Tatted Charm Bracelet

I just finished this tatted charm bracelet. It's meant to be a little Easter gift for my mom who is coming to visit. Of course I probably just spoiled the surprise, but I'm hoping she's too busy packing to think about my blog today.

This is just my third charm bracelet. I started making these during my last vacation. I was on the plane and started to tat little shapes. The shapes made me think of charms, so I gave them stems and leaves so that I would have a loop by which to hang them. Finally, I designed a simple vine chain and my tatted charm bracelet was born.

For my mom I went with two shades of pink. She's likes pastels and I thought the two colors looked pretty together. When it's on her wrist, it will hang so that the light and dark pinks alternate. I used size 10 crochet cotton so they are dainty , but still showy enough. The charms measure just over half an inch at their widest point.

I also think it's interesting that my magic number turned out to be 8 for this project. When I'm designing anything, a number usually emerges. I end up calling this my "magic number" in my head which I guess is silly. It begins with a base number. Let's say I decide to make a flower with nine petals. Then I have the number 9 in my head. Thereafter, I'll find myself making everything for that project in either factors or multiples of nine. If I stray from my magic number, things start to look wrong. "You have to stick with the magic number!" I remind myself.

My magic numbers are almost always odd, but now that I think about it, I'm not surprised to have a even magic number for a tatting project. Especially when I'm making split rings that are even on both sides. I also kind of like that the number is 8. My mom was born on the 8th day of her birth month and her bracelet has 8 flower charms. It's seems only fitting that her magic number turned out to be 8.

Now that I have revealed some of the odd workings of my mind, I will run and hide. Actually, I need to go dye some sapphire blue Merino. Oh no, not hiding at all!