Tatting, of all things!

One of my late great-aunts made the most beautiful tatted table-cloths. I´ve always admired the delicate lacework. But I´ve never tried it, and she died long before I was big enough to learn it from her. Neither have I ever seen anyone do it. But like all textile-techniques, I´m interested in learning it, at least the basic skill.

So when writing a paper about the pros and cons of teaching-methods – traditional one-to-one versus modern Youtube-video-workshops, I decided that it was time to try it out. Up until now, I´ve never tried to learn any textile techniques via the web, and tatting was perfect, since I had absolutely no references to it whatsoever.

When googleing “tatting how to”, over 127 000 video-inks pop up! That´s pretty much for a craft about to die in Norway. But I understand it´s a growing interest for tatting in the US. Anyway. I found a good beginners-course from www.tattedtreasures.com on YouTube. In about 90 minutes I completed the first 8 lessons, and learned the basics.

First, the principle double-knot. Then making a circle, or ring. Then making a picot in the ring, like above. (Mine are a bit small though.)

Then a row of rings, hooked together. And finally a combination of the picot-ring with a picot-chain with another picot-ring. When I continue this last combination, I can make a lace by the yard. Maybe I should do just that, to practice. After the 90 minutes, I can actually DO it, but I´m not doing it well, and it does´t look at all fluent, like the video-lady does it. But I will practice, and I will get better. And I will try to actually make something. Something small, like an earring or so. Once I get the hang of it, I want to try out different types of thread. The one I´ve used here, I think might actually come from my great-aunt Margit!

I´m interested in feedback from you: how do you prefer to be taught new techniques? With a live teacher, showing and guiding you? Or with a video-teacher, that you can pause and rewind as many times as you like? How do you learn the best?