Spring is a time for renewal for tatters, too. Coming up in April are some well-loved tatting events. It starts off with International Tatting Day on April 1, 2012. Find time to tat, chat and hopefully teach a newbie to tat, also. Following that are three wonderful tatting events.

On the east coast, The Finger Lakes Tatting Guild in Hector New York (http://www.georgiaseitz.com/2012/fingerlakes2012.pdf) will be gathering Friday, April 13 for a potluck dinner, followed by a two day tatting workshop on April 14 and 15, 2012. The theme this year is "hearts." Here is just a portion of the class schedule:

Hearts Take Wing – taught by K Boniface Simple hearts take flight in this neat practice in pattern adaptation. K Boniface designed a heart which will offer learning and practice in the balanced double stitch – and then take wing into a dragonfly and any other friendly winged creatures that capture your fancy. Bring size 10 or 20 thread for your first practice pieces.

Heartwood Pendant, Brooch or Fob - taught by Carolyn Groves - Beads, threads and a clever original pattern for needle or shuttle tatters turns a ring into a heart. $2 kit fee contains ring, size 20 thread and findings.

Hearty Bracelet - taught by Vicki Clarke – Tat a bracelet with dimpled rings, beads and balanced double stitches. You will need to bring size 20 thread, size 10 beads, a fine crochet hook and a clasp – but the clasp is also available from the teacher for 50 cents.

Butterfly in Your Heart – beaded earrings and pendant – Nina Libin’s design will be taught by Ginny Weathers – patterns are simple and straightforward but students must be comfortable with basic tatting to concentrate on beads. Learn to read and follow patterns for bead tatting, how to handle LOTS of beads, swirl join and a bridging technique known as “pulled loop” or “carry thread under’ join. A $15 kit will include printed pattern, general instructions for BEANILE Lace projects, and up to 700 seed beads size 11 strung on 10-12 yards of 3-ply metallic embroidery thread (DMC or Oren Bayan), plus ear wires and a beading needle to finish the project. Students should bring two empty shuttles, preferably plain ones with posts (not spools) and without sharp tips or hooks, plus size 10 or finer crochet hook.

Belle d’Amour - taught by Kaye Judt. Belle is a little 3-D doll based on the Catherine Wheel. You will learn/use lock joins, pearl tatting and block tatting in a tube in this 3-hour class.

Love of Beads Heart – taught by Martha Ess. A heart approx 3 ½” wide uses lots of beads in a variety of ways, split rings and lock-stitch chains. Students must be comfortable with split rings. Learn several methods of adding beads and lock stitch chains. Martha will also demonstrate using a bead spinner and how to make one with recycled materials Optional kit ($15) will contain 2 Starlit shuttles prewound with beads and size 20 thread, plus the extra beads to add later. Those who do not wish a kit need to wind 2 shuttles CTM with size 20 thread prethreaded with 155 beads, 8 yards of thread on Shuttle 1 and 121 beads, 5 1/2 yards of thread on Shuttle 2. You will need 16 beads to add later. Beads are size 10 or 11. This will slightly overfill SewMate shuttles but do-able, and should work fine with Starlits or other beading shuttles. To use Clovers or Aeros, wind half the beads and thread on the first set of shuttles and refill later, or have a second pair of shuttles/bobbins standing by. Everyone needs to bring a crochet hook small enough to add beads to picots.

On the west coast, the Lacemakers of Puget Sound in the Seattle, WA area are hosting a tatting weekend April 14 -15, 2012. They are planning some really varied classes.

1. how to wrap the 5 thread cluny,
2. square rings,
3. the two color ring as in the Helen Free book (it has color added at the top)
4. loop tatted rings
5. make a beaded block using one giant picot
6. super easy beaded edging with pearl tatting

Students can download the Helen's free book.
http://www.4shared.com/document/6HeRMah7/How_to_Crotat.html (free book)
See pg. 14 of the crotat book, but we will be shuttle tatting it instead of cro-tat.

This simple motif will be adapted using the loop tatted rings :
http://www.georgiaseitz.com/roundrobin/18join.jpg
And an ILA Frost block tatting pattern will be freshened by making a beaded block using one giant picot.

And in Spokane, WA, The Shuttlebirds Tatting Guild presents Tatting on the Wild Side, their
16th Annual Tatting Days and Workshop April 20 - 21, 2012. http://www.shuttlebirds.com/workshop2012.shtml
This is a mix of projects and techniques in 32 different classes, most offered only once with a great line up of teachers: Lois Bresnahan, Venessa Godfrey, Wendy Griffin, Mary McCarthy, Sherry Pence, Dale Pomeroy, Krystle Pyette, Georgia Seitz, Karey Solomon, Lauren Snyder, and Jessica Spaulding. Here is a highlight of some of the classes.

Onion Ring FlowerBrooch 2.0 hrs Class Type: Technique Georgia Seitz Level: Intermediate & up Class Limit: 15 This free form pattern combines onion rings, chains, spiral chains and encapsulation to create a decoration suitable for a brooch. Basic tatting skills required. Materials: 2 shuttles and 2 colors of thread in flower and leaf color.

Spanish Dancer Earrings 2.0 hrs Class Type: Project Krystle Pyette Level: Intermediate Repeats Saturday at 9:30 Class Limit: 12 Students will be tatting Krystle’s earring pattern. Basic tatting skills are required plus knowledge of split rings and sewing in ends. Class will cover tatting over a cabone ring, basic use of beads and tips for finishing. Materials: for each earring: size 20 thread, 2 shuttles wound CTM with 30 seed beads and 6 yards of thread split equally on shuttles (18 beads on SH1, 12 on SH2), 2 earring hooks, and 2 half inch cabone rings.

Snowflake 2008 2.0 hrs Class Type: Project Dale Pomeroy Level: Advanced Class Limit: 15 This is an expert open-centered snowflake pattern consisting of rings, chains, picots, joins-picot, shuttle/lock, smooth sided, over/under, beaded picot; beading foundation and auxiliary threads, front side/back side tatting, reverse stitch rings/chains, rings thrown off chains, multiple shuttles (3). Extended picots are optional. Materials: 3 shuttles, size 20 Cordonnet, 12 small bugle beads (Mill Hill #72010), 24 petite beads (Mill Hill #42010), 6 seed beads (MH #02010), size 16 crochet hook and a 1/4" or 6mm picot gauge.

And it is never too early to plan for the fall tat days, too.

Fringe Element Tatters Cambridge Ontario, Canada Sept 28-29, 2012
http://fringetatters.ca/tat-days Registration form and photos of class projects are available on the website.

Palmetto Tatters South Carolina, USA Tat Days 2012 Sept. 7-8, 2012 (held in Georgia this year.) Theme: Blast from the Past www.palmettotatters.org

I hope to see many of you there.

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

Joins - Onion Ring, LHPJ, Inverted
Onion Ring, Lark's Head Picot Join (LHPJ), Inverted (Dutch) Ball Thread Join.
These are techniques used in constructed large pieces of lace from smaller bits. There are many types of join, i.e., up, down, shuttle lock join, onion ring, split ring, swirl, lark's head picot join (LHPJ),et al

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art52553.asp

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

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