Making Plans and Dead Batteries!

One of the joys of Tat Days is - - tatting with friends I haven't seen for a whole year and impromptu "show-and-tell" sessions!  So ... I tend to want to pack nearly everything tatting-related I own, for fear of wanting something when I get there and realizing I left it at home.  I am getting better about this - - over the last few years I have gone from a large two-part wheeled tool chest to a smaller carry-about tool chest. 

This year I'm going to try to just take a satchel and just take what I think I'll actually want, and pack more carefully and think long and hard about what goes with me!  Besides ... there will be vendors there...!

I've already decided I'm going to need some Crystal Light energy drinks for those late-night sessions (mmm, Strawberry!  Or Peach-Mango!) as well as some extra lighting.  I noticed last year that lighting that's fine for just conversation is not necessarily fine for tatting, so I resolved to bring a good light from home.

Folded up, it really doesn't
take up much room

Which brings me to full-spectrum lights.  I have several: a floor lamp (definitely not going), a conical OttLite with a wrist strap but no separate electrical cord (a possibility), and a Verilux travel lamp with a fold-up base and a separate electrical cord (a definite possibility). I haven't used the Verilux much, because it had to be plugged in; the rechargeable batteries included didn't seem to hold a charge.  I took them out and pitched them yesterday, charged up our rechargeable batteries, and put in three of them - voila!

Lots of light from such a small lamp!

Works like a charm!  So it will be coming with me.  I'll find some way to pack it - possibly rearrange the satchel, or change to a different type of case (>gasp<).

Hmm??

I'm starting to work on something for the SC State Fair in October.  That sounds a long way off, but it isn't really - I've got several projects ahead of it, for Tat Days, and it will need to be turned in at the September meeting for delivery to the Fair.  I'll need to get busy if I'm going to have anything to turn in for competition!