On Dec 2, 2004, at 14:43, beth (in Cheshire) wrote:
Does anyone who uses linen a lot (I mostly do much finer lace, so usually use
cotton) have an opinion as to whether any of the regularly available brands
(Bockens/Bouc/Friesia/?) is likely to be less slubby than the others?
I don't use linen a *whole lot* - also tend to work with finer threads most of the time - but I do love linen and try to use it whenever I can find the right size. I've always (since '90 or thereabouts) found Fresia the worst offender in the sudden "thick/thin" jumps. At the time, I liked BOUC the best, but it seems to have deteriorated recently, and, while I treasure my old stash for "lace for myself", I no longer use it for patterns which I intend to publish (had to re-do all the 2-Pair samples, and lost heart <g>).
Of the 3 you mention, Bockens is the most consistent. And the only one which has colours - the other two are limited in that respect. As is Pella (Finish), which is probably the smoothest, being a 3-ply, not 2. But, even Bockens doesn't have colours in 50/2; at least I don't think it does.
If I were you, I'd take Brenda's book to NEC for reference as to sizes, then buy whatever fiber offered the *colours* you liked best, as long as the size was within reasonable vicinity of the 50/2 linen requested. Then rescale the pattern a few percent up or down to match the thread.
--- Tamara P Duvall http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
- To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
