My tatting history or What I do while tatting

I learned to tat as a teen from an old book my Great-Aunt was throwing out. She had tried to teach me to knit and crochet. I learned the basics, but she wasn’t very encouraging after viewing my “finished” pieces….with good reason. Every time I set it down, I lost the little something that folks use to keep the tension the same. I was having the same problem with learning piano pieces, but there are no metronomes to use when knitting/crocheting. This book had 4 sections. Since my copy is missing the outer few pages, I’m not really sure of the title or even the publisher. Chadwick’s Red Heart and J & P Coats are listed in the materials section of the projects, so I’m assuming it was published by the company to help market their yarns and threads. The kid in me like the title of the tatting section “Watch my Shuttle Go” and the sound of the word tatted. Even though my brother was in the Navy at the time, I didn’t connect “tatted” with tattoos until much later in life. Anyway, Aunt Dorothy found an old shuttle in her stash and away I went. There wasn’t much available in my local area and I didn’t know of any other tatters. My musical career took off and college dominated my time. The tatting got stashed in a box and forgotten.

Fast forward about 25 years to a point in my life when I had plenty of time on my hands waiting and doing nothing. The why isn’t important to tatting, but I will say that it was my pleasure to be chief stage hand and taxi driver to a talented, geeky daughter. I also ended up in doctor’s waiting rooms for many hours. Tatting began to fill all those hours waiting and watching. It is portable, fun, and I was having a good deal better success than with knitting needles or crochet hooks. Besides, tatting a few DS to Bach solo Cello music is my idea of spending a delightful evening. The internet has made a great deal more available to tatters now. I've found several wonderful communities: inTatters , The Online Tatting Class , Lace Museum in Sunnyvale  , Lacis to name just a few.

Now that my nest is “empty” and I’m reacquainting myself with free time, I cannot just sit still. Fancy that! So, I tat while listening to books on tape, watching the tv, riding in the car, and even waiting in the line at the Post Office. More on where my tatted pieces end up on a different day in a different post. I forgot to add yesterday a picture of the bookmark I was working on at the Open House. It is from Learning to Tat by Janette Baker.

Bookmark from Tearn to Tat by Janette Baker