Inspired to Tat

I've been inspired to tat recently, by this lovely heart that TattingChic made, and those little spinning wheels that Lace-Lovin' Librarian seems to turn out every week. (How could anyone tat that fast?) I ordered the book with the heart from Handy Hands Tatting. Since they were having a spring cleaning sale, I ordered some thread, too. When the order came, I liked the thread colors so much that I promptly ordered some more, and a beaded tatted earrings booklet. I'm still trying to figure out how to tat without breaking the thread. (It's size 50) Any suggestions would be appreciated. The yellow thread in the picture on the left is from JoAnn's; I bought it for a special bookmark design, along with some extra tatting shuttles.

 I'm planning to make several Minor Norwegian Dragons with the thread. The link should take you to the PDF file. Last week I made this little dragon. I got to learn a few new techniques, like tatting with beads, Lock Joins, and Lock Stitches. Where the pattern says 'tension to curve', pull the chain tight so that it will curve as much as possible! I had to do a lot of starching on this little guy. Before I starched him he looked like a cow with wings. After I free up a couple of shuttles, I'm going to try him again in a gold thread.
~Sarah