Tatted Musings with Tea

I set down this morning with a cup of tea. (blend of green and Darjeeling, for those interested). I spend quite a bit if time reading the latest on some of the blogs that I follow. So much to read and so little time to read them in. I follow quite a few other tatting blogs and see a lot of pretty stuff that comes off of everyone else's shuttles. It has made me realize that I have come a long way from those early days when I created my first medallion using the needle-tatting kit I purchased so many years ago.

I have decided that I will go ahead and publish here a link or two to my galleries at my website to show people just what I have done. My Tatted Eggs album is the first up since Easter is now just 39 days away. Eggs 1, 10 - 12 were done with tatting needles. The rest were created using shuttles. Eggs 7 and 8 were ones that I received in a couple of different tatting exchanges that I participated in several years ago.

For those of you interested, the picture below shows my current favorite tatting kit. It is created by stripping out the foam from inside of a Plano fly case (yes, found in the fishing isle at Walmart). This gives me a clear case to see the contents of the kit and protects my shuttles and tools and the current project in process. The shuttles are "Lady Hoare" style shuttles. The trick I found for holding the thread in place and not unraveling when you drop it is to loop the thread over one of the "picks" twice. Yes, you do have to release these loops when you want more thread but it saves loads of time when you accidentally drop the shuttle.

You can create a kit from any number of containers provided that they are big enough to hold one or two shuttles, small scissors or nail clippers and a mini hook. I also have a couple of fabric pockets that were made for me from another exchange that will hold just two shuttles, nail clippers and a mini hook. Having small kits like this makes your project very portable to put into your purse to go anywhere. I have been know to pull my kit out when waiting in long lines to add a ring or chain to a project. It will also open doors to conversations with responses like "My grandmother used to do that" or "I didn't know that they still do that type of lace". The eyes of the little kids get really big when I have an extra shuttle to make a butterfly or a small flower for them.

Well, I am still learning about blogging and the ends and outs of tags. So it may take a while for me to get any followers. Right now this is just my online journal and I am happy with that for now. Thank you if you start reading and following.