My '#@!%' Design!

I cannot believe how much trouble I am having getting this tatted.  I have started it a gazillion times and made tons of mistakes.  Knowing I should just put it away for a while has just  made it worse.

What has made the exercise bearable is the fabulous thread - Tatskool's Chocolime #40.  It is wonderful to work with.  I'd forgotten how much I love her HDT.  I tend to hoard it till I get an overwhelming urge and then just have to use it!

I am hoping to get it done by tomorrow, but that may not happen!

Jivin' With Josephine

...knots that is.  This pattern is called Christmas Wreath with Josephine Knots by LaRae Mikulecky.
 

#24 Motif Challenge

It certainly  had me mega-flummoxed the first three times I started it.  Once again, success is all about reading the instructions - in life and in tatting  Whether or not you want to follow them is an entirely different issue!.

I must remember to not only read directions, but also -  guess what - to sometimes follow them as well!

P.S. Krystle - if you are reading this - look at that twisted thread !  Remember how I couldn't do that?  Thanks for your instructions, once again!  : ) 

P.P.S.  How on earth do you get those little, tiny, weensy, JKs  closed tightly?  I fought with every one and you can see there are still gaps there at the close.  I used Cébélia, which is so soft that I was afraid to work it more, as it was already getting fuzzy.  Grrr.

Hot Off The Shuttles... An Unexpected Design

 #24 Motif Challenge

I was preparing to tat a motif in the DMC Festive Tatting book, but it did not quite look like the motif in my head, so I closed the book and took the IDEA of it and tatted what I imagined I wanted the design to look like.  The centre looks basically the same as the motif, though the stitch count is different and so is the direction of the chain. I re-worked the design of the outer row.

It still needs tweaking, but I am so pleased at this unexpected experiment.  I used Yarnplayer's fantastic Soft Pansy, #20, even though it is a first draft.  Couldn't help myself; the shuttles were wound in preparation for the book version.  

There are split rings in 12 places .  Tee hee! 

The Three Terrors

 First the good news:

 

Could not resist another Flurry Snowflake in Krystle's wonderful Midsummer Night's Dream, #20.  The colours are just great. The  ecru  is a sample of #20 Häkelgarn that I received at the Fringe Element Tat Days in September. I think it is bamboo - not sure - but it is soft and silky.  Lovely to handle, but splits easily and is difficult to get tight tension with. 

And these beads?  Another little dusty find in the old shop where I was looking for the primary colour beads.  These are rich, saturated, jewel tones, like the thread.

Then, I did manage to finish this four-shuttle motif that I saw in the Ring of Tatters pattern book: 'Twirly' by Serena Watson. A little grief here, but I was still coping...

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Then:

#21 #22 #23 Motif Challenge

Here they are -  the Mount Everest times three in my tatting life: Clunies,  weaving with four shuttles and that diabolical Celtic knot!  Perhaps one day, I shall be able to do these correctly. It's a very big mountain...