Back to tatting

No, I haven't given up tatting for bobbin lace. The two are cohabiting quite nicely, thank you! As you can see, I've been working on a larger project, Stella Alpina from Tatting Fantasia by Iris Niebach. I have a love/hate relationship with this doily... I love the pattern... I hate that I've never been able to get through it without making major mistakes! It's not Iris's fault... the directions are fine. I must get over-confident in my ability to follow patterns, and I make terrible mistakes that cannot be ignored! This time I had to cut out... yes, I said cut out... two sections because I counted rings and chains incorrectly! When I was visiting Eileen earlier in the week, I took along tatting samples, and their were two pieces of Stella Alpina that I gave up on last year.

If you look closely, you will see that there is one place where I forgot to join. Oh, well! I love the color. I love the pattern. I love that it's finished, except for blocking. This one will find a home in the tatting shuttle display case that my dad made for me. It's 8 1/2" from point to point, and I used Lizbeth Turqouise Lt. #662, size 20 from Handy Hands.

I think I'll go back to Myra Piper's book now and give my brain a rest! As for bobbin lace... I have another bookworm ready to go! I'm going to keep making those little creatures until I'm happy with the end result. That should give me enough for Christmas presents for family members. Do you think they'll be happy with receiving just a bookworm? Probably not, so I'll have to come up with some more ideas... there's nothing like planning ahead!