Done! Whoops - why's that one chain guy peeking up higher than anyone else? LOL! I enjoyed tatting this one. The tiny rings on the outside were 7 ds - I couldn't see the picture well enough in that part to see if they were josephine knots so I just went with tiny rings. That's probably the only element of the design that I don't like and might leave off in future attempts. I'd like to do it again in a solid color and also try some other color combinations.


I scanned it with different colored backgrounds to see the visual effect. I liked the white and the dark blue best. The motif has a stronger contrast quality there. With the buff and the pale green...the yellow tends to sink into it and is not as strong.

This is one of the seldom discussed elements of tatting. Have you ever seen a pattern worked by somene else that you would not have touched and found it incredibly beautiful because they used a thread or a color or color combination that was vastly different from the original and it made the design just pop out at you? Or the opposite - a beautiful pattern done in a horrible color or type of thread and poorly blocked or tatted? We've all made those mistakes. You think a thread will be perfect and then you start tatting....and then you think, well, if I just get past this part, maybe it will all come together...or probably when I block it, it will work out.....

Sometimes they do...and sometimes they are things you should just quietly dispose of accidently. LOL! I am particularly susceptible to variegateds. They look so beautiful on the ball or the skein! But if you pick the wrong design.....it's butt-ugly! A waste of a beautiful thread,time and an otherwise perfect design. I think that's why I keep holding off tatting the 2 beautiful hand-dyed threads I've purchased. I don't want to waste them!

I sometimes wonder if designers cringe at the way some of their designs are tatted up? I think they are more often very pleased by the results but there are those moments when they aren't.

I ran across a blog one time which focused on really bad design - I think it was knitting. They featured the original picture, not what someone had knitted up. I didn't agree with all of their choices - which just goes to show you it is largely subjective. In the same way some people like very small tidy picots, others like long loose wavy ones. To a certain extent, it's about individual tastes and I would never tell someone they had bad taste. LOL! Oh - I found it but be forewarned - strong language you would not want your child to read - or maybe even yourself. What Not To Knit I can't imagine why she didn't like this monkey gown????? ROTFL! Can't say I'd wear it either but, hmmmm...you know me and sock monkeys....might make a cool afghan for a kid's room,don't you think? [VBG!]