Tatting - what's that??

We're so excited to be adding a few new courses to our line-up (soon!), and one we're particularly excited about is tatting! What's tatting, you might ask? I'm here to fill you in on this awesome craft and why I think it's important you learn!

Tatting is a sturdy lace technique, used often in doilies. If you're not too into the art of doily making (or if you are -- we love them, too!) there are lots of other uses for this beautiful technique!

Tatting is done using what is called a shuttle (or a tiny crochet hook), to pass thread of varying thicknesses through itself, creating knots that in unison form intricate lace. It can be used on collars, decorative wrist-wear, hats, handkerchief embellishments -- anywhere or anything you want done with lace! The other great thing is it's pretty fast, so your lacework goes fairly quickly with a swift movement of the wrist.

As with other knot-related thread & yarn work (think: crochet) they believe tatting started with men -- sailors & fishermen, to be exact. Who better to create this amazing knotting than the guys who needed knots the most! Elegant, but sturdy, it makes sense that this would have been created by a crowd looking to please their ladies with the practicality of sturdy knots.