[lace] Teaching method/was fiber familiarity
<> When you do your beginning sampler, do you go beyond half stitch, whole stitch and linen stitch to include grounds such as Dieppe Ground, or Paris Ground? Are the individual motifs constructed in the way of a tape lace, worked horizontally, or do you incorporate grounds, such as the Dieppe Ground, as in, making a tape and filling it with a ground? Where does plaiting come in? I find young people are very interested in Russian lace grounds since you can get a very elaborate look with a minimum of skills. Your approach sounds fascinating. Devon - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Re: Fiber Familiarity
Dear Devon, I have received a couple of private responses from people who agree with what I wrote, but not with responses to my questions, which I thank you for answering. I too began lace making with a couple of other little girls who gave up shortly after... so it seems it has always been a problem. There is a problem with the divide between artisans, designers, artists and the world of amateurs which in the case of lace is filled with very knowledgable people and many resources. There has to be better communication (particularly visual communication; no mobcaps!) and less judgement from all quarters... lace makers are not dowdy old ladies and artists/designers are not necessarily chic, fashionable and snobby. There are so many aspects of life that would be easier if we could get beyond setreotypes! As for off-loom techniques; it is a whole fascinating world and as a handbook there is nothing better than Noemi Speiser's "Manual of Braiding", it contains an excellent introduction to braiding techniques including loop manipulation. When I am not teaching textile and costume history I have the rather curious role of teaching textile techniques which are neither industrial knitting or weaving; that means I am responsible for teaching dyeing, printing, embroidery and what I term "alternative structures" which includes lace as well as decorative braids, basketry techniques that are relevent to the design world and non-woven fabrics. It is an enormous amount of information to convey in a limited number of hours and I choose to teach the students "how" these techniques work at both a manual and industrial level and to simply be available if a student wishes to deepen their knowledge of a particular technique. In the end it is more important for my students to understand what is possible than to be able to complete all the work themselves. When I have groups of students at my school I begin with a sampler of different stitches to analyse the structural qualities and visual effects of each so that the students begin to build a vocabulary of stitches with which they will express their own ideas. Then I pass immediately to an analysis of how to construct individual moftifs and each student chooses a form and has to use their "vocabulary" to fill it in, it is a very free exercise of drawing with threads, from there I pass to techniques for joining such pieces together and in the second half of the course we look at the more complicated task of working the ground and motifs together. I have had very good results with this approach and in the coming years I hope that my students will begin to contribute to the various competitions that are around. Speaking of competitions it was very interesting to hear about the kind of work which has arrived for the Powerhouse competition and how many, even if the Powerhouse defenition of lace speaks of "fabric" and "structure", still presented objects with "lace patterns" often realised with laser cutting... "White stuff with holes in it!" Must go for the moment - Have a good weekend, Angharad - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] thread/yarn question
International yarn standards have tried to be created in the recent past for
knitting yarns, and most superfine, include fingering/sock as the heaviest in
that category, which is very roughly equivalent to #10 crochet cotton. They
are evidenced by recent publications, the same as your quotes.
Size 3 needles to me, would indicate something roughly half the thickness of
fingering, and that category often stops just short of cobweb weight.
Sometimes it is easiest to look up online, the yarn the designer used, and
then look for similar yardage/weight comps. I would suggest something like
Jaggerspun Zephyr for that pattern. (Incidentally, you could knit the Forest
Path Stole by Faine Letoutchaia in cobweb, as I remember the
width of it
being something like 22", which is more than ample than most
since the
average base of neck to waist measurement is 17", so many
stoles are in that
18-20" range.)
Note also, that wet dressing/blocking the swatch is nearly paramount in
determining outcome, especially with lace knitting. Many knitters for
instance, use Jaggerspun Zephyr with size 4 needles, and aren't tight
knitters.
There are laceweights such as Misti Alpaca, and cousins of it (often blended
with silk) sold by other vendors, but the halo means you need to 'up' the
needle size again.
In the old tradition; fingering doubled was sport, and sport doubled was
worsted, and worsted doubled was Aran. The term 'baby' can be confusing, as
some list it slightly thinner than fingering (now including sock), some had it
slightly thicker, and often baby yarn via cute names from vendors, was
actually sport (or a baby bulky). Most include baby now within the
fingering/sock category, and 4 ply from the UK, is between US fingering and
sport weight.
With knitting's resurgence, the lines have blurred so much with export/import
and popularity, misunderstanding each other's terms, etc., wpi (wraps per
inch) were not a clear determinate, so they went to this newer system. There
are those pushing that yarn be categorized specifically like threads, more
like ypp (yards per pound) and finer determinates (the terminology escapes
me), but most feel that would be overwhelming and off-putting to the average
yarn consumer who crochets and/or knits.
HTH,
Susan Reishus
***
"in Brenda's article on yarns, the "official" numbering system lists
"fingering" under #0 (lace weight), #1 (sock weight), and #3 (DK weight).
I think decades ago (in the US), the main categories of yarn were "worsted"
(4-ply), "sport" (3-ply), and "baby" (2-ply). I also remember the term
"fingering", but don't remember if it was sized with...("Forest Path Stole" by
Faina Letoutchaia, in the book "The Best of Interweave Knits") that has me
confused. It says to use "fingering weight (#1 Super Fine)" and size 3 (3.25
mm) needles..." Robin P
-
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