Tatting - The Transfer

Day 102: If I had a dollar for every person who's said to me, "I tried to learn to tat, but I kept getting knots in the wrong places," I'd have substantially more to spend on fibers than I do currently. That said, I sympathize with their plight. I made the same error when I tried to teach myself using a book. It wasn't until I got some...ahem...hands-on instruction that I saw what I was doing wrong.

It's difficult to see what is meant by "the transfer" when working with something as fine as crochet cotton, even in the larger sizes. To make it clearer, I wound a "Tatsy" with nylon cord. "Tatsy" is a giant economy-sized shuttle, very awkward to use with hands as small as mine. I can't imagine how you'd ever use it for a project, but that's neither here nor there because it serves its purpose well as a teaching tool.

For this demonstration, I'm only showing the first half of a double stitch (ds), but the principle is the same for the second part. Tatting is comprised of double stitches and picots. Double stitches are comprised of two half-hitches, the first made when the shuttle passes under and then over the ring thread, the second made when it passes over and then under (the exact opposite move). We won't worry about that for now. Let's just get the transfer down, because that's where people make their mistakes.

To start the first half of the ds, the shuttle thread is looped over the back of the working hand (right hand in my case), then passed under and over the ring thread, and under itself. The shuttle thread is then slid from the back of the hand and pulled tight as the tension is relaxed in the fingers holding the ring thread (left hand in this case). This allows the knot which has developed in the SHUTTLE thread to be transferred into the RING thread so that it actually slides along the shuttle thread as it (the shuttle thread) is pulled taut. Note the loop of thread in the center photo. Observe that it is still in the shuttle thread. Now look at the bottom image. The shuttle thread has been pulled tight, and the half hitch has transferred to the ring thread on my left hand. After a series of ds have been made, you'll see that they slide along the shuttle thread easily if the transfer has been done correctly. If not, they won't budge. When sufficient ds and picots have been made for a ring, the tatting is dropped from the left hand and the shuttle thread is pulled up to close the ring.

Most tatting is done with two threads, shuttle and ball. The shuttle thread is used to make the rings which give tatting its characteristic "little flowers" look, and the ball thread is used to make chains between rings. Tatting can also be made using tatting needles, although needle-tatting is seen less often than regular tatting.