Tatting Treasures: Part 1 Memories of Finger Lakes 2017

This year, we took Cynthia's car to Finger Lakes. After a late start on Wednesday, we visited the Amish Cheese Store, about 35 miles away from my house. There we made our purchase that would hide from us on the trip....if was some lovely Sharp Cheddar. I'm glad that it was rather cold on our trip--the only disturbance the cheese made (no smell) was the irritating nagging question of "Where is it?" We made it to St. Louis, MO accompanied by Clyde--our own personal rain cloud. I felt really sorry for Cynthia's relatives watching us unload bag after bag out of the car--they must have thought we were packed for a year long trip around the world! Once inside, Cynthia and I discovered that we had switched packing stratagies--she had tried to pack in a large suitcase like I had done in previous years. Whereas, I got rid of the heavy, bulky suitcase in favor of several smaller bags.

The next day, we drove and drove....(accompanied by Clyde!) we had to get to Ashtabula, OH for our nights lodging. Some of Cynthia's in-laws have allowed us to stay with them going and coming for several years now. It is so nice to feel like you "are at home" when you are really a visitor! I was able to sleep a few hours (like normal) and then feel comfortable being able to take a shower at 3am and then tat in the living room until others woke a few hours later.

This is a good place to talk about my undiagnosed sleeping disorder--it is undiagnosed because I don't fall into any particular category--I am a medical mystery once again. I don't think I stayed awake a solid hour that Cynthia and I were on the road. She, very graciously, drives the entire trip. This aggravates her carpal tunnel, and this year she also had some trouble with her contacts hurting her eyes. I appreciate the physical sacrifice and the mental stress that being the driver the entire trip costs her--and this year she had Clyde to deal with almost the entire trip...most of the time, it was just drizzle, but there were the occasional times when it rained so hard that you could not see in front of you.. (Since I do talk in my sleep occasionally--I did provide some amusement to her during the trip.)

Friday evening we made it to Watkins Glen in New York in time to check in at a new-to-us lodging, The Upper Inn. This is a lovely 3 bedroom apartment set up as a place where a small group could have a working retreat. Quilters would absolutely love the well-lit area where they could sew at large tables, and take advantage of specialized ironing and cutting areas. After unloading part of our luggage, we headed to Lodi for the evening pot-luck. Part of the luggage....is a weird way of saying that Cynthia and I played musical oxygen machines the whole trip. I need O2 because of my sleeping disorder, when I go to sleep, my oxygen levels plummet. Cynthia only needs her oxygen machine at night, so since it plugs into a cigarette lighter, I used it during the day in the car. At night we used our own machines. My large machine with its 50 feet of tubing had to be loaded and unloaded all the time.....
At Lodi: There it was--the Firehouse/Community Building--such a neat feeling of excitement swells within me every time I see it--"This is where the people that speak my language are gathering!"

The pot luck was lovely...but what was so joyous was the fabulous feeling of being with long-lost friends again. We were really tired that evening and headed back to Watkins Glen fairly early. My night wasn't through yet though...I had arranged to have the massage therapist in the business underneath the Upper Inn meet me for a late night massage!! My thanks to Jenifer at www.facebook.com/jeniferallisonlmt for a very relaxing hour! She worked and worked getting "three days of riding in a car" kinked up muscles to relax. I'm not sure this was the "key", but this was the first year I didn't have a major migraine during the "at" Finger Lakes hours.

The next morning (accompanied by Clyde) we headed back to Lodi for our day of tatting. The ladies had really bent over backwards to take care of me. Instead of me going to different tables for my classes, the ladies had my classes come to me, so that I could sit with my O2 machine and not have to drag it from place to place. This year was a little different (sleepwise) I still fell asleep, both taking and teaching my classes. But it was more the "short nap" and "blinking in and out" instead of the "you can't wake me up at all" that happened last year. Thanks to every kind lady who would sit next to me, and gently wake me up every time I went to dreamland! Talking about kind ladies!!-- Neil Rotach contacted me earlier in March to find out my dietary restrictions. She made an absolutely delicious low-sodium crock pot chicken dish with an assortment of vegetables probably never put together before--but I could eat everyone of them! This was a wonderful soup on Saturday for lunch and had cooked down into a soft casserole for Sunday. I cannot tell you how fantastic it is to have food you can eat, that will not aggravate my various conditions, that tastes so very good!!! Thank you Neil!!!

I taught two short classes again this year. My project was a little zipper-pull name tag that I have made for years. It qualified for the "Everything is Coming up Roses" theme, by quoting Shakespeare, "A rose by any other NAME would smell as sweet." My grandchildren have these on all their jackets, backpacks and lunchbags. I will post the pattern after my "memories" posts are finished. They make a quick personalized gift to make for people.

It was so exciting to watch several of my students learn and grasp the techniques taught in this class (making a split ring, joining on the second side of a split ring, and adding a bead to the center of a split ring). This pattern was written for DMC Cotton Perle 5 (the kind that comes in a skein). This thread has been my favorite thread for making my tatted bookmarks--I just like the weight and feel of a bookmark made with this thread! I used to get it at my local Hobby Lobby-but they no longer carry this brand. Lisa Adams at Tatting Corner does carry it. Click on the following link to see the selection that she carries http://www.tattingcorner.com/threads-12/dmc-cotton-perle-skeins-69/?referrer=CNWR_30711492117529