Success After Failure

I was so lucky to get an order in my shop while I was schooling the kids in the morning. So right after that I had a bracelet to remake for the shop. It's on of my favorites as well. The base is constructed with a lock stitch chain to avoid having to do split rings. Of course it really is a toss up as to which takes more time and effort to construct, but I like the look of lock stitch chain, so it wins simply on aesthetics. This is just that base section. After that it's a woven chain with beads giving the finished piece a nice weight.

Of course it was right back to the bobbins after this and I fought my first losing battle against a pattern with hearts. I didn't want to really do it in the first place as I just didn't like the look of the pattern, but I was going to for the sake of completing the lessons. It turns out when you already don't want to do something, it's harder to do and I gave up quickly and moved on to the next section of the book. This one started with learning the technique of braiding in the lace. I absolutely loved this little bit. It twists awfully, but I loved making it and went straight on to the next piece.

I want to say the book referred to this as English Midland lace and it too was so much easier for me to follow. It was very clear to me where each thread was suppose to go and where each joined. I even managed to mostly understand the making of picots. This one twists a bit as well, but not too much. In fact, I think this is the first one off the board that really looks like a finished piece of lace.

I'm definitely hoping for another day like yesterday. I felt productive and busy. I even had that nice feeling of accomplishment you get when you really start to understand what you're learning. So more bobbin lace today and hopefully some tatting as well.