I think it might've been Catherine or Alex that said there is more than one way to skin a cat, and she's correct :-) And that makes teaching a challenge. But it also makes learning fun.
Diagrams serve a multitude of purposes, the purpose being slightly different for each lacemaker, because of the individual learning styles and also what each lacemaker wants out of the lace. And there are all manner of levels of detail too. Some people need very detailed diagrams all the time, and some only need them some of the time and some not at all. Someone who wants to replicate a piece is going to have an exact and detailed working diagram and will stick to it meticulously to achieve their end goal of an exact copy. A person also learning a new style of lace may also need a detailed diagram, as a kind of 'hand holding' to help them learn the nuances of the lace being learnt. Others who like to make a piece, and add their own interpretations with different fillings or substitutions of half stitch for whole stitch or vice versa, are probably going to be less faithful with their diagrams and diagramming, and may just use or create a diagram to help them understand and/or remember how a particular section of a pattern worked, such as how trails joined or a crossing worked. And sometimes, how a piece works one time, may not exactly happen a second time with some laces (floral Beds is one that comes to mind). I do this all the time with my Beds lace, and have a notebook (well, I'm on my second one now) filled with notes and scribbled little diagrams to help me remember how something worked - especially on my long term projects that may sometimes have a gap in times when I work on that project or get to a particular section. One example is when I worked Holly's class pattern of the Lester motif, and for the most part, I didn't need a diagram, but there were a couple of places in the head where I needed to look at how she'd worked her sample, to see how I might tackle mine. I know my piece didn't work exactly as hers did because I had a different number of pairs in some of those parts, but her diagrams were a guide, and helped me through the trial and error process, until I found a path to get my squirrely bits worked to my satisfaction. Then there are those that create a diagram to show how a new pattern or method for eg., has worked or been created. You might also create a diagram if you're studying an old piece to understand how the lacemaker worked the piece. And then there are all the various places in between :-) It's interesting to read all the different perspectives on this thread. Cheers, Helen, Duvall, WA - 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
