On Mar 5, 2006, at 11:59, Elaine Chock wrote:
Perhaps you've invented something yourself to fulfill a particular lacemaking need. It might be fun to share these.
Well, I invented the fabric (stuffed with quilt batting or whatever's handy) "sausage roll" for winding yardage on :) It's cheap and easy to make, can be made any size (both in length and diameter), can use fabric left over from making a cover or work cloth, to colour-coordinate... It's also very handy, because it can be pinned to your pillow at any point, not just through the pre-drilled holes, the way the wooden ones have to be pinned. And a soft "collector" is kinder to the lace than a wooden one.
For "discoveries"... I used the pony-tail "scrunchies" to hold my bobbin rolls closed long before it became a popular idea. And then, since I made my own rolls, I decided to make my own "scrunchies" too and attach them to the rolls, so they'd never get separated and lost.
But my best "discovery" was a "cosmetic organizer", which I got for $1 at The Dollar Tree some years ago (haven't seen any recently; the stock there changes frequently). It's shaped a bit like Bev's wood block, ie the front is lower than the back, so the tools are easy to hand, leaning towards you. But it's plastic (light) and it is divided into (square) halves. One half is subdivided into 7 square compartments and one rectangular one (two squares' worth). I assume those were meant to hold lipsticks, but they hold a variety of tools -- shorter ones in the front, longer ones in the back. I put half a cork in the bottom of the the double one (deeper, being in the back), and keep my divider pins stuck in in it.
The other half was supposed to hold facial tissues or cosmetic puffs; the lid to it has the correct opening for pulling out one at a time... But, instead, I made a (more or less) cube-shaped pincushion for it. If I stick the lid in the wrong way first, it slants and "presents" the pins for "blind access" -- I don't have to look where the pins are, to pull them out or stick them back in. But, for travel, I pull the pincushion and the lid out, flip the pincushion upside-down (so the pin heads face the "well" of the compartment) and put the lid on top -- in the correct position -- to keep the pincusion down in place.
The deepest square compartment (in the back, next to the double one), holds another "discovery": the bottom half of a plastic case of an American (triangular) thermometer (which broke). Because the case has inside flaps -- meant to hold the thermometer in place without shifting -- it holds, securely, up to 4 fine crochet hooks, hook part down, handle up for easy grabbing.
I do love my cheap-o toolbox :) -- Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/ Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
