Tatting Class 8 ~ Split Chains!

I'm back today to show off my first split chain. You can see that I made things a little more interesting for myself by by my choice of yarn. When I say interesting I really mean difficult. I don't know why I can't stick with basic crochet or tatting thread. This lace weight yarn has a mild mohair quality that made it more challenging for me to see what I was doing. It also made it tough when I needed to frog a knot. Oh well, live and learn.

In spite of my slightly furry yarn, I made it through my first split chain. The most challenging part for me was remembering to hold my tension and keep my stitch placement close. On my first attempt, it looked like I had a picot right next to my joining loop and that was due to my failure to slide my tied-on knot into position and keep it there with a finger pinch. The interesting thing about learning to tat, is that your brain has to be focused on several new things at once. It's a good mental workout!

I'm now planning to move on in my tatting journey. Up to now, I've been using Learn to Tat by Janette Baker as my guide. This is probably the first time I've ever followed an instructional book from cover to cover, and in this case, it's been a good experience. I feel like this book has given me a strong foundation to build upon. There is actually one more lesson about front side tatting verses traditional, but there is such a minimal difference in technique between the two, that I'm not really going to worry about it for now. What I will do is keep this book on my shelf as a wonderful reference as I go forward.

Where to now? The next book in my lineup is Learn Needle Tatting by Barbara Foster. Just flipping through, it seems to use most of the same beginning designs only this time I'll be utilizing a tatting needle rather than a shuttle. I think having seen and tatted the patterns before will make the transition easier. My ultimate goal is to be able to move from shuttle to needle to crochet hook with relative ease. I love the idea of being able to incorporate lace elements into my future crochet projects.