"NO, tension by the same hand can vary quite significantly!" But surely not as much as us each doing our own. So long as the winder is aware of the amount of tension they are putting on the thread, and with practise, there will be some consistency. Also I think I am right in saying that Brenda does more than one for each thread, and the final figure is an average. I have always found it an excellent book for selecting threads as substitutes to those suggested by a designer, or to change from one fibre to another, or to collect a group of very similar threads to sample for a particular grid. But NO book or chart will completely replace working a sample, because in the same way as each person will thread wrap differently, each person's lacemaking tension is different. Because of the more stretch/thinner thread relationship, someone with very firm tension can work with a thicker thread than someone who has slacker tensioning. Thus, if the original sample of a piece of lace is worked with a thread towards the thick range for that design, and another lacemaker with less tight tension works the same combination, the latter will most likely struggle to make the lace, and will end up with a clumpy looking piece of work. The reverse, of course, is that if your tension is tighter than the original lacemaker's, your lace may end up looking too whispy for your taste. So, particularly if you are about to start a large project, even if you have bought a pattern and the recommended thread, please take an hour or so to work a small sample of something like a cloth stitch diamond and a little ground; this you can unpin and have a sample to handle as well as seeing what it looks like, to decide if it is the right thread for you, your lacemaking with that pattern, and how you like your lace to look and feel. When the project itself may take you hundreds of hours, this small precaution is well worth doing. Jacquie in Lincolnshire
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