Another Butterfly

Isn't this a happy little guy? He just looks like, "Ta-DA! I'm a butterfly!" He is, of course, "Seven" by Sherry Pence from her book "The Exquisite Collection of Tatted Butterflies".
Sherry's original version has the rings one color and the chains a contrasting color, which is very striking. However, being a lazy soul, I worked this pattern all in one color (DMC size 80 in purple variegated). Oh, and it wasn't her idea to tie mismatched knots in the antennae -- that was just me. I was only going to tie a knot in the ends, but they didn't match. So, I thought, "Well, I could tie one higher on this side and one lower on that side." No I couldn't. And I tried it twice! I thought about tying another at the bottom of the left antennae and cutting off the top -- but figured the poor guy would soon end up with no antennae at all!

Hippopotami

Aren't they sweet? Tat it and See -- a hippopotamus! Jane Eborall's newest creature has been fun to make. It's been really interesting to note how many people all over the world were working on this pattern. I missed a picot on the third day, but didn't discover it until the seventh day. Drat. I started over with the DMC size 80 orange variegated thread. I left it at home one day, but happened to have a pair of shuttles wound with one strand of Gütermann white quilting thread and one strand of Signature pink ombre machine embroidery thread. So, of course I started again to catch up. My nieces recommended the blue eye for the pink hippo, but I picked black for the orange guy.