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Sunday, February 22, 2015

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!

16 comments:

  1. Well my dear that is a lot of cutting and I liked your doily and I am not your mom :) I have to admit now a days with all the color choices in thread it really can be overwhelming. I do same thing sometimes and wish for the old days of white ecru and black ha ha ha not really! I really loved them all. I herd that women are like sunsets, every day is different and that is why your color choice changes with every new day :)

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  2. Interesting post! I too like the one your mom kept! I like the colours. The last one is very pretty - well done!

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  3. The time was right! Yes, it's not always easy to combine colours in a pleasing way, but you're doing great. I don't think any of your combinations make a viewer say yuck. I once read that if anyone hasn't made a mistake, they haven't made anything, and that helped to reconcile me to getting the scissors out.

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  4. That is so much adventure for one doily! I have to admit, I liked the "fungus" colors myself, they are not overly bright. In my opinion, you can combine most pastel colors safely.
    I hope to see it finished soon!

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  5. I enjoyed this post, every version has its own character. Colors' combination goes along with personal taste and drawer's content... I like them all :)

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  6. It is beyond my comprehension to stay with one pattern after so many false starts. Wow. You are very persistent, and you won! I love them all. And, I admire your decision to keep trying.

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    1. Thank you very much for the nice compliment, SD. But honestly, this is what I learned from the other tatter-bloggers, who I call my fairy godmothers!

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  7. Lessons well-learned, Chantal :-)) Colour decisions are something I have not yet mastered & sometimes it takes me ages to decide on colours than to actually tat the piece :-(
    I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post & lovely tat-candy in each pic (no diplomacy there!). I also admire your perseverance !

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  8. Replies
    1. Thank you, God's Kid, you are the most incredible mental coach! God loves you and so do tatters.

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  9. So many colours! Beautiful doilies! My favorite is with red center :-)

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    1. Thank you, LOLaces, the red centre is also my favourite. I may finish it one day!

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  10. Dear Tally Tatty, I'm sure I didn't say that! I actually like the mauve and green colours you put together. You had asked me about advice for further colours and what I said is that since the colours were muted, I would continue to use that kind of colour for the rest of the doily. You make me sound a bit mean! ;-)
    Personally, I also like the one you cut up: in green, cream, and brown colours.

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  11. Such pretty work! I enjoy your sense of humor! (My heart still hurts when I get my scissors out.)

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  12. Hey hope you are doing well we haven't herd from you in a while.
    Hugs from Carollyn

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