Thursday, November 28, 2013

Snowflakes for Christmas

At this time of year we start to see all of the tatted lovelies that people use to adorn their trees. We oooh and ahhh over all of the amazing trees decked in lace. Some of them are pristine white lace on dark evergreen for a dramatic tree. Some of them are a fun collection of snowflakes, candy canes, and wreaths. Some of them are white trees festooned with a kaleidoscope of vibrate colours. Whatever they are, we all come away from viewing them wishing that our own trees were as covered in lace and that can be discouraging.

If you have just learned to tat, or you don't have a lot of time to devote to your tatting, it can be daunting to make dozens of tatted gems for your tree. Rather than get overwhelmed, why not just relax and determine to tat one snowflake or other project per month. You can fit in one small design a month, even if you're busy.

Here's a simple design with 360 stitches. Over a month, that's about 12 stitches a day. You can manage 12 stitches in a day. Really. You can. It may not be a spectacular design, but it's easy and it will get you started on your own tree full of lace. One a month and by next year at this time, you'll have a dozen for your tree. A dozen is a respectable start to a tree full of lace.
Just so that you can make your own snowflake, here is the pattern.

Of course, this is a simple design and maybe you'd like something a little more challenging, like this:

This is a little more complex, but neither of these designs are particularly difficult and both of them will give you a start on your own tree full of lace.

As I get time and inclination, I'll upload some more snowflakes for you to try. Who knows, maybe you can fill your tree with snowflakes for this Christmas.