A bit of this, a bit of that...

Been going through some books yesterday and today as I was looking things up to answer questions I'd been asked.  Came upon this motif in Occhi Schiffchenspitze Frivolité by Marianne Langwieser and Tatiana Scharowa (you know, the book with the peacocks).  It reminded me a bit of the posy pattern by Mary Konior.  It was a bit fiddly to tat but I think it turned out pretty.

Tatted in Lizbeth, size 20, Wildflower Garden and Antique Blue Med.

And yesterday I received in the post a booklet of patterns by Rosemarie Peel called "20 Tatted Motifs". I found it on Ebay and bought it just because I had seen someone (sorry, I can't recall who!) writing about making a design where the picots and chains were slipped on a safety pin before joining them with a final ring in the centre.  The technique interested me so I had to see that particular pattern for myself. 

Funnily enough, after I bought the booklet, I found that this same technique appears in the German book though it doesn't seem to be linked to a particular pattern and unfortunately, I can't read the page of explanation about it!

Anyway, here is a pattern called Primrose.  The centre ring ended up being a bit tight for me and may have benefitted from a few extra stitches... on the other hand I quite like the slight overlap of the petals. And I like the technique!  Might come in handy for future pattern designing... you never know.  I'm still trying to think though what's the difference between doing that or just making a centre ring with picots first and then attaching the petals to it afterwards.  I will have to try both versions and see.

 And finally, I decided to join Jane Eborall's TIAS this year, for the first time.  So here is the first instalment... not much to go by yet so really curious to see what the next bit will be.

Best wishes,

Frivole