2016 NC State Fair Projects: Thread Fail #2

Are we seeing a pattern here?

Ok, this time the thread fail was all my fault. One of my fair entries will be a tatted edging on a vintage handkerchief using two colors of vintage size 70/80 thread. I was tatting away until the the shuttle with green thread ran out. Blithely, I filled the shuttle with all that remained on the spool and tatted onward. Not long after, it occurred to me that that was all the thread I had left in that brand/color/size. And that I just might not have enough thread on my shuttle to finish making it around the hanky circumference. As I watched more thread unspool from the shuttle and more of the shuttle's post being emptied, I started getting tenser. I was on round 2 of the edging with about 6 inches to go and, wouldn't you know, the green was being used up quickly for all the rings while the lavender, which I still had a lot of, was only used for some short chains. 

If I could only find just one more small spool of the green thread, the project would be saved. Of course, it being a discontinued, vintage thread (American Thread Co. Star Tatting Crochet thread (Art. 25) in size 70 and color 149), finding more was not going to be easy. First I did searches in eBay, Etsy, Google, and Ravelry. The only thing I turned up was someone on Ravelry who had a spool of it in her stash, but was not offering it for sale or trade. Nevertheless, I kept this source in mind on the chance that I might be able to convince her with my pitiful story to part with it.

Next I resorted to posting my dilemma to the Tatting Facebook group, offering to buy or trade from anyone who might have this thread in their stash. In addition to a lot of sympathetic comments ("we've all been there"), I also (hooray!) eventually got offers from three tatters who said they had that thread. I contacted the first to respond, a tatter in Missouri, who didn't want any money or even reimbursement of her postage. She asked that I just send her something I'd tatted. Within a couple of days, her thread arrived and I was able to complete the project! (I hope she likes what I sent her as a thank you.)

I am so grateful for all the generosity that tatters online have for each other. They really came through for this tatter, and I hope that someday I can help out someone else who has a vintage thread emergency. (It's not like I'll ever be able to use up all that tiny thread that I have stashed anyway.)