Sunday, August 24, 2008

Lacework Sunday


What else, but a lovely plant in Maui!


Oh, my. Looooooook at
these books on Irish Crochet Lace. Another group of books I really want to add to my collection! Irish Crochet has been a fascination for me for decades. I was first and foremost a crocheter, initially knitting in my 20s for baby bootees for DD! (Which as you can see, has snowballed into out-of-control knitting ADD!)

However, old habits die hard. I have a collection of really neat lace crochet books, some of them vintage. Dover Press (check out the McCain and Obama paper dolls!) has had some fun re-prints of old Irish Crochet patterns, which I added to my library in the late 1980s. (Their books are nice and economical.) Didn't find much else on the Irish-crochet topic for many years, with the exception of random finds in an antique store. Then, in recent years, and much thanks to Ravelry, I have seen many other references that I'm all excited about!!! Not that I really need to acquire more books, mind you. That IS my achilles heel. Acquiring books. I need a room I can devote to library shelves, as currently some of my books are sleeping in plastic bins in the crawlspace!

Here's one of the Dover books I own:

Taken from Mindy's blog, here are some really great links for tatting and lacework:


  1. Tatting. There are some neat techniques pages here.


  2. Australian Crochet History This is where those history of Irish Crochet books are found.


  3. Lace Archives This is a great on-line archive of lacework of all types. Really neat!

Here is a sample page scanned in there, check out this Filet Crochet masterpiece by Mary Card:
click to see it close-up

And, I found a really neat on-line way to get your lace eye-candy. It is the Lacis museum; they have some spectacular slideshows there! You can find any type of lace there--knitted lace, crocheted, whitework, etc...Love it!

Okay. Now my own lace project, the Summer Sampler update--finally finished chart #9. One of the prettiest charts, and not as technically challenging as the 7/5 maneuver in an earlier chart, but somehow it had me by the throat for a couple of weeks. BIG SIGH of RELIEF! Finally started chart #10 today. Only 3 more charts, then the lace edging to go...interesting :)

Now, to deviate entirely from the delicate subject of lace. You have to check out this next website, a compendium of cake-decorating flops! My absolute favorite so far is this one, ha ha haaaaaa!~. What a scream that blog is!


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6 comments:

Maryam in Marrakesh said...

I am loving lace, too, and really want to stencil some designs! If you know of any particularly fabulous designs (esp the kind that have the net in between the designs) pls let me know!

Anamika:The Sugarcrafter said...

hi Aim
Would love to use your lacework in my cakes. You have a nice blog !

hakucho said...

That's one thing my grandmother never got a chance to teach me.She was an incredible crocheter and tatter :)

Enjoy your lace books :)

Unknown said...

I just love the look of Irish Crochet, each piece is such a work of art. So glad to see tatting mentioned, too! Tatting is my passion (in the needle arts).

Susan said...

That book looks very interesting. My SIL crochets and she was talking about Irish Lace. I think you've just solved my Christmas shopping dilemma. And I love all the Hawaii pictures.

Green Kitchen said...

I'm coveting your books. It took me a little while to even know what to call Irish lace. I kept thinking, "How do you work that?" I couldn't figure out the randomness. Luckily I own books, and found a little bit about IC, so know I can go google it. ;_