Rat-a-Tat-Tat

In my family history line on my moms side, I have a Great Grandmother who was blind. My mom tells me about her Grandma, Amy Richards Taylor, who would sit and do handwork for hours on end. If that isn't amazing enough, she was an expert at Tatting Lace. When I was twelve or thirteen my mom taught me how to tat a teeny tiny little sampler, and that was enough patience spent on the subject for me at the time. I was done. Through the years, I ended up being the only "next generation" tatter in the family line. That being the case, Great Grandma's well used tatting shuttle was entrusted to my not-so-impressed teenage care. 

I'll be very honest. The tatting shuttle sat in my handwork box (with all my other handwork doo-dah's) for.... let's see... gotta do some math.... almost ten years? Yep. That's about it. 

Well, my mom came for a visit a couple weeks ago (just in case you forgot...), and with another one of her daughters getting married, sentimental and pretty things are in need. She was sitting on my couch tatting with her own shuttle in hand, making a long chain of lace to use on something for the bride. Luckily my mom is a genius at anything handwork-ish, and she is very patient too. I dug out my shuttle (that was still wound with some thread that neither me or my mom wound on it) and put my mom to work! She taught me how to tat again, and I have to say that this time around I am a bit more interested, to say the least!

It's amazing to me that I can make lace with my hands (well, quite slowly. I'm not that great....), I can do something my Great Grandma passed down the line to me. I didn't ever get to meet her, or my Grandma, but they gave something special to me (okay, besides my really neat mom... I kind of thought that was a given). They gave me the knowledge of a  hobby, and maybe a talent. I think that's pretty cool.