I have recently been making a slew of bookmarks for a charity event using two or three patterns repeatly in different colors. I found that I was throwing out quite a lot of thread because as Alice said, it was in the way of "getting on with" the next one. I agree with all the advice that has been given so far....give it your best guess and add or toss as necessary....or use on small projects. However, should you find yourself making multiples of the same project like my bookmarks, I had an idea (which I haven't tried yet <g>) on determining more closely how much to wind. As others have said, the amount used will vary by bobbin, so I thought about applying small stickers (about the size of a fingernail--available at office supply stores) on which I write numbers corresponding to the initial position of the bobbin as the piece is started. Then I would wind an equal measured amount on the required bobbins for a given bookmark pattern, work it, and then see how much was left on each bobbin. Do the necessary subtraction and you know how much was used on each bobbin for the given piece. Do remember to add enough for a comfortable "leash". This is a lot of trouble, granted, and is probably only worth it if you intend to make many copies of a given pattern....or are working with rare or precious thread. In Lenka's class at convention in Denver, we talked about making wire lace pieces in precious metals...i.e. gold and silver wire. Her suggestion was similar...make the piece first with a measured amount of copper wire (which is comparatively inexpensive) and calculate how much wire was required for the piece before winding expensive gold or silver wire for the "real" project. In this case, it would definitely be "worth" the trouble....though leftover gold and silver wire bits can be sold back to a jeweler to be melted down and reused.
Vicki in Maryland - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
