It occurred to me today that I'd written lots of articles about how to tat but had not actually described what it is.

Tatting is a lace form which consists of circles and curved lines which are created by making knots which slide on a core thread. A shuttle is usually used in combination with a crochet hook to make joins, but a special needle can also be used to make tatted lace.

The circles in tatting are known as rings, and the curved lines as chains. There may also be just a single thread between the rings instead of chains, and this is known as mignonette or ring only tatting.

Because the special tatting knots are made individually it is very difficult to undo so it's necessary to count your stitches carefully to avoid mistakes. For this reason tatting is not like knitting or crochet, both of which are made by pulling loops through and both of which can be undone very easily by removing them from the working tool and pulling on the working yarn or thread.

Tatting is a very pretty lace which can be used for all sorts of purposes ranging from large cloths and doilies to bookmarks and cards. To learn how, please visit the links on the right hand side which will take you to my articles for beginners on needle tatting and shuttle tatting. If you would like to see what tatting looks like, I have a small gallery of free postcards which can be viewed here