"My email sends out an automatic message. Arachne members, please ignore it. I read your emails."I've been making lace, off and on, since 1980 when I saw a demo and had a go on a pillow. I was hooked. But I was also pregnant and working. At that point, as someone mentioned, I did more reading than anything else. I had copied Doris Southard's book, borrowed from the library, because I didn't have $12 to spend on a book. When Amy was 5 and Tommy was 6 months old, I started law school at night. Spent 10 hours a week driving to and from school. I did, however, make my own roller pillow and do several of the lessons. I got up to at least roseground. Over the next 18 years I learned to make lace at least 3 times. A total of 3 children, working as a lawyer, keeping house in something like a semblance of order left little time for lace. I do remember making lace while on vacation. Bobbin lace was not that far from my thoughts. When I got out of law school, I took a class at the Landis Valley Museum, a museum where they bring ol! d buildings to the venue. I had actually passed basic beginner stage by then, and bought two very nice locally made pillows. One was a travel pillow, and it went on vacation with me. That's where I made most of my lace. Once the kids left the nest, around 1999, I started using Ulrike Lohr's (Ulrike Voelcker) Kloppelkurs, long before there was a translationg. I wanted to make the asymmetrical collar, so I did all the lessons leading up to it, and made the collar. I remember doing it on the Common in Bar Harbor Maine. I also remember looking for pretty places, while on vacation, when I could get away by myself, to make pretty lace. Finally in 2004, I took my first IOLI class at the Convention in Harrisburg. Sadly, I also had chronic fatigue, which made even the thought of making lace too tiring for words. Four years later, and an experimental protocol which worked, I began making lace again, fairly regularly. In 2011 I began the routine I still follow. I had been retired since 2006, so deadlines were few and far between. In the morning, I get up, make my coffee and his tea, and sit down to my lace table at the end of the kitchen table and right next to the sliding glass windows. When I look out, I can see the birds feeding, the sunrise, and the view of the Conestoga 'River' which is the reason we bought the house. I drink my 22 ounces of coffee, and breakfast is usually over. Since we had a Newfoundland, who wasn't interested in my lace, I leave it set up with the obligatory cover to prevent the pillow from fading from the sun. Usually it's at least an hour or two in the morning, and then when I get the urge later in the day, I can just sit down. Since the pillow has been constantly set up, I make much, MUCH, more lace. My prior post about 10 minutes to unpack, 10 minutes at least to work, and 10 minutes to pack up is from personal experience. I much prefer to work until I don't want to do it anymore, a luxury the old lacemakers for pay didn't have. That time is sometimes an hour, sometimes more. Once I get the hang of the pattern, I listen to books, as boredom is not my thing. Now, in the morning, DH and I have taken to listening to the complete Sherlock Holmes.
I have made the most significant progress since I began making lace virtually every day. It is a great way to wake up with my coffee. It does take time, but when there isn't much of that, reading about it, or keeping it in mind when there really is a free moment is a good idea. I tell people without much time that it is a great way to get away from it all. When you're a beginner especially, you have to concentrate which means you can't think about dinner, work, the children, or the fight you had with your partner last night. This, in itself is very relaxing, and takes you out of yourself. Lyn from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, who is wintering in the Phoenix Valley in Arizona, a desert where the highs are about 70F, 19 C, and more sunshine than is legal. c "My email sends out an automatic message. Arachne members, please ignore it. I read your emails." - 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/