Tatting the summer away.....

Earlier this year, a dear friend sent me some tatting shuttles. I have to admit that it had been some years, since I had tatted anything. 

So I decided to use the summer holiday to brush up on my tatting skills, now tatting is pretty straight forward but if you have doing a lot of crochet it can take a little while to get the movement, and tension right. It’s all down to muscle memory, the more you do something the better you get at it. So don’t start on a big project when learning a new technique, do small try-outs, learn to fix mistakes and don’t get discouraged… your brain is programed to remember movements, so just keep practicing !

If you are thinking about taking up tatting, here are a couple tips:

-        -   Learn how to attach a new thread.

-        -  Practice opening closed rings. You will need that skill to fix counting mistakes.

-      - Understand how to join the last ring to the first ring, when tatting in the round…. you don’t want a twisted picot.

There are lot’s of useful youtube videos and books, but one of my favorite for absolute beginners is:

Easy tatting by Rozella F. Linden 

Now that I’ve practiced a bit, maybe it’s time to take on a larger project ?

Tatting practice. The red circle is mixed tatting and crochet.

My largest project so far. Free pattern here:  http://www.lovelytatting.com/home/2016/12/2/snowflakes

My little growing collection of tatting books

Tatting theory and patterns by Jan Stawasz is just amazing, but not for the impatient soul. Beautiful, heirloom quality patterns, the book is hard to find but can be ordered here: http://www.gecom.pl/index.php/en/tatting_theory_and_patterns

PS. The books I recommend are my own preference, I  am not sponsored by the publishers nor authors.