Single Shuttle Tatted Doily

I finished this doily last night and blocked it overnight to show you today.

I made up the pattern as I went along and I think it works. I wanted to achieve a balance of solid areas with very airy ones using just one shuttle.

Here is a closeup. You can see that the open areas get wider as the doily grows. And yes I do know I missed a little ring at one point. I didn't have enough of the thread to correct it. The thread was an anonymous reel from the bottom of my thread drawer. I think it was maybe a fancy quilting thread. Anyway I ended up with less than a metre of thread left at the end. So the two mistakes I am aware of just have to stay there!



Here I have photocopied the doily and drawn over part of the pattern to make it easier for anyone else who wants to make one like it. It is very simple. The centre ring has 3 stitches between picots. Everywhere else there are 4 stitches. The trick is in getting the lengths of thread between the rings the right length to make the doily lie flat. This is largely a matter of experience.