Torrential Typhoon = Time to Tat!

Hi!

I feel a little bad...everyone all over the world is talking about how hot it's been recently...here, it hasn't been so much hot, but very, VERY wet!

Part of that, I guess, is Vlad in the summer...and part is typhoon season in Japan! (A typhoon, by the way, is exactly the same thing as a hurricane. As the National Ocean Service says, "The only difference between a hurricane, a cyclone, and a typhoon is the location where the storm occurs." It's a very similar thing to Jane's brooch/pin conversation from the other day.)

So, we lived through Hurricane Sandy in DCLand last summer, and now have survived our first typhoon!

 Unfortunately our balcony didn't survive totally unscathed...thank goodness for empty jars that can double as rain-catchers!

I don't actually mind the rain, especially because it gives me the chance to wear these:

So much rain!!

Of course, it rained ALL day Saturday and ALL day Sunday, and then Monday morning looked like this:

Go figure.

Anyway, all that rain made the idea of going out a little less-than-lovely...so I stayed inside and practiced my shuttle tatting on a gift for my littlest brother:

Recognize this? It's part of the Corner Bookmark from Tatting by Cathy Bryant

I think this might be my "comfort" or "go-to" tat, at least for a while. It's challenging, yet repetitious, and I've been fairly successful with both the needle and the shuttle. I also think it's probably pretty adaptable, but I haven't tried that yet.

This is one of my first real tatting requests, which for me is pretty exciting. I've had one other request that I can remember, but even that was general "I want a necklace" rather than specifics...

After seeing the bookmark I entered into the fair, my sister-in-law asked for a bookmark exactly like the one I entered (which I already had made) and my brother asked for the bookmark in black and yellow, which I made last weekend:

 This request was actually harder to fulfill than it should have been...not physically harder, of course, but emotionally harder...in my world, black and yellow DO NOT belong together (black and yellow being, of course, the color of the dreaded Iowa Hawkeyes...boooo!! I would much much rather have made the bookmark in cardinal and gold, the lovely colors of the Iowa State Cyclones...yaaaaay!! or even the blue and white of both my alma mater, Drake University(!), and his, Creighton University(¡).

 Of course, he wasn't asking because of the Hawkeyes (as he is a sensible Cyclone fan) but for Vanderbilt University where he is working toward his doctorate...so I guess that's ok. :)

Anyway, all that rain gave me plenty of time to finish his bookmark, which is awesome, because I'm seeing him in just over a week! :) YAY!