"My email sends out an automatic message. Arachne members,
please ignore it. I read your emails."I've been making lace, off and on, since
1980 when I saw a demo and had a go on a pillow. I was hooked. But I was also
pregnant and working. At that point, as someone mentioned, I did more reading
than anything else. I had copied Doris Southard's book, borrowed from the
library, because I didn't have $12 to spend on a book. When Amy was 5 and
Tommy was 6 months old, I started law school at night. Spent 10 hours a week
driving to and from school. I did, however, make my own roller pillow and do
several of the lessons. I got up to at least roseground. Over the next 18
years I learned to make lace at least 3 times. A total of 3 children, working
as a lawyer, keeping house in something like a semblance of order left little
time for lace. I do remember making lace while on vacation. Bobbin lace was
not that far from my thoughts. When I got out of law school, I took a class at
the Landis Valley Museum, a museum where they bring ol!
d buildings to the venue. I had actually passed basic beginner stage by then,
and bought two very nice locally made pillows. One was a travel pillow, and it
went on vacation with me. That's where I made most of my lace.
Once the kids left the nest, around 1999, I started using Ulrike Lohr's (Ulrike
Voelcker) Kloppelkurs, long before there was a translationg. I wanted to make
the asymmetrical collar, so I did all the lessons leading up to it, and made
the collar. I remember doing it on the Common in Bar Harbor Maine. I also
remember looking for pretty places, while on vacation, when I could get away by
myself, to make pretty lace.
Finally in 2004, I took my first IOLI class at the Convention in Harrisburg.
Sadly, I also had chronic fatigue, which made even the thought of making lace
too tiring for words. Four years later, and an experimental protocol which
worked, I began making lace again, fairly regularly. In 2011 I began the
routine I still follow. I had been retired since 2006, so deadlines were few
and far between.
In the morning, I get up, make my coffee and his tea, and sit down to my
lace table at the end of the kitchen table and right next to the sliding glass
windows. When I look out, I can see the birds feeding, the sunrise, and the
view of the Conestoga 'River' which is the reason we bought the house. I drink
my 22 ounces of coffee, and breakfast is usually over. Since we had a
Newfoundland, who wasn't interested in my lace, I leave it set up with the
obligatory cover to prevent the pillow from fading from the sun. Usually it's
at least an hour or two in the morning, and then when I get the urge later in
the day, I can just sit down. Since the pillow has been constantly set up, I
make much, MUCH, more lace.
My prior post about 10 minutes to unpack, 10 minutes at least to work, and 10
minutes to pack up is from personal experience. I much prefer to work until I
don't want to do it anymore, a luxury the old lacemakers for pay didn't have.
That time is sometimes an hour, sometimes more. Once I get the hang of the
pattern, I listen to books, as boredom is not my thing. Now, in the morning,
DH and I have taken to listening to the complete Sherlock Holmes.
I have made the most significant progress since I began making lace virtually
every day. It is a great way to wake up with my coffee. It does take time, but
when there isn't much of that, reading about it, or keeping it in mind when
there really is a free moment is a good idea.
I tell people without much time that it is a great way to get away from it all.
When you're a beginner especially, you have to concentrate which means you
can't think about dinner, work, the children, or the fight you had with your
partner last night. This, in itself is very relaxing, and takes you out of
yourself.
Lyn from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, who is wintering in the Phoenix Valley
in Arizona, a desert where the highs are about 70F, 19 C, and more sunshine
than is legal.
c
"My email sends out an automatic message. Arachne members,
please ignore it. I read your emails."
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