At the demonstration I was doing for the Lace Making at Lang Village yesterday and the day before I met many more people with similar stories. Their Grandmother of Mother used to do this special craft of tatting – but they are gone now… so is the craft.One older lady stood by supporting herself with her cane. She was 82 years old as she proudly told me the story of her past. She told me stories of her mother sitting in her kitchen waiting for the bread dough to rise. As she sat waiting for the next step of bread making she would pull out her tatting shuttle from her apron pocket and beginning the Over Under – Under Over action with her hands. She tatted many, many pieces over the years. This dear lady still had one piece in her possession.
As she stood their looking down – she showed me her hands all wrinkled and swollen. “With these old hands I could never learn how… and my mother and grandmother are long gone…”
Person after person passed my presentation… most of them were aged over 65 years. It was an older audience for sure. Almost all of them can remember someone that had done some of this dieing art form… yes Tatting is almost gone from our present generation.
One younger mom came along. Tagging along with her were two boys – likely age 9 and 11 years old. They watched me show them how I Tat. The older boy asked if he could try. What a delight. With a shuttle in hand and deep concentration he followed my actions.
Wow! “Look at that you made your first “Double Stitch”!” He grinned from ear to ear.
Mom moved the family along so that others standing nearby could see what was happening. Within minutes she was back with her younger son. She asked me if I minded letting her 9 years old try to Tat with me. I told her I was delighted to help him… to which he beamed from ear to ear. Within a minute or two he was making double stitches too.
The two may be part of a new Tatting Class we will launch this Fall Season.
Tatting is a dieing art form. Yes it is a Craft that can be classified under needle work – but because you use a shuttle it is not really a needle art… yet it can be done with a needle… so…?
Whatever… there are not a lot of people doing this fine craft.
What is tatting? Well it is a whole bunch of small double knots mounted on one supporting cord. It is the world’s smallest Macramé – made instead of using Jute – it uses crochet cotton.
It is a whole lot of quiet time with an ability to calm the Tatter completely. In this day and age it should be very popular… but there are not a lot of Tatters that teach.
Yesterday – I had two new students sit with me. I was delighted to have them join me and show their stuff. What a delight to have my Granddaughter Emma begin her first double stitches with Grandpa. I love the photos above. And believe it or not… her dad Bruce joined in too. The photo below is proof positive.
I will keep the Peterborough People informed – Tatting Classes will start soon.
I have prepared the following with help from some of my Tatting Books…
Tatting is known as
"Occhi" in Italy from the word occhio because the shuttle has the form of an eye, or maybe because of the little rings and ovals which look like eyes.
"Frivolite" in France translated meaning daring and easy going... maybe it had something to do with the fashion and styles where laces were showing ..
"Frivolitat" and "SchifTchen-Arbeit" in Germany -the first is possibly the same reason as that of the French. The word "arbeit" means work and "Schiffchen'' relates to the form of the shuttle which is like a little boat.
"Karriko" in Finland meaning "reefs and rocks". Finlanders also use the word "Sukkulapitsi"-"sukkula" meaning shuttle and "pitsi" meaning lace.
"Sustikpitsikudmine" in Estonia. Estonia received many Finnish immigrants.
"Frivolitet" in Sweden as an adaptation from the French.
"Da Ding" in Cantonese as a transliteration of the English word. “Da" meaning to hit and "Ding" meaning the roof top. How appropriate in the first few lessons a student could often feel like hitting the roof! In the Chinese language it is also known as "Fa Been" or flower edging .. crochet being including in this general title too.
If you can tie a Half Hitch – you can Tat.
~ Murray Lincoln ~http://www.murraylincoln.com/
1 comment:
Those are such sweet stories people tell of their ancestors tatting. I have taught many people to tat and have always enjoyed the lovely stories they shared with me about their Aunt or Mother or Grandmother or someone close to them who tatted, how they always wanted to learn, etc.
The looks on your new students' faces are precious! They look determined to learn! It's fabulous! :)
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