My start in tatting

My first bit of tatting: learning chains and rings.

My tatting skills were not very good. My tension was inconsistent, I left large gaps between rings, and I thought I could join rings together by tying them all together with the end of the thread! This is a horrible, embarrassing piece of work.
But it also showed that I was getting better. The blue bit with the two white rings is where I began, and it is ugly. Irregular tension, twisted lengths of thread that I did not mean to be picots, and messed up double stitches.
Then there is the green length of rings. Twisted and only partially closed, with spacious gaps that serve little purpose. But the green length of chain showed some improvement in tension consistency and only a little bit of twisting.
That little mess of blue rings was horrendous. It was followed by an attempt to add in more thread. But while the blue and pink double stitches were cool in coloration, they were awkward to tat.
The lone green ring was still a little twisted, but it was better then my previous rings.
The pink length of chain was mostly consistent in tension, and purposely twisted, though the picots were irregularly spaced and inconsistent in size.
Then came the mess of green rings. Loose and full of picots, I joined them together by running a long piece of thread through the base of some rings and the picots of others.

It is hideous and full of mistakes, but that's not the point. This was the work of a beginner, of someone who was uncomfortable holding a shuttle. It is not a fine bit of lace done in size 80, but a shy attempt at learning a craft with size 10 crochet thread.
It was the hesitant first steps of one who thought she couldn't do crafts.
It is a reminder that beginnings are not often pretty. But they can grow into fantastic adventures.
So don't give up at the beginning. And don't throw your beginnings into a fire.