I was introduced to the phrase in a workshop with Ulrike Volker several years ago, she said "pin before 4" for what I thought of as the standard straight footside edge. The phrase stuck, and now I use it whenever I'm teaching someone bobbin lacemaking. My guess on the origin of the phrase would be it evolved in many places, as a good way of describing a straight edge footside.
When I was learning myself, I was using a bobbin lace pattern of a large butterfly from an Anna magazine, where they described the two different kinds of edges as "inner pin" and "outer pin" and the picture was not good enough to figure out what they meant. (Inner pin is straight footside edge, i.e. pin before 4 - outer pin is what I think is sometimes called a winkie pin, where the workers go out, round a pin, and come back again, like the edge of a fan). It was a while before the penny dropped and I knew what they meant. Noelene in Cooma [email protected] Hi! I am doing some research abouot the pin under 4 edge, and can not seem to find any information about where it may have come from. I have consulted with multiple books, seasoned teachers, lace experts, etc. Before giving up, I thought I would post to the group to see if anyone might know when/where or how it originated. Thanks, Kim - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003/albums/most-recent
