The learning curve includes learning about color!

Last summer, I was staying with my parents at the seashore. During the evenings, I wanted to tat Renulek’s summer doily, like every other tatter did in those days. I guess I wanted to tat-along. I could not concentrate, however. Through the window, I watched the sea, the tides, the birds, the sunsets, …and I listened to my parent’s stories! Above are my trials and errors. There was always something wrong! I re-tatted it 11 times! I changed colors, to motivate myself or to empty a shuttle.

When I finally could concentrate a little, I did not like it in this pale, grey color!  Besides, the solitary rings have 6 instead of 7 picots. Watching the colors of the sunsets (for us, the Channel is situated West, of course), made me bold, and I choose these:

I also tried to add beads, which was fine, but a lot of work! After this round was finished, I thought the doily looked like a fungus. I asked Frivole’s advice. She said the color combination was not good, because I combined brilliant colors with muffled colors. I call this Honesty. I asked Madtatter80, who said it was nice, but I had to pay attention to the colors I would choose in the next rows. I call that Diplomacy. I asked my mother, who said she liked it, and she kept it, which is called Maternal Love.
So, I started again, leaving the beads out:

I liked this color combination, but made an obvious mistake, again! I hid the WIP somewhere, and went back home. We went through some hectic times, at the end of last year, and in January,  TIAS began,…End of January,  I got my doily out and started again. I tried to change my luck by choosing VSC (Very Safe Colors):

Well, I thought I had memorized the pattern, and was too lazy to look at Renulek‘s magnificent design pages. So, I made another BIG, and consistent mistake in the last row. Yes, Jane, a scissor was a very funny pattern for a TIAS! OK, here comes “la méthode Fox”:

Then, suddenly, and for no reason at all, I made no mistakes anymore and enjoyed tatting this pattern. So much so, that I neglected the TIAS! Why, Oh, Why? Well, each cloud has a silver lining, I have become a very fast ring opener, and my hart does not hurt anymore when I pick up my scissors.

However, I have a bad feeling with the row that I am tatting at the moment, and the doily seems to cup a little. There is no obvious mistake this time, it measures 21.5 cm across. Come and see next time! All colors are Lizbeth’s #40, except in the second picture, where I used Clover.
With apologies to Renulek, whose blog with a new spring doily, you can find here!  

This is what our seashore looks like today at high tide and calm weather. Oh, I love long walks near the beach, looking at birds, searching for seashells! Feet in the water? Not yet!