Learning to Tat

Tatting was a favorite activity of my husband's grandmother, who recently passed away. She learned tatting from an aunt she used to visit as a child and would make rings with picots that would then be glued to card stock for hand-made note cards. Recently, I was shown some of the little note cards that she'd made that had some of her tatting incorporated, which made it look a fairly simple, so I thought I'd give it a try.
I went to Joanne's and picked up some plastic tatting shuttles, crochet thread, and a book called "Learn to Tat" by Jeanette Baker, which came with a DVD. When I checked out, the lady at the register told me that tatting was starting to make a come-back, and that I was the 3rd or 4th person to come in and buy supplies that day.

So I went home and got to work on learning the basics. The book was helpful and had nice, concise directions. It even has several patterns in the back.

Here is my first strand of rings and rings with picots:


I'm working my way through the book, and then I plan on practicing with some of the patterns in the back. The nice part about tatting is that you can make some really nice edging for sewing projects and that it's very portable. Once the shuttle is wrapped, you can just stick it in your bag and go :)

I wonder if they make lighted tatting shuttles?

Happy Birthday, Grandma Rohrer.