Rounds 4 and 5 of Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin done…

Here are a few pictures of Rounds 4 and 5 for Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin (the post giving the pattern for the first round is here, and you just look in the posts after it for the succeeding rounds).

After the bright colours of Round 3, I pulled back and used cooler colours for Round 4, and cooler yet for Round 5. Here is Round 4 complete:

Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin, Round 4 complete

In Round 5, it easy to make a mistake and omit a ring or chain. See where I tatted three blue rings (the group at left) when I should have tatted four (like the group at right)?

Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin - mistake in Round 5

Thanks to this blog post by Fox, I knew that this would lead to disaster in Round 8. So I untatted back to those rings and redid them, and went very carefully for the rest of the round.

Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin - Round 5

Threads: all Lizbeth Size 40.

Round 1: Pineapple Parfait and Butterfly Breeze

Round 2: Pineapple Parfait and Arctic Waters

Round 3: Pineapple Parfait and Fruit Fizz
Round 4: Spring Green and Butterfly Breeze
Round 5: Leafy Greens and Arctic Waters

Round 3 of Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin done; on to Round 4…

Round 3 took me some time, but here it is at last.

Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin, Round 3 complete

 So, now for Round 4. Time for a round that doesn't pop out at you so much. I decided to reintroduce Butterfly Breeze, but with Spring Green. I think it does recede somewhat compared to Round 3:

Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin, Round 4 begun

Threads: all Lizbeth Size 40.

Round 1: Pineapple Parfait and Butterfly Breeze

Round 2: Pineapple Parfait and Arctic Waters

Round 3: Pineapple Parfait and Fruit Fizz
Round 4: Spring Green and Butterfly Breeze

What colours for Round 3 of Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin?

First, here's my Round 2 completed:

Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin, Round 2

My mum said, "That would make a really pretty coaster!" I might tat just Rounds 1 and 2 again and make a set of coasters…

But, on to Round 3. What colours to use? I thought I would go back to Butterfly Breeze and introduce Leafy Greens. But, when I tatted one or two motifs, I didn't like it (see the top right corner in the picture below). It looked cool next to the yellow and blue of Round 2, like it was receding. But I figure, the flower round should pop forward! So I started again with Pineapple Parfait (my foundation colour, I realise), and added Fruit Fizz. Ah, much brighter and stronger (see at top left)! So I cut off my first attempt and went with Fruit Fizz. But, now I wonder if I've added too many colours. I hope the yellow will tie things together. And I'm still thinking of going back to Leafy Greens/Butterfly Breeze for the next round, or the next one…

Rpund 3 - which colours to choose?

I've chosen Pineapple Parfait and Fruit Fizz

Threads - Lizbeth Size 40.

Round 1: Pineapple Parfait and Butterfly Breeze

Round 2: Pineapple Parfait and Arctic Waters

Round 3: Pineapple Parfait and Fruit Fizz

Cross of Sevens by Robin Perfetti

I recently tatted this charming little cross bookmark by Robin Perfetti. She's been designing pretty motifs ever since she discovered an iPad app called Kaleidoscope Drawing Pad (see this discussion thread in InTatters). She now has a blog, so you can download her patterns for yourself.
(Thread: Lizbeth Pastel Petals, Size 40)

Cross of Sevens, design by Robin Perfetti

Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin in spring colours

Here is the doily I am giving the most energy to right now. It's the Spring 2014 Napkin, by Renulek from Poland. She is sharing the pattern round by round on her blog, and several of us on InTatters are following along. We've been having fun looking at all the colours that everyone is using. Finally, I couldn't resist, and I jumped in, too. I am breaking the rules – using three variegated threads to date, and planning to add one or two more, oh my! :-D As you can see, I have spring flowers in mind, and I reckon that the foundation colour is yellow. So far, anyway. :-)

Thread: Lizbeth Size 40
Round 1 colours: Pineapple Parfait & Butterfly Breeze
Round 2 colours: Pineapple Parfait & Arctic Waters

Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin, Round 1 in progress

Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin, Round 1 finished

Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin, Round 2 in progress

My very first doily - tatting finished, but not quite done...

I really should have shown you this doily first. It's the first doily I started, back in March or April 2012. At that time, I didn't want to make anything bigger than a bookmark, but my tatting teacher enticed me by saying that it's so interesting to climb from round to round in a doily.

And indeed it has been interesting! Plotting the route to climb, learning the techniques (split ring and split chain). Also, learning to persevere – through thread additions and major untatting, and some periods of boredom! :-) So, the doily was only finished a few weeks ago. So then I blocked it, and now I am sewing it down onto a black cushion cover - another learning process for me. Here's a picture of the blocked doily lying on the cushion cover. Right now, the sewing is in progress, and it has a lot of tape on it, so I won't show you that!

Round Mat in Tatting, finished tatting in February 2014

Pattern: Round mat in tatting

Source: Needlewoman and Needlecraft No. 74, p. 11, April 1958

Thread: Lizbeth Spring Garden, Size 40

Size of Doily: 30 cm / 12 inches

Victorian Trellis Doily - still in progress

I have recently been spending a lot of time at the hospital. Bad for designing and diagramming, but good for actually tatting. :-) I am now tatting two doilies that are running as tat-alongs on InTatters.

The Victorian Trellis Doily is an antique pattern from The Priscilla Tatting Book No. 2 (1915 - available for free as a PDF from the Antique Pattern Library, and also from Dover Books as Tatting Patterns, edited by Julia E. Sanders). Last year, or perhaps year before, a lot of members in InTatters members were tatting it and encouraging each other. Frivole blogged about hers in detail, with instructions and videos. This inspired and enabled a lot of us to follow in her footsteps. (Do a search for "Victorian Trellis" on Frivole's blog.)

I finally decided that I couldn't resist its beauty, and I started on it late last year (thread I'm using: DMC Cebelia Size 30, Ivory). Round 1 took me a long time, but the succeeding rounds have gone much faster. I'm now in Round 5. I'll probably slow down now, because I'm now onto another doily! More about that in another post.

Victorian Trellis Doily, Round 1, 32 repeats

Round 2 in progress

Round 3 almost done

Round 5 in progress

January 2014 TIAS finished

I finished my January 2014 TIAS (Tat It And See) a while back, but it was some time before I got round to hiding the ends, and it took a longer while to get round to blogging about it. Anyway, here it is! (Thread I used: Lizbeth Size 20, Jelly Bean (sails) and Herbal Garden (hull and mast).)

So it's a sailboat!

If you'd like to join in, it's not too late! Have a look at the Tat It And See blog here. The sailboats are still arriving in Jane Eborall's harbour, so you can still get in at the tail end of the flotilla!