Need Advice from Tatting Public

Remember this really ugly first draft?  I'm still working on it, and now I've tatted myself into a corner.

Lately, I've gotten into the habit of numbering the rings in a pattern (R1, R2, etc) with the idea this helps keep your place and helps with refering back and forth between the text and the diagram. This beastie has grown from its inauspicious beginning to an ungainly 135 rings, worked in one pass, which is way too big a number, especially for fitting numbers into the diagram.

What should I do?  If you were trying to work a pattern, which of these approaches would you prefer:

• Leave off the ring numbering altogether
• Number the rings up to 50, which would get you past the tricky parts
• At a certain place in the pattern, reset the numbering back to 1, which at least keeps it down to double digits
• Keep the numbers in the text pattern, even though it's a bit ungainly looking on the page, but only periodically place the ring numbers on the diagram after ring 50.

Thanks for your help!

First Drafts

Most tatters would be aghast at producing something that looks like this.  For me as a designer, it is an excellent first draft. I've tried a few ways to make a curved set of rings, and two ways to make the feet.  I can take what I've learned here and use it to make the next draft, and repeat the process until I've got it right.

I hear some folks can make a drawing or a diagram of exactly what they want and tat it right up.  Not me though.  My drawing isn't so great, and I need to visualize things in the thread.  For me, being a designer means being willing to do a lot of tatting that will be thrown away.

Now then, as first drafts go, this is awful.  Truly, truly awful.