Head Today, Gone Tomorrow…

I’ve been teaching music at a local school for the past nine years. About a month ago we found out that the head of the music department is going on early retirement.

The school hasn’t found any replacement yet. We’ll have to see what happens next year. Schools are closing now and won’t reopen until the middle of January.

I put together a small parting gift – a tatted bookmark in a card of handmade paper. The quotation on the left is from Joseph Addison – Music, the greatest good that mortals know, and all of heaven we have below.

Retirement Card

Card – front

The pattern is Mary Konior’s Small Cross from A Visual Book of Tatting. A lovely cross to add beads to – there are plenty of chains to decorate. It is possible to add beads to a ring, but it means carrying them in the shuttle until they are needed, which can be a real pain. I also added two silver music notes, held by a line of Josephine Rings.

Mary Konior’s Small Cross

The Josephine rings weren’t part of the original pattern. I tried about four different ways to add the notes before I finally decided what I was going to do. I was tatting along merrily, when I realised I was running out of thread.

I normally never add thread to a partly full shuttle, specifically because it is then so easy to misjudge how much thread is left. What possessed me to do it this time I have no idea. I joined the thread with a knot, just so I could use as much as possible. It is impossible to tat over a knot, since the thread can’t pull through.

You don’t get much closer than that…

You can see how little thread was left!

I hope they find a good replacement – I’ve been very happy here.