Let me introduce

Anastasija who lives in Russia.  

I had an email from Anastasija a week or more ago and she said (blush, blush) that she uses my tips and techniques section on the pattern pages a lot.  She wanted to ask permission to use them to teach other people in her town of St Petersburg.  Naturally I was very, very happy to say yes.  

Anastasija's English is excellent and she's a very pretty lady with a dear, dear little girl so talking to her is a lot of fun.  I am so impressed with how much she's learnt in the two and a half years she's been tatting.

This is what she's found out about pearl tatting in her own words:-

"2 days ago I looked through "Tips and techniques" on your site, noticed "Pearl tatting-the easy way" and thought, what it will look like if we make only half stitch with each shuttle? I also remember that something like this was in macrame technique, and found it in the book published in1986 (see photo1, the right side), it is called there "the double loop". I tatted a sample, it turned out to be more narrow in thickness than pearl tatting. I wanted immediately to design a pattern with this I do not know how to call it. It is very convenient to tat it holding shuttles like in pearl tatting. I hold the part that is already made firmely with thumb and 2nd finger, ball thread (in my pattern it is shuttle thread) is stretched, 3rd, 4th and 5th fingers stand together and do not move at all. Half stitches are performed round the stretched part of thread between 2nd and 3rd fingers. Sorry that thread is of the same colour - photo 2, 3 and 4.

So it is 3-shuttle edging, 2 shuttles are with white thread. 

Below is picture she sent.  More from Anastasija tomorrow.