thelacebee

4:22:08 AM EST
Feeling Chillin'
Hearing Sherlock Holmes on tv

There has been alot of talk on Arachne about different bobbins so I thought I'd put up a picture of my travel pillow and the bobbins - these are the cub bobbins from SMP.  I've been using these bobbins for over 10 years and been very happy with them as they are exactly the same as SMPs full sized bobbins only with the base end cut shorter - this means that you get a full sized shank and lots of thread on each bobbin.

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5:57:18 AM EDT
Feeling Happy
Hearing Would you believe it's the England / Windies Test Match!

I've managed to crash my hard drive and reinstall my software and then I realised it was nearly a year since I lasted put an entry on the blogging.

So, finally I've had the large pillow out again last night now that we have a sofa to sit on and I can make the lace.  I find that the pillow is too big to rest on the edge of a table (and anyway, we haven't got round to buying the table yet - sofa, TV cabinet and coffee table - yes, table and chairs - no.), so I have to prop my feet up on my work box, put a large cushion on my knees and then add the 24" pillow on the top of it.

I am, naturally, now in heaven.

So, back to the lace.  I said that this came from a copy of Anna magazine from over 6 years ago - I actually think the magazine is more like 12 years back. 

When I moved my things out of storage I came across a photo copy of another pattern from around the same time for a beautiful circle of lace which is over 18" in diameter - now I just need to work out what happened to the photograph - I know I can make things from the pricking but it might help if I had a slight idea of what I was doing!!

I will take some more photos and upload them - especially so I can mutter on about my bobbins which I adore.

LB

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3:28:41 PM EDT
Feeling Happy

Well, the lace is unpicked and restarted and now I have lots of bobbins on the pillow and don't seem to be going very far.

Mind you, I am really glad I re-read the Technique of Bruges Flower Lace (Sorenson) before I restarted. Apart from one glitch I think I have got the hang of working the fillings whilst doing the main trail.

By the way, if you are wondering what the green thing (the horseshoe) is in the picture well it is from Kleinhout.  I got mine at the NEC last year when I attended the National Lacemakers Fair

The horseshoe removes the need to cover everything with acetate and it really does keep the threads off the pins.

LB

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5:31:29 AM EDT
Feeling Frustrated
Hearing Watching Heaven and Earth on the Beeb

I've spent most of yesterday evening re-reading Veronica Sorenson's excellent 'The Tehnique of Bruges Flower Lace' and realising that I have made a complete mess of starting the pattern.

Well, I'll take a few photos of the mess I've made and then undo and restart

Love to you all LB

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6:48:33 PM EDT
Feeling Chillin'
Hearing Diana Krall - Love Letters
I forgot to mention the origin of my current lace - it was from a copy of Anna Magazine (UK Version) from about 12 years ago.

I have no idea where the magazine is now (lost in the midst of my storage) or which issue it was from but as I said before, getting back to making lace from just the pattern is somewhat liberating.

I'll photograph some of my lace over the next few days and upload them to the blog

Best wishes

LB

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1:19:40 PM EDT
Feeling Chillin'
Hearing I'm watching Singin' In the Rain

Yesterday, I went along to a new lace group - yippeee!!  I am doing a procrastination piece - you know the kind of thing - I should be making the honiton for Dad's 80th birthday so in order to achieve this I'm making something else.

Anyway, off I go to the lace group with my big pillow and a pricking that I found in my storage - well, that's not exactly true - I found 1/2 the pricking in my storage and made up the other half from that.  It's a large piece - about 20" long by about 14" wide and is a mixed lace.  Now what is interesting here is that I have no picture of the lace. 

But hey, that doesn't matter - I'm cool - I can do this and even better, for some strange reason I have actually written all the right instructions down on the pricking including where the sewings are and how many pairs to add in (and where).

So, I started it and got to about 14 pins into the first spiral and realise that there are two things I needed to have done - firstly my initial thoughts that it needed more pairs when I started were right.  Secondly, it needed a whole stitch and twist done the edges in order to keep the shape.  So, I just stopped making the lace and sat and looked at it thinking. 
I said, I don't have a picture to study so I will just use the pattern and see how it feels as I make it. 

When I first became good at making lace I could look at a pattern and feel how it needed to be made and I have made some excellent pieces because of this.  However, I’ve got out of practice - especially when you get such excellent patterns that have instructions that tell you everything. 
So, I'm back to wing and a prayer lace making or as my other half calls it - extreme, no safety net, lacemaking.

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