As most of you know I'm a shuttle only tatter!! Born and bred to it. I did once try the needles but as they're not traditional and didn't give me a good result they were soon abandoned.
What always surprises me about shuttle tatters is the various ways they start to load their shuttles. I've seen so many struggle with tying to the hole in the bobbin or the hole in the centre of the post shuttles that it amazes me that they ever get started!!
Life can be so much simpler if you use a slip knot. Let me tell and show you.
First make the slip knot. Easy peasy. Start like this leaving about a one and a half inch end.
Pull a loop through the loop and then wrap this round the shuttle. Either the bobbin type or the post type (with the post type you obviously have to go through both ends).
First make the slip knot. Easy peasy. Start like this leaving about a one and a half inch end.
Tighten around the shuttle and wind away from the knot so that it tightens. The small tail will help you to get the end bit off the shuttle when you've finished.
Hope this helps. I always wind back my thread onto the ball I've been using. Mainly because so many shades are so close to each other and once or twice in my tatting 'career' I've had a nasty shock when I've thought I'd got the right shade and it's been 'wrong'!!!
9 comments:
Hallelujah! Praise be Jane.
"Oh, shuttles! How do I load thee? Let me count the (less-than-optimal) ways."
I have been borrowing a spinner's trick: tying on a long tail with a lark's head knot and tying the thread onto the long tail.
Now I have TWO useful ways to wind thread. Thanks, Jane. You're the greatest!
Jane, I just start to wind! No putting through a hole or tying - just winding. Never been an issue.
If I used a slip knot, as I do constantly when crocheting, I would be cursing at the end, trying to get the thing undone. (I am not the most dexterous person in the world!)
That said, this is excellent advice for anyone struggling to load a bobbin! Fox : )
I don't bother with a knot at all. I just poke the thread through the hole in the post, pinch the end while I make the first few wraps, and then it's secure. With a bobbin, you don't have to poke the thread through anything, just pinch and wrap till it's secure.
Ohmygosh yay! Thank you so much. I have your blog in my google reader and saw this post pop up :)
I just started the shuttle tatting classes at Georgia's site, and that's my biggest problem is getting the thread to stay put so I can wind properly. I'd been doing the first half of knot (like tying your shoes, but no bow hehe). It doesn't stay put very well and it's a real pain to wind on thread on my DMC shuttle.
I'll try this method later today when I'm practicing the hen/chicks pattern! :)
Indeed 'how many ways'!!! I do a slip knot, so that the wretched end always gets used right to the sticky limit!!! As for getting the slip knot off - if you pull the other way 'with the knot' then it loosens easily. When I used to just 'wrap and pinch' I got really annoyed that when I got to the last ring (or more) I had to finger tat which always slowed me down.
There are so many ways to 'skin a rabbit' - I just like to share what dear brain cell # 3 has come up with.
Thank you! I am one who learned to tie a knot, so I assumed that was how I was "supposed" to do it and never tried anything else. (Apparently I am missing more than just Brain Cell #3!)
Hello Jane!
I was very pleased to read this post because I thought I was the only one who used a slip knot and have used it for years - no doubt because I'm a long-time crocheter and knitter. The neat thing, as you pointed out, is that if put on properly, it's so easy to pull on the 'short' thread and completely undo the slip knot when you come to the end of the thread on the bobbin. No scissors needed! Thanks for bringing it to everyone's attention!
I also must express my deepest admiration for your excellent and totally unique tatting designs (which you generously give away free!), your very entertaining blog, your detailed and amazing tutorials, and your endless energy in promoting tatting! I consider you a 'High Priestess' of the art, and have admired your work for a long time. I just saw Carol Lawecki over the weekend (her Mom is a member of our tatting group), and I got to see several of your patterns which she has tatted over the years (and interpreted beautifully). The designs are even more amazing in person! Simply outstanding!
Your energy level also amazes me. We are about the same age, but I would have found the long trip you just completed to the States to be a daunting one! Thanks so much for sharing your adventures - and your incredible talent!
Thank you, Kathy for your lovely, lovely comment. Carol Lawecki and I have been cyber friends for years and she's helped me out with test tatting many times. I hope I get to meet her one day. I do have energy but once it's gone in a day it's well, gone!!!!! I sleep well, mostly!!!
Dear Jane
I am new to tatting, but your many pdf's will be a great help. Thank you for them, and all the fine and useful pattern for the beginner.
Sincerely - Karen Margrethe in Valby
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