Soon after I started bobbin lace I saw, in Nyplattya Pitsia (double dots on the 'a's) by Eeva-Liisa Kortelahti, a diagram of "the lace pillow and the sheet by which bobbins can be moved". The 10 or so pairs of a beginner don't require much 'moving' so I just mentally filed it away as a curiosity.
When I started Flanders, the sudden doubling of bobbins (8 per pin!) brought it to the forefront again. Over the intervening years I had toyed with the idea of using a 'Lazy Susan' (rotating plate for serving food) with the centre cut out, in place of the original cardboard assembly, but the project never even got as far as the 'one-day-when-I-have-time' stage. But now I have an obvious need, although never having actually seen such a pillow this need is perhaps a might theoretical <g>. Nevertheless, I have acquired a metal rotating anulus - called a 'round swivel assembly' here - its 300 kg loading, intended for rotating of televisions, will surely suffice <g>; and I have bought some ethafoam off-cuts and an old felted blanket for the roller, so am at the final planning stage. 'Not another pillow!' was DH's initial response but he offered to help. And he immediately pointed out something I hadn't thought of. My experience with roller pillows is limited to a small travelling pillow, seldom used because of the limited number of bobbins that can be fitted on the apron, where the yardage is stored at the back of the pillow. Not a good idea if the back of the pillow is rotating! Eeva-Liisa offers a solution (p7 in my second hand copy of the book originally published in 1981): off-set the roller in the front of a square box, not a rectangular one, so the lace can still fall down behind the roller. And feasibly the roller could be removed and the square filled with block insets thus making the pillow more versatile, however.... What would happen with, say, a handkerchief edging as it became larger than the central blocks. I used a one-piece pricking when I made a fan last year on a purpose-made block pillow - the system of inter changing the two blocks worked well but the unpinned lace, resting loosely on its cardboard pricking, hung over the edge of the edge of the pillow as work progressed. Not a problem with that (except when packing it to move between home and lace day <g>) but I can envisage problems with the lace hanging over a rotating 'bobbin collar'. The illustration on p8 of Eeva-Liisa's book shows circular wedges in place but not what happens when block #1 is re-used! The pricking could perhaps sit on the bobbin collar, to be lifted up while the collar was rotated, but the sharp edges of the 'holes' in the pricking might catch in the threads... If anyone has used such a pillow, I'd appreciate it if they could recount their experiences as the 'problem' may be only my inexperience. Jay, Sydney, Australia [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
