There are new Downton photos on Arachne Flickr thanks to Diane Williams! Thank you for posting the Ace of Clubs design & your work in progress with Downton bobbins. Lovely--now everyone can see what real Downton is supposed to look like! I received a nice email from Pompi Parry in which she pointed out some technical differences in Downton lace. She noted distinct differences in purl pins (picots) & in valleys. She also suggested plaiting to create a neater & more secure start. This is very helpful as I continue my samples. If lacemaking represents a series of problem solving exercises, it is interesting to note how many different solutions were achieved by lacemakers in competing areas. My first Malmesbury strips are finished & posted to Flickr. Heads up--if you make #2 Ladder Braid, start with the stitch for the inside pin rather than following the instructions verbatim. Ask me how I know! Otherwise, I had never made square tallies & these were in the center of strip #3 Ba! sket Filling. (Basket Filling is Malmesbury-speak for little tallies.) My leaf tallies are wonky but at least the cloth stitch start holds them together. It was fiddly to get the square ones started & I finally poked in two temporary pins to corral the pairs because the cotton thread was too slippery to get going. For me, that is a benefit of linen thread--it is slightly "sticky" & threads tends to hug each other. Not so with 140 cotton! If anyone has a suggestion for taming a square tally start without temp pins, please share as I'm concerned that this may not be the correct approach & will come back to bite me in an area of point ground. Many thanks. Sincerely, Susan Hottle FL, USA
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