That's the End of T'at!

The good side to internet outages is that I'm catching up on old projects. This tatted doily had migrated to the bottom of a tin with the outer row of rosettes only just begun, neglected for the better part of a year. With a week of no computer followed by two days of dead internet, I was able to finish it up on Valentine's Day. Other than a pair of socks which I'm having trouble sticking with because the yarn is such poor quality, I believe this polishes off all my old projects. Time to start some new ones! I get bored easily, so I like to have a variety of things to work on, tatting here, embroidering there, weaving, etc., hands never idle unless they're occupied with cuddling Merry. It's amazing how much you can get done when you don't have distractions like internet (and it should be noted, I haven't had television for forty years).

Lace and Lace-making Tools

Day 44: If you're a lace-maker, it should be fairly easy for you to pair up these six different types of lace with the tools used to make them, and even if you can't match them all, you should be able to get the rest by inference. However, if you're not a lace-maker...if you're one of those people who annoy me by calling tatting "crochet"...here's your chance to learn more about lace in its various forms. These are by no means the only ways lace can be made, and even within each type/style, there are variations (bobbin lace can be Honiton, Bedsfordshire, etc., crochet can be Irish, filet, and so on), but those are subjects of a more technical nature. I should have included a piece of Teneriffe (a needle-made, knotted lace), and #6 could have been a better example if I had made it with a much finer thread), and I did not include hardanger which, while it can be lacy, is not technically "lace." Now that I have set the stage, let me say that my love of lace is my one and only "pink and fluffy" side. No, it doesn't go well with hiking boots and flannel shirts, but I love making it, even if I don't wear it. Now...match 'em up, tool (letter) to lace (number), and don't look at the answers until you're done. 

How did you do?

1 is of course bobbin lace, arguably the finest lace I make, using cotton or linen threads in the #100-125 range. You make it with bobbins like those shown at C (anything from five to hundreds of pairs). The example used 22 pairs.

2 is good ol' crochet like your granny used to do. I prefer to work with #20-#50 threads for doilies and edgings. It is made with a hook (a #12 is shown at E).

3 is netted lace. It is made with a netting needle/shuttle like the one shown at F. The knots are the same ones used to make fishing nets.

4 is knitted lace. This particular example was made by my husband's grandmother using 4-6 knitting pins (extremely fine knitting needles) similar to those shown at B.

5 is tatting, easily identifiable by the "ring and chain" design elements. It can be made with a shuttle like the one at A, but I prefer to use a tatting needle (not shown).

6 is needle lace (and a rather clunky, for-purposes-of-demonstration piece made with #20 crochet cotton). It is usually made with a fine, blunt-pointed tapestry needle, although it can be made with a standard sewing needle (D) if you're careful not to split the threads. Small motifs such as this one can be joined with chains and/or other filling stitches to make much larger works.

Half A Tat

Day 22: As if this election wasn't enough to fray my nerves, it has been compounded by having to have the repairman out to take another look at my heat pump which recently stopped working properly. The good news is that it is still under warranty. The bad news is that I will have to keep using the Cadet heater while an extensive parts list is ordered and filled. That list includes the compressor. It will probably be at least a week, maybe more for the work can be scheduled. Even at the best of times, I tend to have the attention span of a gerbil, becoming bored with whatever I've picked up to work on within five to ten minutes and then moving on to something else. Consequently, projects demanding focus and/or time have been back-burnered for the duration. Today was spent hopping between tatting, weaving on two band looms, knitting, working puzzles (anagrams and sudoku), reading and fidgeting. I'm getting a lot done. I'm just doing it in fits and starts. I'm not the only member of the household who was nervous about having a repairman in the house. Merry had to be locked in the bathroom for the duration, and once the technician had left, my poor little catty kept winding himself around my ankles, wanting hugs and love and reassurance. He has worse ahead of him. It's going to take about four hours for the heat pump to be repaired.

A Different Breed Of Tat

Day 201: I have to admit that when I purchased Hye-oon Lee's two-volume set, "Lovely Tatting," I thought I might have come up against a challenge I couldn't meet. I knew before I bought them that the patterns were written for shuttle tatters, and that I would want to convert them to needle-tatting which is my preferred method, but I didn't expect any difficulty there. Nor did I find it. However, the designs were so intricate and were such a very "different breed of tat" with many long chains and Josephine knots that I put the books on the shelf wondering if I would ever open them with a mind to actually doing the work. There is a lot of measuring here to keep the chains equal in length, so in addition to the tiny crochet hook on the chatelaine I wear when tatting, I must keep a plastic gauge handy, marked with tape showing the length of the chains in any particular row. At the end of each chain, I measure and adjust before making the ring which follows it. In this pattern, Josephine knots (the blue "bumps" at the middles of the chains) are made every other row, and require a second needle. I still have three rows to complete before this doily is done, but I have fallen in love with the author's non-traditional designs. In between work sessions, I delight in looking at the photographs in her books, many of which were taken in the Paradise area of Mount Rainier National Park!

Tatting In Easter Colours

Day 149: Now while I don't let him completely dictate the pattern of my life, my Boy is getting old and deserves a few accommodations. Finding projects to work while your lap is occupied by fourteen pounds of fur-covered lard immediately excludes weaving on any of my small looms, rules out knitting a sweater or crocheting an afghan, or anything else where I would need to be sitting in a prescribed position or shifting a large piece of work. Admittedly, he's found a way to insinuate himself under my sit-on embroidery frame, but there's always the risk of poking one or the other of us with the needle. Consequently, I've made a lot of socks this winter, and I've done a fair bit of tatting. This is my most recent project, an oval doily. I started it less than a week ago and am done with half the last row of medallions. The center is worked in the same purple-and-green variegated thread as the outer row, and is followed by three rows of plain lavender. I think that lone crocus may have influenced my Easter-y colour choice.

In The Dark Again

Day 19: By some great stroke of luck, I had finished my morning ablutions, eaten breakfast and, most importantly, had a cup of coffee, and had settled in to await the dawn while doing some needlework. I had put three stitches on the tatting needle when the lights flickered once, twice, stayed on for a whole five seconds and then went out entirely. "Well," I said aloud, "I'm in the pitch-bloomin'-bloody-black-dark again." Fortunately, our service area is small and our utilities crews are prompt. A little over two and a half hours later, power was restored. However, it is at times like these that I wonder how those mediaeval women ever did their meticulous, intricate work by rushlight, or how pioneer women were able to manufacture garments and embroideries by candle or lantern light with such skill that it meets or surpasses that of most needleworkers today. Admittedly, my vision is impaired, and specifically in low-light situations, but crafting a neat join by flashlight was almost beyond me. I got that far, and laid my work aside to prevent the possibility of a misplaced stitch being made. Power outages drive me to knitting. I can do that with my eyes closed.

Learning A New Technique

Day 338: There I was, going blithely along after having tatted several split-ring snowflakes, and suddenly the eye of my needle was on the wrong side of the work, preventing me from drawing the next ring closed in a manner which left the working thread in the proper position. My first thought was that I had read the pattern incorrectly, but no, I'd followed the arrows, worked the sections in the proper order, but my needle was definitely backwards. Then I realized something: although I've needle-tatted "throw-out rings" (TORs) on chain sections, I had never orphaned a ring off another ring. My pattern was written for shuttle tatters, but theoretically, everything you can achieve with a shuttle should also be able to be done with a needle even though it may require different steps. Thinking that was the issue, I pulled the work apart and started over. After several hours of frustration, I was almost resigned to having to form one ring as a series of chains which would have left it more angular than the rest, but I was still sure there had to be a way. After dragging out several other tatting books, I found the answer: use a second needle for the TORs. Live and learn, they say, and I consider a day wasted when I don't learn at least one new thing, although I usually like to know that I'm entering the classroom before I get partway into a project.

International Tatting Day

Day 171: Who would have thought that there was such a thing as "International Tatting Day?" I didn't know it until I called to order more materials from my favourite supplier and was told that in honour of the day, I would receive a free ball of thread for every four I selected. Since I already had seven balls on my list, the offer was a no-brainer. Known also as "frivolite" in French and "chiacchierino" in Italian (the two countries famed for their development and execution of the art), tatting looks complicated but in fact is nothing more than a series of rings and chains made up of clove hitches or half hitches made over a core thread. It can be made with a shuttle or with a special needle. It can be very delicate when made with 80-weight thread or finer, or it can resemble macramé if done with heavy cord. Its lacy appearance is influenced by picots (loops of a single thread) placed between the knots. Surprisingly versatile in the manner in which its elements can be joined and combined, tatting is less popular among needleworkers than crochet or knitting, yet it is easy to learn and very portable. I am happy to say it seems to be experiencing a resurgence of interest, as evidenced by the fact that in the late 1990s, it was accorded its own international day, April 1.

A Tisket, A Tasket, A Little Tatted Basket

Day 169: A tisket, a tasket!
A little tatted basket!

These Easter/May baskets have been in the developmental stage for the last two weeks and finally, I'm satisfied with the pattern. I've used Lizbeth #20 thread to construct these two, a little finer than the cheaper crochet cotton I used while experimenting to get the flare of the bowl and handle attachment just right. In one earlier version, I'd tried a Fenton-style ruffle around the top edge, but in the softer Lizbeth thread, it tended to collapse even when heavily starched. There are a lot of things to consider when creating any type of needlework pattern, of which practicality (the intended function of the finished piece), style, fiber and ease of construction are only a few elements. I haven't entirely dismissed the Fenton-inspired design idea, but I believe it would be better made with a heavier thread. That said, I prefer not to use #10, putting it in the category of "ship's hawser," and don't keep it on hand. However, in the back of my mind is a stray thought about tatting a bath mat from strips of t-shirt jersey. Now that would be different, and it would get me up and walking as I pretended to be a needle passing back and forth over a cord strung from one side of my living room to the other.

Wish Me Luck!

Day 115: Back in the days when I did a lot of hardanger work, I entered pieces into a national contest, twice receiving honourable mention, which amounted to a cash prize and publication in the annual awards pattern book. Other than those two ventures into competition, I have not put any of my work up for judging except at the Washington State Fair. There I also received ribbons in each of the three categories for which I submitted pieces (a first prize and two second prizes, each of two years). Recently I learned of a tatting/crochet contest in which there will be twelve winners, each to be rewarded with $35 in merchandise and publication in a 2021 calendar. Patterns must be "original or adapted from public domain," i.e., vintage patterns for which the copyright has expired. You may recall an earlier post showing this same design in ecru, thread which my mother had purchased in to 1940s intending to make a pineapple tablecloth. She never got around to it, and the thread (perfectly preserved) came to me. Somewhere along the line, the pattern went missing, so I decided to make the tablecloth in tatting instead, and created this original design motif. Since the calendar contest closes in April, I knew I wouldn't be able to finish the whole piece (I only have 58 motifs made), I decided to zip up a fast 2 x 2 in white #20 as my entry. Wish me luck!

Cluny Tatting

Day 105: A very long time ago, I was quite active in a mediaeval reenactment group, and naturally was part of the needleworkers' guild. Our Guild Mistress was...well, there's really no polite way to say this...she was rather too convinced that her scope of knowledge included all there was with respect to the needlearts. I had lost my instructions for cluny tatting and couldn't remember the complicated lacing of the thread between the fingers, and approached her, hoping for assistance in finding a source for written instructions. My inquiry was met not simply with rejection, but with outright dismissal: "There is no such thing as cluny tatting. You mean cluny crochet." I suppose I must admit to a little of the same pride in the extent of my needlework knowledge, but at least I try to remain open to the idea that there might be something I've never heard of. She was not, even when I tried to explain the method as best I could recall it. However, somewhere down the line someone else confronted her with photocopied pages from a vintage booklet showing how to do "petal tatting," and thus it was that copies of the copies came to me some three or four years later without a word of apology.

Now in those days, I was still tatting with a shuttle, and the process of creating cluny "leaves" like the ones shown inside the row of typical tatted "clovers" in the photo on the right was a tedious and tangled process. I did very little cluny as a consequence, although I kept the instructions where they could never again go astray. Recently I was searching for fine-weight crochet thread and discovered a source for tatting supplies of all sorts. Their catalog offered a leaflet on cluny tatting, and something called a "cluny loom." I thought it looked like a gadget, i.e., something which would only serve to complicate the process, but I bought one, and I have to admit that last night, I kept shouting, "This is just the greatest thing since sliced bread! Look at these cute little clunies!" until Tippy moved off my lap. The instructions for the loom are almost idiot-proof, not only printed on the loom itself, but also in a photographic step-by-step guide. The loom can be used with shuttle or needle, and the cluny leaves come together very quickly and easily. The Guild Mistress is no longer with us, or I would be tempted to send her one, just for snark.

Tricks Of The Trade

Day 97: My grandmother was an expert needlewoman and taught me almost everything I know, "almost" being a qualifier. Gma did not tat, nor did anyone else in my immediate family, so when I took a job as an art-needlework consultant at the ripe old age of 18, I was determined to remedy this lack of knowledge. One of my co-workers was a practitioner of the art and agreed to teach me to tat with a shuttle, and for years, that was how I did my tatting. Now I needle-tat, a quicker process by far, but that's not the subject of this discussion.

My husband's maternal grandmother, like many of the women of her generation, was also skilled in a number of needleart techniques. She and I hit it off from Day One because of our common interests. She taught me a valuable and simple way to keep my picots even (picots..."pee-koes"...are the little loops made by a single thread along the edges of a ring or chain). Today, you can buy "picot gauges" in a variety of types, but Grandma Agnes' method costs nothing (or next to nothing). Simply make a mark on your finger with indelible ink showing the length of thread (use a ruler) to be left between double stitches where a picot occurs. It will wash off or wear off in time, so make a note of the measurement so you can reapply it at need.

Washington State Fair 2019

Day 347: I entered three pieces in the Washington State Fair's Home Arts "Textiles" competition this year: a hardanger centerpiece, a tatted doily and a handwoven bag with a shoulder strap. Of the three pieces, the one I didn't think the judges would even give a second glance was the bag. Okay, I wove the body and the strap on two different types of looms (floor loom and backstrap), and it was fully lined, but it was just a simple tabby weave. Surprisingly, it brought me a first-place ribbon. The hardanger and tatting both took second place in their class. This was my second year at the Fair. Last year's entries also took two seconds and a first. I'm already at work on entries for 2020!

Two Dozen Motifs

Day 188: "Idle hands are the devil's playground." While I don't believe in a devil, my grandmother's caution is valid. Idle hands...or worse, an idle mind...are bound to find all sorts of mischief. Sixteen days ago, I started the Tablecloth Project. Since that time, I have been working in the garden, experimenting with colour-pooling crochet, making trips to Seattle and Puyallup for Morris dance practice and shopping, reading, hiking, playing Angry Birds, and I've still managed to make two dozen motifs. My goal is to tat at least one motif per day, so I'm ahead of the schedule which will put the tablecloth in next year's Washington State Fair.

People often ask me how I find time for all my crafts. The answer is simple: I don't watch TV, and that takes us back to my addendum to Gma's advice, i.e., the dangerous ground of the idle mind. Hands occupied with a craft and a mind attendant on preventing errors in a pattern don't have time to dwell on grievances and woes. Even better, you'll have something worthwhile when you're done rather than looking back at hours wasted in front of the idiot box. Craft-work may be frustrating when first learning a new technique or art, but even so, it provides mental stimulation, and working at a more familiar craft can be relaxing as well as rewarding. Put down the remote (better yet, have a friend hide it) and pick up your knitting needles, paintbrushes, potter's clay, whatever, and make something. It's good for you.

Rings And Chains

Day 175: Needle-tatting is also occasionally referred to as "speed tatting," and indeed, it progresses substantially faster than tatting done with a shuttle. As I've mentioned before, the drawback is that the picots (tiny single-thread loops) are less stable due to the fact that the double-stitches holding them in place are by default loose enough that the tatting needle can be drawn through them. That said, the trade-off isn't as bad as it sounds when the needleworker can complete a project quickly. The 11" x 7" doily on the right, made with #20 cotton, took a mere three days, partly because of the large number of chains which give it an open, airy feel. My original tablecloth pattern (left, four joined motifs) is more dense and therefore more labour-intensive. When joining motifs in tatting, care must be taken to keep all right sides up. The piece of blue yarn is temporary, and tells me at a glance which face of the work is the back. I am hoping to have the tablecloth completed in time to submit to the Washington State Fair in 2020.

Exhibit A

Day 167: By the time I'd made a dozen of the rosette motifs which form the wide border of this 9" doily, I had memorized the pattern and was having trouble motivating myself to complete one each day. Made with size 40 cotton, this needle-tatted lace will be one of my submissions to the Washington State Fair this year. Last year, I entered two weavings and a handkerchief edged with bobbin lace, and took one first prize and two second prizes. I'll be changing up the types of needlework this time around, at the very least subbing in tatting and hardanger, although I may also include one woven piece as my "signature" item. Last year was the first time I'd entered the Fair, and hindsight being so much sharper than foresight, I now regret not listening to my husband as he encouraged me to submit something, anything to demonstrate my skills. I'd walked through the exhibits, mentally comparing my work to those of the long-time competitors and figured that nothing I'd made would make it out of the starting gate. When I saw the award ribbons next to those first submissions, my first thought was of Bruce. I wish he could have shared in my delight. And just as a personal footnote here, it was Bruce's grandma who helped me perfect my tatting technique. I was thinking of her while I was making this doily, remembering how she used to put a mark on her finger with indelible ink as a guide for the length of her picots. I didn't go quite that far, although I used a gauge for the chains in this piece.

More Than One Way To Skein A Tat

Day 117: A little over two weeks ago, I showed you how to transfer the knot in shuttle tatting. Since most people think of tatting as being made with a shuttle and the transfer is where the most common error occurs, I thought it was a valuable lesson. Today I'd like to demonstrate an alternate method for producing those rings and chains. In other words, there's more than one way to skein a tat! I'm referring to needle-tatting

Faster, more consistent, almost foolproof, needle-tatting differs from shuttle tatting primarily in the fact that double-stitches and picots, whether in rings or chains, are almost always made with the ball thread. The thread which runs from the needle only provides the core for the knots. In the photo, you'll see a standard shuttle with a ring just made. Just to the left of the ring, you can see a chain in progress on a tatting needle. Some of the picots have been left open so that you can see how a length of thread is left unknotted in order to leave a small loop (the picot). When a sufficient number of stitches has been made, the needle is drawn through and the work is snugged up. An overhand knot is placed at the end of the chain to hold it in place, and then the work is continued, making the next stitches as the pattern requires.

Yes, you, in the back of the room, you have a question? "Why, if needle-tatting is faster, idiot-proof and more uniform, isn't it the preferred way to tat?" I'm glad you asked.

Because needle-tatting stitches are formed over a needle of a given diameter, the knots do not snug down as tightly against the core thread as they do in shuttle-tatting. This makes the work somewhat less stable, particularly when picots are being formed. The knots on either side of the single-strand picot tend to seek a balance, gradually working loose and causing the picot to disappear after several washings. To prevent this, when I close a ring or draw up a chain, I tug each picot a little tighter with a needle or my fingers to help stabilize it. It's rather a pain in the neck, but as a trade-off for being able to complete a doily in just a few days, I actually prefer to tat with a needle.

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.

Two Tatters' Tatting

Day 75: Having learned most of my needlearts from my grandmother, I went to work as an art-needlework consultant not long after my 18th birthday. I made it clear to my employer that whatever other skills I might have, I did not know how to tat. I'd tried to teach myself to no avail (and since have learned that I was making the mistake most beginners make of getting the knot in the wrong thread). I was fortunate in that another of the employees was an expert tatter and even more to her credit, she was a patient teacher. She took my hands in hers and stepped me through the motions, explaining how the knot was transferred from one thread to the other so that the ring could be tightened when the sequence of double-stitches was complete. The tatting mystery was solved.

There weren't many patterns available in those days, but my husband's grandmother had a stash from the 1930s-1940s. She and I got along famously because of our shared interest in needlework. When she moved into an elder-care facility, she gave me her books. When she passed away, her incomplete projects came into my hands and were tucked away for safekeeping as heirlooms. Two of the edgings above are hers: the off-white piece and the aqua/yellow. The brown and orange are mine, including the hemstitching on the handkerchief. Can you tell? I thought not. Tatting is a timeless art.

Laces

Day 112: How many ways are there to manipulate a piece of thread? When it comes to lace-making, there are more than you might think. This photo shows four of the most common lace-making techniques, and within each of these, there are numerous variations. From left to right, top to bottom, you see examples of crochet, bobbin lace, tatting and knit lace. Each is done with different tools, i.e., a hook, bobbins, a shuttle or double-pointed needles. In knitting and crochet, the stitches are made by drawing a loop through another loop. In bobbin lace, threads are simply crossed over one another. In tatting, half-hitches are formed over a base thread and snugged into place. By using different weights of thread, the lace may be made finer or coarser. Bobbin lace is generally done with very fine thread, and crochet uses the heavier materials with knitting and tatting falling somewhere in between. A good needleworker should never be bored, not with so many options available to keep her fingers flying.