why, this far

Aspiration Doily – Trial 1 completed !

So a few days back I completed my first doily trials! Decided to end it with a 9^th round. One has to stop at some point ;-P

Despite all my gyan about designing a doily, I had to snip off rounds !

Why is it that mistakes show up at a late stage ?

Why is it that the camera catches that one mistake/tweak in the entire round that you missed unintentionally or intentionally ?

Why does it take an entire round to zero in on the right stitchcount ?

Evil forces at play, for sure ;-D

After posting the pics last time, I started on the 7^th round and only at the final repeat did I notice that some of the long ring-like chains in Rnd 6 were distorted. Now I had been experimenting in Rnd 5 as well but had let the mistakes remain. What's one round more to snip ?Hence decided to snip off all 3 rounds and re-tat. Yes, much better.

But hey, look, is that a possible edging pattern ?!

Here are the 3 rounds tatted again - Rounds 5, 6, 7 - 

Round 8 went smoothly with only the first chain shorter than the rest (barely visible) -

Since this was a first trial, tweaking on the go was okay by me. For example in above pic, in the same round 9 there are 3 segments with slight alterations. As you can see, the last segment finally lies flat. Then snipped off the round and tatted the acceptable version. ....

So far I had fun doing it. Shouldn’t make it a habit now!

In size 40 thread, it measures just over 5 inches ! I could continue (had sketched a different round 9 & 10), but ending for now. 

I’m happy with the last round. Some enthusiastic Craftreans confirmed that I did not really need decorative picots in the inner rounds. We all like how the picots in last round give the final emphatic finish, though. 

Usha has volunteered & started to test tat it for me. Problem is that I still haven’t made a no-snip model myself ! Got to get down to it right away! Creative and enthusiastic as ever, her shuttles took on a life of their own & I urged her to continue and we'd share it as her version. But she insists on testing my pattern first. We'll just have to wait to see what she comes up with :-)

All 9 rounds can be tatted in one pass using split rings or split chains to climb out. However, I am writing the pattern for each round separately. Only the composite diagram will indicate the continuous path in a different colour - easy for an advanced tatter to work out. Without split rings & split chains, it becomes a doily for all levels.

So what's your verdict, dear readers ? A good first attempt at designing a doily ? 

How far can I go ? 9 rounds far ;-D

We don’t have to go far to enjoy every bit of tatting !