I bought a needle tatting book on New Year’s Day. A new friend (that’s you, Laura) had mentioned the art on a visit over Christmas. I’d heard the term “tatting” before but had no idea what it was. I’ve knitted and crocheted for years so I was excited to add a new craft to my arsenal.
Each craft has its own language, I’ve discovered. When learning a spoken language, you begin by repeating simple words and phrases. Then you string more words and phrases together. Finally you have a vocabulary and a structure to fit it into. You begin to speak original thoughts instead of just repeating what someone else said. Tatting is exactly like that!
I made some things by following simple patterns. Then I wanted to speak my own tatting thoughts. I came up with an idea for a dragonfly that I’m still working on. I thought I had it nailed down, but certain parts of the construction are holding me back.
So instead of continually creating the whole thing just to get to the part that wasn’t working, I decided to make an abbreviated shortcut version that skipped over the parts I knew already worked so I could concentrate on the problematic parts.
This week, I saw to a new technique: dimpled rings. They look very much like hearts, and with it being the build up to Valentine’s, I was seeing them frequently on tatting sites. I put the dimpled heart in as a substitute wing and accidentally made a bumblebee! The pattern is written out below.
R. = ring
DR. = dimpled ring Video demo
DNRW = do not reverse work
lp = long picot (which will become antennas when cut)
The bee is 2 rings and 2 dimpled rings. The long picot on the head is snipped to form the antennas.
Body: R. 2-6-6-2 close, knot, Rw
Left wing: DR. 2+(first p on prev ring) 12-3 pull the needle through but not all the way, place a paper clip or stitch marker on the loop of the tail thread so that the loop doesn’t close all the way. Work another ds very closely to the stitches just pulled off, join to the picot just made; 12-2. Close DR through the marked loop, adjusting the stitches as you pull tight. Knot DNRW
Head: R. 2+(p on wing) 4 lp 4-2. Close, knot DNRW
Right wing: DR. 2+(last p on head) 12-3, pull through with marker on loop, 1+(p just made), 12+(p on body*) 2, close ring through marked loop. Knot. Bury ends. Snip long picot
*To reach that last picot join, you’ll need to pull the needle through to get it aimed in the right direction, pull the thread up with a crochet hook and loop it over the needle. Finish the last 2 ds. Pdf instructions
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