Tatting

Tatting??? You mean like, tattoos???? No. Noooooo. NOOOOOOOOOOOO. =P

Tatting is a form of lace falling into the abyss of who-cares-ism characteristic of this time and age. Apparently, the word is derived from the french word “frivolité” (don’t ask me how it’s derived, because really, I have no clue at all), which means something frivolous, lace-y, light, flirty, futile. Basically, the name comes from the fact that this the of lace is not very heavy-duty, is super light and airy and elegant, and has a solely decorative purpose. This type of lace comes with little loops called picots (french word for little dot), and with those you can create beautiful lace patterns, for they give a lightness to the chains created.

To tat, you need small crochet yarn, of maybe 1mm, or less. A hook can also help, but most important, you need at least two tatting shuttles. A tatting shuttle, featured on left, is basically like a little holder for your thread that you will pass through loops to knot it and create the knot you wished to obtain. Often rounded, one side usually is smoother to permit easy gliding through the loops without damaging your work, while the other side can have a more pointed edge, or even a hook. This will be to control the size of the picots and straighten the work as it goes along, but also to aid in the joining of neighbouring picots. 

My other grandmother, not the crochet one, the everything else one, well, she is the one that gave me her tatting shuttles and some yarn and pieces of tatting she had tried out. I am lucky for she had some good quality metal tatting shuttles, for the plastic ones, even though they work, aren’t as great as those with a bobbin inside. But yes, I have been practicing a little, but before going full on into tatting, I want to get through with a couple more doilies, finish my scarf and learn more about knitting. I actually will take a crochet and knitting class with my mother this autumn! I’ll say more about that in a further post, but yeah, I’m going to be busy, so tatting is gonna have to wait.