Stawasz Tat-along: Round IV

Round IV of the giant Stawasz doily has been completed:

I've been spending most of my time messing around with Round V, which is a much larger round, with 12 individual motifs. When I began the round I had the wrong stitch count written down, so I had to cut off three motifs (roughly six hours of tatting). Better to cut off toward the beginning than further in!

Here is where I'm at now. You can see the motifs I cut off at the bottom, and I've almost gotten back to where I started:

I had a few other mistakes in the motifs that I cut, so I was glad to start fresh. I had been tatting rather quickly in an attempt to keep up with the others tatting this pattern, but in doing so I realized that I needed to slow down. 

My normal tatting speed is on the slower end. I get enjoyment out of making sure each ring and chain is in its proper position, and like to put the tatting down somewhat frequently to flatten it out and see how it's progressing. I used to crochet slowly as well. I could crochet fast if I wanted to, but that defeated the purpose of it being relaxing, and made my arm more prone to injury.

I did learn something from tatting quickly and making a few mistakes. After two years, I've finally gotten the hang of opening closed rings. I think I know the tricks now: 

1) Pulling the thread in the correct direction from the last picot, 

2) Using a pair of tweezers to get a good grip on the thread that is being pulled, and 

3) Using the right brand of thread.

I could never open a closed ring in Lizbeth size 20 or smaller, even when I knew what to do. The Lizbeth thread doesn't glide as easily as DMC. So, I was a little scared when I made a mistake in DMC size 100...I thought I would never be able to fix it. 

To my surprise, opening a closed ring in DMC is easier than undoing stitches in this thread. It is so smooth and glides so easily, that it is no problem at all to undo mistakes. So, if you haven't tried this thread out yet, I highly recommend it!