Hello Tatters!

I hope that your new year is off to a good start. Did you resolve to tat every day? I did! But, I've only made it 5 of the first 10 days. I have been doing some research on tatting books though. Does that count?

For the Jan. 15, 2012 article I am preparing a list of tatting books in the Spanish language. I have known of 5 such books for decades but no others. And just this last week I have received info on 10 more Spanish language tatting publications. I was surprised to find on this list a book by tatter Elsa Canepa Olivera from Peru. Peru! This makes me wonder what other foreign language tatting books are out there.

Our reference list of tatting titles, http://www.bellaonline.com/subjects/5946.asp, includes hundreds of tatting books, both instructional and pattern collections, in the English language, as well as in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Finnish, Polish, and Czech. There are a few knotting and macramé books which contain instructional sections on tatting in Turkish and Armenian. (Unfortunately, the one Turkish book I saw has the directions for tatting WRONG!) Of course, many English tatting publications have been translated into other languages and a few tatting books from Europe can multi-lingual, but I would like to know more about original tatting books published in non-English languages.

What can YOU tell me about tatting books published in YOUR country? Our BellaOnline.com newsletter subscribers are located in many countries across the globe. I hope that some of you will have information to share with us.

One thing about tatting books for which to be grateful, is that the language in which they are printed is less and less important as the use of diagrams and numbered photos of the lace becomes more and more wide spread. Although some of us prefer the written directions, i.e., Ring of 6 picots separated by 2 ds. to the numeric code, i.e., R 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2, or, R (2 -) x6, 2., the simplicity of the lace photo and the numbered diagram is not only page and ink saving but can be printed onto an index card and carried in the pocket anywhere.

Here is a familiar heart pattern using the split ring, multiple joins into one picot and picots of all one size. Try printing out the lace photo and the diagram on a postcard. Then pencil in the ds count and put it in your pocket to work or mail it to a tatting friend overseas. See! The language won't matter, just the tatting.
All the best, Georgia Seitz

Here's the latest article from the Tatting site at BellaOnline.com.

Spanish Tatting Terms
A list of common tatting terms in Spanish with abbreviations and the English equivalent.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29619.asp

Please visit tatting.bellaonline.com for even more great content about Tatting.

To participate in free, fun online discussions, this site has a community forum all about Tatting located here -

http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=39

I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback!

Have fun passing this message along to family and friends, because we all love free knowledge!

Georgia Seitz, Tatting Editor
http://tatting.bellaonline.com

One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com