My First Tatted Doily

Here's my very first tatted doily.
This is a doily pattern by Celtess called Amusement, and was recommended to me as a 'morale booster' for beginners on the InTatters site. (I knew my morale needed boosting, so this was a perfect suggestion that I readily grabbed onto!) I used HH Lizbeth size 20, "Jewels" thread to see how a variegated thread would look. As I tatted each round, I really felt like I was getting great practice with my tension, picots, joining, etc., and it was beginning to seem . . . well . . . easy! And then I got to the end. And just how to end it rattled me a bit. The pattern didn't actually say to join the last ring to the first ring, but by looking at the picture on the pattern, I knew it had to be done. Somehow. (It was amusement all right - to anyone watching me!) I now have pretty good experience picking out stitches and opening rings. The thread got pretty worn. (Sad when even the dogs leave the room because they can tell mom is frustrated . . .) How disappointing when trying to do the final stitches to complete my first doily. I guess I just need to keep doing it until something clicks in my brain and I can see it. And the last chain is not looking good. See that? (Ok, maybe more than just the last chain is not looking good - that would indicate consistency, right?) I can see that the chain tension is too loose in many places, which I probably do unconsciously trying specifically not to pull it too tight since I know I crochet very tightly. I'm also not so sure I block my work properly. And how on earth does anyone tat with thread smaller than size 20? Holy cow, I can barely see the stitches well enough to attempt sewing final thread ends into the caps. Yikes.


I just . . . need . . . practice. (That's the perfectionist in me talking.)

I did think of a couple of questions while I was tatting. How do you know if a pattern is good for a variegated thread? And I'm sure variegated thread has varying lengths of repeats, so how does one know what is good? Or do you just wing it with colors you like? I think I misunderstood picot sizes too. I thought that if they were used mostly for joining, they should be pretty much invisible. Now I'm thinking they should only be 'invisible' if the pattern specifies that.

I think if these kind of questions are coming to mind, I must be learning. And that's a good thing! I wish I knew the pattern designer - I think I will be doing this again to practice more.

It looks good from a distance. I still like how it turned out, and I think I did a pretty good job. I'll have to save this one to have something to compare my more experienced work to - someday!