Learn how to tat!

Page #7 - The Ring

Here I have tatted 5 double stitches, and I am ready to make a picot.nake sure to check that the knots slide on the ring between each stitch! Every doublestitch MUST slide in order for the ring to be correct. I did the first half of the stitch, leaving a space between it and the previous double stitch.
DO the second half of the stitch, snug it up to the first, and slide the completed doublestitch next to its friends, forming a picot.
I have tatted all I am going to tat for this ring. I did 5 double stitchs four times and formed a picot between the sets of 5. The notation for this ring would be: R 5ds, p, 5ds, p, 5ds, p, 5ds - or- R 5-5-5-5 Again, you can see that the picot is not counted as a stitch, but rather as a space between stitches.
Now to close the ring: hold the lastly formed double stitch in your pinch, and firmly but slowly pull on the shuttle, allowing the ring to close up.
That's it, steady as she goes... Pull tightly (within reason) until the first and last double stitches of the ring meet. You have closed the ring. In pattern notation this would be indicated as Cl.
Voila. The notation for this bit of tatting would be: CH 5-5. RW. R 5-5-5-5 Cl.