The Wandering Path

Here is the penultimate round of Linda Davies' "Star Attraction" doily. (Note, this time I decided to link to Linda's blog, instead of directly to the pattern. If you scroll down her blog page a bit, you'll find links to lots of her patterns, including this one, in the right sidebar.)

I love the way the pink chains make a sort of meandering path around the doily, breaking up the blocks of blue. It occurs to me that if you used a variegated thread for the rings and a neutral colored solid for the chains, it would resemble a flower garden with a stone path wandering through it; or green chains would look like grass paths. I definitely think someone should tat it like this. Any takers?

I did have to block it after tatting this round. Those inward-pointing scallops all wanted to spread sideways, causing the whole thing to ruffle. Just a few pins and a little water brought them under control nicely. The next round has a ring that joins to the scallop to make it a complete circle (Did I mention how much I love the interplay between rounds on this doily?), so even without blocking the scallops would have been tamed by having that ring to hold them in place. However, the next round will be much easier to tat with this one lying flat.

At this point, it measures about 4 1/2 inches (11.4 cm) in diameter. The finished size will probably be a little over 5 inches. I was hoping for about 6 inches, so close enough.