u/mem_somerville

I was looking through my photos and I realized that I hadn't posted the outcome of the Early Lace workshop that we did at our guild's lace retreat. The linen piece was a sampler with a typical set of stitches. But we could also use metallic threads to try out some of the other patterns. These were from the Renaissance period books.

It was interesting to think about the different kinds of braids/plaits (I'm not much of a braider usually), and also the picots were made with these giant pins that we were jokingly calling the "coffin nails". It was wild to work with them. They are enormous.

I went away last week and left my car in a garage at my friend's house. I left on Friday. I think it was the following Wednesday that my car sent me the alert that my 4 windows were down suddenly.

Reader: my windows were not down. And my battery was not at -1. Of course this was the last gasp of the 12v, I imagine.

So today we went in for the diagnosis. They made me remove the Utility provider app for the off-peak charging program. And not only that, they said I needed to change the password so that it won't be able to reach it. They had a list of other possible parasitic draining apps, but none of the others applied to me.

When they finally took pity on me and gave me a loaner car to go home, the thing had been through 3 cycles of the battery test (I have no idea what that is). And I have no idea how it will play out.

But I thought the app-password change was something I hadn't heard before, so I figured I'd mention it here.

My friend Jennifer Ammentorp makes broomstick lace. We were just chatting at the IOLI convention and I heard about her workshop. It's great to see the Raleigh Lace Museum as a spot for lessons! I visited there too and it's a lovely and bright space with tons of inspiration.

I'm also glad to see a representation of not-bobbin-lace at IOLI. I know some people would like to see more of the alternative laces, and this one with crochet is really interesting. I had never seen it in action before but I got this shot of Jennifer working on it so you can see it too. Some crochet skill required.

Her workshop details: https://www.ksclcfoundation.org/museum-ED.php

For the first time I got the right style of lace made on my Queyras style "tambour" or drum pillow. There was a workshop with Sylvie Nguyen and I tried out this "rustic" lace. It is traditionally made with a sturdy linen (my beige and white pieces are 35/2).

Sylvia Fellows brought this flyer to the IOLI convention and had it out for everyone. I asked if I could post it to reddit and she said yes. But I am not posting her email--if you wish to join this, DM me for the email address.

Text of the flyer:

>Introducing a new lace study group!

>All lacemakers are welcome to participate with us as we study and work all the patterns in the Discover, Explore, Master Torchon book by Ulrike Voelcker.

>This book is a definitive, step-by-step course delving into Torchon. It allows everyone a chance to go into detail on the various parts and stitch possibilities in very small steps. It will also assist you in learning to read diagrams for most laces.

>We will study the first Section: Discover beginning on August 1, 2026 with a ZOOM meeting at 2pm PT [US Pacific time]. After that initial meeting, we will have a ZOOM meeting on the first Saturday of each month.

>If you would like to participate in this Study Group please contact Sylvia Fellows [email redacted--contact u/mem_somerville by DM] to be included in the ZOOM invitation.