Success as a ratio, not an absolute

When the L.A.C.E. Group started their yardage club (you gain entry by working at least 2 yards of lace at the skill level you are able to work), I started a very simple, beginner lace piece because I was a beginner. There were some really basic things I was still not fluent with. After I'd worked about 2 feet of that edging, things clicked for me and I reached a new level of understanding of the craft. It was one of those moments when I realized that all of a sudden my hands were working stitches without my having to think through every movement and it was such a moment of freedom and triumph. It gave me courage to try something a little harder and a little more complicated.

That edging was, for the most part, completed back in 2012 but since the. I've continued to progress and try new things. Some of them worked and some of them didn't but I'm okay with that. I'm happy for success to be a ratio rather than an absolute. It's way more fun and exciting and fulfilling that way. 

This most recent project of working through this Torchon workbook has been just such another adventure. I'm gaining real fluency with moving from element to element and it's a freeing feeling. 

I was thinking the other day that lace is very much like snooker or pool. With each move you have to think about where each pair lands in the work so that it's in the right place to move to the next step. I'm finally starting to be able to see where the pairs need to be and why. 

That said, I have just 2 more samples to work to finish the second chapter - grounds- before I move on to spiders then Scansanavuan holes and then rose ground. One sample is ready to turn the corner and there's one more after that. 

Here are the last few samples that I completed. 

But I'm done for tonight and will be ready to work a few stitches before work tomorrow. Onwards and upwards!