Pearl Tatting?

Oh, how susceptible I am to suggestion. Please do not use this knowledge to manipulate me in the future though. Anyway, I got a quick note on YouTube asking if I had done a needle tatting video of pearl or maltese tatting. I responded that I had not and received a link back to some static photos to 'inspire' me to perhaps do so in the future...thanks for that Georgia. I had of course heard of the technique, but really saw no reason to learn it at this point. The patterns I'd seen using it didn't really appeal to me, but throughout the course of the day my lack of knowledge in this ate at me until I had to sit down and give it a go.

My first attempts were using the single needle, two colors and both hands. Boy was that a challenge. I finally got the hand of tatting with the other hand when I realized two things. One, I can now teach lefties to needle tat which may lead to a left handed video once I get a little smoother with it. Two, I didn't have to tat with both hands at all to achieve the pearl chain. All I had to do was turn the needle and tat the other thread with wrong side tatting.

I think I may soon find a reason to use the technique, but there are a few things I need to perfect first. Since you have to pull both working threads through the center I need to tat a little looser so it's easier to accomplish. I suppose I could use a third thread as a core and that might solve some of the issues, but honestly, I'm just figuring this all out as I go. I was too lazy to really search for complete instructions. Most of the ones I found just illustrated the chain in progress, never closing. Also I really don't like how all the threads end up in such different places when you finish the chain or ring and I'm sure the core thread fixes that. I guess I'm just muddling through.

In other news the spiders are ready as free gifts with purchase from the etsy shop. I posted it both in the shop and on my facebook page. I've got plenty of them made up so they'll likely last through the Halloween season.