On Jan 10, 2005, at 19:16, Catherine Hill wrote:
No, we shouldn't be giving modern lace to the young and beautiful in our circles of acquaintance. We should be teaching them to make their own modern laces to wear. It can replace knitting as the "next big thing that everyone who is anyone is doing".
The above struck a chord...
2.5 yrs ago, I introduced BL and my step-granddaughter (then aged 11) to one another. She's liked arty/crafty "stuff" from the time she was 3, she's very bright, she used to be able to focus, and she *wanted to learn* (or said she did). We had a couple of shortish lessons (the attention span wasn't what one might hope for; and nowhere near that she had at 3 <g>) while she was here, and she was a "natural" - took off like a rocket. The year after, when she visited, we went through the same routine, because, naturally, she'd forgotten it all, not having had any reinforcement in more than 6 months, and no equipment of her own. Same thing - the 3 basic stitches it took me 3 months to learn, she learnt in 3 half-hour lessons. No problems with the two different footsides, either, though they puzzled me for a long time, when I was learning. And she loved it (or said she did).
So, this time, I arranged for some support in her area (Boulder, Colorado) - she'd have to make the initial contact, but the network was established, thanks to Merlene Solis. And, for Christmas '03, I sent her "kit and kaboodle" - starter kit from Holly, plus some prettier bobbins I had (she liked the spangled ones better than the unadorned ones I use. What child wouldn't <g>), and some extra books of simple projects (Springetts). Figured that, by the summer of '05, when the IOLI convention took place in Denver, I could pay for a workshop of her choice and, and we'd spend some meaningful lace-time together, even if not in the worshop itself.
This spring, when I saw her, I knew it was a pipe-dream; today, I had a message from her mother (my stepdaughter) which confirmed it:
I need to figure out what to do with the lace supplies you so kindly sent to Lily. She is not likely to ever take it up here on her own. It is a lovely package and I am thinking that I should just send it back to you.
If you were here to help her, she'd maintain some interest in it, I am sure, but it is just not what her life is about now. She does knit, but she can do that lying in bed!
I think the last sentence is the most revealing one... You can't make BL lying in bed and talking on the phone to your buddies about your enemies and their pimples :) And you can knit on the (school) bus or on the subway (metro, underground), but can't make BL there. And being able to make something unusual isn't likely to impress your teenage (and pre-teen) friends much; not as much as your parents' being able to buy you something unusual, or send you for holidays someplace unusual will...
So, yes... Let's teach. But wearing lace by the young and beautiful, even if they didn't make it themselves has merit. And is more likely to happen. I still wouldn't *give* the pieces to them, just lend - teach them full accountability when they're young, instead of this "it's OK, because I didn't mean to" when they destroy something beautiful
-- Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/ Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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