July 25 - Snippette the Celtic Snail by Ruth

Copyright 2004 - 2007 Ruth Perry

This is another of my favorite tatted give aways. This one is really good for demonstrating tatting because it's mostly mindless tatting, without having to count stitches. This is also a very good FIRST Celtic Knot project - very easy to tat, and fairly easy to weave the knot. And besides, he's adorable. Kids love him.

Instructions:

Body:
Begin with a yard or so of any thread on a shuttle, finger tatting, or needle tatting. The thread I used is the wonderful Valdani thread that I bought from Deb Arnold in April. I just love the color varieties available in this thread!

Start a chain on a paper clip, or begin with an overhand knot tied in the thread between
the ball and shuttle.

Chain ( 20 - 30 + ) Join to the picot of this chain section.


Tat the 2nd half of the DS on the far side of the chain from where you started, then you can continue tatting with the chain securely joined but crossing over itself.

Continue tatting until you have enough tatted chain to loop around four times. This is LAZY tatting, you don’t have to count the stitches! Tight tatting works best. Weave the chain around and through as shown in the diagram. The lighter grey indicates weaving the chain through the knot.



Cut from the ball leaving about 18” of thread. Cut from the shuttle leaving at least 10” of thread. Use these thread ends to weave the same Celtic Knot that is the earring in Celtic Tatting Knots & Patterns.

However, the snail has one join, and a longer chain that weaves through around the outside loops of the knot. It is finished with a ring or a split ring for the head and antannae. Continue tatting enough chain to weave through the outside loops of this knot, and a little bit more for the neck of the snail... Does a snail have a neck????

Head:
Split ring (3 / 3)
Tie double or triple overhand knots in each of the thread ends about 1/2" from the head. Cut near the knots.
NO ENDS TO WORK IN !!! HOORAY !!!