Warning: Long post and lots of pictures ahead!

I know it's been a while. I've been dealing with the beginning of the school year, with its schedule changes, shopping requirements, getting up early again, etc. This is actually the end of the second week of school for us. My kids had four days of school last week, then four days off, then four days this week.

Of course, I've been heartsick over the whole Hurricane Katrina issue. I watched very little besides the hurricane coverage for a week. Now I'll be working on something and suddenly think of something else those poor people are dealing with or learning to deal without. Yesterday one show had images of some families being reunited with pets - brings tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat. I'm sure there are some people who did not and/or have not evacuated because of pets. I know that I couldn't go to a shelter and leave my animals behind.

While watching the hurricane coverage I did manage to finish the Feather and Fan shawl, although it's not yet blocked. My mother and DD have both hinted at how nice this one would look on them! You can see Roxie in one corner of the picture.



This week I've been working a lot at my woodturning. I have a large order of spindles to finish up. I'm almost done now. The whorls are all finished, and I still have about half a dozen shafts to do. I shaped and cut the hooks yesterday. I'm almost ready to assemble everything.

Besides turning, I've been playing with some bobbin lace since I finished the shawl. The Heartland Lace Guild has a program that acknowledges finishing a three-yard piece of lace, at any of four levels (Novice, Advanced, Proficient, and Expert). I have decided to start on a piece of lace for the Novice level, and I'm using a small (12-pair) edging pattern from Pamela Nottingham's book, The Technique of Bobbin Lace. This is what my lace pillow currently looks like:



I had occasion recently to order some thread from Holly Van Sciver at Van Sciver Bobbin Lace. I needed to make sure I have enough for the entire three-yard project. I have to say, she really knows the meaning of customer service! With the thread, I also got a new pair of bobbins. These are "Ebony and Ivory", or Positive and Negative (actually ebony and bone). I spangled them myself, trying to keep within the positive/negative theme while using only beads I had on hand. Aren't they pretty? I really like bobbins; I think that's one of the main reasons I like bobbin lace, I get to play with the pretty bobbins! It's also something I want to work on adding to my product line. I've got a bunch of cherry, maple and ebony cut into bobbin-size pieces, just waiting until I finish that spindle order.



Today was a very good mail day. First off, I got the new issue of Spin-Off! That's always a welcome sight!



I also got these two Disciple's Cross necklaces. These are handmade and came from one of the ladies on the Christian Artisans email list. I ordered one for DD and one for myself; DD picked the multi-colored one. (I should have lightened that picture a little more. They are much prettier than they look in that picture!)