Here we go again!!! Another moan from the old lady in England!!!
My moan today is really about new designers. My goodness we do need them as I'm going to fall off my perch one day along with others of my generation.
A few months ago I helped a lady with her pattern which she was going to publish and sell on Etsy. Great. Pattern was nothing exciting really but I couldn't find a copyrighted one so off we went on an adventure. She was a delight to help as she took all suggestions on board (unlike another who gave me the sack and blocked me from seeing their work on Facebook a year or two ago!).
What really surprised me was her lack of knowledge about the very, very basics of the craft. Even about hiding tails at the beginning of the work and she didn't use an obvious technique to add a bead which made (IMHO) a much better way of working a large bead into the design rather than sewing it on at the end.
Another issue that has been annoying me INTENSLY is the trend for new designers (and now their followers) to change tatting terms that are already well established. IF ONLY they would get more experience and do more research into the craft they would realise that most tatting terms have been established for many years.
I'm particularly thinking of the new 'trend' to call a ring on top of a chain (originally RoCh) a 'thrown ring' when a thrown ring is actually a ring thrown off a ring. This is shown on this video. The current trend is for people to call the ring on chain a 'thrown ring' or 'floating ring'. PLEASE can we all stick to the established names? It's causing much confusion to oldies like me and to the upcoming youngsters too.
Do your research, PLEASE.