Efflorescence

What can I say, when I find a series of patterns I tend to stick with them!  Shown above is the second snowflake in Jon's book Tatted Snowflakes Collection.  I really liked making this one, even though taking a split ring in progress off my hands to throw off the clovers was daunting at first.

When I first learned to tat I would.not take a ring off my hands.  I have since learned that taking a ring off my hands is not the end of the world, but I prefer not to do it. Since no one thing in tatting ever takes too long, I can usually finish the ring I am working on and then do whatever I have to do.

Split rings are a whole different beast though!  Although I am quite comfortable making them, I don't think I have stopped a split ring in progress before.  I may have when I made some of Teri Dusenbury's hearts, but I will not definitively claim that I did so.  Apparently it's possible to do so!  I don't see myself doing it unless I absolutely have to though.

Making the first split ring was very funny.  I completed the first half and was well on my way to completing the second half.  After finishing the clovers, I could not get the last few stitches of the split ring to work properly.  For some reason, they kept flipping and I had to undo is several times.  I finally finished it, but it was very awkward and I had to really think not to flip the stitches.  When I got to my second split ring, I realized that I had held the first split ring differently and my hands were automatically flipping the stitches.  It seems like I always hold the second half of the split ring in a certain way and I can make the stitches without flipping them with no thought whatsoever.  Once I realized that, I made sure to pick up the second half of the split ring in my preferred orientation and the rest of the rings gave me no problems.

I just realized the above paragraph is probably hopelessly confusing!

Made with Lisbeth size 40 in black.