Dear David --

For once, I read the original note to the list and then followed up by reading 
all the responses before I jumped in with my own 2 cents worth...

And while I found some satisfaction in the fact that I've been at this 
obsession called lacemaking long enough to recognize all the variations on the 
theme of CT, CTC, CTCT and the opposite TC, etc..., I was surprised that your 
response was the only one which related to my own immediate reaction to Jenny's 
original note (which, btw Jenny, I think your attention to detail on this point 
is admirable.  My tendency was to just "do it", and then when I needed to talk 
to someone about a problem, I found that my vocabulary was deficient!!).  

Yes, I agree that bobbins can be wound in either direction, as long as you're 
consistent.  But like you, David, I think that if you're not mindful of the 
twist of your thread, you'll spend a lot of time chasing misbehaving bobbins 
who have thrown their hitch!!

I know that there are two schools of thought on treating Z-twist and S-twist 
threads differently.  Some teachers insist that if you wind your bobbins 
"properly",  the twist is of no consequence.  But I am a firm believer (from my 
own experience with threads, relatively brief though it is...) that if your 
threads usually behave, and suddenly you find yourself with a "rogue thread", 
the chances are that you usually use an "S" twist but have found yourself with 
a "Z" twist and are treating it the same.  (of visa-versa).  

So my suggestion re winding is to keep doing what works for you, but to bear in 
mind that the twist of your thread CAN make a difference, and when those 
bobbins start misbehaving, then rewind them (and then, obviously hitch them) in 
the opposite direction and see if that makes a difference.

Some threads are more difficult than others.  Silks and metallics are unruly, 
no matter how you wind them.  For these threads, I like to use a collar on the 
thread to keep it under control.  This is made easily from a clean drinking 
straw, cut in a length to fit the thread section of the bobbin, and then cut up 
the length to open it.  Fitted over the thread, it closes up again and keeps 
the thread in place.  I still hitch the thread, but it doesn't have the 
tendency to hop off the head of the bobbin that it does without the collar.


Clay

Clay Blackwell
Lynchburg, VA


---- David in Ballarat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 

=============
Dear Jenny,
>
> Bobbins can be wound clockwise or anticlockwise - it does not matter as
> long as you are consistent
> Ref: Introduction to Bobbin Lace by Rosemary Shepherd page 17

that's quite true, but the important things to consider then is the
direction of the half-hitch which holds the thread on (this too must be
consistent according to direction) and most importantly whether the
direction of winding is effected by whether the thread is a "Z" or "S"
twist. (here we go again...........)

David in Ballarat - doing much much mroe than merely lurking :)
>

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