There's nothing complicated about doing two-shuttle work; it's the patterns you can create with two shuttles that are complicated -- and you have already learned techniques that will allow you to work most two-shuttle patterns with shuttle and ball.
(Note: many books, particularly old books, use "two-shuttle" to describe shuttle-and-ball patterns and two-shuttle patterns indifferently. This came about because of the fine-thread practice of keeping the ball thread on a shuttle.)
Your only problem is remembering which shuttle is the shuttle, and which shuttle is the ball. By now you should be able to tell which thread is in which role by looking to see where it emerges from the last stitch.
One possible confusion is that if you have one shuttle wound with red and one with white, when the red shuttle is being used as the shuttle, you will make red rings and white chains. It is, therefore, possible for a pattern to say "working with red" when you are making white stitches. It is the premise of this book that there is nothing in your pocket but two shuttles, and you are making up your patterns as you go along, so there shouldn't be any problem -- unless you come up with a design so pretty that you decide to write it up and sell it to a magazine. The art of writing patterns is beyond the scope of this book, but if you read a lot of patterns published by your intended market, you'll figure out how it's done.
Onward! Wind shuttle A with red and shuttle B with white, and make one last rosette of rosettes. I'll help by putting the letter of the shuttle you are using as a shuttle at the beginning of each line. Begin by using A as the shuttle and B as the ball, and begin work on the right side:
A R: 4-4---4-4 rw
A C: 4-4 change shuttles
B R: 4+4-4-4
B R: 4+4--4-4
B R: 4+4--4-4
B R: 4+4-4-4 change shuttles
A C: 4+4 rw
*
A R: 4+4+4-4 rw
A C: 4-4 change shuttles
B R: 4+4+4-4
B R: 4+4--4-4
B R: 4+4--4-4
B R: 4+4-4-4 change shuttles
A C: 4+4 rw
Repeat from * five times, for a total of six rings and six quatrefoils. Join the last inner ring to the first inner ring, and join the last quatrefoil to the first quatrefoil.
Note that two-shuttle rings on the outside of a chain do not lock up the threads the way mock rings and swap-reverse rings do. The quatrefoils can be slid back and forth on the chain-in-progress the same way that picots can. Each chain will be one petal-shaped arc instead of two arcs meeting in a star-like point.
Two-shuttle work is usually reserved for fine thread, because a shuttle of convenient size won't hold much coarse thread. The swap-reverse technique will allow you to adapt a two-shuttle pattern to shuttle-and-ball when you want to work it in heavy thread. Because the swap-reverse locks up the threads, curves will be converted into corners at each swap-reverse.
Hint: Using a matched pair of shuttles for two-shuttle work is not a good idea. If all your shuttles are the same color, put a spot of gummed paper on one shuttle. Make sure it's the kind of gum that washes off!
A designing exercise: remember that the daisy was a ring with other rings joined base-down to its picots? Remember the remark that a mock ring made a better center for a daisy than a real ring? Remember the remark that using two shuttles would allow you to replace the picots on a mock ring with real rings without locking the core thread? Try making a mock daisy:
Wind a "ball" shuttle, cut the thread a couple of yards from this shuttle, and wind the tail onto another shuttle. Using the skimpy shuttle, start a chain. Put a stout paper clip into the loop at the beginning to be sure it doesn't draw up so tight that you can't open it again. Use the ball shuttle to make real rings at suitable intervals, joining them at the sides. Join last ring to first, cut the threads, pull the skimpy-shuttle thread through the loop left at the beginning, draw the mock ring closed, and tie off.
An exposed chain in any design can be replaced by a segment of mock daisy.
If you run out of thread in the middle of a medallion, stop at a natural joint, such as the base of a ring. If you come to the end of a thread while working a ring, you can usually finish the ring by working the thread without a shuttle (think back to your beginner's experiments with the chain).
Another expedient is to tie the thread to the shuttle with a bit of string. If your "waste thread" is smooth, and if you have used a square knot, pulling on both ends will cause it to straighten out inside the square knot, and it will slip easily out of the resulting lark's head. On the other hand, this might happen by accident while you are working; you might be well advised to use a weaver's knot.
If you can't finish the ring, pull the end of the thread out of it, whereupon all the knots will untie themselves.
Chain can sometimes be untied by separating the knots at a picot to expose the core, then pulling the core out of the knots.
Now simply start using the new thread, leaving the two ends dangling. When you've moved a little away from the break, and after you've worked a ring or otherwise locked the threads, tie the ends the same way that you tie off when finishing. Don't trim short; leave at least two inches of thread on each end until the piece has been blocked. Ends can be woven through the lace to keep them from getting in your way.
When you cut out a mistake, leave ends long enough to tie off with. It may be necessary to untie some knots, but usually you can cut the shuttle thread a few inches from the work, then pull it back through the mistake. You may or may not need to cut both threads. Avoid, if possible, re-using thread which has been tied and untied. When the mistake is gone, you are in the same situation as if you had run out of thread. Inspect your shuttle before continuing. If you're going to run out of thread soon, you may want to re-wind immediately. I like to keep more than one shuttle, so that I can re-start with a full shuttle without having to unwind a partly-used shuttle first.
Knotless piecing: when you see that there isn't enough thread to make another ring, wind a fresh shuttle, and end by winding the old thread together with the new thread. Make a chain with double shuttle thread, leaving three or four inches of the new thread to dangle, then drop the old thread. Trim both threads close to the stitches after pressing or blocking. Faults: The chain made over the double thread will be slightly wider than the other chains. If you pull your stitches tighter to make it as narrow as the other chains, it will be smoother than the other chains. Nothing but friction holds the two threads inside the chains, and they might slip if put under severe tension.
Bombproof piecing: if your reason for avoiding knots is that they might not hold up under vigorous washing, use this variation on the above method: Add a new thread when there is just enough thread left to make one more ring. Work a chain with the double thread, then drop the new thread and make a ring with the old thread. Pick up the new thread again and make a chain with the double thread. Drop the old thread and make a ring with the new thread. Make a third chain with the double thread, then drop the old thread permanently.
Avoid piecing: When you start something that you might not be able to finish with a single shuttleful, make sure you can re-wind the shuttle without cutting the ball thread. If you are using a skein or a pull-from-the-center ball, you can unwind thread from its outside for the shuttle. When doing a large job, use an entire new ball for the ball thread so that it won't have to be pieced, and re-wind it to make sure there are no knots or other defects that you will have to cut out. Even the most reliable thread maker sometimes misses a knot, and some cheap threads routinely come as three or four pieces to the ball.
With the techniques you've already learned, you can copy almost any piece of tatting you are likely to run into, but there's one possibility of the swap reverse I haven't mentioned yet. We'll explore that in exercise fourteen.
On to Exercise Fourteen:
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