Now that I'm feeling a little more confident in being able to make lace, it was time to work out a sampler for students to work on in order to learn some of the basic 'stitches'.
I figured out how to print out graph paper to a desired size, then marked out a simple pricking to begin with.
Since I wasn't sure what size yarn would work 'best', I did two; one with 2/8 cotton (teal) the other with 2/16 (navy).
I made a couple of mistakes on the first one (the 2/8) so it was good to re-do it and work out where I went 'wrong'.
The 2/16 is too 'thready' and I'm not really happy with the quality of the textile. So I'll get the students started with 2/8 on this pricking.
I will do one more sampler, this time in linen. I have some 'fine' linen left over from the towels I was weaving. Too much to toss, too little to weave much of anything. Historically lace was made with linen, so I think a sampler made from a nice linen thread will make a good thing to share with the students.
I may change the pricking slightly in terms of the spacing of the pins and see how that affects the lace, too. I've got quite a bit of the linen - in bobbin lace making terms - and curiosity killed the cat; satisfaction brought it back. And I'm curious to see if I can manage to do this, rusty as I am.
The current warp in the loom is about 2/3 (or a bit more) done. There may be 5 more towels worth of warp left in the loom. If I can continue with my current two sessions a day, I should be finished this warp on Tuesday. We'll see.
While I have the next warp designed, I still have more 2/16 yarn to use up, so it's time to design another draft or two. Once I'm done the current colour combination, I suspect I'm going to switch to something else for a while. Time to use up other things in my stash, too.
But I'm actually enjoying making lace more than I thought I would, and given how many years it's been since I touched the lace stuff, I'm grateful my hands remember as much as they do.
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