Australian tatter Judith Connors has a new book, Contemporary Tatting,which should be making an appearance in a few months in the states. She tells me it has "lots of colour, good range of patterns, and sections on techniques and disposal of ends."

Mark Myers also has a new book, Tatting Patterns for 1 Shuttle, available from his website. This appears to be a nice book for beginners.

I haven't seen either book, but I'm sure we'll hear more about them soon.

Last night I had 4 tatting needles and 5 people. LOL! My sister and my daughter were content to watch. The other 3 made progress. One of those present demonstrated calligraphy after the tatting lesson. We might pursue that a bit closer next week...oh, just realized I don't know who is doing the craft next week! My cousin also brought about a dozen handbags made from placemats. They were fantastic. Wish I'd taken pictures!

I got a very unexpected package today from Estefania. No pictures yet but it containe a knit doll that looks very much like a monkey and 4 skeins of brown/gold yarn. I think the yarn is too big for the capelet but the color is great! I may use it for another sweater/vest I've been thinking of.