Carolin 
Yes, it is true. I do not use shuttles for tatting. I prefere bobbins from my sewing machine.
You might think 'But the shuttles are soooo beautiful. Why don't you use them?'. Or maybe you think 'How on earth does this work? Bobbins have no tip?'
Here are the 3 reasons why:
- When I first started tatting in the 2000s, shuttles were hard to come by in Germany. Yarn crafts were rather out. Something niche and exotic like a tatting shuttle was not available in a lokal shop. The internet was still young. Etsy and Dawanda were just founded. Besides as a student at the university I was on a budget. For the purpose of learning Tatting, I wound up mini skeins. I fixated them with a simple knot, that I already knew from winding lace bobbins. One day, I vistited a yarn craft fair, that took place once a year in my home town. There it was. All of a sudden a real Tatting shuttle lay rigt in front of me. I couldn't believe it. I bought it from the spot. At home I quickly became diappointed.
- Sloth
Maybe I was just unlucky with this shuttle. It did not work for me -at all. The clamp, that was supposed to fixate the thread while tatting was sonstantly in my way while winding the shuttle. At the same time it would release the thread all the time while tatting. I had no one to ask for advise. I felt dumb, because I could not figure out, how to make good use of this shuttle. Very soon I put it away. - Minimalism and Individualism
Using mini skeins was sufficient for the beginning but they kept falling apart und tangle. I was just unraveling the mess all the time. I started looking for an alternative using in-house resources. I found what I was looking for in my sewing box. I owed a set of sewing yarns with readywound metalbobbins for each coulor. Some of them were empty. Like I mentioned, I wound them like lace bobbins. This was quick and prevented the constant tangle. The best thing was, I could make use of something, I already had. I felt very clever and creativ for finding my own solution. Because it worked so well I stick with it until today and will continue.
But what about the tip? I do not need one. I hold the bobbin between my ringfinger and my palm. I hold the thread between my thumb, indexfinger and middlefinger. That why I can work all tatting techniques that I know. For joining I use a fine crochet hook.
But the shuttles are sooo beautiflul? True. There are so many pretty shuttles out there. The esthetic of the shuttles made me try tatting in the first place. But in the long run, it was the techique itsself, that faszinated me. I enjoy looking at pictures of shuttle but I do not need any of them sitting idle in a box.
Soll jeder Spulen statt Schiffchen verwenden?
Nein, natürlich nicht. Mache einfach das, was für Dich funktioniert und Dich glücklich macht.
Falls Du aber Occhi einfach mal ausprobieren willst, ohne in ein ’30 sizes deluxe rare luxury wood set in a shiny bag‘ zu investieren, ist meine Methode eine Option.
