Its been a few days since I have posted anything. Saturday night we had to work mixing a band at Quil Ceda. It was a 3 piece country band and they were pretty good so it wasnt so bad. Somewhere along the way I have picked up a nasty cold so the last couple of days have been a pretty big struggle. I did end up going to church on Sunday because the hubby got to lead worship and for the first time in my memory his son Mark came along and played guitar and did some amazing harmonies. They sound so amazing together so I sure am glad I went.
My shuttle/thread/book order did end up showing up on Monday but I have been scared to try them out. I am not so good at trying new things, mainly because I really hate to fail at things so I am sure this has kept me from doing lots of things. Unfortunately this time my fears have been realized! This freakin shuttle gizmo is beating me up big time!! I started with trying to make a chain and that seemed to go ok. I used 2 different thread colors and that seemed to work out but then I moved onto making a ring and this little beasty is fixing to be the end of my shuttle tatting career. I am having nasty issues with only being able to see one color and getting the thread to transfer correctly. I cant seem to wrap my brain around how this works so I think it is starting to psych me out and I am probably making it harder than it really is. I have watched several youtube videos to get several different prospectives on it but that is just making things worse. I have tried using different threads but that isn't helping either. Needle tatting went so awesomely so I guess maybe I just got too cocky in thinking I could pick up shuttle as easily. I would guess at this point it is more a mental thing than anything else so I probably should give it a rest for a bit and try again later after I am not so frustrated. Wish me luck!!
Shuttle tatting takes more dexterity than needle tatting. You have to hold your hand in unfamiliar positions and then wiggle the thread around using mostly the back of the middle finger of your left hand (or right, if you're a lefty). Your doing most of the thread manipulation with your non-dominant hand, so of course it's tricky. The biggest trick is to just relax. There's no hurry, just take it easy, it will come. The more chain you tat before trying the rings, the more muscle memory you develop and the easier it is. There are a lot of advantages to shuttle tatting, so don't give up, just keep trying.
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