Cat Hair And All

Day 347: I picked up my Home Arts submissions from the Washington State Fair today and finally got to read the judging cards. The judging criteria include craftsmanship, degree of difficulty, design (proportion, line, colour, individuality) and presentation, the judges may elect to suggest areas which need improvement in stitch evenness, tension, blocking, cleanliness, seaming, ends and outer edges (selvedges). Both of my woven pieces drew comments of high praise for the selvedges, an area which is a major issue with many weavers. I received high marks for craftsmanship in my weaving, but since both pieces were relatively straightforward designs, the degree of difficulty score was not as high as it could have been. I am quite pleased with the way the judges scored the weavings.

Although the bobbin lace piece took first prize with a nearly perfect score in craftsmanship (missed by one point out of 40), it was down-pointed for cleanliness, which puzzled me until I read the judge's comments. It seems some "fibers" were caught in my work, something other than the threads used in making the lace. It took me a second to realize that the judge was referring to the unavoidable. Yep, it was cat hair. I'm thoroughly amused.

Results Are In

Day 328: Today was my first day of duty at the Washington State Fair (Puyallup Fair) for 2018, and I was finally able to find out if I'd taken any prizes for the two pieces of weaving and a bobbin-lace edged handkerchief I'd entered. I've never participated in Home Arts before, although I did take "Honorable Mention" in an annual national-level hardanger contest three times. Last year, I noticed that the Fair was chronically short of bobbin lace, so after talking to one of the docents, I resolved to put in an entry. The process was a little confusing, having to select a "division" and a "class" without a clear idea of what those terms meant, but I got it figured out. I delivered the works to the Fair office last month and settled in to wait, not really expecting to receive any awards. The Fair does not post results on line, so today was the first chance I'd had to find out. I located the green overshot weaving first and squealed like a piglet when I saw a "Second Prize" ribbon hanging from it, but I was having trouble finding the other two pieces. A docent came to my rescue, and to my great delight, I found another "Second Prize" ribbon on the second weaving and a "First Prize" on the bobbin lace. I will definitely be entering again next year!

Fair Entries

Day 212: It's official! I will have at least two entries in the Washington State Fair this year, a woven table runner and a mounted bobbin lace handkerchief edging. It will be the first time I've entered anything in Home Arts. Okay, I'm still a foot or so away from having the table runners off the loom (I warped for three), but if push came to shove, I could have it done in two days. I have lots of time. Entries are to be delivered to the Fair August 17-19. Last year, there were only two examples of bobbin lace. These may not be my only entries. Registration will remain open through July. Maybe I can even get another weaving project done by then!

Lace Maker's Rule

Day 332: For the last week or so, I have been developing a bobbin lace pattern (a sampler) to insert into the channel of an acrylic ruler designed with this type of display in mind. The lace is protected by a snap-in cover, removable if you want to change it out for another piece. Several factors went into planning the lace, width and length affecting the number of repeats possible in the alloted space, and weight of the threads (working thread and gimp). The pattern I created worked well with #60 cotton and #8 perle, but I decided I wanted to see what it would look like with a heavier thread carried along the sewing edges. I had worked one full motif using #12 perle before deciding it was too bulky.

About 35 years ago, I purchased a one-pound cone of white #60 cotton from a supplier in McMinnville Oregon, now long out of business. It proved to be my favourite thread, and now I find myself getting close to the end of the cone. Upon reaching the conclusion that I didn't like the look of the #12 in the edge, I was faced with a dilemma. Bobbin lace should have no knots. It is begun with the threads from pairs of bobbins hung around pins. If I cut my work and threw the completed section of lace away, I would not have enough left on a single bobbin to wind a new pair, i.e., I would be wasting all the thread I had originally wound on the bobbins. There was nothing for it but to unwork the piece, reversing my actions one by one until the entire lace was un-picked.

When a fiber artist is developing a new design, there are usually hitches in the process. I counted myself lucky that none of them had been in the way I'd drafted the work. Backing out of the lace stitch by stitch, I salvaged every inch of thread and completed the sampler this morning.

Lace And Lavender

Day 294: Silly as it seems, I had to remind myself that I wasn't growing lavender as a feature in my flower bed, I was growing it as a crop to be harvested. After making half a dozen lavender bottles (lavender wands), I wanted to make sachets, so picked several bouquets, cleaning the buds from the stems as they dried. I chose a wide glitter-dotted voile ribbon for the sachet fabric and hand-stitched it into two-inch pillows which were stuffed to the max with fragrant, lovely lavender; functional to be sure, but not particularly esthetically pleasing. They needed fancying up with some hand-made lace.

Initially, I'd planned to tat the edgings, but tatting cotton is getting terribly hard to find these days, at least in the #80 size I prefer. I dismissed crocheting as too coarse and common. Bobbin lace? "Little Hearts" from Geraldine Stott's "100 Traditional Bobbin Lace Patterns" is one of my favourites, but it meant that I would have to reduce the number of repeats for a handkerchief edging to one suitable for my sachets. That was easy enough to do, although it did mean making a new pricking.

"Little Hearts" takes 12 pair of bobbins and one gimp thread. I used sewing thread for the lace although it's a bit heavy for bobbin work, because the colour selection can't be beat. The gimp (the heavier thread outlining the hearts) is #8 perle cotton. The lace for each sachet takes approximately six hours to complete, time I spread out over several days, working on other projects in between bobbin binges.

I'm almost done with my fourth edging, and when it's done, I plan to make a few with finer white thread and variously coloured gimps just to have on hand for gifts. Who knows? You might even find a bit of bobbin lace in your Christmas stocking this year if you're good!

Laces

Day 112: How many ways are there to manipulate a piece of thread? When it comes to lace-making, there are more than you might think. This photo shows four of the most common lace-making techniques, and within each of these, there are numerous variations. From left to right, top to bottom, you see examples of crochet, bobbin lace, tatting and knit lace. Each is done with different tools, i.e., a hook, bobbins, a shuttle or double-pointed needles. In knitting and crochet, the stitches are made by drawing a loop through another loop. In bobbin lace, threads are simply crossed over one another. In tatting, half-hitches are formed over a base thread and snugged into place. By using different weights of thread, the lace may be made finer or coarser. Bobbin lace is generally done with very fine thread, and crochet uses the heavier materials with knitting and tatting falling somewhere in between. A good needleworker should never be bored, not with so many options available to keep her fingers flying.

I Love Presents

Day 177: I love presents! And handmade ones are the very best anyone could ever hope to receive!

Yesterday a small box arrived from Canada. I knew it was coming and I knew what it contained, although I didn't know the specifics. When I opened it, out tumbled eighteen beautifully turned bobbin lace bobbins. I've spent this morning attaching the spangles (beads) which help keep the bobbins in place on the bolster.

These will count among my most treasured needlecraft tools because they were made especially for me by my wonderful friend Di Bédard. Thank you so much!