Almost there

Just a quick post before I go learn to play the mountain dulcimer.  I'm officially 3/4 around the edging:

I'm really pleased at how much I'm learning in this project and how it's coming out.  I called it a doily edging but was corrected that it was a hankie edging.  Never mind, for me it's a doily and, if I manage the connection reasonably well at the end, it's going to hang!

Now I'm off to learn how to play this gorgeous instrument properly.  This, in case you don't know, is a mountain dulcimer.  I've just been introduced to it because one of the folks involved with the Folk Art School is a dulcimer maker.  This isn't one of his but I love it.  I love the natural wood look and it has a beautiful tone.  

I can actually play a song and a half.  I can play Amazing Grace and the first half of Danny Boy!  So I'm not doing so bad - hahahaha.  See ya.

Moving along

Since I got one bobbin lace project under my belt, I decided to dive into another.  This one is an edging with footside, torchon ground, rose ground and a fan on the headside.  Doesn't that sound like I know what I'm talking about?!  Ha!  Actually, I read it in the book that I got the pattern out of. 

It took me the whole week to get the first little section at the beginning up to the corner.  I had almost the whole section done when I realized I'm made several glaring mistakes that I couldn't live with.  Actually, I probably would have lived with them had I not realized that I would be going all the way around and once I got to the end, it would have been ruined from the beginning.  So I worked that section several times over until I learned how to do the pattern, then I took it out almost to the beginning and started again.  Took me a week to get through all that but by Friday night, I was at the corner, had figured out how to turn the corner (read the instructions) and then Saturday I was on my way.

If you click on the photo, you can get a better view of the part without pins. 

I've learned how to go from one section to the next, how to replace bobbins as I work, how to recognize when I've made a mistake soon enough that it doesn't make me cry because I have to take out inches of work and how to "rip out."

This is going to make an edging of about 8" square and I've been trying to decide how I want to display it.  Some options are to sew it to a linen center piece, sew it to a piece of knitted or crocheted center piece, sew it to a linen or other center piece and mount it in square frame, do the frame thing and include a pair of bobbins in the frame for a little tableau, do the frame and bobbin thing without the center piece and hang the bobbins in the middle of the lace or something else.  I think I really like the frame idea if I don't screw it up somewhere along the line.  I don't really have a place for doilies to be out and displayed and that way, I could enjoy it all the time.

First I need to get it finished.  As you can see, I'm a little over a quarter of the way done but I've done all this from Friday night to Sunday afternoon.  If I just don't try to rush it, I think it should be okay.  I have to say that I've really enjoyed the brain power it's taken to understand the pattern and how to work it.  It's been quite a challenge!