The Old-Fashioned Heart in a Newfangled Way!

This is a lovely pattern from the talented hands of Etha Schuette,  and I had always meant to tat it.  She first published it in 2000 (I believe), and has recently updated it (discovered this by browsing her site).

It’s not complicated at all, although it looks it!  It’s a surprisingly fast tat for such a detailed lace motif, and after tatting one by her original pattern, I started thinking of ways to not have to deal with the ends.  To me, the most obvious was – find some way to use them, such as for the tail of a bookmark.

I started on the chain at the bottom of the heart and worked my way around; climbed out with a split ring, and climbed into the second (and last) row via a second split ring.  When I had tatted all around the heart and was back at the beginning, I joined into the base of the second split ring and tatted a third split ring for the point at the bottom of the heart.  Now I'm ready to start a lock stitch chain.