Although she learned the basic knot in the week she spent with her aunt, Ms. Dollar says it took six months of practice before she was ready to try a pattern. Tatting has been handed down through aunts in Susan Dollar' s family. Each summer Sister and Bibi's great-aunts came to stay with the girls and their family. One summer afternoon when Sister and Bibi were eight and nine years old, each aunt sat in a big rocker on the front porch, took a sister into her lap and taught her how to tat. Many years later when Sister taught Susan to tat, she gave Susan that first shuttle.
Tatting is a form of lace made by tying knots in thread with a shuttle.
Some believe it originated in knots fishermen tied in their nets. The tatter's main tool, the shuttle, is a simple device around which the tatter winds the thread. The tatter holds the shuttle in one hand and passes it through and around the thread held in a circle in the other hand to make a series of knots. The knots are then formed into rings which can be joined together to create an infinite variety of patterns. Later shuttles were made from metal while most modern shuttles are made of plastic and resemeble the early celluloid versions.