The easy way to enlarge the starting pinholes is to start with a row of temporary pins behind the first row of the pattern - but you don't want the loops to remain quite that big, of course. What you do to get round this is to slide a pin through the loops before you drop them down after working the first stitches. This results in the loops being a pin-width bigger than they would be just sat round their pin. When working with very fine thread, the sewing technique changes - instead of using a hook, use a needlepin. It takes a bit of practice (and is the one technique I do have to sit and think through as I do it) to flick the loop of thread from the bobbin up through the pinhole, but a needlepin is a lot easier to insert into a small pinhole than even the finest of hooks. You'll find this technique described in Honiton books. Where Magic Threads are concerned, the most comprehensive book on their use, for all sorts of sewing in applications (including darning ends in) is Christine Springett's little book of the same name. It is an A5 booklet of about 40 pages, if memory serves me well (I wrote the review for Lace some years back - it was a pity it couldn't have been spread out over more or bigger pages, so that the pictures and font could have been a bit bigger, but the information given is well worth buying the book for)I'm not sure if it is still in print, but I'm sure most of the Guild libraries will have a copy - The Lace Guild's library certainly has.
Jane partridgemous...@live.co.uk > Subject: [lace] Re: Lazy Loops > From: hottl...@neo.rr.com The pin > holes were so tiny with Cotona 80, it's a wonder the end of my crochet hook > found anything to grab. If I missed it the first time, it was pot luck. My > hat is permanently off to anyone who regularly works with 170/2 or finer > threads. - 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/
