Beginning Tatting:  A Lesson Book: Arts and Crafts Collection
Although trained as a registered nurse and working in the field for almost 40 years, Ms Wilson has also been an avid practitioner of a number of the fiber arts, tatting being her favorite.  As she says, "It's one of the most portable pastimes I know.  If I take a ball of thread and a tatting shuttle in my purse or in my pocket, I'm guaranteed to be patient waiter no matter what the circumstances!  It was especially helpful when I lived in Cairo.  No one could ever get anywhere quickly or on time, so I usually ended up waiting for friends whenever there was a get together somewhere.  Tatting gave me something useful and relaxing with which to occupy my time."  When asked if tatting was an "easy" craft to learn, she replied, "It's not easy to learn, especially as it is most commonly taught, but it is easy to do once it is learned.  People usually want to start with the rings, but they end up with knots rather than slip stitches.  That leaves them frustrated, and they quit.  That's why I stress learning with chains first.  You learn to see the difference between a knot and a slip stitch right away.  Once you've got that, you can go on to rings with much greater likelihood of success."