and wouldn't just go the way you want them.
How they cramp up stiff trying to keep the loop thread in place.
How the little pinkie turned black and blue from the many turns of the ball thread around it so that it will not slide.
How you did the happy dance when you finally get the thread to flip.
How the loop grew smaller and smaller as you make the flipped stitches because you don't want to let it go in case you cannot get it back round your fingers again.

Then .... when you are confidently flipping your double stitches, someone comes along and say to you ... " No, don't let the thread flip!" .. and you go ......

"What the ______ (fill in the blank)! after all the trouble I've gone through, now you are telling me don't flip?"

Well, what can I say. Tatters are very creative and have come up with various techniques to use for making tatting more beautiful. And now we are un-learning the flip for some of these techniques like the split ring and the daisy picot, or the front-side/back-side tatting.

What? Tatting has a back-side? *rolling eyes* that is for another day, :-)

No tatting to show this time. I have not tatted any since the last post.

The Special List

The Special List
...... by .... Unknown Author

I have a lot of folks I know ... All written in a book,
And every now and then .... I go and take a look.

That is when I realise ....
These names ... they are a part
Not of the book they are written in ...
But taken from the heart.

For each name stand someone ....
Who has crossed my path some time
And in that meeting they have become .....
The reason and the rhyme.

Although it sounds fantastic .... for me to make this claim
I really am composed .... of each remembered name.

Although you're not aware ... Of any special link
Just knowing you has shaped my life ....
More than you could think.

So please don't think my greeting ....
As just a mere routine
Your name was not .... forgotten in between.

For when I send a greeting .... That is addressed to you
It is because you are on the list ....
Of folks I'm indebted to.

So whether I have known you ...... for many days or few,
In some ways you have a part .... in shaping things I do.

I am but a total ..... Of many folks I've met,
You are a friend I would prefer ...
Never to forget.


No other words to be added to the above - it says all that I want to say.

Missed Opportunities

I finally finished opening up all the 20 over rings of the edging for the Knot Garden doily and started working on it again. I've added two double stitches to the chain and so far it is looking good - no curving.

While tatting that, I had an I wish I had moment .. several, actually. You know, one of those moments when your mind went retro and memories of the past comes back to you.

I wish I had continued tatting from the first time that I learned how to do it .......

• Just imagine how much I could have learned.
  
• But it would be rather difficult because at that time I was still in primary school. I wouldn't have saved enough from my pocket money to be able to buy all the thread and shuttle and books.

I wish I had thoughts about tatting when I was doing my A-levels ......

• I did my A-levels in Hastings, England in the mid 70s. A very quaint little town by the sea. There were lots of retirement homes during my time there. Wonder if it is the same now.
  
• I used to take walks along the sea-front, walked out into the sea on the Pier and along the promenade feeling the sea breeze in my face. There were elderly ladies and gentlemen seated on the beach chairs just looking out at the sea. I wondered what were going on in their minds.
  
• Now, I believe I could have seen some of then tatting if I had bothered to take a closer look.

A view of one of the blocks at the Hastings College of Further Education viewed from the road coming from the main gate.

I wish I had come across a shuttle or two somewhere, during my time in Leeds while attending Leeds University....

• I could have looked up books about tatting in the huge Brotherton Library
• Or search for shuttles and tatting paraphernalia in those little shops in the towns of the Lake District.
  
• I am sure I could have found something if I tried.

Within the Leeds University campus - I think this is the School of Mathematics where I had my lectures -- oooh it was so long ago I can barely remember and one of the two walking could be me, :-)

A view from my room at the Henry Price Building in Leeds University Campus during one of the worst winters I had ever experienced.

I wish I had re-discovered tatting much earlier than when I did ....

• I was lucky that I had opportunities to travel when I was working. I have been to several places in Europe, to India, Japan, the US and visited England again a few times after I finished my studies. And I have means to spend too.
  
• I could have started to put a collection of tatting treasures during these visits and if I did, imagine how many I would have by now.

I wish I had found out about the tatting groups on the internet around that time too ......

• Wouldn't it be fun to be able to go to these places and meet up with tatting buddies at every stop?

• My situation is different now and I have begun to dismiss any thoughts about traveling.

But I don't see my I wish I had thoughts as regrets, more like missed opportunities. I am glad that I found tatting again. Through it I have found so many new friends, near and far. I get to meet the ones near me occasionally and I can 'talk' to those far away through my computer as though they are right in front of me.

If not for my wonderful friends, I would not have realised things that I never imagined I could do. I am still continually surprising myself in certain aspects and discovering yet more things to learn.

Thank you dear friends.