Lace

I love lace. It isn't something I wear. It isn't something I have around my house, but I am fascinated by lace. Always have been. I still look out for Elizabeth Hiddleson crochet booklets at the Sally Ann. I still pick up every new magazine and look to see what lace it holds before I check out anything else.

I learned to crochet with doilies from the master of crochet lace, Elizabeth Hiddleson and now I am learning to knit lace from the masters of modern lace knitting, and admire the lace styles from just a little longer ago.

You never know who you will meet in a yarn store. I think I spoke to a local master of lace the other day. A lady called the store, looking very hard for some very small needles. She was hopeful that we might have something smaller than a 2 mm needle. We do. I told her we had several different lengths in 1.75mm dpns plus circular needles, she just held her breath. I told her we had 1.5 mm needles, she was thrilled. She hardly believed me when I told her we had several lengths of 1.25 mm needles.

She said she knitted lace doilies, and had been doing so all her life. She said she crocheted too, but the dearest were the lacy knitted doilies. Knitted lace spoke to her heart, I think.

She came into the shop with her son on Sunday in some pretty miserable weather to pick up some new needles. I wasn't there. It was a day off for me. I could have cried. I wished I'd have been there. To meet people like her, I wish I could be there every day in a way, but she delighted the rest of our staff. They showed her my very meagre little samples. She is a really sweet lovely person.

She brought some of her knitting with her. She gave a gift in being able to share in her joy at finding needles in the right sizes and gave a gift again when she left a small bit of her work behind with us.

I'm so thrilled to have almost met her at the beginning of my journey of knitted cotton laces, so amazed at the ways of the world that brought her to call the store at this moment in time.

Knitted lace in fine cotton thread is very much a part of our North American heritage and this lovely lady, this master knitter is part of that heritage. One day soon, I hope to get a chance to talk with her, to discuss patterns, to talk about blocking, to explore the art from someone who knows it so well.