Teaching Myself to Tat

While cleaning out my 'project bag', I came across a 'learn to tat' kit that I think I bought as part of a trip to Colonial Williamsburg many years ago. Certainly I bought it at a National Park with an Eastern National bookstore. However, like many little cozy projects I've come up with, that one has come to nothing. I stuffed it into my work bag as yet another little distraction from the Summer dolldrums in the entrance stations when I worked in Big Bend National Park. I kept all sorts of projects on hand - quilt blocks, baby-blocks, books to read, etc. I thought maybe I'd finally open up that package and learn to make tatted lace. I have some friends in Kansas who learned - a nice living history pastime that would be slightly more historically correct than crossword puzzles.

The Learn-to-Tat kit had never been opened. I opened it last night, and realized why I'd never learned. The written instructions were terrible, and the blurry miniscule illustrations incomprehensible. So I did what I advise anyone learning a new hobby without a mentor to teach them - I looked it up on YouTube.

My fellow crafty people, I now issue the Tatting Challenge. It's wonderfully mindless, and there are endless variations. You'll wind up with yard of lace for whatever project you have in mind. For those of you with young daughters, if you start now, you just might have enough for a wedding dress someday. Or you can edge a pillowcase, curtain, dog or cat bed - the uses are many!