Re: [lace] Multi-part prickings tricky; skeins also tricky
LOL, I respectfully disagree. When I use silk 120/2, also Treenway, my umbrella swift is like having a third hand. The skein itself has enough thread to last a lifetime or three of bobbin lacing. It is sold as weaving yarn, for those who like doing projects at 40 ends per inch. If the swift is secure, a skein shouldn't drop, unless the skein itself was poorly wound. Or if it does loosen in the process, that is just something to watch for. I also use the swift for winding bobbins from skeins of embroidery floss. This saves me a lot of headache as I don't have the knack for pulling a length from the folded skein - now *that* makes a tangled mess in my hands. Admittedly, winding bobbins from a spool is a lot less fuss than from a skein on an umbrella swift. We do what we can with what we have. I don't have a skein winder but I do like using the niddy-noddy, good for winding small skeins of bobbin lace threads for dyeing projects. On Wed, Nov 4, 2015 at 9:42 PM, Bespokethreadsandyarns < bespokethreadsandya...@gmail.com> wrote: > For very fine yarns such as used in bobbin lace, -- Bev in Shirley BC, near Sooke on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of Canada - 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/
Re: [lace] Multi-part prickings tricky; skeins also tricky
For very fine yarns such as used in bobbin lace, umbrella swifts are not the best. Towards the end of ending off, the skein may drop leaving a tangled mess. Instead a skein winder (not a ball winder) such as used on charkas work well. I use that type for silks, fine cottons and linens. Sue M, Master Handspinner > On Nov 4, 2015, at 22:51, Bev Walker wrote: > > Hi Julie, Brenda and everyone > > An umbrella swift is good to hold a skein for winding directly onto a > bobbin (spool, shuttle) :) > > It is possible to wind from a skein without a swift, or a willing pair of > arms to hold the skein for you. Place the skein on a flat surface, place > weights opposite each other within the skein so it is made taut, and > carefully wind off what is needed. > > For a precise amount per bobbin e.g. for large-grid projects, commercially > prepared skeins are usually wound by the yard or metre. Measure once around > to find the unit. Mark the beginning of the round in some way and count the > passes as you wind it off. > > As Brenda mentioned, ravelry does use 'skein' to refer to the commercial > put-up unit of a yarn, whether it is a ball, cone or skein. > > On Wed, Nov 4, 2015 at 2:51 PM, Brenda Paternoster < > paternos...@appleshack.com> wrote: > >> ... If you try to use it directly you will soon learn why you >> shouldn’t; it will sooner or later end up in a tangled mess. >> >>> I don't think the instruction is exactly that I must never wind bobbins >>> directly from skein. > -- > Bev in Shirley BC, near Sooke on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of > Canada > > - > 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/
Re: [lace] Multi-part prickings tricky; skeins also tricky
Hi Julie, Brenda and everyone An umbrella swift is good to hold a skein for winding directly onto a bobbin (spool, shuttle) :) It is possible to wind from a skein without a swift, or a willing pair of arms to hold the skein for you. Place the skein on a flat surface, place weights opposite each other within the skein so it is made taut, and carefully wind off what is needed. For a precise amount per bobbin e.g. for large-grid projects, commercially prepared skeins are usually wound by the yard or metre. Measure once around to find the unit. Mark the beginning of the round in some way and count the passes as you wind it off. As Brenda mentioned, ravelry does use 'skein' to refer to the commercial put-up unit of a yarn, whether it is a ball, cone or skein. On Wed, Nov 4, 2015 at 2:51 PM, Brenda Paternoster < paternos...@appleshack.com> wrote: > ... If you try to use it directly you will soon learn why you > shouldnât; it will sooner or later end up in a tangled mess. > > > I don't think the instruction is exactly that I must never wind bobbins > > directly from skein. > > -- Bev in Shirley BC, near Sooke on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of Canada - 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/
[lace] Multi-part prickings tricky; skeins also tricky
Julie, Instead of worrying about the length of the fringe, can't you  start the scarf with a straight edge and then add the fringe when it is all finished. It is easy enough to use a crochet hook to loop the fringe onto the edge. I presume that you are going to make three pieces of lace and join them together for the full width. When I made my large scarf, I made a wide roller to use down the center of my 24" block pillow so that I could work the full width at the same time.  I was concerned I would run out of silk thread before I completed the third piece which was why I made it all at the same time. I just had enough.Janice  Janice Blair Murrieta, CA, www.jblace.com - 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/
Re: [lace] Multi-part prickings tricky; skeins also tricky
Hello Julie, You need 3 pieces of the pattern: 1. the beginning and the end, which is one same pattern. 2. Two central parts or repeats, which are indicated with arrows. You only need to add the central parts one to the other as you go. That is, once you reach the beginning of the second pattern, you will have the first pattern free of pins, and can add it at the bottom again. And so until you decide to finish and add the ending pattern. It is complicated to explain, but you need to have all this clear before you start working. You must also observe that that pattern does not indicate you to make all the fringe at once. But you can also do the whole fringe in the end, adding the fringe with a crochet hook. The pattern is very well explained. Look at it carefully and you will see everything matches perfectly. Good luck!! Antje âGonzález, in âSpain. www.vueltaycruz.es - 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/
Re: [lace] Multi-part prickings tricky; skeins also tricky
Julie, itâs not clear what is meant by âskeinâ I know from the knitting/crochet forum Ravelery that there is a lot of confusion about that word. To me, in UK, a skein means a small hank, but a lot of Americans seem to use the work skein to mean a centre-pull machine wound ball. If your skein is in the form of a loose coil or hank then you most certainly do need to wind it into a ball before you try to use it - for BL, for knitting, for crochet or any other use. If you try to use it directly you will soon learn why you shouldnât; it will sooner or later end up in a tangled mess. If itâs an oval ball shape âskeinâ you can use it directly from the ball and you can pull from the inside or the outside according to your personal preference. Brenda > > I don't think the instruction is exactly that I must never wind bobbins > directly from skein. I think the instruction is that whenever I use a skein I > must spread it out totally, not let it bunch up, and I put something in the > center so stop the loops of yard from merging. So: a chair back, an arm and a > foot, two feet. So if I want to just pull yarn out without giving the matter > any thought I need to wind the yarn into a ball. Brenda in Allhallows paternos...@appleshack.com www.brendapaternoster.co.uk - 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/
[lace] Fashion and Virtue
Devon Thank you for the detailed explanation. Fascinating. Lorelei - 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/
[lace] Multi-part prickings tricky; skeins also tricky
I'd like to make a lace scarf because why not? I've never made a lace scarf before. I'm using a design from Brigitte Bellon's Kloppelmuster fur Schals und Tischlaufer Last Saturday morning I decided to devote the weekend to prep work--making a pricking and winding bobbins. The day before I had gone to the photocopy store and made 6 photocopies of the design (at 120% size; thanks for the spiderly advice). I thought that was an excessive amount to make, but I wanted to have piles in order to make sure I didn't have to make another trip to the photocopy store. As it turned out, I ended up using all six. I barely had enough. I thought making the pricking would be easy. So I just went and cut the pricking templates from the photocopies. The templates didn't fit together. I tried again more carefully. They still didn't fit. Realizing that I apparently couldn't just sit down and start cutting, I got out a piece of paper and carefully wrote down what I was doing. This resolved the problem. However, even armed with a working planI still managed to mess up one more attempt before finally getting templates that worked. Here's what I found out when I wrote things down: for a scarf, I need a beginning pricking, an end pricking, and two middle prickings for vamping the yardage in the middle. I want the two middle prickings to be identical because that is more aesthetic and also so I don't have to decide ahead of time whether my scarf will use an even or odd number of middle repeats. It looks like the book wants me to use the same part of the design for both beginning or ending (a little hard to tell since the book is in German and I can't read German), so I just need one pricking for beginning and end both. So here is what I start with, when the prickings are all laid in order next to each other: start--middle1--middle2--end XX-- XX -- XX -- XX The "X" represent the unknown left and right edges of the prickings. Now I start cutting. I cut out the right edge of the start pricking. Call that edge A: XA -- XX -- XX -- XX Now since the start has to interlock with the middle, the left edge of the middle pricking is determined. Call B the edge that interlocks with A, and remember that the two middles are identical: XA -- BX -- BX -- XX. Now the two middles have to interlock and the left edge is B so the right edge must be A again: XA -- BA -- BA -- XX Now the ending has to interlock with the middle so it must be B: XA -- BA -- BA -- BX Ta-da! So the start and the ends have different edges. I can't use the same pricking for both start and end. Or more accurately, I can both use the same pricking for start and end and also use the same pricking for both middles. Either the middles are different or the start and ends are different. I think with some thought maybe I could have figured out how to make A=B, like maybe if I maybe the edge absolutely straight instead of wavy, and then I could have made both the middles be the same and reuse the same pricking for start and end. I'm happy enough with separate prickings for start and end. I usually use the insides of cereal boxes for prickings. I cut up the cereal box, tape the photocopy on the box, prick, remove the photocopy, and with colored pens draw in the pricking markings. However, because this is my SPECIAL scarf lace project, the first scarf I have ever attempted I went for the fancy-schmancy blue prickings. I laid the photocopy onto blue cardstock and then covered both with sticky (on the bottom) transparent bluish plastic cover, so that the photocopy was sealed onto the cardstock. I didn't put any additional markings on the prickings (the photocopy already had markings) but if I had wanted them I would have had to draw them on the photocopy before sealing with the plastic. The prickings were so big that I used up all the blue plastic I had had lying around unsused from many years ago. I'll have to remember to buy more form my bobbin lace supplier. After finally getting the prickings done (I haven't actually pricked the second middle piece with the pricker, but I don't need that to start the scarf so I can do it at my leisure) I started on bobbin winding. The scarf design has a trick to it so I only need 24 pairs of bobbins even though the scarf is three times that wide so you would expect it to need 72 pairs (much thanks to spider Antje for pointing that out to me BEFORE I started winding bobbins!). Many, many hours later I'd gone through a skein and a half and had wound 18 pairs. That night, Sunday night by now, as I put my stuff away an unexpected old fragment of memory from many years ago drifted to the surface of mind. Back then I spent a few months learning how to weave. I suddenly remembered that my how-to-weave class spent a fair amount of time teaching us not to dress a loom directly from the yarn skein. So on Monday I searched the internet and found lots of posts from knitting sites emphatically instructing that you should never knit directly from a skein (also
[lace] Every week an edging or an insertion
Dear Arachnes, It is a year now, that we publish every week an edging or an insertion. I am not alone doing it, but we are 5 bobbin lace teachers, who doing this together. This weeks insertion is again a Point Ground lace designed and made by Ria de Ruiter. The motif is mad by the gimp around honeycombs and tallies. It is published on http://bit.ly/1MN8SBK. Have fun making it Gon Homburg from a grey Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The sunny days are gone for now. gon.homb...@planet.nl - 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/
Re: [lace] Fashion and Virtue
Lorelei asked about the dresses in the Fashion and Virtue exhibit. The dresses date from the early 20th century. They belonged to the socialite Rita de Acosta Lydig. She had a strong fondness for lace and was known for wearing antique pieces. In fact, her shoe collection, owned by the Metropolitan Museum, has a lot of very genuine looking antique lace on the shoes! The dresses were produced, it is thought by Callot Souers, a French dressmaking enterprise run by sisters, also known for their fondness for lace. They were descended from lacemakers. It is unclear whether some of these clothes made for Lydig incorporated pieces from her antique lace collection, or whether Callot Souers used antique lace that they sourced, or whether they used lace newly made in the many revival lace industries that existed in the early 20th century. When my colleague and I organized the Gems of European Lace exhibit several years ago, we had initially been working with the idea of putting out the study cards that are on the one wall of this exhibit, and then adding a few things. We had selected the dress for this exhibit because it incorporated the gridded patterns of the pattern books. I liked it because it showed how the lace collectors of the early 20th century were really hard core, even choosing to wear a lace that was historic and dramatic, but which flew in the face of associations of femininity, romance, diaphanousness, etc. Having gone through the difficult permissioning process, we kept the dress in our exhibit, even after the entire premise of the exhibit changed. For one thing, people seemed to really like that dress. On the subject of whether the dress is actually made of antique lace, I have never really decided. The back of the dress actually has a different piece of lace, similar, but not as interesting a design put into it. So does this mean it was an antique piece that didn't fully fit the requirements for the dress pattern? Alternatively, it is right where the wearer would be sitting. Maybe the lace was damaged when Rita sat on something and the dress had to be repaired? In trying to figure this out, we did come across some evidence that this kind of lace was being made in the 20th century in Sardinia. So that argues for a 20th century origin. The area of the exhibit with those dresses is sort of oriented toward concepts of the use of the designs from the pattern books in fashion and in folk costume. In fact, the designer Todd Oldham has a dress in the exhibit. He is engaging in a "conversation" this Friday evening with the curator in the Lehman wing where the exhibit is. My interest in the exhibit is more related to historical textiles, than to fashion, but, I am planning to attend. Devon - 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/
