Lace
Needle-tatting
I started needle tatting at the suggestion of Nancy from Croft. She loaned me a copy of Barbara Foster's Learn Needle Tatting Step-by-Step and I took off from there. Very cool! Great pictures, great instructions, pretty soon I was humming right along. I started out with the needle because I hoped to be able to somehow justify this kind of tatting as older than the shuttle kind. I'm always looking for period crafts to add to my rep, but unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to document this one! I do love it, though, and what the heck, you can get away with a lot at a renaissance festival. I'll have to sit down and figure out how to use a shuttle, too, there are just some things you can't do on a needle, but I've been having fun adapting shuttle patterns for the needle. This will probably go on a new pair of split drawers eventually.
Cut-work
Not too much to say about this, but anyway, I'm hoping to eventually put some stuff in here about a new craft I want to try my hand at: cut-work lace. It's much more period for my re-enactment range, Queen Elizabeth is said to have loved cut-work lace. There's some basic directions in my Needlecraft Encyclopedia that I'll start with, and see where it goes from there. More later!