Great Grandma Ila's shuttle

Growing up, history was one of my least favorite subjects in school.  I'm having a hard time breaking myself of the habitual thought that I "hate" all things historical.  It's goofy though, 'cause I've been a professional historical interpreter (read- tour guide) at a few national historic sites, a member of the SCA (historical re-enactment) for several years, and here again (the subject of this post) is another historical piece of interest.  To me, at least...

When I first started tatting, or making the initial attempt to learn by watching youtube vids, etc...  I was staying at my grandparents' house for the weekend.  I was having quite a bit of trouble with tatting since the concept of  "the flip" hadn't occurred to me yet.  I asked Grandma if she knew how to tat, thinking she could help me learn.  Sadly, she didn't know, but it led to some interesting stories of her mother trying to teach her how to tat.  Grandma even pulled out a few doilies and hankies that Great-Grandma had tatted and passed down to her.

After talking about tatting for quite a while, my grandma remembered that she'd given HER mother's tatting shuttle to MY mother many years ago, as she was the most likely person in the family to take up the art.  My mom is a very artsy-craftsy person, and there's not much in the artistic field that she either doesn't know how to do, or can't pick up pretty quickly.  That being said, I'd never seen her tat, and know that she physically takes after my other grandma (mothers and daughters tend to do that...), and her hands look more and more arthritic each time I see her.  I wasn't sure she'd ever want to take up tatting, so... I asked her about G-Gma's shuttle.

Fast-forward several weeks, and I now have the shuttle in my posession!  I got it yesterday.  It's nothing fancy as far as shuttles go, but it's an heirloom, and I enjoy using it.

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It's a pretty tiny little thing, and I'm petrified it's going to shatter each time it slips from my hands, but I'm hoping that, being made of bone, it's strong enough to take it.

Happy Tatting!