More Puncetto

I started this square quite a while ago, maybe in March or April.  I got stuck soon after I started and had to think through how to make the first row.  In fact, I actually picked it out 3 times, each time worried that the thread would fray too much and snap.  Somehow it survived and I figured out how to make the first row.

Initially I could not figure out the first row because I had the stitch count for the spiders all wrong.  Since the last pattern in the book is a sample of a large spider, I assumed that this square would be made with large spider.  Not quite!  Then I got stuck on how to make a spider without connecting it to a border or a solid square.  With some fiddling (and a lot of thinking!) I figured something out.  Not sure if it is the "correct" way to make it, but it works - at least for me.

What's really funny is that I then got stuck on the second row, even though the second row is much more similar to the spiders that I have made before.  It had been a while since I had made the spiders and the way I was making them was not correct.  After I went back to the instructions on making individual spiders I realized my mistake.

The scan above shows where I had to abandon my first attempt.  I had been willing to take out the first row - multiple times even! - but I was not about to take out several rows.  At that point I decided I might as well start over.

There is another mistake in the top square, but I think I made it work quite nicely!  When making the two spiders at the top, I wasn't thinking ahead and made the top of the left hand spider as if it was an isolated spider.  By the time I realized what I had done I didn't want to take out so many little knots and I proceeded to make the right hand spider.  When I reached the bar between them I just ran a thread up along the bar and made knots over the whole thing.  It's king of obvious if you look closely, but at least I managed to finish if.  By then I was afraid that if I had to start again I would never finish that square!

Right now I am saying that it's hard to keep even tension when making spiders, but I remember when I thought it was hard keeping an even tension when making open spaces.  Granted, they are still not good, but my tension is slowly improving.  I guess the best way to make nicer and more spiders is to go off and make more:)

Made with DMC Cebelia size 30 in ecru, the square is ~ 5 cm across.