[Nfb-krafters-korner] lace

[Amy Herstein]

Hi, guys.

I have read a lot about crocheted lace, in partifcular the Irish
crochet, which is most well-known for the Irish rose motifs that are
used in, among other things, bedspreads and tablecloths. It was
apparently invented as a way for women to help support themselves and
their families during the potato famine. That said, there are several
types of crocheted lace.

There is also knitted lace, dominant during the "white knitting" era
when ladies made bedspreads, lace ball gowns, collars, edgings, and
doilies from muslin or cotton thread. Shetland lace and Orenburg lace
are types of knitted lace that were made famous. Barbara G. Walker's
books, which you can find on Bard, contain entire chapters about
knitting lace patterns, and there is a book up there called Folk
Shawls that contains lace shawls. Another book that has some lace
patterns in it is The Art of seamless Knitting, another Bard download.
I should add that all its charts have been transcribed into
line-by-line instructions (see below).

A note on knitted lace, probably other kinds, too. A lot of the time,
the stitch patterns are shown in charted forms, annoying because
scanning programs can't scan it, and you can only read it if it's
written out in line-by-line instructions. Well worth trying, though.
So in short, even if you have all the instructions, you'll find them
useless unless the chart is converted into writing, or some patient
soul is willing to help you go over it--knitters, you'll probably have
found that this is a problem in other patterns, too, but particularly
in laces.

I also know that tatting is a kind of lace usually used to edge
different articles like collars or handkerchiefs. I have also seen a
very brief and basic demo of making bobbin lace.

I have also heard of something called hairpin lace.

Last one: I've heard of but know nothing about rose point lace.

An interesting side note that I read: Lace was once associated with
impurity. Those who made it were once very highly frowned upon,
especially when crocheted lace was used to simulate the very intricate
and, therefore, pricey, types of lace purchased only by the upper
classes.

I'd love to learn about any good, helpful books anyone knows on any of
these crafts and would love even more to learn how to do them and
where to use them. I knit lace at times, and I love working with the
fine yarns and needles, and one of the reasons I want to crochet is to
learn to make Irish crochet.

Amy