I got bored...

I got tired of working on the Stawasz doily and I needed something to wake up my brain. Designing is good for that, and I tend to tat a lot faster and for longer periods of time when I have something to create from scratch. There are a few drawings I've had saved to my iPad for months, with the intention of turning them into patterns. One of the drawings was a snowflake, and here is the end result:

(The pattern for this snowflake can now be found in my Etsy shop)

It's tatted in two colors to help me with the diagramming process. I like to diagram all shuttle 1 work in red and shuttle 2 work in blue. Usually it's pretty straight forward, but when there are a few unusual twists it can be hard to remember which shuttle does what. I'm thinking of setting this pattern aside and starting a pattern shop on Etsy. I have a lot of fun making designs and do want to continue offering a combination of free patterns and sale patterns in the future.

This is the original drawing that the pattern is based off of, created with the Kaleidoscope Drawing Pad app:

I was a bit intimidated by the drawing because it looked like it would be difficult to get it to lay flat. I was pleasantly surprised, however, as it only took three attempts to get the correct stitch count.

Attempt 1, I played with the stitch count looking for something that would work:

Attempt 2, I thought I had a good stitch count, but it was still cupping slightly. Also, the proportions were not representative of the original drawing:

Attempt 3, I expected to have a lot more work to do, so I sloppily cut and tied all the ends. This time, everything worked out. I wish I had treated it like a final copy:

I'm also working on a final version in white. After that I have to create a diagram and figure out this whole Etsy thing. That should keep me busy for a few weeks :)