{blogtober day 14} muscle memory

A million years ago, back when daily chat threads in Facebook groups were a thing, I went on a pinning spree, filling my boards with bobbin lacing inspo. In those simpler, ancient times, Pinterest follows meant something, and my long-suffering friends watched in real time as I fell down my latest rabbit hole.

We were away on an extended in-law family trip to Dubbo when my phone pinged – I can’t remember reading it (I can, however, remember the post I wrote on my phone that weekend), but not if it was a tag or a message; Carmel had spotted a shuttle tatting class on Craftsy. It wasn’t bobbin lace but was close enough that the significantly lower entry costs ($6 for a shuttle vs $100+ for a bobbin lace kit) made it an appealing option. I grabbed the class, and picked up a shuttle on my next trip to spotlight.

I wish I could tell you I dived straight into that class and learned a new skill that had been taking up a lot of mental space. But we all know what 2012 me was like. 2012 could blog everyday about crafting, but couldn’t actually follow through with anything to save my life. Exhibit A – the 2012 block of the month quilt I finally finished in 2020.

The shuttle sat in my “general craft crap” box for literal years. I did pull it out at one point – not to tatt with, mind you, but to use as a boat shuttle for a mini weaving I was playing with. After that, it was back into the box, and I think it may have been decluttered in the move. Either that or there’s still another box waiting to be unpacked, which to be honest wouldn’t actually surprise me.

Aside from a bodgied up attempt at bobbin lace in 2017, I haven’t through much about lace work or tatting since. Until, randomly, the old grey matter got bored, went on a wander through The Gallery Of Grand Yet Abandoned Ideas, and decided to come knocking. “Hello self,” it said, “remember that time you wanted to learn how to tatt?”. And that, friends, is how I found myself in Spotlight Rockhampton buying yet another shuttle (which I now realise had a reason for the backing cardboard to be ripped – it was missing the spare bobbin!).

My original plan was to have a crack at it yesterday while watching the race, but my day didn’t pan out like that. Instead, I pulled up the class this morning, and got to work. Using some Aurifil 12wt I was kindly gifted by Amitie Textiles a couple of years back, I loaded my bobbin, cued up the first class, and got to work.

I’ve only tried the double stitch to start with, and while I’m slowly getting the moves down, the tension side of things is tricky. My brain is struggling with a crochet style tension hold, with moves that are kind of not really like a knitting long tail cast on. Slowly slowly, though, I’m getting the hang of it, and I think if I can find a comfortable tension hold, my practise will go faster and I’ll get the muscles memory building up to make it flow easier.

Today, I should be powering through Sketchbook Revival, I still have twelve classes to go and only five days in which to finish them. Instead, I’m throwing my shuttle back and forth as I procrastinate on housework. Tonight I might art, and return to my tatting at the school table tomorrow, now I know how to do the double and just need to practice it. Let’s not talk about the myriad other projects I’m ignoring at the same time…

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