Lace is 'just' cross twist, in exactly the same way as knitting is 'just' knit and purl. Â Why make things more complicated than you need to?
When you teach someone to knit you don't go sideways and immediately start tellling them that although knitting is 'just' knit and purl, of course it's not really because sometimes you use another needle and move the order of the stitches to do cables, or four needles and knit round and round,  or sometimes you do yo and k2tog to make holes for lace, and sometimes you knit short rows to do shaping and sometimes you only use a few of all the stitches at a time for entrelac, and sometimes you use more than one colour for fairisle.....  Need I go on? Bobbin lace is just the same.  All you need for the solid areas are cloth stitch or half stitch worked from side to side, all you need for ground are half stitch or cloth stitch worked with pins at each set of stitches, all you need for plaits are half stitches.  The only bit that isn't are leaves and tallies, and many people avoid them like the plague anyway.  As they learn they will see how the solid and the ground get joined, in the same way as knitters will learn rib and increasing and decreasing, or holes or cables, as they need to. No one is going to sit at a have-a-go pillow, learn cloth and half stitch and immediately think they can tackle a Bucks fan.  But on the other hand if you start describing the learning curve between the have-a-go and the fan, all but the most determined will be put off before they even start. My vote is for "Bobbin lace is just cloth stitch and half stitch.  You can do them now.  In a class, or from a book, you'll learn how to use them." Jacquie in Lincolnshire Sent from Samsung tablet - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
