My Phoenix shuttle arrived yesterday! It's so highly polished that it reflected the light from the scanner back at the tips. I tried using a different background but it didn't make any difference. I have a particular fondness for phoenix birds. One of the earliest books I read by myself was David and the Phoenix. I finally tracked down a copy a few years ago after my childhood copy turned up missing. Now I see it's being reprinted!

Last night I was frustrated with the button sampler from T.A.T. Apparently I'm dyslexic. I got the 1st button attached nicely in spite of the awkward placement and I moved on to the next part, the chain curving nicely, the blossoms forming perfectly and I secured the second button......took a look at the picture in the instructions and realized it was upside down. When it said DNRW, I did not reverse work! What happened? ....sigh.....anyway, I cut it off and decided to tat the thread off the shuttle. I grabbed Elivia Nicholls book and sort of opened it at random, finding an edging for a hanky. Now...I don't do hankies, but the edging looked sweet in the drawing and I do tat towel edgings so I decided to test it.
I have to admit I do not like it. It's not nearly as impressive tatted up. I wondered if a smaller thread would look better? I was using size 20. It will probably be a nice touch for someone's crazy quilt so it won't go to waste.

We're having an interesting discussion on the list groups. Someone asked the question, "How do you count joins?" It seems most people, or the ones who responded anyway, count the join as the 1st half of the ds and then follow the join with the 2nd half of the ds and it is also the 1st stitch of the next sequence of ds's. I do not count a join as anything. To me, it corresponds with the picot it joins to. Riet suggested a pattern for me to test it with: R 12-2-2-2-2, clr. Ch 10, R 2+2+2+2+12, clr. Try it with and without counting the join as the 1st half stitch.

So this is my sample. The one on the left is without counting the join and the one on the right counts the join as a half stitch and is followed by the 2nd half. For me, I see no difference. If anything, the 2nd ring on the 2nd sample is slightly smaller BUT.....that could be explained by tension. I tat the 2nd and all subsequent rings larger than the first, almost without fail and much to my dismay. I'm sure it's because I relax once I get that 1st ring out of the way. So I took special pains to make sure I snugged all of these up equally.....Truly, I can't see any significant difference. I can tell where one picot was a bit too large in comparison to the others but the ring itself doesn't impress me as being different.

When I folded the rings over each other, the second sample seemed definitely smaller in the 2nd ring to me...but again...not enough to matter. I could ease the ring to fit the first easily.

So...as far as I'm concerned, however you tat it is A-OKAY with me! I'll continue to count in the way that works for me and remain blissfully ignorant. LOL!

When I teach, I do try to remember to tell students about alternative methods and encourage them to try them for themselves, depending on how far along they are and how they're getting along. Sometimes an alternative method works for them better.