Among my wanderings along the lower shelves in the handicraft section at the Corner Brook Public Library, I found a book about lace and lace making. When it comes to knitting lace my instinct is to back away slowly and then run as fast as I can in the opposite direction. No, lace and I have never been friends. I ventured to take out the lace book in the same spirit that I took out that c. 1970 coffee table book about weaving - if only to prove to myself that I would not catch the all-future-work-will-now-be-strongly-vaginal disease from just looking at early feminist craft-related art work. I dared to look at the lace book because what doesn't kill us will make us stronger.
What I didn't expect (just as I didn't expect to be so inspired by the c.1970s work - you can decide if I begin to lean towards vaginality in my future work) was that I would immediately see parallels between lace and my suburban project.
To wit:
The book I had checked out had some limited instructions for making this kind of lace (it is needle lace, not knitted lace) so I took a look over at
Dover Books and they did not fail me.
A treasure trove of good, old time instruction there. I also picked up a book on fair isle knitting because the original impulse is still there.
I feel I have tapped into a rich vein.
puts me in mind of fractals somehow. Like if we could just figure out the connecting pattern - well we'd be born again in the land of sukhavati where we'd finish our bhumis and paths.
ReplyDeletetalked about the lighthouse cozy today with a woman who owns an artist retail gallery called Love Me in Halifax. we also discussed doing the bridges. yes.
Yes, indeed! Would that sprawl be the missing link...
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading your blog. Lovely yarn with the different colored bobbles in it. Thanks for the link to Ms. Tawney. "Done with devotion" should be the keystone to all our art making. Best, Jeanne in Oregon
ReplyDeleteLove the correlations in your photos. I've been thinking a lot lately about the wealth of what surrounds us in terms of translating into fiber art.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and extra thanks for leaving a comment, femminismo. And I agree...done with devotion!
ReplyDeletelate to the game, (no computer for a few days)but have you seen debbie New's book, Unexpected Knitting? she has a chapter on how to sew knitting (on cheese cloth)and create free form knitting and knitted "lace" (you can (or Not) remove the cheese cloth after you are done.
ReplyDelete(you can can call me, i could put it in an tyvek envelop aand mail it to you--if you can't find it. but Debbie is, like you a part time Canadian--and you might be able to find it via an inter library loan.