Friday, October 30, 2020

Pile-O-Knots

Greetings to you all!

Needing a break from the intensity of politics here in the U.S., I’m practicing a television quarantine.  I’ve moved to the second round on the four pass piece for a Christmas stocking. I find a familiar calm in tatting.  

The accompanying picture holds many thoughts.

The small blue case (camera case) was given to me by my father.  He was a kind and gentle man... reminds me of gentle Ben if you are familiar with the fictitious bearded mountain man of the western wilderness.  Early in my life we struggled a lot.  However, I learned he was a powerful man who provided a base for me on which to thrive.  He was one of my greatest supporters through life. 

He and my mom often stopped in Charlotte for a visit. One visit, he was excited to give it to me as a portable kit for my tatting.  It is ideal to hold one project.

We unexpectedly lost Dad To lymphoma in the summer of 2019. As a memorial, I will carry this kit as long as I can.  He was a good man.  In his honor we established the Nance family memorial scholarship at the University of North a Carolina at Charlotte.  We hope to endow the scholarship in the next couple years.  



Saturday, October 10, 2020

Helllooooo!? (Echoing)

Yelling into the foggy tatting blog world..... Helllloooooo!! (Echoing)

I’m hoping my tatting world family are still active and nearby.  I’ve missed you!

Many years have passed and life proves full of hurdles and roller coasters.  The ride has been grand!  I’ll share experiences from the past several years along the way.  I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy.

I picked up my shuttles to relieve my mind from the pressures of our world.  It works so well to calm the racing brain.  My first project back was not easy... the pattern was easy enough.  The thread size and color were the challenges.



So, to find a more comfortable process, I went back to the familiar and easy with the icicle pattern I adapted from Bloomqvist & Persson.  




White, larger thread to make another Christmas stocking.  This will hopefully be the finished project in a few weeks.  OK, Make that a couple months...


In other news, I am now a clinical assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in the counseling department.  Career is a joy and pleasure for me as I work to teach others to help.  

I love my career!

A small part of our campus with my building on the left.



The official Norm the Niner