>>>From: Tamara P. Duvall [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] I've just had a private message from Leonard (not yet answered; sorry <g>), musing on the advantages/disadvantges of diagrams. I agree with him up to a point: diagrams do clip our wings, and limit our imagination/flexibility; they ossify our lace, making us fearful to stray from the path... Where, surely, the old-time lacemakers "thought on the pillow", and did what was needful to get the best effect...<<<
I beg to differ. I learn a whole lot from a diagram, about how that lacemaker solved the problems associated with that pattern and how that region's lacemakers developed their distinctive style. I use it as a learning tool, so I can file away the techniques for when they may be needed again (like, when there isn't a diagram). But I make no promises to follow the diagram's details. Since I learn primarily through the visual channel, I get very little out of someone explaining things to me but I get a lot out of seeing a "map". When I take a class where the teacher doesn't believe in diagrams because "they're limiting", I generally get little out of the class. I'm unlikely to even continue the pattern on the pillow, because I don't understand it. If I have diagrams during the class, I come to *understand* how that style of lace is put together. After a couple of repeats, I don't need either diagrams or explanations, and I can take the project home and continue without help (and go on to other patterns of that style). Yes, I can forego both diagrams and explanations, relying on my knowledge and trial-and-error. If I'm well-versed in the lace, that's not bad. However, I like to learn new kinds of lace and they all have different tricks that have been worked out over the centuries. Why should I have to re-invent all the wheels that go with that lace? Unlike Tamara, I strongly dislike re-inventing wheels. Why should I waste time and thread trying to figure out how something is done, discover that won't work, and have to start over again, just because it's a new (to me) style of lace? Give me a diagram and I can learn the conventions of the style, *then* do what I want. And when I solve problems for myself without a diagram, I haven't learned that style of lace. My decisions aren't necessarily appropriate to a particular style. Like the first time I tried a Bucks pattern, I used Torchon techniques. That's right, CTpCT ground, among other things. The lace looks OK, but it's sure not Bucks! Nor is it Torchon (it's a 52 degree grid). It's Pittsburgh lace or Panza lace. For that project, it was fine, but I couldn't say I'd ever done Bucks at that point. Apparently *some* people become overly dependent on diagrams and never transfer the information on them into knowledge about lace. However, don't penalize the rest of us who need to convert words to diagrams in order to understand the words. Robin P. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA http://www.pittsburghlace.8m.com/ - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
