Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Tatting Tea Tuesday: Feelish Sheepish

There was much gnashing of teeth this past week as I vainly tatted, picked out, re-tatted, picked out again, re-tatted again...(repeat this cycle several more times) the Valiere Square.

What started as a simple tat to celebrate summer has turned into a real groaner for the old grey spaghetti.

Forgive me, for I have been stupid
Maybe my brain went on vacation. (Can the mind play tricks in absentia?)

Why wasn't it working?

Valiere Square, round 2


Is Stupidity Contageous?
Round two of the Valiere Square consists of simple five-picot chains that connect around round one. There was even a handy note about joining two picots together in one join. Easy peasy.

But when I tatted it, the motif cupped around my index finger like a perfect little thimble.

(See my error yet? Oh, what a staggering blend of hubris and idiocy. Not reading the directions carefully leads to this kind of carelessness every time.)

Second try (8 picots = 18 stitches) was much better, but it still curved in on itself a bit.

Third try (10 picots = 22 stitches) lies perfectly flat. Sweet success! Right?

Nope. See anything different about my motif, compared to the pattern image?  Let me show you the two images together:

Valiere Square with inset image


See it now? D'oh!

Can you believe for a WEEK I have been fussing over this pattern, never realizing that I only joined to HALF the connection points? The answer was right there, in the photo, in the stitch counts (i.e. the math), right there all the time.

Boy, do I feel sheepish!

Anyone know of a brain restorative tea that I can drink between now and next Tuesday?