dilly dally doily

Well, not dilly dally in the literal sense, more in the lack of frequency and smoothness sense. Perhaps some fogginess crept in besides general fatigue....

I can't remember when exactly I started tatting it - perhaps 2 months back? Remember Erika's doily I made for my hair bun net? https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2022/06/vanity-takes-fall.html

It didn't work out for the purpose. My hair thinned down (thank you meds); the doily was not only large, but I somehow no longer liked the thread thickness. It felt bulky against my smaller bun. Hence it continues to sit prettily on my dining table.

Yet, I still needed one in red/maroon and chose Daniela Mendola's Tatting sharing MIX - http://danielamendola.blogspot.com/2020/06/tatting-sharing-mix-round-9.html

And you wouldn't believe the amount of trouble it gave me especially in the initial rounds, through no fault of the designer.

Started with Lizbeth size 80, but kept making mistakes. Thread is too tiny to keep un-tatting. 

Switched to Anchor size 40.

I behaved like a novice in Round 1!!! Kept forgetting to work the ring as a SCMR, and kept having to undo the initial stitches. I could've worked it as ring-on-ring, but ....

Then the thread started to break and have now labeled the ball as unsuitable for tatting. It will be interesting to see whether keeping the ball in the freezer will help (I came across this tip somewhere)  

But I was so adamant to see it through that I persevered. 

It spoiled my future colour composition; at one stage I couldn't find the ball I wanted and had to choose another shade; but I'm happy with the way it finally turned out.. 

There were more heartaches along the way which I don't even remember now. Sometimes I could only manage a single ring; some rounds needed close attention to the count; the going was slow and unsteady. Didn't even feel like taking pics after each round, despite the beautiful design.

I took this pic because it needed to be blocked after round 3.

It measures a tad over 7 inches at the ring-to-ring tips.

These are only 6 of the 9 rounds. If only the size 80 had worked out, all 9 rounds could've been accommodated and it would've looked so much better.

All's well that ends well and it is the beauty and utility that will remain in front (and back ;-P) of me. The journey is already a dim memory. 

Many thanks to Daniela for sharing such beautiful patterns!