An "ah -HA"  moment!!

Ruth, I think you're on to something here!! I've been working Tonder, and occasionally one thread will "part with a sigh"... and it's almost always on the return from the footside, where it has been subjected to a long stretch of ground and the footside itself. I've never understood why this happens... (thank you for a theory!!) I simply drop in the fresh thread (long leader...) and carry on, mid-passives. I use a clip to put the parted end out of the way.

My favorite clip, of course, if the one I "adopted" (about ten years ago?) after visiting a "tie-fly" shop for fishermen! (Can you tell what DH likes to do?) They have a tool called a "swivel hackle plier", and it has a lovely little spring-action clip at the end, embellished with a rubber (silicone?) band which grips the thread. There is a nice long handle - conveniently sized in length to match our bobbins - and so when a thread breaks, it's easy enough to just grab it with this Swivel Hackle and carry on until I reach an optimum opportunity to bring in the new bobbin.

After I used my first Swivel Hackle, I had the notion that it would be very pleasing if the metal handle could be replaced with a bobbin. I gave Richard Worthen one of these hackles, and asked him to insert the working part into one of his turned bobbins that had (tragically!) broken at the neck during turning. He did this for me, and from that day forward, has probably sold hundreds of these delightful tools to lacemakers!! Now, I've noticed that Ken van Dierin has something similar listed on eBay, and he has had the audacity to include a "patent pending" notice with his version of the tool. Now, I like Ken. He's a nice man, a good lacemaker, and a very fair vendor (with this exception). But he did not invent this, (and neither did I), but I was the one who applied this use to this device. So I'm publicaly appealing to Ken to withdraw this patent application (if it exists), because in the Lace world, we share and share alike. I've never gotten a dime from Richard or Ken for their use of my "discovery", and that's fine with me. They are the producers of the pretty version, and they're welcome to provide the goods to lacemakers. But I don't want anyone to claim exclusive rights to something I discovered. They will no longer be my friend.

Clay

Clay Blackwell
Lynchburg, VA,  USA



On 2/11/2010 4:05 PM, Ruth Budge wrote:
Sue, my theory is that it happens to some threads and not others because of
the way the threads travel....the "leading" bobbin of a pair travels
diagonally all down a row of ground, making more "twist" movements than the
other half of the pair as it does.   If that thread then manoeuvres in such
a way that it becomes another "leading" bobbin in another row, it could be
making lots more "twist" movements than many of the other bobbins.

This penny dropped with me when I had one very distinctive bobbin on the
pillow - and I noticed that it spent a lot more time travelling in a certain
way across the pillow than any other bobbin....easy to see, because it was
so distinctive.

Ruth

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-l...@arachne.com [mailto:owner-l...@arachne.com] On Behalf Of
Sue Babbs
Sent: Friday, 12 February 2010 6:10 AM
To: lace@arachne.com
Subject: Re: [lace] Re: Breaking and Twist to Thread

Thank you, Maureen.

I, too, find this happens with some but not all the bobbins and am curious
to know why I lose the twist on about 5% of my bobbins but not the rest.
This happens when I am working with Midland Bobbins, so I know that it is
not that they are rolling on the pillow.

I will try to take more careful note of how I am handling them.  It happens
more with point ground, and I currently have torchon on my pillow, so I may
not be able to replicate the problem for a while

Sue

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