Sommaire pour May - June 2017 de PieceWork

It’s the May/June issue of PieceWork—it must be lace. Yes, it is! This 2017 Lace Issue brings you lace that ranges from Belgium during World War I to contemporary Guatemala. Sprinkled throughout are lace projects—knitted, tatted, and crocheted. Here are a few examples of the stellar stories from our contributors: ✥ Evelyn McMillan’s “Gratitude in Lace: World War I, Famine Relief, and Belgian Lacemakers” From the poignant opening photograph of a lacemaker making bobbin lace while sitting outside a house almost completely ravaged by the war to Evelyn’s quest to continue to document the lace that was made in Belgium during this period, you will be transfixed by this account. ✥ “Threads of Tradition: The Story of the Green Family’s Wedding Veil” by Kathy Augustine For her 1857 wedding to…

Shown clockwise from the top are 1 Lace 2 Lace Insertion, 3 Lace No. 16, 4 Lace No. 12, and 5 Lace No. 10. Mary Elizabeth Greenwall Edie’s Knitted-Lace Samples The story of Mary Elizabeth Greenwall Edie’s knitted-lace sampler book is included in the May/June 2016 issue of PieceWork. Frances H. Rautenbach re-created several of Mary Elizabeth’s samples. Below are Frances’s notes on how she translated the original patterns, her instructions written with contemporary notations, and her tips for working the samples. Each sample retains the name that Mary Elizabeth used. Frances used Nazli Gelin Garden, 100% cotton thread, size 10, in #700-02 Cream (www.universalyarn.com) and size 1 (2.25 mm) needles to make her samples. —Editor I made letter-for-letter transcriptions of the handwritten penciled instructions. I then checked them by…

(listed in order of appearance) Alexander Hamilton 1755–1804 Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton 1757–1854 Rachel Faucette Lavien 1729–1768 James A. Hamilton 1718–1799 George Washington 1732–1799 Philip Schuyler 1733–1804 Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler 1734–1803 Benjamin Franklin 1706–1790 Colonel Jacob Ford, Jr. 1738–1777 Theodosia Johnes Ford 1741–1824 Dr. Jabez Campfield 1737–1821 John Laurens 1754–1782 Margarita “Peggy” Schuyler 1758–1801 James Monroe 1758–1831 John Adams 1735–1826 Thomas Jefferson 1743–1826 Aaron Burr 1756–1836 John Church Hamilton 1792–1882 Gertrude Schuyler Cochran 1724–1813 Dr. John Cochran 1730–1807 Marquis de Lafayette 1757–1834…

Over the past year, I have been researching the lives of a few amazing Clones lacemakers who kept the Irish crochet lacemaking tradition alive at a time when it might otherwise have died out. In the nineteenth century, in the Clones area of mid-Monaghan and South Fermanagh, most families had their own secret and closely guarded lace motifs. Nicknames often reflected the motif associated with a family, such as the “Lily Quigleys” or the “Rosie McMahons.” When neighbors entered a house unexpectedly, the resident lacemakers hid the motifs on which they had been working. Their special motif was the basis of the family income. (Unfortunately, the secrecy helped cause the loss of the art of making many motifs.) On the third Friday of every month, the woman of the house…

Ever since I can remember, my mother was working on a project, usually with her crochet hook. She made coverlets (afghans) to keep us warm during the winter months in our home in the village of Prizzi, in the province of Palermo in Sicily. Because she was practical, her projects were mostly utilitarian. Nevertheless, her work was always creative and impeccably done. It was not until later in my life, when I began to crochet, that I became fascinated with the beauty of her bedspread—how large it was, how fine the cotton thread, and how tiny the stitches. I remember a skirt she knitted for me to wear to school. She began by spinning the wool into yarn, then dyeing the skeins with walnut husks. The color was greenish brown,…

Strawberries are one of the most abundant berries in Ukraine. Every summer, the aroma of freshly picked berries infused every room in the house where I grew up. One of the favorite summer dishes that my grandparents would make for me was crushed strawberries with sour cream and sugar. The Very Berry Scarf reminds me of those wonderful days from my childhood. MATERIALS • Windsor Farms Rabbitry Angora Blizzard, 85% angora/15% merino yarn, 4-ply, fingering weight, 200 yards (182.9 m)/57 gram (2 oz) ball, 2 balls; www.windsorfarmsrabbitry.com • ChaioGoo needles, circular size 1½ (2.5 mm) or size needed to obtain gauge; www.chiaogoo.com • Spare needle, size 1½ (2.5 mm) • Stitch markers, 2 different colors • Tapestry needle • KnitPicks Lace Blocking Wires; www.knitpicks.com Finished size: 10 inches (25.4 cm)…

beg—begin(s); beginning BO—bind off CC—contrasting colorch—chaincir—circularcn—cable needle CO—cast oncont—continue(s); continuingdc—double crochetdc3tog—double crochet 3 stitches togetherdec(s) (’d)—decrease(s); decreased; decreasingdpn—double-pointed needle(s)fsc—foundation single crochetfoll—follow(s); followinghdc—half double crochetinc(s) (’d)—increase(s); increased; increasingk—knitk1b—knit 1 in back of stitchk1f&b—knit into the front and back of the same stitch—1 stitch increasedk2b—knit 2 in back of next 2 stitcheskwise—knitwise; as if to knitk2tog—knit 2 stitches togetherk3tog—knit 3 stitches togetherk5tog—knit 5 stitches together LLI—insert left needle into back of the stitch below stitch just knitted, knit this stitchlp(s)—loop(s)m(s)—marker(s) MC—main color M1—make one (increase) M1k—increase 1 by knitting into the front and then the back of the same stitch before slipping it off the left-hand needle M1p—increase 1 by purling into the front and then the back of the same stitch before slipping it off the left-hand needle M1L—(make 1 left)…

The Schuyler-Hamilton House, also known as the Jabez Camp-field House, is one of several existing historic buildings that remain extant from the Revolutionary War era in Morristown, New Jersey. Built in 1760, it was the home of Dr. Jabez Campfield, a surgeon who inoculated soldiers against smallpox during Washington’s two encampments in Morristown. Elizabeth Schuyler lived in the home during the winter of 1780 with her aunt, Gertrude Schuyler Cochran, and her uncle, Dr. John Cochran, who was General George Washington’s personal physician. It was in the front parlor of the home that the dashing young Alexander Hamilton courted Elizabeth Schuyler. The house was acquired by the Morristown Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1923 and renamed in honor of Elizabeth Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton. Since that…

Weddings unite more than two people who have chosen to spend their lives together. Families, friends, traditions, and cultures come together as well to create a new unique whole to be passed down to future generations. These wedding mitts have their own blended components. They are inspired by the henna tattooing of India; the Leaf-and-Vine pattern represents longevity and devotion. And I added to the blending of cultures by using traditional nupps (“nupp” is Estonian for “button,” “bud,” or “knob”) to accent the vines. MATERIALS • Treenway Silks Silken Cloud, 70% bombyx silk/30% cotton yarn, laceweight, 1,760 yards (1609.3 m)/100 gram (3.5 oz) skein, 1 skein of #28 Shelly Belly; www.treenwaysilks.com • ChiaoGoo needles, circular 16 inches (40 cm) and 24 inches (61 cm) size 0 (2.00 mm) or size…

› Inspired by the preceding article › The unique style of this beautiful lace collar was very popular in the Clones–Roslea area in Ireland. Rose and shamrock squares are joined with simple loops, known as the “mitred style.” The pattern is inspired by the beautiful lace work of the Cruddens of South Fermanagh and Tessie McMahon of Scotstown, County Monaghan. Tessie inherited her beautiful neat lacemaking skills from her mother, Kate. Tessie’s brother Pat made handmade crochet hooks, nicknamed “famine hooks,” where the eye of a sewing needle was pared with a flint stone. Tessie directed me to her close neighbor and fellow lacemaker, Katie McQuaid, in the late 1990s. Katie and Tessie were both skilled at the freeform lace motifs and the regular style of roses and shamrocks squares,…

Early-Style Hardanger: Traditional Norwegian Whitework Embroidery Yvette Stanton Hornsby Westfield, New South Wales, Australia: Vetty Creations, 2016. Softbound, 160 pages, $76.99 AUD. ISBN 978-0-9757677-7-1. History of Lace Mrs. Bury Palliser Rev. ed. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2012. Softbound, 672 pages, $39.95. ISBN 978-0486247427. Lace: A History Santina M. Levey London, England: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1983. Hardbound, 508 pages, about $100. ISBN 978-0901286154. Lace and Lace Making Marian Powys Reprint. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2002. Softbound, 224 pages, $16.95. ISBN 978-0-486418117. New Heights in Lace Knitting: 17 Lace Knit Accessory Patterns Andrea Jurgrau Blue Ash, Ohio: Interweave Books, 2016. Softbound, 144 pages, $24.99. ISBN 978-1-63250-231-5.…

Regal Hook Luxury is at your fingertips with BQueen Collection’s Crochet Hooks. Marrying the beauty of exotic woods, ergonomics, and high style, each handturned hook comes capped with one of four crowns: Marchioness, Duchess, Queen, and a custom option. These regal hooks come in U.S. sizes E-4 (3.5 mm) through Q (16 mm) and are sold individually or in sets.www.bqueencollection.com. Heirloom Lace This laceweight yarn comes from Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. Blacker Yarns’s St. Kilda is named for the remote island on the edge of the British Isles, which is a World Heritage site. This exquisite yarn is a blend of Shetland and two rare-breed sheep native to the islands, Boreray and Soay. Hand-dyed by Knitting Goddess, each skein is one-of-a-kind.www.blackeryarns.co.uk. Bounty of Shuttles With Clover’s Tatting Shuttle sets, available with…

In ordinary circumstances, Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler would not have met, never mind married and become central figures in America’s first political sex scandal, only to be transformed into the romantic couple at the heart of a twenty-first-century hit Broadway musical. Hamilton was the illegitimate son of a couple on the fringes of society in the West Indies. Effectively orphaned and impoverished by the age of thirteen, he would have seemed to have had few prospects. Schuyler, on the other hand, was born into the wealthy and well-connected Schuyler family in New York, descended on both sides from early Dutch settlers. Yet fate and the American Revolution brought them together. Among artifacts remaining from those times and their relationship is a ruffled and embroidered white cap with lace insertions,…

The handknitted silk stockings that inspired this project are part of the collection of the Historical and Folk Art Museum in Rethymno, Crete. Alexandra Giannouli (nÉe Athanasiadi; 1924–2014), a Rethymno resident, knitted the stockings for her wedding when she was twenty years old. Alexandra’s granddaughter Hara Giannouli donated the stockings to the museum. Located in a restored Venetian palazzo in the center of the old town of Rethymno on the northern coast of Crete, the Historical and Folk Art Museum offers fascinating insights into the social history of the region. In addition to displays showcasing arts and crafts of the area—weaving, knitting, crocheting, lacemaking, and embroidery, to name just a few—the museum also features a re-creation of a traditional Cretan shopping street as portrayed by the noted Cretan author Pandelis…

The Maya of Guatemala (and Mexico) have been weaving and embroidering magnificent textiles famous for their color and complexity since the time before time. Hundreds of books and thousands of articles have been written about them in the past century alone, and in most textile circles just the phrase “Guatemalan weaving” evokes images of backstrap looms and traditional clothing that tell stories of a culture from ancient times to today. Half of the population of Guatemala is still Maya, which means that half is not. This story is about a textile tradition that comes from that other world, the Ladino side, a story rarely told. Spain 1740: The family of Juan Navas decided to follow a dream, the kind that first comes in sleep, and leave their home in Spain…

Polushawl (polushalok in Russian) indicates a smaller version of an Orenburg warm shawl, called a “half-warm shawl.” It can be a triangle, rectangle, or a square shawl. This project was the genesis of a collaboration of three women in Orenburg—Valentina, Tatiana, and me. My younger sister, Tatiana, suggested that I design a lighter, less bulky version of a classic Orenburg warm shawl, one that could more comfortably be worn under a heavy winter coat but large enough to cover the shoulders and front, extend down to just below the waistline, and reach the third knuckle of the hand. Valentina, younger sister of Orenburg lace knitting legend Olga A. Fedorova, created a newer, more modern version of the classic Orenburg warm shawl. Using thicker yarn but with the classic Orenburg gossamer…