Hi Dawn.
I think I can help. I, too, can learn anything from a book, but tatting books leave out the one essential piece of knowledge, which is that you have to snap the shiuttle thread over the ring thread, or you get a knot.
If the ring won't pull shut, the problem is that you hae the shuttle thread curled around the ring thread. It has to be the other way round.
Here's how you do it.
Make the ring aroudyour left hand, with the ends held between your thumb and forefinger.
Pass the shuttle under, then over the ring thread.
Relax your left hand slightly so the ring thread is a little loose.
Pull the shuttle thread sharply, so that the shuttle thread is a tense as a harp string. The ring thread will curl around it.
Tighten your left hand fingers [mind you, you still want the shuttle thread curled around the ring thread] so you can pass the shuttle over it easily.
Pass the shuttle over then under the ring thread.
Loosen the ring fingers. Snap the shuttle thread tight, so that the ring thread curls around it.
You'll have a knot that looks like a half-hitch. That's the whole knot.
Make a bunch of others next to it, slide them down the ring, and close the ring. If it won't slide, go back and find the shuttle thread that didn't snap. It takes a coupld of hours to get cofortable with this, then you can tat in the dark and know when the shuttle thread didn't snap
Let me know how you get along. I made a whole gorgeous sumptuous lace border for a christening dress last year, but I have yet to achieve a tatted bonnet.
eliz1588@sbcglobal.net