Coastal Crochet and a little lace making!

As many of you know, embracing social media in relation to our love of yarn and crafts really does enable us to make connections with like minded people we would otherwise never have known. We can share our passion and there’s a mutual appreciation and understanding! The connections I’ve made with people from all over the world through this Blog, my Instagram and Facebook has been so wonderful… 😊

But it’s also enabled me to make connections with people closer to home and that resulted in me going to a local ‘Lacemakers’ group yesterday!

A lovely lady, Gail, who follows my blog and took part in my blanket crochet along sent me an email with some very kind feedback and we had some email exchanges – which then led me to discover that Gail attends a Lacemakers group on the third Saturday of every month which is held in a place walking distance from my home!

How could I not pop by… so we arranged for me to come along and we agreed that we would both bring our blankets.

Three generations of my family went along as my daughter and my mum both came with me… I knew we were in the right place when I walked into the room and immediately saw a ‘Seaside Stash Busting Blanket’ there on a table… 😊

Isn’t that wonderful! It always takes my breath away when I see another Seaside Stash Busting blanket, especially for real, and I so love Gail’s colours and her choice of edging. 😊

And I put my own blanket there too…

And then I went around the room to see the ladies at work (no male lace makers there I’m afraid although I’m sure they must be around. 😉  Now I’ve never tried lace making before so it was amazing to see the different patterns and designs that were being made…

It looks so intricate and quite daunting – look at all those pins! But I was assured that it’s not as difficult as it looks! I’m often telling people that crochet is much easier than it looks so can relate to this…

The photo above is of a gorgeous dusky pink piece of lace being made and we calculated that there are about 150 Bobbins being used! But I’ve learned that only 2 pairs are worked with at a time which is obviously more manageable.

And I’ve also learned that the bobbins themselves are really collectable and pieces of art in themselves… I saw some gorgeous bobbins today with beautiful patterns, engravings and colours. There were some antique ones as well as family heirlooms and in various materials too, including wood and bone. And the beads at the ends were beautiful too… lace making is certainly a very pretty craft to do!

And then I was able to have a go myself… Gail had informed me in advance that there would be a try-out pillow available to have a little go and “if you can count four, like a lot of craft things, the basic stitch is very easy – just like plaiting.”

Another kind and patient lady, Greta, talked me though the first steps on this practice piece which was actually going to be a snake…

And gradually the snake got longer…

…and longer!

And my daughter had a go too…

…as well as crocheting a bit more of her own ‘Seaside Stash Busting Blanket’ which has very slowly been growing!

So a lovely morning was had. It’s always great to see crafters crafting and to be in a room with people who love craft as much as I do. I’ve certainly learned a little more about lace making too. I really liked the logical and repetitive movements of the bobbins.

But it was back to my crochet hook that evening… there’s not enough hours in the day to achieve all the crochet I would like to do, let alone start a new craft – but maybe one day!

Have any of you lovely readers had any experience with lace making?

😊❤️❤️