Sample, sample, sample

I know people are probably getting sick of me talking about it but I'm still loving the patterns in the Torchon Workbook. I'm on the 9th chapter, Decorations in half stitch. 

I've just finished a group she has labeled Escalator. The name comes from a section made up of a row of half stitches that are worked uphill. 

 

In this example, you work the section above the line all the way to the end and then use the pair at the base of the line to work half stitch to the point at the top of the line. Now you're ready to work the section below the line. And you get this one in the middle. 

 

Each of these samples uses this escalator technique, although in different ways. 

My absolute favorite of this trio is the edging at the right. It has some of my favorite techniques like the spider ground and the Scotch broom trails. I would have carried on with it but I'm anxious to get moving on. 

Appearances can be deceiving

I started a new sample this week. There was a section that even the text said was tricky so I worked to that point and left it that night. I decided I needed to wait until I was rested to attempt it. I had already worked the whole left side and then the right side. Then I completely undid the right side because I'd made a mistake at the beginning then I'd worked the whole right side again. 

 

The "complicated" section involved working a pair half-stitch through six other pair. Not so bad except that it had to go backwards through the pairs before heading into the 8-leg spider. 

When I sat for a minute to look at it the next morning, the light bulb went on and I worked it with no problems at all. 

You can never tell. 

Last night I got involved in watching a couple of fascinating shows on YouTube and actually finished the whole dang thing. 

 

I never realized working in whole stitch was so fiddly to keep the tension right. 

Everyone should see these films. I couldn't stop watching. 

Edwardians in Colour (First of 4 episodes)

How the Edwardians Spoke

Scotch Brooming

Sometimes you like something okay but you just don't LOVE it. It's all very nice and you wouldn't mind having a coffee every once in a while but it's never going to be a grand romance. 

That's what this edging does for me. It was kind of fun to work and went along very easily but I'm done with it. I still have thread on the bobbins so I may work until I start to run out of thread but it's not one I'm going to make yards of. 

 

The thing it did do is make much more sense out of the Scotch Broom stitch. There's a definite rhythm to it and once you get that logic, it's no trouble at all. 

A few more inches and then, I think, it will be time to move along. 

Delicate wee thing

Finished!  I can't tell you how pleased I am with this delicate wee thing. I will definitely be working this design again. The previous exercise prepared me for this one and I could tell that my spidering skills have improved. Never thought I'd say that and be happy…

Making progress

I've almost finished the latest bobbin lace project in my Torchon workbook. I've really enjoyed this little 4" (20cm) wide doily. Now I just have to finish it off without screwing it up!

What's next?

I've now finished the samples for section 1 of my workbook (clothwork). It's just my style that the book says the last sample (the one on the left) "presents more difficulties than 1.3 (the one on the right) and success may not be immediate!"  Of course the one I had difficulty with was 1.3 and I completely sailed through the last one. 

These are the last 2 samples.  The one on the right is my favorite so far and one that I will definitely go back to. The one on the left is one that I think would work great as a scarf. Just blow up the pattern and use a nice silk or cotton yarn and you've got something really interesting. 

On to the next section - Torchon Ground. 

Cracked it!!

As I was trying to figure out what had gone wrong on my practice piece, I kept thinking of my Grannie who would be on round 82 of a crocheted doily or tablecloth and I could see her counting. Somehow something hadn't fitted and she was determined to figure it out. She would count back round by round until she found it and even if it was in round 3, she would rip back to make it right. 

I used to tease her about it, first asking how she could have missed the mistake through 79 rounds and then telling her no one would know and she should just fudge it. She would frown at me and shake her head. "I would know it wasn't right."  And she would continue to rip and rip until she had it right. 

That's how I've felt tonight. Not the part about knowing there was a mistake because anyone could see it wasn't right, but the ripping out to almost the beginning because that's where my mistake was - on the 2nd pin of the piece. But as soon as I took it out and did that one thing right, everything else fell exactly into place. 

I'm sure there's a lesson there somewhere. 😳

Moving along

The good thing about the hot temps is that it's easy to justify staying in the house and working on my lace projects.

Exercise 5 and 6:

One of the most challenging things about lace is learning how to move from one element to the next, making sure that all the bobbins are in the right place ready for the next element. 

It's kind of like a good pool or snooker player. They hit each ball while in their head placing the cue ball in the right place not just for the next shot but several shots down the line. 

My problem is sometimes my mind is away with the fairies and I'm not paying attention to what's coming up. But they say practice make perfect so I just keep practicing. 

I really like this little edging. 

It would be lovely on a baby' garment. Very sweet and dainty. 

The corner makes a very tidy turn by switching out the worker pair with the next pair in line. By doing this it saves the pucker that would happen if you tried to work through all the passives with the same worker. 

I remember seeing this with another pattern but I'd forgotten about it. Very nice, elegant solution.

Torchon practice

Finished exercise #3 and, sure enough, the first section looks pretty bad but once you get past that, it's not so bad. The edges are pretty good and the centers are good. 

I thought that using the 2 colors was a mistake but it's actually not too bad with the colors that I used. It gives a little bit of interest. 

I think if I was using this as an insert in a garment (as opposed to something that was going to be framed), I think I would do something like this with close colors to make it seem less flat. 

It's been fun playing with the colors. 

Only one thing

Yesterday I was off and did absolutely nothing except one thing. 

This. 

Before yesterday I was on the 3rd diamond of this Torchon and rose ground sampler. Yesterday I entered the zone. Other than fixing one meal and bathroom breaks, I worked from 9am to 11pm on it. 

People sometimes ask me how long a project took me to finish and I can rarely answer vet definitively. This time I have a better idea. I would say this one took approximately 24 hours of work.  

Now onto everything else left on my "to do" list.