Still Tatting

This is a tiny snowflake I did for practice, about the size of a silver dollar. I have no idea how it happens (oh, wait, I might have 4 ideas), but I will be working along and out of the blue miss a join. Can you see the one I missed between the two top center rings?

I began adding beads which I just love to do. I love beadwork anyway and to add them to tatting makes me so happy. But I don't like counting and threading the little things before hand. For this snowflake I threaded over 100 beads before even starting to tat, which seems like it takes as long as the actual tatting. I like this pattern because there are no picots, just beads. Which is good for a beginner still working to get all those little loops even in size.

This snowflake took me several days to complete because of its complex repeat. When I finally decided that I had it figured out and worked the 5th repeat without consulting the pattern I missed a join (I double dog dare you to find it), so back to the pattern I went. I was happy to find this detailed pattern for one shuttle; I'm limited in pattern choice because I have not learned how to do split rings or work with two shuttles.

This is what a pattern looks like. I mark the row I'm working on with a post-it to keep me focused on the correct row since one row can look so much like another and I have to glance back and forth regularly.

R: (3ds p) 5 times 3ds, close
R: 3ds j to last p of previous R, 5ds p 1ds p 1ds p 5ds p 3ds, close
R: 3ds j to last p of previous R, (3ds p) 4 times 3ds close, turn
Ch: 5ds p (3ds p) 4 times, 5ds, turn

Or you might get something like this:

R: 3-3-3-3-3-cl
R: 3+5-1-1-5-3-cl
R: 3+3-3-3-3-3-cl rw
Ch: 5-3-3-3-3-5-rw

Many patterns include diagrams that you can work from. I have yet to graduate to working with the diagram only method. I need the text, a good picture, and the diagram. This is one point to a snowflake. My biggest obstacle is figuring where the heck to start the thing so I shy away from the patterns that are only in diagram form.

This is my first snowflake. You can find the pattern here: Snowflake 2000