Drawing circle problem

In earlier versions, if I wanted to try to convert a spline into arc sections, I could draw 2 circles using 3 points and selecting nearest. Then I could draw another 3 point circle, but I would select tangent esnaps on the previous circles drawn and then a nearest point selection on the spline, and I would get a circle that was tangent the first circles, but passing thru the selected point. Now if I try that, I choose 3 pt circle and then type in 'tan' and is asks tangent to, but it apparently doesn't see any items that it can draw a tangent to. If I select ttt, or ttr, it sees the circles, but I can't override the last tan, or if I do click on a nearest point in ttr, it asks for the center, which I don't know.

As I said before, it USED to work, but doesn't anymore.