Braided Tatting

Yesterday on Facebook I saw photos of a couple of projects made with strands of 'split ring' tatting that just fascinated me. 

One was a bracelet made with 2 different color strands woven together. Since I'm on a mini-tatting spree I had to try it. 

First things first, though.  A refresher course on making a split ring. All that means is that instead of using a single thread and working the ring all the way around, you use 2 shuttles wound continuously and work part of the ring wi the main shuttle (making the flip like you would normally do) and then you work the other section of the ring with the second shuttle (without making the flip - in other words, the foundation thread remains the thread from the first shuttle). You also work it forming the stitches backwards. It sounds way more complicated than it really is. It's not beginner stuff but it's not that hard when you get the gist of it. 

What you end up with is something like this…

You get a cool textural effect that then becomes your palette to use size of rings and color combinations to make all sorts of cool things. I want to try this with chunky yarn to make a scarf. Wouldn't that be cool?

So I learned something new and whittled away a whole evening all at the same time!