Ready to wing it

After last night's problems with picots and split rings, I was hesitant to give it another try. Who needs the frustration of tight knots that are difficult to open? I guess I do!

I watched several videos on tatting split rings, but none of them showed adding picots. I'm hoping to learn from some of my buddies at Tollway Tatters this Friday, and I look forward to watching a video from Frivole. In the meantime, I needed to attack the problem on my own.

I thought that I might have lost my touch with split rings, but I managed to complete 7 with no problems. Then I tried to add a picot to each side, and... lock! I was not in the mood to retro-tat, so I snipped the thread and started over.

After taking a break for dinner, I gave it another try... 5 split rings and... look! I managed to add picots to each side! The first one was very tough to close, but the other three went pretty smoothly. My only problem is that I can't seem to use my picot gauge on the second side of the split ring, and I'm not very good at making consistent picots without my gauges.

I think I'll do a few more practice pieces, and then I'll be ready to add wings to Aidan's Flying Minor Norwegian Dragon!

The two hour split ring

I admit it. I'm stuck!

I'm working on Anne Bruvold's Flying Minor Norwegian Dragon for my grandson, and I'm having a difficult time. Anne's directions are wonderful. My reading and following instruction skills are not!

I was concerned about making picots on the single shuttle split rings, so I left them out. Luckily, I realized that the picots are needed for making the body of the dragon, and I found that making picots on a single shuttle split ring isn't difficult at all!

However, that does not hold true for picots on the second half of a split ring. I have literally been trying to make this work for two hours, and I am giving up for tonight before I get so frustrated that I don't want to finish the dragon. Does anyone have tips for making picots on the second half of the split ring? I'll try any and all suggestions!