I demo at city celebrations - 4th of July or founder's days. I find if you want to impress/dazzle older people they go for the frilly yardage, but if you want to hook the kids/teens things like the snake, or a bunny, or a dinosaur are the best. And more often than not it's the kids that really want to learn. I also have a book full of the the major types of lace that people can look through and ask about.
The year I did a tape lace bunny I had kids flocked around me and even had several come back to see how far I'd gotten. Just this last month I was was working on the tape lace snake at my daughter's play group. I ended up with three 4 year olds wanting to help me. So I took a half hour and taught them. One keeps pestering her mom because she wants to learn to 'that braid lace stuff' some more. If you want to argue that the snake or such isn't lace than you'll have quite the fight from Idrija style lace makers. To paraphrase a saying, "Don't judge me because I Lace differently than you". Is a sweater any less a work of knitting that a fancy shall? As to the idea that there are only 2 stitches in bobbin lace; I agree! Cross/ Twist. That's what I tell people. Once you learn that you can do anything. Yes, I know that there is a bit more to actually creating lace, HOWEVER, there is no rhyme nor reason to launch into some long spiel that will most likely make the other person feel they can never learn to make lace. As I say with tatting - you make one knot . . . over and over and over. That's it. The rest is learning to read the patterns. I feel the same about bobbin lace; you move the bobbin left or right that's it, the rest is reading the pattern. My 2 cents Robin -- Never, ever, let anyone tell you what you can and can't do. Prove the cynics wrong. Pity them for they have no imagination. The sky's the limit. *Your* sky. *Your *limit. Now, let's dance. *~Tom Hiddleston* - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
