There is a gratifying timelessness to tatted lace. A newspaper, The Plain Dealer, announced the awarding of a $2 prize for a tatted yoke on Oct. 12, 1919. Tatters will recognize it at first glance. It is a repeating ring and chain pattern which can be joined into squares, open or closed centers with or without needle weaving, triangles, or strips large and small. The article showed a corner of a yoke and gave the pattern. So many vintage tatting books have carried this pattern since then.

Plain Dealer Oct. 12, 1919 $2 prize awarded Tatting Yoke. R 8 - 2 - 8 clr rw CH 2 (- 2 ) 10x rw R 8 + (join to last picot of previous ring) 2 - 8 clr rw CH (2 - ) 8x, 8 rw R 8 + (join to last picot of previous ring) 2 - 8 clr rw CH 8 rw R 8 + (join to last picot of previous ring) 2 - 8 clr rw CH 8 + (join to last picot of preceding long chain) CH (2 - ) 8x, 2 rw R 8 + (join to last picot of previous ring) 2 - 8 clr rw CH (2 - ) 8x, 2 rw R 8 + (join to last picot of previous ring) 2 - 8 clr rw CH 8 - (2 - ) 4x, 8 rw

And it is still in use today. Here is it used a a fancy shawl:

Here is a square version with a needleweaving center:
And here is a square version with a tatted center using long picots:		As you can see the ds count can change and still keep the basic construction form. Experiment with it!

Here's the latest article from the Tatting site at BellaOnline.com. German Language Tatting Books A list of tatting books in the German language. http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art28249.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