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.