Blast from the Past

Just now I opened up one of the decorative boxes sitting on my bookshelf and I found this little doily. I hadn't even thought of it for several years, and I made it even longer ago. I must have been about 14 or 15. It's from the very early stages of my tatting, when I had four humongous balls of size 10 crochet cotton in hunter green, navy blue, maroon, and white. I never tatted with any other thread. In fact, I STILL have four humongous balls of size 10 crochet cotton, because, people, those things LAST. They're each about half depleted right now. Of course, now I also (almost always) tat with other threads.

This doily was my first Celtic tatting. I remember it being a huge deal that I needed four shuttles for it. That was back when my only shuttles were the metal Susan Bates shuttles that my grandmother bought for me at JoAnns. The JoAnns in my town wasn't big enough to carry them. I was a little intimidated by the idea of Celtic tatting, but I loved the design enough to attempt it. That seems so long ago now, but with this little bit of the past in my hands, I still love the design, and I would still do it again. I know you all understand the feeling. We tatting addicts must stick together.