Thinking about variations of micromacrame

cavandoli macrame bracelet I made in junior high

Yesterday I was curious about the imaginary craft zone where tatting, micromacrame, Cavandoli macrame, and friendship bracelets intersect. Can you use a tatting shuttle to make a friendship bracelet? Can the pattern for it be described in tatting terminology? Possibly, but they are based on two different knots. In friendship bracelets(and Cavandoli macrame) each stitch is made of two identical half-hitch knots (double half-hitch). In tatting, each stitch is made of two different half-hitch knots (lark's head knot). Here are a couple of test projects I made while I was thinking about these types of knots.

friendship  bracelet style knots, using a tatting shuttle

What kind of macrame is it?

Tatting projects- part 2

Chain with flowers

Today I worked on this chain with flowers. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. It seems like it should be edging for something. 

 I mentioned previously that I made this small project by making bigger rings around the center instead of chains. I was on vacation with only one shuttle and no extra thread. I still believe it was the wrong way to make it, because in order to add more thread to the ring, it had to pass through all of the tight spots where it is joined. However, I just found out that there is a name for this type of ring-within-a-ring. It's an "Onion Ring". I found directions for it by Jane Eborall at http://www.e.n.e.btinternet.co.uk/MakingOnionRing.pdf .

Inkle bookmarks

          I normally don't make bookmarks, but I did these last week when preparing for a craft fair. I tried doing a pattern with the ones on the left, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. My son gave me the idea of switching colors of the weft yarn for each section on the middle ones. I made them thinner, planning to be bracelets, but I couldn't figure out how to tie them. Heidi from PrettyPigeon.com showed me how her leather cuffs close with a suede drawstring. 

          The red and white bookmarks turned out the best. I experimented with patterns on a striped background(normally I do pick-up patterns on a dotted background). They turned out great, and I never got bored because I switched patterns so often.

Tatting projects

I finished a small tatting project during our road trip(the green circle). I forgot to pack extra thread, and I did this using only one shuttle.The outer ring is actually a single giant ring that goes all the way around, joining every few stitches. Definitely NOT the right way to do it.

After I got home, I had to review the directions for using a ball of string along with the shuttle. Much better results(orange projects). After that, I was almost ready to start following the directions in the book I checked out by Lyn Morton. I haven't had the patience to follow a whole pattern yet, but I got farther than last time.(white flower).

Antique crochet hooks

Today, I unpacked a box that my mother sent home with me. It has several old crocheted doilies made by her relatives, and 4 old crochet hooks. One is metal, one is plastic, and two could be something else like ivory. They are yellowed and cracked. I'm not sure yet if I will actually use them, or just display them as a decoration.