Lace and Lace-making Tools

Day 44: If you're a lace-maker, it should be fairly easy for you to pair up these six different types of lace with the tools used to make them, and even if you can't match them all, you should be able to get the rest by inference. However, if you're not a lace-maker...if you're one of those people who annoy me by calling tatting "crochet"...here's your chance to learn more about lace in its various forms. These are by no means the only ways lace can be made, and even within each type/style, there are variations (bobbin lace can be Honiton, Bedsfordshire, etc., crochet can be Irish, filet, and so on), but those are subjects of a more technical nature. I should have included a piece of Teneriffe (a needle-made, knotted lace), and #6 could have been a better example if I had made it with a much finer thread), and I did not include hardanger which, while it can be lacy, is not technically "lace." Now that I have set the stage, let me say that my love of lace is my one and only "pink and fluffy" side. No, it doesn't go well with hiking boots and flannel shirts, but I love making it, even if I don't wear it. Now...match 'em up, tool (letter) to lace (number), and don't look at the answers until you're done. 

How did you do?

1 is of course bobbin lace, arguably the finest lace I make, using cotton or linen threads in the #100-125 range. You make it with bobbins like those shown at C (anything from five to hundreds of pairs). The example used 22 pairs.

2 is good ol' crochet like your granny used to do. I prefer to work with #20-#50 threads for doilies and edgings. It is made with a hook (a #12 is shown at E).

3 is netted lace. It is made with a netting needle/shuttle like the one shown at F. The knots are the same ones used to make fishing nets.

4 is knitted lace. This particular example was made by my husband's grandmother using 4-6 knitting pins (extremely fine knitting needles) similar to those shown at B.

5 is tatting, easily identifiable by the "ring and chain" design elements. It can be made with a shuttle like the one at A, but I prefer to use a tatting needle (not shown).

6 is needle lace (and a rather clunky, for-purposes-of-demonstration piece made with #20 crochet cotton). It is usually made with a fine, blunt-pointed tapestry needle, although it can be made with a standard sewing needle (D) if you're careful not to split the threads. Small motifs such as this one can be joined with chains and/or other filling stitches to make much larger works.