Hi Adele, I think it’s probably very fine cotton. In the Romance of the Lace Pillow by Thomas Wright (1971 reprint from Paul Minet) on p.123 it says “Many workers use ordinary Lace Thread (which is, of course, cotton), sometimes called Gassed Thread, from the fact that it is drawn at a slow but regular pace through a flame of gas in order to deprive it of all film. A two ounce packet contains four “parcels,” and each parcel a specified number of “slips”. In the case of the extremely fine “14 slip thread” there are fourteen slips, in the case of the “12 slip thread” 12 slips, and so on down to “3 slip,” which is the coarsest in use.”
Somewhere else that I can’t find right now, I’m sure I’ve read that these “parcels" were tied with pink thread. I’m sending you a photo of what I think mayt be one of these parcels that I have - it is about 15cm (6in) long tied with pink string top and bottom and has 14 divisions separated by the darker pink thread. It only weighs about an eighth of an ounce on my kitchen scales which may not be very accurate for small amounts. I have other skeins of thread like this but haven’t had much success when I’ve tried to unwind them - I suspect the thread isn’t as strong as it would have been when new. I’ll send you a photo of the thread separately. Jean > On 25 Feb 2022, at 19:43, Adele Shaak <ash...@shaw.ca> wrote: > > Hi, Everybody: > > I just got a skein of old linen thread that’s not like anything I’ve ever > seen before, here in Canada, but I think maybe some of the Europeans on this > list might be familiar with what I have and be able to help me. > > It’s a single skein, not marked or labelled, and it is very fine - maybe > equivalent to 180 gassed Egyptian cotton in size - and I think it is linen > from the feel of it. It is about 15cm (6in) long right now, but it has been > folded, and about 1.5cm in from each end it is secured with a circle of pink > thread. One end is a single fold of the entire skein and the other is two > folded ends held together. > > I think - but I haven’t opened it so I am not sure - that what it is, is a > skein of thread about 60 cm around, that has been flatted and folded in half > and secured at each end. The thread is so very fine, and has that slight > wiriness I associate with linen, that I am worried that if I just start > mucking about with it, in my ignorance I will tangle it beyond saving. > > I suppose that if I knew what I was doing, I would cut the pink ties, open up > the skein … and then what? How would this be handled? Is there a method? I > want to be able to wind it onto bobbins but I’m not sure how to do it. > > Any advice on what I should do now? > > Adele > Vancouver, BC > > - > To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: > unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to > arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/ - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
