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Wednesday 27 March 2013

not again....

I think blogger doesn't like me.... I tried to add the latest books to my list. first time no luck. second time no luck (yes, I did click on save and it showed the books both times) - third time... you get the drift. ok, at least all the books are visible in the entries. I'll leave it at that for now - maybe they are still flying around in the www and land later, when I don't watch?
 
anyway, I'd like to show you some more books (yawn:) - but this time they are not knitting books. I do bobbin lace as well and last christmas I took the opportunity to put some on my wish list. and those are the three that magically made it over onto my shelves (or rather into a book box, because there's no shelf space left.... maybe I should ask for more shelves, but then I'd have to ask for an extension to the house first!)












this is a ring binder with loose leaves. it doesn't look very inviting from the outside, but it's the best I've seen so far to teach torchon lace. this is supposedly one of the easiest bobbin lace varieties to learn, that's why many beginners start with torchon. Ulrike Voelcker publishes really good books, but most of them are a bit more advanced. this is a series of 3 parts (the 3rd one comes out this spring), so far I have no. 1 and 2 (looks the same, just red background). it's in german and english, which seems to be the case for most bobbin lace books nowadays. makes perfect sense, because bobbin lace books aren't sold in huge numbers, so authors/publishers have to try to reach as many readers as possible (the books are still quite costly, compared with knitting books).
the first part of the "book" covers all aspects of learning to do torchon lace, though you should know the very basics moves of "how to". with clear photos and descriptions, the first chapter shows the same pattern in lots of different yarns together with percentages of how to copy the pattern in the right size for each yarn. there are many patterns available - but the 2nd part is the really interesting bit if you're out for nice patterns! colourful scarves, the usual (and not so usual!) doilies, curtains, samplers .... enough to keep me occupied for a very long time! unfortunately I haven't found a good preview for the book (as is the case for many bobbin lace books. and amazon offers hardly any of them!). I took the liberty to take a photo of one of the scarves just to show you that bobbin lace is well past the look of granny doilies and old-fashioned bits! I hope the author forgives me, but maybe they should start to show more of them in those lace shops that sell the books!
the good thing about the loose pages is that you can take out just the page you need, without the need of copying etc. and you can buy each part separately. if you already know how to do it, just go for the patterns! I am going to get the 3rd part too, when it is published, though it is supposed to help understand the lace in depth, rather than give many more patterns for it....
 
 the second book I received looks rather boring at first glance. no patterns, just pages and pages of text/lists. but for a bobbin lace maker this is a small bible! it contains (probably) all available yarns for bobbin lace, exactly measured and compared, so that the lace maker can see at first glance how to replace a yarn for a certain pattern. I should really have bought this ages ago, because I always have to guess the thickness and have done quite a few false starts with that. the only "complaint" I have here is that the cover should be a bit sturdier - but I solved that problem myself by covering it with
rhino book covers:)
this is one of the few bobbin lace books that has a preview available on amazon. the downside is that the text is french - but from good photos and diagrams the patterns are still easy enough to follow. because I'd like to do a small bobbin lace gift here and there I asked for the book - just to find out that most would probably still take too much time to qualify for a quick/small gift:) but the patterns are still gorgeous, I just have to plan well ahead!
 and before you fall asleep from all the book reviews: this is the first deluge sock - with a few adaptations. it fits well enough, though as I said - I cannot really see the point of going through the trouble with the specially formed left and right toes. knitting is so stretchy that the simple ones fit well - unless you have extremely oddly shaped toes that is...
I had a bit of a problem to get close enough with the zoom and still end up with the whole foot in one pic -but missing one row of rib should be ok, nothing exciting to see there:) at least you can see the rain drop pattern, though the pattern in the foot is barely visible. I like the colour better than the one I am knitting with now, because it's less blue and more grey - but on the other hand more grey would fit perfectly with the name of the pattern?:)
 
 
 maybe I shouldn't mention the word spring anymore - hardly a blog where there's no moaning and groaning about spring - or rather the lack thereof! but if there's none to be had - I make my own! lots of greens, a bit of yellow and some white - I spun myself a snowdrop yarn! only, the snowdrops to take a photo are gone by now...one skein comes with small beads, the other one is the same, just without them. it's all merino (only the yellow is corriedale) and I plied with a commercial viscose thread. which had a live of its own during plying, that's why I had to break the yarn with beads on one - it became so kinked that I just couldn't get it apart (story of my life just now:)... all the fibres apart from the viscose are from derryaun crafts here. all in all I should have enough for a medium sized project - it's just that I have no idea yet for what. nothing unusual in that, I have to admit:) it'll go as a show & tell to the spinner's meeting of our group, the Connacht Textile Crafters this weekend, and after that it can hang in my room for a while - until the real spring arrives and I have to make another yarn. maybe one with a lot of grey and very tiny specks of blue this time - for the real spring we are having??? as you can see from the header - the fluffy clouds and blue skies are gone here! 
 

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Beautiful yarn, I have just started spinning myself and I am loving it! Have you seen the spinners book of yarn design? It's amazing. I can't remember who wrote it, it's on my though TinyWoodlandFibres.blogspot.co.uk Definitly recommend it!

Leena said...

I love your snowdrop-yarn, it really looks like snowdrops:)

Delighted Hands said...

Bobbin lace is one skill I have long admired but not going to give in to try it myself. I love watching it demonstrated, though.

The socks turned out wonderfully-I would skip the special rt/lt toe shaping, too.

Great job on the spinning-if Spring won't cooperate, then knit it!

Nina said...

I've not done bobbin lace in a while as I packed away my bobbins when we moved and I still can't figure out what craft bin that I haven't yet unpacked. I love the snowdrop yarn. I keep telling myself I should plant some so that the garden has that lovely first burst of colour before anything else but the bulbs are hard to find in the fall.

Elke Schwarzer said...

Hallo Bettina,
ja, den Frühling herbeistricken mit so buntem Garn ist auch eine Idee, wenn man es kann, so wie du.
Das mit der Londonreise hatten wir uns auch anders vorgestellt - als wir gebucht haben konnte ja niemand ahnen, dass Ende März noch Winter sein würde. Und umbuchen auf die Schnelle geht ja auch nicht.
Aber es ist ja immer schön da, man muss sich zur Not ganz warm anziehen.
Schöne Ostern!
Elke

Woolly Bits said...

Tiny Woodland Fibres - I checked it out and put it on my wishlist:)

Leena - I like looking at it, but I am quite glad that we have proceeded to daffodils by now:)

Cindy - I watched it for some time and couldn't resist trying it out myself:) but I agree that it isn't the most useful technique - it produces precious things - that aren't really very practical!

Nina - it took years for the snowdrops to grow nicely! the first bubils always died, they only worked once I replanted some "in the green"... and now they self-seed!

Elke - solange man viel rumrennt, wird einem sicher sowieso nicht so schnell kalt? aber als gaertner ist es natuerlich dann doof, wenn noch alles braun und winterlich ist:(