Why?

Hello, Lovely Tatters!  Happy Canada Day to you all!!  Soon it will be International Lace Day (July 5, 2020), so I hope you're all prepared to get yourself to a comfy public place with your current project and show the world what a "dead" art looks like when it's not dead at all!  

Whenever I hear someone say stuff like that, I think of Groucho Marx's quote that went something like:  "The news of my death has been greatly exaggerated!".  It's true!  There are SO many people tatting, and more learning how every day.  Seriously, it's knot a lost art!  My Jeep even says so!!

I have one of these on either side of my vehicle on the back wing windows.  It certainly makes people take note.  It also makes my Renegade easier to find in a parking lot because it seems EVERYONE here drives an SUV of some kind!  (By the way, if you'd like one for YOUR vehicle, email Shawna Wachs at shawna.wachs@gmail.com.  Tell her Shelley sent you!) 

I got asked today "why do you write a blog if you aren't sure anyone is going to find it?"  Well, that's not really all that hard to answer.

No, I'm not sure anyone is going to read my blog.  It doesn't have the reach a great many other bloggers might have, but that's okay.  The reason behind doing it is simple: It's important to ME.  Yes, it is.

I spend a great amount of time on my own.  I don't have many places to travel so I can't have knotty conversations in person with like-minded people all that often.  The last two years I was able to go to Indiana and actually MEET the people behind the names on the virtual tatting groups.  It was amazing.  The one thing that bothered me, though, was how few Canadians there seemed to be in the groups.

I know I spent a good many years tatting away on my own, not knowing if there were other tatters anywhere nearby.  It felt very isolating, and the comments such as: "I didn't think anyone did that anymore" or "I thought that was dead" or "my gramma did that but I couldn't be bothered" really annoyed me!  

Another thing that I found very inconvenient was the lack of places to purchase supplies in Canada.  Yes, there are shops in the United States that will happily help you, but then you're paying the exchange, duties, and higher shipping costs.  That didn't work for me, either.  Not everyone lives in a border town. A ball of thread that's $3.50 USD can end up costing significantly more in Canadian dollars once it arrives to a Canadian mailing address.

Furthermore, I thought it would be a very cool idea to showcase Canadian tatters.  It's always interesting to see where they came from, how they learned, what they're thinking, and where they'd like to see tatting go.

So, I an trying to research and source places or people that would be Canadian, accessible, and willing to cater to Canadian tatters, be they needlers or shuttlers.

That, my dear friends, is what has led me to this blog, and I hope that answers the question I have been getting frequently, "why do you write a blog?"

Oh...one last reason:  I write this  because it's fun!

Happy Tatting!