Gifts

In general I just tat what I want to tat. This results in a long backlog of patterns that I am doing because I fell in love with them visually, not because I have anything constructive to do with them. I think this is pretty normal for lace makers. But I've recently started trying to do something that is also pretty normal for lace makers, at least for all the tatters I've found blogging: tat things to be given as gifts. So I'm starting with these simple little bracelets.



It's just a row of split rings with a square of block tatting to be drawn through the last ring to fasten the bracelet. I came up with this pattern years ago while learning split rings and reading Judith Connor's Tatting with Beads, but it's so simple that it doesn't really count as my own design. Anyway, these are just the right size to be included in a card, so I plan to send a lot of them to my girl friends as birthday presents or just because presents. I've been having fun picking just the right color for each girl. These also work well with variations, like adding picots, or alternating a ring with a square throughout the bracelet. I prefer the non-picot version, though -- most of the time what I look for in jewelry is a streamlined, simple, and classy design. I've seen a lot of tatted jewelry in books that I hate, so it took me a long time to believe that good tatted jewelry was possible. But nowadays I see more and more beautiful pieces every day, and I have quite reformed my position.