Picot Gauges

Does anyone else out there use picot gauges?  I've always wondered how important even picots are to people.  Now, let me say that I think that the best way to get even picots is practice, practice, practice!  I don't use picot gauges when doing regular tatting - I think they are way too time consuming and I've been tatting long enough that my picots are pretty even anyway.

But when beading, or doing a pattern where different sized, graduated, or larger picots are part of the overall design, I find picot gauges very helpful.  I created this little set out of heavy card stock and since I do a lot of bead work in my tatting and often use decorative picots in my work, I use mine all the time.

They sit with my shuttles, teeny-tiny crochet hooks and collapsible eye needles as one of my "essential" tools.  I have made a few of them to offer in my etsy shop, if anyone else is interested.

Missing Mary Konior

Is it possible to miss someone you've never actually met?  Somehow I think of people out there in tatting land as my friends even if we've never spoken.  After all, we do have something pretty substantial in common - we love tatting!  Designers are especially near and dear to my heart - so many talented people out there, and I feel like I know them through their methods, particular style and ways of designing tatting.

One of my favorites has always been Mary Konior, and so when I heard of her passing, I just had to pull out her books and peruse the loveliness within (they are quite well worn as I have perused them often in the past - but it had been a while).  Her designs are so neat, so symmetrical,  and very unique as well.  She had a very specific style, and I think it's easy to pick her designs out of a crowd.

Even though I never met her, I feel very strongly the tatting world lost a very special lady.  I am so thankful she left behind a legacy of her lovely designs for us to remember her by.