Motif Four and a Challenge

My closet in my new apartment has room to add another storage drawer unit (those cheap Sterilite ones) so this weekend I was able to reorganize my thread. Well! I had more thread than I thought I did. I had thread I had forgotten about. I can't say I had any that I didn't recognize, but some of it went a long way down memory lane.

I started to make a new resolution for using the thread, but then I decided to make it a challenge for everyone. I call this challenge: "Exercise Your Stash". Do you have a ball/skein with just a little bit left? Use it up! Do you have some exotic type thread you brought home and put in a drawer and never picked up again? Wind some on your shuttles and take it for a test drive! Then show everyone your work. If it was an out of the ordinary thread, tell how it worked out. This should be fun.

If you prefer, another version of the challenge could be "Exercise Your Library". How many tatting books do you own that you have never worked a pattern from?

To start off, I found a little wad of Caron Wildflowers, a little more than four yards. This thread is a little like a matte finish perle cotton and little like HDT. Back when variegated tatting thread was hard to come by, I would get some of this at the local yarn shop. I still do occasionally when the colors call out to me. The pattern is Spring Flowers Bookmark by Julie Patterson, available on the Ring of Tatters site. Edging style bookmarks are good for using up thread since you can make a strip and stop when the thread runs out. With tassel, this is six inches long, a bit petite, but good for a paperback. This is a nice easy pattern but still visually interesting.