HNW - Tatting suggestions

[RowanA@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/9/01 9:15:07 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
betsyp at roguewave.com writes:

<< The Lacis page says that needle tatting is actually easier, requires less
 coordination, and handles a wider range of thread sizes than shuttle
 tatting.  Is anybody on this list a tatter?  Do you agree with this comment?
 Is there a book I could read to compare and contrast the two methods?  Being
 a materials groupie, I am very taken by the pretty little abalone, brass,
 wood, &c tatting shuttles, but I retain just enough self-restraint to avoid
 shuttle tatting if it's harder to learn and produces no different results. >>

Hi, Betsy -- 
I've taken a couple of needle tatting classes, and from what I understand, 
needle tatting pre-dates shuttle tatting.  But because the shuttles were so 
decorative, so pretty and much costlier than needles, shuttle tatting became 
a pursuit mainly of the upper and monied classes, while needle tatting was 
sort of looked down upon as a lower-class activity.  However, according to my 
teachers, needle tatting IS easier, and a needle tatter can do anything a 
shuttle tatter can do, plus more.  I'm sure others here can place all this in 
historical context (I'm thinking Victorian era?).  Some have told me that the 
end products of shuttle and needle tatting are somehow structurally 
different, but I'm not sure, being a rank beginner and having done only two 
needle-tatting projects.  Experienced tatters, please enlighten us! 
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