Here's To The Tatters

Well, I still woke up tired today, but I woke up from a dream. This is great news as I fear my lack of rest was really a lack of REM sleep. I have no idea why of course, but that snippet of a dream this morning was very welcome news and I hope it means I'm climbing out of the hole now.

Yesterday morning started with a message from one of my very first tatting friends. Now while the contents of our discussions surrounded a really bothersome subject, I was still glad to hear from her and it reminded me of the all the wonderful people I met when I first started blogging. I started this thing at the behest of etsy folk who cried that it would help business. What actually happened was after a few months of decidedly etsy-centric posts, the tatters found me and I shifted subjects a bit and have found my happy place. Things I have learned are, if you don't want to join the tatting community, don't talk about it. Tatters are crazy for finding their own and have alerts set up to do so. Joining said community is the best thing you can do for the art and for your own sanity. No one will ever understand your new found obsession with string like they will. Being adversarial, paranoid or selfish will get you nowhere, the opposite will earn you friends, allies and trust.

I guess the point of this diversion is to thank all of you out there who support each other and understand that this art we all share is just that, something to share. Sure some of us might be trying to earn a living and some of us might just want something to do with our hands and some might have the art in their blood. We come from different backgrounds and have different stories of what led us to the needle or shuttle and an enormous, unexplainable collection of thread, but for the most part the one thing tatters seem to have in common is kindness...even if it is draped in a cloak of sweet, sweet sarcasm. So I say to those of you that are brand new to the art, join the community and thrive. To those who would say they were tatting before I was born, thanks for all the groundwork. We would be nowhere today without you hanging onto that thread and giving us something to work from. We can not forget that we are not doing something that has never been done, we are merely adding to a foundation that has been held strong.

There are a few of you who might understand why I went on this diatribe today, but it's not important and I shall not give it another thought. I have tatting to attend to and that is far more important. I still have not heard back from the one eyed mask customer so I shall assume that she has decided against it. That means that I will get one made up for the store as soon as I can. I think I might adjust the design a bit as well, particularly over the eye just so the whole ribbon over the face is...well less. I was also given some advice to add attachment points for glue on the back side so as not to gum up the lace, so I will look into adding a couple of pads of fabric or oilcloth on the underside for potential gluing. Well, off to it then and thanks for reading.