On Sep 28, 2008, at 16:47, Carolyn Hastings wrote:
More to the point, is there any situation that you can think of where it is possible for the bobbin itself to tension the threads?
No; I can't even imagine bobbins, by themselves, tensioning the work properly. But the "tail" weight *does* aid tensioning (for better or for worse <g>), especially on slope-y pillows (like rollers, bolsters, etc), where bobbins tend to hang off the pillow, instead of lying flat on it.
And there *does* seem to be something of a "perfect balance". Unless the piece is likely to be very long (and I avoid making those <g>), I tend to wind only the top of the neck (I use squares, with a double head, so the hitch is in the groove of the head), in effect *counter* balancing the weight of the tail. And, the finer the thread, the more likely I am to try and keep the thread piled close to the head, rather than spreading it evenly down the entire neck length.
Whether it's some -- subconscious -- fear of overweighting the tail (and, possibly, breaking the thread), I don't know. I did notice, however, that I started winding closer to the head at about the same time I started lengthening the "leashes". Longer "leashes" are more apt to twist/untwist than shorter ones but they're a necessity when you have many pairs (some of which need to rest away from work for a spell) and -- as I found out -- a convenience even with a few pairs.
-- Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/ 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]
