I've discovered that tatting is to crochet as go is to chess. Tatting has all of one stitch, and more simplicity of structure, but this expands what can be done with it greatly, and how that's accomplished. It's also freer-form than crochet, since the stitch length and tension is entirely up to the user. Also, it's much easier on my hands. After thread-crocheting for a long period of time, my fingers are usually very sore, especially the joints of the middle finger of my right hand.
Tatting is a breeze compared to that, no soreness at all.
You can pull out as many stitches as you want easily, and stop exactly where you want. The blades are a little far apart in the back and need to be repositioned, though. This is the third in a series of edged hankies that I'm making for my mom. The other two are crocheted, and since I sent them before I got pictures, I don't have pics up of them yet. This one, though, I do.