The Tattered Maiden

 Life is always about balancing the things we have to do. Today I am embarking on a new journey as a Teachers Assistant in Pre-K at a local elementary school. However, I do not desire quitting this blog nor any of my crafts. And so, I must hunt for that balance. It is currently 4:30 as I am writing this. I woke early with my mind full of thoughts on how to balance and keep myself healthy. Then I remembered one of the greatest things about tatting…It’s portable.  I can literally tat anywhere. All I have to do is have a loaded shuttle (or two) with me at all times. Since most of my pants have pockets and I’ll have my work bag, this should be no problem because of fact number two. Tatting shuttles are small. With the exception of my Tatsy shuttles most of my shuttles are no longer than 2 1/2 inches in length.  So, when my alarm goes off at 7 am, I will load up two shuttles to keep with me. And I can go to work, have my tatting and maintain that balance which eluded me upon w...

I am trying to figure out how to get more views on my blog and thought maybe a short advertisement on my other social media sites would help. My 1st question: is the video length good? And my 2nd question: Would this be helpful at all?

When you learn tatting you need to adopt what I call a "learning as I go" mentality. The short explanation of this is, accept that you will not learners aspect of tatting immediately. The long explanation of this is going to be the basis for today's post.  I do not know every aspect of tatting. I've been tatting for nearly a decade and I'm still learning. Tatting has so many aspects that you cannot possibly learn them all in 1 year. Especially, if you're like me, when just learning the double stitch itself can be so complicated. It took me a year to understand the process behind making a double stitch. But when you finally get that first project made, the exhilaration makes up for the shear disappointment of how long it took. Patience is lesson number 1. Take your time, pay attention to your work and be willing to throw away a lot of mistakes.  The easiest project, or motif, I ever learned is one that is still my favorite to use today. In fact you've seen ...

 Monday’s post happening on Tuesday has thrown off my whole week. My humble apologies.  Today I want to discuss the three main tools for making the rings and chains of our tatted lace. I will start with the tool I know the least about.  Cro-tat Hooks look like a cross between a small tatting needle, a crochet hook and the tool used in latch hook designs. From what I’ve seen in videos you form the loops on the cro-tat tool exactly as you would a tatting needle for the rings only. Then to work the chains you use the tool as a normal crochet hook and make as many chains as your pattern tells you for the double stitches. However, you cannot add picots using this tool. Instead you have beautiful handmade lace that combines the looks of tatting and crochet. I’ve seen some finished works online for cro-tatting and it looks beautiful. If only I could find a cro-tat hook for myself.  I have more experience with tatting needles than the tool mentioned above. Tatting needles co...

My humble apologies for not having a post yesterday. Three things happened to prevent my post. Well, four if you count my sister being in town over the weekend. First, it was my dad's birthday and he requested no screen time yesterday. I obliged. Second, mom had an overnight stay for testing at the medical center and I had to help her organize and pack. And third, my niece got engaged.  I am going to tat her earrings for the ceremony and her bridesmaids as well. At least that is what she wants at this point. I am so excited to get a new nephew, my first nephew-in-law. (Is that really a thing?) We met him over the weekend as well. He's a nice guy.  So, with all that excitement and my dad's no screen request yesterday's post was delayed to today.  Tatted jewelry is perfect for weddings! The delicacy and, for some even more talented than I, intricacy of the final construction can be tailored to suit the bride and her dress. For my cousin's wedding I did butterfly earri...