Too long

I've been away from my shuttles for too long! So many things have happened and I just haven't had the necessary focus for tatting. In August I went to Santa Fe for Indian Market. I'd been invited by friends but turned them down at first; I wasn't sure I could cope with the crowds that were sure to be at Market. Then a dear friend died and I realized that I needed to get away, even if only for a weekend. The drive to Santa Fe is about five hours, counting stops at Santa Rosa and the Turquoise Trail. Tatting seemed like a good thing to pass the time. I happened to mention it to our hostess and she said she'd like to learn tatting. I gave her a brief lesson, not enough to really help, but enough to show her that the flip is the key to success. When we got home I made a couple of motifs to send to her as a thank you. The initial motif is #30 from Minitats, and the second one is adapted from that. I followed the pattern but didn't get the same result as the sample in the book so I added a few stitches to the chains and subtracted a few from the rings. Here's the result:

The bottom one is the original; I didn't like the way the two rings were so close together so I made the chains a bit longer on the second one. I also made the four rings a bit smaller. I chose this pattern because it reminds me of the Zia symbol. I used Lizbeth 125, Sea Scape, in size 10.