Distinguishing Tatting from Needle Tatting

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IS IT TATTING OR AIR EMBROIDERY?

I can't do anything with my shuttle that can't be duplicated with a needle, so you can never prove conclusively that a piece was tatted.

On the other hand, there are some tricks done with a needle that can't be done with a shutttle, so it is *sometimes* possible to be certain that at least part of a piece was worked with or on a needle.

A few clues:

Tatting can make tighter knots than needle tatting, but you can't look at a piece and say "There isn't room for a needle in there, therefore it was not needle tatted.". The thread might have shrunk in the wash, and when needle tatting is done with a shuttle (as suggested in the _Complete Book of Tatting_), half-hitches are slipped over the shuttle one at a time, and can be drawn as tight as tatted half-hitches.

If a piece is both loose and even, that suggests, but does not prove, that it was needle-tatted.

Tatting works up faster than needle tatting, so the larger and finer a piece is, the more likely it is that it was tatted.

Tatting starts getting awkward when thread size exceeds 1, so the coarser it is, the more likely it is it to be needle tatted.

Yarn is more likely to be needle-tatted than to be tatted, as the looser knots of needle tatting are more compatible with soft thread.

If there is a join in which a thread passes through a picot, that thread was on a needle. This does not distinguish needle tatting from tatting done with a needle, however.

Only the half-hitch will "turn". Therefore, if there is any other knot or stitch, then that stitch was not tatted. One stitch does not prove that the piece as a whole was needle-tatted, but an entire chain worked in a cast-on other than half hitch must have been worked on a needle.

Another suggestive-but-not-conclusive clue: If there are needle-lace stitches incorporated into the design, it's likely to be needle tatting. The tatter *can* incorporate needle-lace stitches, but isn't likely to think of it -- just as knitting done on a hooked needle is often interrupted by a round or two of crochet, while the Western knitter *can* get up and fetch a crochet hook, but isn't likely to think of it.

When a thread emerges from a tatted-looking chain, performs another style of air embroidery, and returns to a tatted chain, that's almost conclusive.

Feeble evidence: Because of the limited amount of thread on a needle, needle tatters are apt to prefer mock rings -- but tatters working in coarse thread also tend to conserve the thread on the shuttle.

A hypothetical clue: crochet has been combined with tatting from the very beginning, but I've never (*yet*!) seen a design of tatting mixed with knitting. The tools used in needle tatting fairly shriek for the the inclusion of knitted lace.

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