Jane said "We used netting "needles" at college - look like a rod with a tuning fork at either end - you need something thinner than a shuttle if you are aiming for a fine mesh."
It's the mesh stick, not the needle, which controls the size of the holes in the net. But I think that a shuttle shaped thread holder might be fiddly to hold, and you'd need to have the convoluted loops of the knot bigger than they perhaps need to be to thread it through. The knot is tricky enough to do anyway without fighting with the equipment. Having said that, the needle and mesh stick need to be in proportion with each other. If you are making a course net with a thickish thread, then a fine netting needle wouldn't be able to hold much thread. Conversely, if you are making a fine net, a large netting needle with a fine mesh stick would be awkward to handle. I have quite a collection of both new and antique netting tools - no-one seems much interested in the old ones and I have found them at good prices - but have yet to dedicate the time needed to become relaxed and speedy doing the knot. The actual embroidery bit seems like it should be a piece of cake compared to doing the net. I read yesterday about an analogy for doing things in life. If you take life as being a glass jar, and the things you must do or really want to do as large stones, then you have to fit the stones into the jar. The things that you would quite like to do are medium size stones, and they will fit into the spaces between the big ones. Finally all the things which take up time, but aren't really important are sand, and of course there is room to get lots and lots of sand between all the stones. The problem is when the sand, like playing computer games or staying in bed way too late, starts pushing out the stones. You need to allow the space for those big, important stones. Netting is a middle size stone, and I have too much sand. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
