Remembrance Ring Gift Completed!

I finished the tatted ring I made for my friend's birthday.  It is the first fully completed project I have done.  I have made quite a number of motifs and various things to practice with, but I learned how to sew in the ends on this piece.  I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. And my friend LOVED it.  She understood the work it took and she felt special that it was my first real creation.

This pattern is free from yarnplayer, here: http://yarnplayertats.blogspot.com/2009/11/remembrance-tatted-ring.html.  It is quite easy, perfect for a beginner.  (And I love this thread!!)

Challenges for me...

I have a 3-year old and I get distracted easily so I lose my place.  I also tend to forget to read ahead and make sure that I know what I am doing, which is a bad idea in tatting.  I made the first row and made a big mistake in one of the rings so I started over.  I could have cut it out or tried to loosen the ring but that frustrates me too much sometimes.  Doing it over sometimes makes it turn out better.

This was my first project where I finished by hiding the ends.  I tried the method where you jab the needle through the knots along the working thread, and I don't know if my hands just aren't strong enough, but I couldn't get the needle through no matter what I did.  All I succeeded in doing was bending a needle (!) and making a couple of the chains look terrible. (Why didn't I try this on something else first?!)  I reverted to the sewn in method and I was much more pleased with the results.  I really couldn't see the threads although I'm sure experienced tatters could.  Video instructions for both methods can be found at Tatted Treasures here: http://www.tattedtreasures.com/tutorials/  She is an amazing teacher!

On my next project, (snowflake below), I tried the magic thread trick (also at the above link), but something I had done in my final knot prevented both the threads from traveling through.  It worked like a charm on one of the threads so I will keep trying that method.

The thread I used for this is very soft and pretty (hard to tell in the photo), but more challenging to work with and frays easily.

Although this turned out rather pretty, I am a bit frustrated with not getting things even.  I was more focused on getting the right number of  stitches and reversing work when I was supposed to.  I'm guessing it will come with practice, but I am impatient!

http://sharonstattedlace.blogspot.com/2006/10/snowflake-2.html

This pattern comes from Sharon and you can find the pattern on her blog (link above).  How in the world do people figure out how and when to reverse work and why do patterns neglect to share this information?  It is my greatest struggle right now. 

Next I'm going to make a few of the remembrance rings in several colors and do another easy snowflake for practice.

The Beginning

My first interest in tatting was when I was working as a curator of collections at the local history museum.  We were doing an inventory of the textile storage room and as such I saw an awful lot of lace.  I learned to identify tatted items first by their telltale lovely rings with pretty little loops - which I now know to be picots.  I loved the delicate feel they gave to the edges of gowns, chemises and nightshirts.

Several years later, during a special event where local artisans show off their talents in historic crafts, I sat with some girls who were teaching how to make bobbin lace and I thought, "Wow that would be fun to learn."  None of the other museum staff members had a trade like that so I thought it might also make me unique.  Perhaps I could learn to demonstrate lace making myself or even one day sell something. I sat on the idea for at least a year and then I started looking into it. 

After looking into several kinds of lace making, I decided on tatting because it was rather unusual and the initial investment is low.  All you need to begin with is a shuttle and some thread and off you go!  I was concerned (knowing myself as I do) that I might learn to do it, make one thing and then drop it.  I had already done this with crocheting and knitting.  I would get bored with them rather quickly. 

It's been three months so far and I'm still really loving it. 

What I like about tatting:

• It's somewhat esoteric and so not many people do it, making it unique
• In French it's called frivolité
• You can make really neat jewelry with tatting
• It's a conversation starter
• The basics of tatting (the double stitch and picots) are really easy once you get the hang of it
• Reading patterns is challenging
• There seems to be a really great network of tatters out there and I'm looking forward to exploring it

What I don't like about tatting:

• It's somewhat esoteric and so not many people do it
• It is hard to find patterns
• There are some REALLY ugly patterns out there
• Many patterns provide very little instruction, making it very hard for beginners
• Mistakes are VERY hard to undo

Most of what I have learned has come from a wonderful website tattedtreasures.com.

I discovered it in August 2012 and read that she posted her last post in July 2012.  I am hoping that she will come back to it in the summer because she is really a wonderful teacher!  I whole heartedly recommend her website and videos.  I started through all of the projects she has on her website -- I'm currently on lesson 14.

Through my beginning work, I've decided that what I really want to do is make jewelry.  I personally can't imagine making doilies, snowflakes and motifs for no particular reason.  I love jewelry anyway, it makes great gifts and projects are small usually.

So I took a break during lesson 14 to make a birthday present for a friend -- my first piece of jewelry, a remembrance ring, you can find the free pattern here: Remembrance ring .  It was a really fun project (I'll post pictures after the birthday) and I learned a lot, mostly about what I don't know.  It took me about 6 hours and I made a lot of mistakes, but I am proud of my accomplishment.

Here are a few of the wee motifs I've done so far...

That's it for now. :)