I finished the little piece I was working on before. I was pleased with it actually – it blocked really nicely.

It’s size 100 thread, and the pattern is from a beautiful Japanese book I bought via etsy. Look at the patten on the cover! It’s so nice. The whole book is beautifully photographed, and they’ve actually managed to make tatting look stylish, rather than like some kind of 70’s interior design horror, which is what most UK books seem to favour.

As ever with tatting, once you’ve made one, you might aswell make two:

This is one blocked and one unblocked — and I still need to sort the ends out. The second one I started on a week off, and finished on the train & bus when I got back. Once you know the pattern it’s not bad for commuting. (I sat next to a man on the bus who didn’t appear to look in my direction, but as I stood up for him to leave, he said ‘I just want you to know I think what you’re doing is very clever’. It confused me for a second, as i wasn’t sure what he was talking about!).

Anyway. I need a new pattern I think. Back to the books.