Oh NOOOOOOO!

Email to umintsuru just now: 

I just saw it is all wrong! Only 4 rings are attached!  Have to cut out all ovals! DISMAY!

Vileness

The thread - totally vile. 

I will rant about that after I show you the progress:

This is very, very fiddly and I am not enjoying adding the twisted chain. However, it is not half as difficult as I thought it would be, so after enough procrastinating, I am currently adding the third motif. Good.

Because this is now a practice piece and I am considering it a “process” rather than a “product” endeavour, I am ignoring places where it this were a gift, I would redo some of the chain. But it is a learning exercise, and I shall have to wait till the next Fikkert project to raise the bar.

Now. The Lizbeth #80 RANT.

If you follow my tatting, you know how I have had dreadful luck with this thread. As I am only using #80 these days, because I find it the best of the lot, I was really disappointed to see how awful the #80 plum turned out to be.

I have attempted to show you the comparison to the white:

The twist is looser and the thread is way thinner - which doesn’t show up in the photo. You can see the fuzziness and the looser twist of the plum, though.

It is thin - VERY thin - splits like crazy, untwists and twists and is a very inconsistent thickness.

Here it is where it has decided to untwist... I am so unhappy with this thread and it makes the task much more difficult than it needs to be.

Milestone

Here it is so far. 

To be honest, if you had told me a year ago that I would attempt this pattern, I would have vehemently disagreed. Even though the tatting is not up to snuff, I am happy to have come this far.

Now, to join up those ovals and it's all done with a twisted chain!

Polished Off The Ovals

Using these, which I am learning to use...

I have finished the twelve ovals. 

Now to attach them to the main piece.

The gauges take some getting used to, and I have to admit

they do make tatting look more consistent and symmetrical.

This is unblocked, but you can see lovely regular picots...

And the cap... hmmmm. Not cupping very much.

This will not be for the baby, but may very well fit The Boss. 

If it does work, I will order some #20 and will 

attempt a smaller version for the little one. 

Maybe.

Cap Can Cup?

Well, it seems to be working better than all the last attempts. I suppose using the correct sized thread is a help.

I'm not sure if you can see the bit of curve in the photo, but this is the best shot I have of it as an of last evening.

Taking a bit of a break from tatting the Corona, I pick it up once a day to tat a few stitches in order to eventually complete the edges around the small motifs. I have only two left to do.

So, when Frivole asked if I wanted to tat the Jan Stawasz cap along with her, I began working on my little cousin's hat. We are both using #10 thread, which is what is required in the pattern.

Fixed But Flawed

I fixed this as best I could but I don’t think that the next row will work, as there is too much space between the large rings where there are 3 instead of 2 small rings.

I shall leave it; it is pretty and the next row might ruin it because of the large space now at the one end.

ORIGINAL ERROR

FIXED, ADDING EXTRA RING ON RIGHT SIDE

Maybe I will give it to someone who is not a tatter 

and will not see the difference!

Can't Find The Flaw!

There is a mistake in there and so the pattern is NOT working out.

Arghhh, the frustration! I have looked and counted and I am not seeing it. Maybe it is me or maybe it is the pattern, but whatever, I am going round the bend looking at the blasted thing.

There are two more rows but until I figure it out it is senseless to continue.

Oh Noooooo! 

I found it! Two rows back. I am going to try and fake it....What a shame; I really like the pattern and was enjoying the tat.

Copious Double Stitches

Small bits of progress happening. 

I am tatting the 8th motif border and then there are only 4 left to do.

The joining of these 12 motifs to the main work has me very nervous, 

however I am not going to think about it for a while!

Pattern by

Ben Fikkert Doily 

Pattern by

Aleksandra Pawlak

Then there was some practise-tatting 

because of Jon’s interesting post, here.

This is a loop-tatted ring.

Also, I received a ball of red #10 Cebelia that I ordered with which I shall try the Jan Stawasz cap one last time. 

The pattern calls for #10 and I have always substituted with something else, so we shall see what happens with this new thread.

I really want to make my little cousin a tatted cap and was so disappointed that the last attempt rendered such a large crown that didn’t reduce in circumference.

Diane's Delights

Blues. If you are a tatter and you read blogs, then you know, I mean, you KNOW, exactly what I am talking about! The Lacelovin' Librarian loves her blues.

Never do I sm to have a lot of blues in my thread stash, but while tatting this Polish Oval Doily, I see I must make some changes in my thread selection. Blue is surely beautiful!

I am using #80 Lizbeth and so far this measures 7" x 4".

I have three more rows to go. 

The pattern is from this Polish publication,
 same as The Monster, but different edition.

Procrastinating

I am still avoiding getting back to the Fikkert Doily, as it is so tedious. So, here is the somewhat limited progress on the Polish Oval Doily.

Once again, Lizbeth has delivered shoddy goods - knots, twists and splitting, all in the same ball. I am disappointed, but should know by now that it is not going to get better. 

1. G