WIOSNA 2015 Doily-Round 5

Easy, I thought.  Quicker, I thought.  Ha!  Silly me.

This round of little flowers was easy (see the pattern here), but it still took me a total of 4 hours and 10 minutes.  All those ends to weave in!  It sure adds a sweet touch to the overall look, but it's a pain to get rid of all those threads.  I'm pretty sure it took me as long to weave in the ends as it did to tat the flowers!  I hope they are consistent enough in size to add the next round easily.

In any case, it was a perfect place to add the pink.  I'm looking forward to getting on with the next round - it's just getting prettier and prettier!  

Royal Mail

New shuttles from LaCossette arrived yesterday :)  Thanks to Frivole! As always, they are perfect.

I've been wanting a shuttle with my sweet Taffy's picture on it, as she was often by my side or at my feet when I tatted.  (And since I'm hooked on these shuttles, I couldn't order just one.)  Now Taffy can join Ruby and I on those quiet, winter evenings again!

I'm sure you're jealous. 

WIOSNA 2015 Doily-Round 4

Ta-da!  Just in time for the next round to be released tomorrow.  Round 4 took me 9 hours, with a bit of a slow start.  I can't 'see' the shuttle switching (without reversing my work) right away, so it took me awhile to get my act together.  I'm not real happy with the look of those 12 ds chains either - I didn't snug them up nice and tight like I think I should have, so they don't lay neatly.  I'm still pleased with how this doily is looking though - and thoroughly enjoying this project.

                     

Now it's going to get harder to complete the rounds in just one week, but having just one round to do each week is a good way for me to actually complete a doily.  I'm inspired to keep going, but I don't feel so overwhelmed - I only have instruction for one round at a time, so I can focus better on just the current round.

Drat ...

Almost to the end of this round and I had to un-tat an unjoined ring.  Once I finally got that ring opened and joined correctly, I spotted another missed join I will have to correct.  Snip, snip tonight.  Dang it!  

WIOSNA 2015 Doily-Round 3

Whew!  An easy round this time, and a good spot to add some color.  I used Lizbeth size 20 thread "Springtime" on this round, and I have some pink and green solids to match - so I will incorporate those in a round somewhere too.  

(Join this tat-along at Renulek's blog HERE.)

This round, even though just simple rings and chains, still took me 3 hours and 28 minutes.  I did spend a bit of time opening and UN-tatting 2 rings because I wasn't paying attention, but other than that I was able to zip right around.  I'm trying to be careful to place smaller picots where future joins will be as pointed out in instructions.  I think I missed the first one or two, so hopefully it won't be noticeable enough to make a big difference - we shall see. 

Switching to reading until the next round is published.  I've started the book The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.  And I have about as many books on my list to read as patterns on my list to tat!

WIOSNA 2015 Doily-Rounds 1 & 2

I didn't listen to me after all.  (I knew I wouldn't.)  I went and started Renulek's 2015 Spring Doily tat along - another beautiful doily!  I've seen her doily tat alongs in the past, and never caught one at the first couple of rounds, so I wasn't confident I could catch up. This one I happened to see just as it was announced, and thoroughly enjoyed digging in all my thread to choose some springy colors.  My best spring color choices were in Lizbeth Size 20 - which is probably too big - but it's what I'm using.  I may have a skirt when I'm done!

People usually ask how long something took me to make, and I never know just how much time I've put into a tatted item or a quilt. So this time I decided I'm going to keep track.  This may not be a great idea, as I am a   s  l  o  w   tatter!  But it will be interesting to see the number of hours it takes me to complete a doily.  And it will also be very clear why I struggle with finishing anything of size.

Round 1 took me 2 hours and 5 minutes. Each of 2 times.  (This is not a good sign.)  I made it a second time because I saw an error near the end of the round on the first one.  I didn't want to start out with a goof right off the bat and right in the center!  Don't tell me if you see any errors in the second one - I am feeling pretty confident at this point.

Round 2 took me a whopping 3 hours and 5 minutes.  Just once though - thankfully.  A little advice from Fox helped me get started, after having several conversations with myself as to the best way to start so the end of the round would come out correctly.  Maybe working on this doily will help me to 'see' some things on a diagram that always seem frustrating without written direction.

5 hours and 10 minutes to get this little bit done. And, I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't make the picots on the outer edge a little larger.  

I sure hope I can keep up as these rounds get bigger!

Ruby is unimpressed.