Lori got her bookmark so I can post it now. This was for the June Exchange hosted by Icela (Mary Donohue). The pattern is actually the core motif in a doily set by Jan Stawasz, pg. 76 of Tatting Theory and Patterns, if you have the book. The thread is an Altin Basak polyester that I bought at a Tat Day somewhere, either Palmettos or Hector. Very pretty to look at but not so easy to tat with. I originally planned to make 3 motifs and join them together as I went but the thread was slick and Jan's pattern notation is difficult for me to follow so I gave up with ONE motif and lots of retrotatting! Instead, I made purl tatted tails on each end for a little different effect than the one-end tail. The thread frays nicely and I wished I had more strands to separate. So...it was fun trying to come up with something a little different for a very accomplished tatter.


I've set the wheel motifs aside for a little while. I've almost got it figured out but I was getting hugely frustrated the other night and knew it was time to take a break from it. So the last 2 nights, I've worked on the hardanger. I made the 2nd kloster last night and one diamond shape, finishing it tonight and starting another one. I had a little trouble ending the dove's eye which I believe is because I didn't start it right. I was wrapping my bar opposite of the way the thread needed to come out to get a good start, but I'm getting better and keeping track of the number of threads on the right line. My tension on the bars is a little tight because I forgot to do the pull and pinch thing Sally taught me. I'll try to remember on the second one!

It wasn't raining when I got home tonight so I checked out my tomato and pepper plants. To my dismay, something is chomping off the tops! The peppers ..... I hope will come out of it. There are still some tomatoes on one plant and I suspect the "topping off" by some critter will actually help them bush up, but they all have cages around them now. The chomping was so high up that I think it's deer. sigh....