Oops! I done broke it!

I am completely new to the whole tatting thing.  As such, I have very limited knowledge about what one should or should not attempt during the beginner phase.  A little advice, don't start out with size 80 thread!  I was using my grandmother's old supplies, shuttle and thread.  The shuttle works great, however the thread was so delicate that it broke off as I was trying to tighten a ring!  So I've decided to proceed in a more traditional fashion.  I've been reading LOTS of tatting blogs over the past few days and I thought I would start simpler and with bigger thread.  And to keep me going, I thought I would try the 25 Motif Challenge.  In short, I'm going to attempt just over two motifs a month and try to finish 25 of them before next November.  Here we go!

I thought I'd try my first motif fairly simply.  I found a pattern for a four-leaf- clover on Georgia Seitz's Online Tatting Class.  I thought I'd try it because who couldn't use a little extra luck in their lives?  I found a dark green ball of size 20 cotton thread left over from an earlier crocheted project that has been languishing in my stash.  I thought it was time to see if I could use it for my next attempt.  I thought I would try the version of the pattern that has the little four-leaf-clover on a paper clip.  We'll see how it goes!