If at first you don't succeed...

I was very proud of my first attempt at Joelle Paulson's Astrila, until I realized I'd missed a join! I felt I had nothing to worry about. After all, I had successfully joined on the second half of a split ring, and I had managed to make a picot on the second half of a split ring.

Feeling bold, I started over... and over... and over. Three times I tried, and I could not get that join on the second half of the split ring.

I was tired, and too lazy to watch a YouTube video, so I just made the center the old fashioned way (cut, tie, hide the ends, and start round two). That didn't work well, either. On round 2 (there is no round 2 in Joelle's beautiful pattern), I wasn't following the pattern carefully, because I thought I knew what I was doing. I was so wrong. I made a mess of it!

Luckily, my next attempt worked out perfectly!

I liked it so much, I tatted a second. I feel like I'm on a roll!

Little by little

I subbed in preschool today, which really wore me out. I had hoped to finish Astrila by Joelle Paulson today, but I'm happy to complete it little by little!

Astrila

Yarn shopping always puts me in the mood to knit, especially when I find beautiful yarns! I'm eager to start with the yarns I purchased this weekend, but I need to finish my Reyna shawl that's already on the needles. I finished the next garter section before heading off to school. I have two more mesh and two more garter sections to go.

I'm subbing every day this week, so there really isn't much time for tatting, knitting, or crocheting. Still, I eek out every moment that I can.

I was one of three lucky winners of Frivole's new snowflake pattern, Astrila. This one is a challenge for me, because it has split rings. I can tat split rings, but they seem to take me forever! I'm hoping that by tatting several of this beautiful pattern, I'll become more comfortable with the technique.

The first two split rings were the most difficult for me. The first one has a join on the second half of the split ring. Following some tips that Tim emailed me, I was able to join successfully. I did have to fiddle with the thread to make the ring look right, but I think I did okay.

The second split ring has a picot on the second half. My picot is huge! I'll get better, but it's obvious that I need lots of practice. The rest of the split rings are small, and I've been able to tat them just fine.

Now that I'm in a rhythm with this pattern, I'm really enjoying it. This may become my Christmas snowflake for this year!