Change of Plan

First, I have to report a Tatting Sighting. If you live in the US and have Netflix, you should definitely watch the show Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. If you live in Australia, I assume you can see it on TV, or telly, or whatever you call it down there. For the rest of the world, I don't know how you can see the show, but you should definitely find a way.

Anyway, in Miss Fisher's 1920's house there are a number of doilies that I have often suspected were tatted, but there was never a clear enough shot to be certain. For some reason, the camera tends to focus on the actors instead of the doilies. But a new season of the show just made it onto Netflix, and in the very first episode there is one very clear, focused close-up of the doily in the middle of Miss Fisher's drawing room-- and yes, it is most definitely tatted!

Now, on to the change of plan with my own doily. I was planning to make it round, with one central motif surrounded by six others. I wasn't really happy with round, since it's going on a rectangular box, but I thought if I made it oval it would be too long for the box. That's because I was thinking of making it oval by starting with the round and adding just two more motifs at opposite points of the circle. Then I realized there is another way of making it oval: a row of three motifs, then a row of four, then another row of three. This oval will be just a little shorter than it would have been the other way, and will fit on the box. And by oval, I mean elongated hexagon; it will truly be a miniaturized version of what's in the book.

This means tatting more motifs than I originally planned; I now have three left to do. That's the advantage of a doily made of motifs over one made in the round: you can easily change the size and shape as you go. Think of Jeff's Windmill doily (is it still a doily, Jeff, or does it qualify as a tablecloth yet?).

The last three motifs shouldn't take too long, but then there's the edging. I always get bored with edgings.

Finally, a plea. Does anyone know where I can find more plastic crochet hook caps like this?

I can't find them online anywhere, but maybe I just don't have the right search terms. I e-mailed Lacis, but they said the caps aren't available. There's nothing on the Clover website. I tried knitting needle caps, but the small size was still way too big. I have three crochet hooks small enough that they really need caps so they don't stab their way through my tatting bag-- sizes 0.4mm, 0.5mm, and 0.7mm. This is the only cap that hasn't gotten lost, and you can see the sorry condition it's in. So if anybody knows a source for these, I will be eternally grateful!