Let’s do this.


Alright. I’m ready. I’ve seen a ton of pictures of it and by gum I’m ready to take it on too. I’m talking about the Renulek Doily. (or the Renulek Napkin) Here is the link to her site, which is in Polish, and I regret I don’t know her name or any other info besides the blog and “Renulek”. I’m trying the Spring Doily/Napkin 2014 because, well, I like it better than the summer one. I tried to figure out the summer one and my brain caught on fire.
http://renulek.blogspot.com/2014/02/serwetka-wiosna-2014-cz3.html
See, the site, as I may have mentioned, is in Polish. No worries there because a) google is nice enough to translate it for me to the best of it’s abilities, and b) holy snakes the tatting patterns from that part of the planet are…out of this world! I found the tatting rabbit hole on the webs and I swear on every single one is at least a reference if not a WIP picture of something she is working on. Renulek posts pictures of what she’s working on, plus a pattern, row by row. The doilies are pretty big (12+ rows!) and she’s making a collar now. I wish I could read Polish and get all the details…anyway, I found a picture on a new-to-me blog by Batty Tatter and I fell in love. You know how it is, you see something amazing and go “I could make that!”

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UGH!! I am in love with this freakin doily.

Ok. Way back at the beginning I mentioned brains catching fire and here’s why: there is no written pattern, nor are there diagrams. I’m spoiled, see. I learned to tat with the written patterns (ex: R 4-2-2-4) and seeing a beautifully rendered diagram is super helpful. Tatting. Is. Fiddly. But Renulek only posts a (admittedly gorgeous) picture of her WIP, then another with the pattern kind of written over it. I see how that works, and it’s not a bad idea, but it makes for some deep thinking for me to figure out where to start, what direction to go (typically clockwise if you were wondering), did she start with a ring or a chain?, how many shuttles?, how many colors could this take?, etc. So I stare at the picture with the numbers over the work and then I write down the pattern as I see it, plus any notes to myself like “clockwise”, which color to use on which row, and that sort of thing. Well, here, lemme show you:

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I only got to Round 3 because that’s when I saw the picture for Round 4 and smoke came out my ears. I think I heard a gear grind so I popped the old melon in neutral and decided to go as far as Round 3 and see how I fare. I am barely on the first round, using Mint (Lizbeth 689) and then I’ll use Confetti (Lizbeth 105) for the even rounds. It’s a solid plan.

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I love this little box! Kind of sorry about another night pic, it's hard to see the bright colors of the thread but it's after the kiddo's bedtime, hence time to blog!

You may be thinking, “WHYYY would you pick something so fussy and hard? You already have like 15 hobbies and around 6 projects going on shuttles alone!” with work (I picked up a ton more to do from home which is simultaneously wonderful and nerve-wracking), little kids (did I mention the smaller one is potty training? No? Probably for the best), and life in general. Crafting and reading are my favorite ways to wind down, to go somewhere else for awhile (hello Tal Verrar!) or think about something else for a change…
but…I don’t want to think about all that stuff right now…
Thinking about how to attach a ring to that last row of chains, and watching something beautiful and intricate bloom in front of me that came from my own fingers is a very very nice way to recharge my thoughts.
So, off I go! I’m thinking of Emmet’s voice in my head now (from The Lego Movie) “Alright guys. LET’S DO THIS.”

P.S. I couldn’t find a way to contact the ladies I mentioned in this post for expressed permission to link to them. I hope they don’t mind me referring to them since I have nothing but respect for their work, patterns, and property. Tatting-bloggin Ladies, please drop me a line anytime if you feel otherwise!

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2 responses to “Let’s do this.”

    • Yes! It’s fiddly but it’s not unlike some difficult homework problem from school, but I don’t have a deadline, lol. So when it works out it’s thrilling!

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