Totally Tatted

A Tatted and Beaded Bracelet and Earring Set

A couple of months ago I went to YarnWorks yarn shop in Gainesville, Florida to attend a two session Shuttle Tatting workshop, it was instructed by Laurie, who also teaches needle tatting.  YarnWorks is the yarn shop that the Inkle Weavers Group meets every Friday, so it’s kind of like going home for fiber play.  When you walk in, it’s like being a kid in a candy store, so much beautiful fiber, you just want to touch all of it and take it home with you.  Their staff is knowledgeable, friendly and helpful, and Laurie is very patient and teaches in a way that makes it easy to learn.  She stayed with each individual until they “got it”, no one was left behind.  

I practiced here and there, and found that I could make my stitches, picots and joins, but I just had a hard time following a pattern.  I could read it, and follow it, but after a short time, I found that I joined at the wrong picot, or miscounted or some such error, and its not easy to undo your work.  Tatting is knotted, you can’t pull out a row like knitting or crochet.  I thought, I just have to do this bracelet pattern from the book that was included in the workshop. The book is TATTING Basic Patterns by Rosemarie Peel, and the pattern is “LUCY” on page 14.  So I ordered some Lizbeth Thread size 20, color 142, and I already had some 4mm Sodalite gemstone beads, and I got to work on it, finishing it with a Sterling Silver Spring Ring clasp and a split ring.  I used a little heavy starch and a hot iron.  Happy happy!!!

BUT WAIT!!!  I can’t wear this bracelet without earrings!  What would people think???  Plus I eyed this lovely little book sitting by the tatting thread in YarnWorks called, CELTIC TATTING, Knots & Patterns by Rozella F. Linden.  In this well written book she describes a method of Celtic Tatting and one of the patterns is called Celtic Knot Earrings on page7, she has three variations on the pattern, but I like the original best.  Her pattern calls for Lizbeth size10, but I thought that made the earrings too big, and used the size 20 instead.  A word about Celtic Tatting, the thread needs to have a firm hand or the stitches will be “floppy” and not hold their shape well.  She is very liberal with her copywrite, while you can’t copy, modify or distribute her instructions, you may sell work that you make from it, very generous.  I have every intention of making the Tatted Celtic Edging to place on a hankie to use when casting runes.  I finished these earrings with a 4mm Sodalite bead, a Sterling Silver Ear wire, a shot of heavy starch and a hot iron, placing pins in the opposing picots to maintain good shape.