Lost and Found

Several years ago, I had started on a tatting project that was meant for my sister-in-law. It was the Pretty Petal Doily pattern that was published in the, "Traditional Tatting Patterns", book edited by Rita Weiss.

I had worked all the center pieces for the project in purple size 10 crochet cotton. But somehow in one of our military moves I had managed to lose the pieces that I made along with the thread. Eventually I would end up misplacing the book as well.

Over the years I would find the book, but would be missing the pieces. Then there were moments when I would rediscover the pieces, but misplace the book. Finally the gods have shown mercy upon me and allowed me to find the pieces and the book together.

Now I am working on finishing the doily. It was the project that I worked on during Lace Day.

( Side Story- At Lace Day a lady approached me and complimented me on the doily I was working on. She said that seeing the pattern brought back strong memories for her. She had made the same doily for her mother years ago. Her mother loved it so much and displayed it in a place of honor in her home. She would mention to everyone that her daughter had made the lovely doily for her. As her mother began to suffer from Alzheimer, she started to forget everything, even her own name. But she continued to remember the doily that her daughter had made for her. Even near the end, her mother still joyfully remembered the doily. I thought it was such a touching story. And it shows just how meaningful even the small simple things can be to the people we love.)

For the doily I decided to work the outside row in a lovely raspberry color which I think goes well with the purple. I have hardly let the doily out of my sight since I found the pieces. I take it would be in my purse and work on it while standing in lines or when I'm waiting at my doctor's office. It's only about 50% finished, yet I am getting a lot of compliments on it every time I pull it out to work on. I can't wait to see it finished and blocked.

Renulek Revisited

Every year Renulek puts out a new doily for us tatters to drool over and attempt to create. You can follow along week by week or you can purchase the entire PDF file on Etsy to work on at your leisure. Each year I try to work on one of her doilies and each year I end in a epic fail. Somehow I screw up a row and my hopeful 15 row doily turns into a mere 4 row coaster.

Working on this in the car while waiting to pick up the princess from school

This year I decided to try once again. I am currently working on her 2018 Spring doily, which is just stunning. Instead of tatting it in the usual size #40 thread I decided to tat in size #10 crochet cotton. These means that if I succeed in finishing the piece, it will be a massive size doily. So far I've made it to row 6 without any major hiccups, (knock on wood).

So far looking goood

I'm really studying each row before I start, memorizing the stitch counts of every section. I also have a picture of each row downloaded to my phone so I can keep looking back and making sure I'm not screwing up anything.

Our cat Cupcake, always tries to photo bomb my pictures

Have you ever tried any of Renulek's doily patterns before? Which ones? How did it turn out? I would love to see your work. Please share a pic or link to your finished piece in the comments below.

Not too shabby!

Big Thread Bookmark

I've been making bookmarks lately. I have taken this project as a good opportunity to use up some spools of sample threads that I received in the past from Handy Hands.

This bookmark was done in Lizbeth thread size #3. (I believe the color is Ocean Sunset. Please correct me if I'm wrong.) With such a large thread I finally got a chance to use a larger tatting needle. The piece tatted up rather quickly.

I will admit that I really do like tatting with larger thread. A couple of years back I received a generous gift of ten cones of size #10 cotton crochet threads. No one wanted it, as most tatters prefer size #40. I have enjoyed every minute of tatting with the thread and have even gone out to buy more in various colors.

While the smaller threads make gorgeous work with the tatting looking as if it were made by angels, from time to time I do like the "wow" factor that comes from larger scale pieces. A dainty doily that is normally tatted in size #40 thread, becomes this larger then life show-stopper when tatted in size #10.

So, this bookmark will be added to my ever growing collection. I'll fill you in on why all the bookmarks soon. But for now enjoy the final pic: