Alladin

After making Jon's Quantiesque for my New Year's post, I was inspired to make more of her designs.  I have had the Tatted Snowflakes Collection for a long time - I think I got it soon after it came out - and despite admiring the patterns, I have never made any.  It was time to remedy that!

I didn't know which pattern to start, since they are all so interesting in their own way, so I started with the first one.  This was definitely a fun and relatively quick pattern to make.

Working notes:

• Typically when a diagram is provided, I don't read the accompanying directions too closely.  I didn't start with a split ring, which is what I believe the accompanying directions call for.  I hardly ever wind my shuttles CTM, so starting with a split ring while working over the ends is more hassle than it's worth
• I didn't make the joining picots smaller than the decorative picots.  I think I am incapable of making small picots and don't even bother trying any more!
• I ended with a split ring, but the way it was split was different from the other rings.  Split rings do have a bit of their own shape, but I think only another tatter would notice.  Either that or if someone really stared at the snowflake obsessively they may notice that not all the center rings have the exact same shape.  Either way, it does not bother me.
• I did start the second round CTM.  With very few rings, it made for a nicer start.
• I know I made a mistake in the last large ring of round 1.  I did not notice until I was halfway through the second round at which point I was not about to start all over.

I also tried two new items when making this snowflake.

• Lisbeth thread in size 40 that I bought a while back.  I have no clue why I bought it, but this seemed like a good time to try it.  It's OK.  Smooth to work with, but I still prefer smaller thread. 
• The new-ish Lacis shuttles.  I am not too impressed with them.  They are a bit larger than the Clovers I typically use, but what disappointed me the most was the tip.  One of the shuttles has a very rough tip and I had to be careful not to split thread.  I assume I can file it down, but I have never had to do that with Clover shuttles.  Also, the tip is wider than it is on the Clovers, which would probably make joining when working with finer thread difficult.  As it is, between the wide tip and the roughness of the tip, I was happy I did not try to make the joining picots smaller.  It would have been hard to join!

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but every year I came up with an elaborate list of projects I wanted to complete during the year.  Last year I did OK in the winter, but sooner or later life took over and my lace making first slowed down and then stopped all together.  Last year was more pronounced than some of the previous years, but it was still part of a trend I had noticed previously.  This year I do not have any preconceived list of projects to finish, but I would like to at least make some sort of lace every month.  I don't want to go for several months without touching any lace like I did last year.  I would like to say that I would post something every month, but that may be taking it too far!