I like rollers because they almost automatically get you to place your pins correctly.
Depends on the roller, and on the lacemaker :) I've had lace trying to go to heaven even on a roller (while I wished it you-know-where). Eventually, I realised that I was trying to work too far down the roller, without moving it (to finish a "logical segment"). But it made me aware that there is an "optimum range" on a roller, and it's the -- temporarily -- flat area on the cusp of it. From which follows that the thicker the roller (the larger the diameter of it), the longer you can work in peace and without distortion.
It has also made me think that a bolster isn't such a bad idea (and, no, I have not yet succumbed to its possible charms <g>)...
Another thing that enters my mind is that very short leashes to the bobbins can simply not allow the thread to lay flat enough to the pricking, especially as you get to the bottom of the pillow. I always have less trouble with longer rather than shorter leashes. This is a pretty subjective, individual thing (as I bow to the Duchess Tamara, famous for liking very short leashes), but it wouldn't hurt to try.
"Very short" is not an exact term... :) When I took the class from Lenka Suchanek (in wirework), I was quite frightened by the shortness of the "leashes" needed for it; had I been working with fiber threads, I'd have had them breaking all over the place.
I like my "leashes" (the length of thread between the hitch on the bobbin-head and the last-made stitch on the lace -- for the newbies) to be between 4 and 6 inches. The diffeerence is quite a spread in itself -- a third (I think it is? Math's not my forte) of the total length.
I find that there's more than just personal preference involved in choosing how long the "leashes" ought to be for comfort; there are other factors as well. In general, the shorter the "leash", the more control you have over tensioning individual stitches but, if the "leash" is *too* short, overtwisting or untwisting of individual threads is more likely to occur... In general, the longer "leash" is easier to work with... Sometimes, the balance between the two lengths is thread thin and razor sharp :)
Pillow makes a difference; the flatter it is, the shorter the leash you can get away with without breaking threads. Hence, the type of lace you're making makes a difference; I use shorter leashes for Milanese (where pins are only on the sides, but the braids between the pins have to be tensioned "just so" to show off the "dance" of stitches) than I do for Torchon or Point Ground laces (which have a pin to tension against at every crossing). But I try to use a flatter pillow for Milanese than I do for PG.
Bobbins make a difference; the heavier ones "tension themselves" much better than the lighter ones, even on a flat pillow -- but you have to allow them a longer leash. Thread makes a difference... 2yards of 50/2 or finer, and I'll wind it all close to the head, maybe half-way down the neck, and can still have relatively short leashes without the bobbin becoming top-heavy and the balance being "off". 2yards of Bockens 35/2, and I'll distribute it evenly down the whole length of the neck even, perhaps, piling it a bit at the bottom -- I want the thread to add to the weight as low as possible (the German hooded bobbins are great in that respect)...
I adjust to what the lace tells me to do, given the tools I'm using. And yes, I do all of that within the parameters of *personal* comfort :) Note to newbies: whatever leash length ends up being the closest to your personal comfort zone... All need to be as close as possible to being *the same*; it's *not* that one pair is 4 inches and the pair next to it is 6... :)
As far as the linen vs. cotton issue, I find that linen takes one wrap on the half hitch and cotton usually two wraps.
I use two wraps on all fibers -- silk, cotton, linen, metallics... It's easier than trying to remember what to use with which, the linen doesn't object, and all the others need it.
It's like my turning on the car's indicators *every time* I'm about to turn. Drives DH up the wall (whom are you signalling??? There's not a car in sight!!!). But, if it's a habit, you don't have to think *when* to do it, so you're less likely to mess up if/when there is a need...
---- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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