When I was in my 20's or thereabouts my gran (who I'd learnt to tat with as she was learning too) gave me a bundle of netting needles and meshes which somebody had passed on to her. I took it upon myself to find out what they were and how to use them. I had a very good trip to the local library who searched down in their cellars and found me one book with instructions on how to do the craft and so I taught myself netting. I went on to accomplish filet too which is another story.
So roll on a few more years and I picked up The Lady magazine in a dentist waiting room (or it may have been the doctors as I had young kids then) and read an article on bobbin lace in there. I'll never know why but I jotted down the address of the magazine and wrote and suggested they ran an article on netting. They wrote back and said that if I wrote one then they'd look at it and maybe publish it. Panic set in. I had no idea how to type so borrowed an ancient typewriter and set off to use it!!! Well I daren't tell you how long it took me to write it all down. Weeks and weeks and weeks of laborious one fingered typing!!!!
I was gobsmacked when they wrote and accepted it and I waited for about two years for it to be published. You'll see that the date on it is 1973 so I was 30 years old and would've written it at the age of 28ish.
They paid me. I can't remember how much it was but it was such a small amount for all the effort I put in that I really didn't think it was worth it but I was SOOOO proud. You'll see that it's published under my married name P J Dunn which I ditched as soon as the M R Dunn part of the deal left!!!! Why be Dunn when you're really an Eborall?!?!!?
Really interesting, thanks. The other day I showed my silver tatting shuttle to a neighbour, who then told me about how he used to make fishing nets. It sounds somewhat similar to your netting here, though I'm supposing your netting was decorative, rather than for catching fish??
ReplyDeleteYes, Jane, purely decorative but it's the same knot as the fishermen use!!!
ReplyDeleteAha, thanks.
DeleteYou have had a distinguished career! - I love The Lady, my sister and I used to cruise through it for elegant jobs for her when she was living on packets of cake mix and gravy powder in Earl's Court in the sixties! - I think she rather fancied herself as an indigent gentlewoman - instead of a plain and simple unemployed Aussie! Great fun.I still buy it on occasion.
ReplyDeleteThanks for showing the article.
Hmmm... I have some netting needles, and I'm sure I have enough thread... do I dare? Nope... I'm addicted to tatting! I would love to read the article, though!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations ! you are an artist in several areas
ReplyDeleteyou are an artist in several areas
I tried netting but I did not really liked it, probably because I do not have the necessary know-how in this field
However, I've embroidered on the net, and it's great fun !
I wish you a good day
ancolie
Thank you for sharing this! When I fist learned to tat (only soon to be 5 years) my sister told me my grandfather was a fisherman. (in the south of Louisiana) He too use to make and repair his own fishing nets. I never knew him, but perhaps we did have a common link...
ReplyDeleteThe article is so well written, and contemporary! I've been curious about netting needles since watching some tatters use them to tat celtic knots. I've tried looking in many places but they can be really huge, not like the one you described, thin enough to get through the loops of the netting. Would you photograph your needles and post them here?
ReplyDeleteI certainly think Eborall suits you very well. :)
I'll take photos, Val, if I can lay my hands on them!!! Will also take photos of some of the things I've done too.
ReplyDeleteOh, Ancolie, I've combined tatting with netting in the past too. Netting is quite limited to it's uses but it's fun to make. I've got some in my living room windows in rings as sort of net curtains.
well, I knew you were a talented Tatter, now I know you are a multi-talented crafter.
ReplyDeleteI will have to find a few minutes to read this later today. I have been interested in netting, just to see how it is done.
congratulations on being a published author in more then one craft.
Val asked the exact question I was going to ask! I have been searching all over the web for those slim netting needles. Karen Cabrera uses them for Celtic weaving of long chains, utilizing the reverse Riego method of tatting.
ReplyDeleteThis post again blew my mind, especially typing the article with one finger! You've come a long way! I was relieved that you did not do the drawings, but you could do so today! And how ironic that no one would recognize the name today, but at least they published it! I will read the article in depth later!
It's interesting what we'll do for the love of things. I'd love to see some of your netting!
ReplyDeletePatricia? Paula? Primrose? Purdita? Hmmmm....
Quite fascinating..makes me want to give it a go, sounds like fun! An interesting article to read and, as Val said, quite well written. Thankyou for sharing that!
ReplyDeleteMy mother told me a joke a long time ago. She'd learned it as a much younger person and in her generation, it was thought of as such a funny joke. Well, here goes. A man left England to go to Canada. Before he left he'd met a woman named Mrs Dunn. She had asked him that if he ever met her son, tell him to get in touch with her, as she hadn't heard from him in a long long time. So, one day while in Western Canada he'd walked out to the outhouse. There was a man inside. When the man came out, from the outhouse, the first man said "are you done?" The man said yes. So he said "then call your mother in England, she misses you." Hey, now I know Mrs. Dunn. he he.
ReplyDelete