I have always been interested in many forms of needle work, and while growing up I learned as many as I could – crochet, knitting, embroidery, etc., but I had never even hear of tatting until 1976. Armed with two library books and some supplies from Woolworths, I managed to learn how. It was fun and different. I carried shuttles with me everywhere that summer. As years went by, I would tat off and on, alternating it with my other crafts. There was not a wide variety of patterns available to me then, so I began to make up my own, and early on sold two patterns to Workbasket. Since then, I have self published 10 tatting pattern books, with another on the way. I have been honored o have been chosen to teach many times at Palmetto TatDays, and also at the Finger Lakes Tatting Convention (Hector, NY) and the Fringe Element Tat Days (Cambridge, ON).
Martha Ess