old sayings, new pursuits

When I was little, if my brother or I asked for something my mother considered ridiculous, she would say "You need another X like you need another hole in your head". What with weaving, knitting, spinning, sewing, and occasional explorations of historic textiles, laces and braiding, I often say to myself: "You need another thread hobby like you need another hole in your head." Really-- what's the point of getting enthusiastic about another thing only to find that I have no time to do it? Be that as it may, I have a series of quick questions for you:

what is more portable than knitting?
what kind of lace is never in danger of unraveling?
how do you make absolutely free-form circles curves and loops with only one basic stitch?

Tatting. My fascination with tatting dates back to the time I could still stand upright under a dining room table. Rummaging through the yarn closet, I found a little booklet that had baby clothes and instructions for knitting, crochet and tatting. There were bonnets, booties, and lace gloves. I wish I had this booklet now--I can't even remember what company published it-- from the diagrams, I taught myself to crochet and later to knit. The pictures of lacy tatted things were indescribably appealing, but I had no shuttle and the diagrams made no sense to me. I decided tatting was not for me, and happily continued other pursuits.

Right now, if I had to give a name to my foremost textile passion, I would say "lace". Rather than any particular technique, I am interested in delicate open fabric. Gauze weaves, lace weaves, knitted lace, hemstitching. Knitting has held less fascination for me recently, and I decided this summer I want to learn something entirely new. Hence, tatting. I couldn't find shuttles or books at any LYS, so I mail ordered a few different kinds--luckily tatting shuttles can be very inexpensive. A ball of mercerized cotton from the weaving stash, and there you have it. I sat down with a beginner's book one day, when I had plenty of time, and tried to teach myself the knots. The memory of absolutely incomprehensible diagrams gave me some trepidation, but the intervening years must have done *some* good to my brain, because it took about 5 minutes to figure out what was supposed to be happening. Imagine. All these years I've steered clear of tatting because I figured it was just too difficult, and it turns out the whole thing is based on one knot. One. Off to collect as many tatted edging patterns as I can find.

Comments

[Diana]

Fabulous! Can't wait to see what you create!

[Emily]

Have you checked Windsor Button for supplies? I think I remember seeing some tatting supplies there. I think it's great that you are learning how to do it. I hope to see some beautiful things you've made!

[Kerstin]

Wow! I'm very, very impressed. I'm afraid I'd lose my eyesight working it that tiny. Lookin' forward to seeing what you come up with!