Iris, I'm in over my head!

Oh how quickly the proud fall......




I was all excited about finishing a few small things well......magick thread trick and all (!), so off I went and dove in over my head. I was making an attempt at Iris Niebach's "Delia" doily from her book, it's so beautiful with all these long flowy chains, sigh. I started out trying to keep it all "right side" by tatting the chains in reverse, but I quickly gave up on that after finding the chains switch direction and flop all over the place. It makes me think that Iris has access to part of her brain that no mere tatting humans does :-) I couldn't even find the right side after awhile. Also, I tried to do it with shuttle and ball instead of two shuttles, not having noticed that I'd need to throw off rings all over, so I tried to SCMR them instead (which I've never tried before) and made a big mess. and in my effort to keep from tucking in ends, I filled a second shuttle with the thread before starting to work off the ball to have it ready to go. So now I have a mushy, inconsistent, incorrectly done thing, I'd love to just make everything perfectly in the first try, you know :-) I guess it was valuable, for I learned the following lessons:

1. Study a new pattern in depth - had I looked closely I could have planned ahead and had two shuttles going and seen theirection changes better from the photo. And I would have noticed that i need to learn how to make and onion. Who knew?
2. Practice said new pattern in cheap throwaway thread - I now have two shuttles full of my favorite flora, and half as much on the ball, and I'll have to hide the ends next project instead of being able to work off the ball. feels like a waste :-) glad I learned that lesson before I started buying hand dyed thread
3. Don't attempt Iris Niebach patterns at 1am! - Hmmm perhaps that is the key to my folly. It's just that with baby #2 on the way, I know I have limited time to tat before life turns upside down again! Unless of course I can learn to breastfeed and tat at the same time........
4. Apply the wisdom of proverbs in tatting - Do not think thyself too big for thine britches and learn to live peacefully a while longer in the land of bookmarks :-)