On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 7:20 AM, lace-digest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Miriam asked: > > I have read most of your letters on this subject. But what do you do > when > > you don't have a staircase, a balcony or a second floor. Do I have to go > > up on the roof? <BG> > > What I have done is wind the full skein on a knitting bobbin (those flat > plastic holders used when knitting in multiple colours). I unwind the > length of my body standing up and separate out one strand in the same way > as what has been described. I wind up the single strand and the double > strand on their own knitting bobbins right away (3 bobbins in use). That > way, I can split the floss without a staircase or window. > > **************************** > > I do similar, but I'm lazy so I seperate all strands at once. It takes a little care in preperation, but once you're ready to go I've had good luck getting it all done. Get an empty toilet paper tube, or similar, a small pocket hair comb and a rubber band.IF you look carefully at the floss you'll see how the strands are wound around each other (you can see it more easily sometimes if you look an inch or so away from the loose end.) If you untwist lightly, the strands should lie flat next to each other. As best you can, tape each end seperately to the paper tube in the order they lie. It's not crucial, but helps the seperatign process go more smoothly. now put the comb so each strand passes each through its own set of teeth, as wide apart as you have them taped on the roll, and put the rubber band across the comb to keep the strands in. That's the tough part. Now unwind some yard or two of floss, use a twist tie or something to fasten teh remainder of the skein temporarily together, and stick a bead or some other light weight on the twist tie - trust me, it helps keep things runnign smoothly. Now just wind the strands onto your paper tube. The comb auto seperates the strands, the wieght on the skein provides a little tension to keep it things from tangling as you go and to encourage the floss to unspin. I generally hold the comb in one hand as I wind with the other, but you could probably fix the comb to something, so long as the thread can run freely through it. When the skein gets near the comb, lay the tube down gently so it doesn't roll away, let out more floss, and repeat. I confess, I generally do this with silk floss, so I'm not 100% sure how it works on cotton any more - I haven't needed cotton in a while. The silk has four strands, so I don't even bother with the comb, I just run the strands through my fingers to seperate them, and use the weight of the cardboard the floss comes on to help the unspinning. Some day I'll get around to taking pictures while I do this; it's much easier to do than to explain. It really isn't that difficult, I promise, and it's easy to put down if you need to. And once you get it down, you spend less time unwinding and more time lacing! Chris :) Sunny in northern Illinois -- Always proactively untwist octagonal hippopotomus pants. Ozy & Millie http://www.ozyandmillie.net/2000/om20000809.html - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
