First of all you need to get tatting needles. These are not like ordinary sewing needles, they are the same length all the way along, much longer than normal needles and with a very small eye which is the same thickness as the needle itself. The reason for this is that the stitches are placed on the needle which is then drawn through them to create rings and chains. A large eye or unevenly shaped needle would create problems with this and you would have unevenly formed stitches.

The size of the needle determines the size of the stitches so you choose a needle as close as possible to the size of the yarn or thread you are using. Tatting needles can be purchased from Tat's All and Handy Hands Tatting, and most specialist tatting suppliers should be able to obtain them for you.

You also need some thread. A good quality and reasonably thick thread is the best thing for the complete beginner. There are several different makes which would be suitable, including Flora, Manuela, Coats Anchor Mercer Crochet Cotton, DMC Cordonnet Special and DMC Cebelia. With needle tatting you don't need to learn how to make the thread flip over, so one ball will be sufficient for early practice - you will very quickly want to graduate to something finer.

Crochet hooks are often used for joining in needle tatting where the space or picot is too small to lift the thread through with the tip of the needle. You want a set of fine ones and this pack will be ideal for most purposes. Basically the finer the thread you use the smaller your picots will be and while a size 10 crochet hook (1.25 mm) will be fine to begin with you will very quickly graduate to the smaller ones. Crochet hooks can be bought individually or in packs of all the different sizes - the latter will be invaluable if you are an inveterate crocheter but you may want to get just one or two to begin with till you've worked out what you want to use.

You also need a pair of good quality scissors. A pair of 10 cm/4 inch embroidery scissors will be ideal - don't use them for cutting paper, keep them to one side for your tatting.

A good pattern book with clear instructions on how to do the various techniques is essential and for the beginner you can't do better than Rebecca Jones's Complete Book of Tatting. This is beginning to get out of date as it does not include techniques such as split rings and the needle tatting instructions in it are of the most basic, but once you get going with your tatting the selection of patterns is excellent and Ms Jones teaches a good range of beginning to intermediate techniques. You may also want to get one of the needle tatting books - Needle Tatting Step by Step by Barbara Foster and available from www.hhtatting.com is an excellent starting guide; all of these books for beginners are no more than guides and once you get going surfing the internet, and join the online classes and mailing lists you will pick up many tricks of the trade.

Finally you'll want something in which to keep your precious tatting equipment together. There's nothing more frustrating than deciding to sit down and do some tatting only to realise you can't find your scissors or your tatting has got dirty and spoiled. Tin Acquisition Syndrome (TAS) is a popular subject on the tatting mailing lists, but really an old ice cream carton or margarine tin well washed out will be fine, or you could get a large zip lock bag from the stationery shop. I am also regularly given small make-up bags by various relatives and find these make excellent tatting storage kit. Remember you'll want to be able to carry your work with you easily so you can impress people on the buses and wherever else you may go once you have learned!

I have compiled a list of the specialist online suppliers here - if there's something you want which isn't listed on their web site be sure to ask them, if you want it, chances are a lot of other tatters do as well, and they may be able to obtain the item or point you to the best supplier for it.