Gentle spiders, As Miriam and Clay brought up the Lego bobbin winder, and my husband recently received a lovely letter inquiring about whether he might make one for the sender, I thought I'd give a little background and suggestions on this project for any new list members whose interest might be piqued.
We've always had a ton of Lego in the house; not only do we have my (now grown-up) children's sets, we have my DH's lego from his childhood (1950s and 60s!), and the Lego he collected as an adult before our children were born. So it's a natural resource to turn to when we need some little gadget. When I was a beginning lacemaker, in 1981, I wished for a bobbin winder. Keith used the handiest building material at hand, and designed one for me. He drew the instructions so that it would be easy for me to recreate it when it was cannibalized for parts for new constructions. I mentioned it long ago on Arachne, and someone (I forget who) requested the instructions to post on the web (I forget where; try Googling Lego bobbin winder). It worked pretty well, but I did eventually buy a "real" winder a couple of years ago. If you have a bunch of Lego (including machine-type pieces, such as gears and a motor), and you don't want to buy a winder, it might make sense to build one. But if you need to buy Lego to construct one, consider the cost of the Lego vs. the cost of a winder! (For example, at a minimum you'd need the motor set (about $30) and you'd need wheels (which could probably be had in a little set with small, rounded wheels--but check the size of the wheels, first!) If you have a Lego Technics or Robotics fan in the family, I suggest designing a winder with what you have on hand, rather than trying to scrounge the exact parts Keith used in 1981. The keys to the winder are gearing and finding pieces to hold the bobbins. The small, rubbery, rounded wheels work well (sorry, I don't have the part number). Otherwise, you'll likely spend as much for the Lego as you would for a winder (or more). Love, Julie E. in Seattle > There were once instructions of how to make a bobbin winder > from Lego. I had them and wanted to build one, but when I > went through all the lego my sons left behind I couldn't find > the appropriate parts. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
