A New Lace Magazine

This is a bi-lingual bobbin lace magazine available from this web site. 
http://www.vueltaycruz.es/la_revista.html

Friday is St. Cathrine's Day

Spinning the Tale of St. Catherine- From the Blog of "Ask Sister Mary Martha"

St. Catherine of Alexandria had nothing to do with making lace (although you are correct that she is listed as a patron saint of lacemakers....we'll get to that).  She was thought to be one of the most intelligent women of her time.  She was so well respected and her thoughts were heeded by so many, today she would be known as a trend setter and would no doubt have a blog and a web site.  This all proved to be her undoing.  Or doing, so to speak, since ultimately, martyrdom is a good thing.

When she converted to Christianity people followed.  So she was arrested.  But she was so well thought of and popular, no one really wanted to see her in jail.  It was as though someone threw Mother Teresa in jail.  So they sent people to go in there and talk her out of all this Christianity nonsense.  They all left converted.  This happened more than once.

She had to go. They brought in a wheel. The plan was to tie her to the wheel and just drive away with her until spinning on the wheel killed her. I guess. That or they would have had to hang the wheel on something and spin it like the wheel on "Wheel of Fortune" until she died. The statue of St. Catherine of Alexandria that we have in my childhood parish has spikes on the outside of it, so I always imagined that she would be tied to the outside of the wheel and stabbed and run over. But then you wouldn't really need to spikes to kill her, would you?

I finally found this explanation of the "wheel" that made some sense:
 She was placed in a machine, composed of four wheels, connected together and armed with sharp spikes, so that as they revolved the victim might be torn to pieces.

It doesn't matter anyhow, because as soon as they brought her over to the wheel (or the wheel machine, as it were) it miraculously smashed to pieces. So the wheel never did anything to her. She was then taken to the outskirts of town where she was beaten and beheaded.

But our lacemaking, cake making story does not end there.

St. Catherine's Day heralds the beginning of winter. On St. Catherine's day - November 25 - young girls and old maids pray for the intercession of St. Catherine to find a husband. The young ones say this:"Lord, give me a well-situated husband. Let him be gentle, rich, generous, and pleasant!"   
If time marches on she prays:
"Lord, one who's bearable, or who can at least pass as bearable in the world!"
And finally, if the parade is really passing by:
"Send whatever you want, Lord; I'll take it!"

What does all of this have to do with lace? Deep breath and here we go. Catherine of Aragon was said to have burned all her lace so that the poor lace makers would have more work to do. Isn't that nice? And St. Cattern cakes are actually named for her. Somehow, St. Catherine of Aragon and St. Catherine of Alexandria's particulars got all stirred up together with cake and lace.

And wheels.  Wheels are used for spinning and products of spinners are used to make lace.

Which is why I would go with St. Clare, who actually did some tatting.

Christmas Party

The party is this weekend at Marjie's house.  Pot luck and pin cushions.  Check you email for time and such.

October Meeting

 Nancy will be teaching us how to make a 4" knitted bear with movable arms and legs.  You will need size 2 needles and a yarn needle for sewing the project together.  The bear is made from worsted yarn, but don't buy any. Just bring scraps.  Nancy will bring stuffing and yarn if you need it.

Holidays Approaching

As of September meeting we still do not have a location for our Christmas get together.  If you can think of some place we could hold this let us know.  Also, there are modified instructions for the beggars bags we are making for 2013.  This will be posted soon.

Only October and November meetings are left for this year and we are looking for ideas for next year.  If you would like to teach a class or have an idea you would like to share please let Ramona know.

If you have not yet payed your dues please take care of that ASAP.  International Old Lacers, Inc. recently noted a decline in membership.  Please consider joining the national guild.  It is relatively inexpensive and it does give you some nice benefits - like access to the lending library.

There is some discussion about changing the name of the national guild and doing some re-branding.  If you would like to share your input there is an email address listed in the current bulletin for sending in your 2 cents.

As a side note there is now a Facebook page for our group.  If you want to "like" it just click the button to the right.

June Meeting

The June meeting is fast approaching.  We will be making more of those fun bags so bring your crochet hooks.  Thread is provided.

May Meeting

We are having lacing guild on the third Saturday this month because of Memorial Day.  We will be meeting at 10:00am in room 304.   Please be aware that there is a class at 1:00pm.  Marji will be teaching us her beggars bag.  

You will need size 10 crochet thread and a steel hook size 6 or 7. . .  or whatever works the best for you.

Reminders

We need to get all our Demo/teaching hours recorded by next guild meeting - April 23 - so that they can be reported to the national guild.

Also, please bring lace examples to the next meeting for the museum in Fairview.  They can be works of your own hands or antique pieces you own.  They will be up from May to October, roughly.  They may even be up for a year if you allow.  Works need to be labeled with your name at the least or you will NOT get them back.  I would recommend: name, phone, and type of lace.  You may also include other info if it is important to the piece.  If the piece is intended for entry in a fair you will get these back in time.

The Summer demo season is fast approaching.  The first is in May at the Museum of People and Culture at BYU.  The 4th of July and many of the other festival events ask us to dress up - colonial - so be pulling that together now if you don't already have something.  Here's a LINK to a site that may help you with ideas.  Also, Robin has many resources to help. 

Fashion Week NY and Tatting

I felt it was worth noting that Totusmel made a number of lovely pieces that were worn at this years fashion week in NYC.

Here's a link to her blog :  http://totusmel.blogspot.com/2011/02/tatting-walks-runway.html

Jan meeting change

The January meeting for lacing guild will be January 15.  We are meeting a week early due to a scheduling conflict.  We will be meeting in our usual room at 10:00am. 

Please bring a project to work on or bobbins to  spangle.

New Year

Happy New Year!

Start making those lace resolutions and working on UFOs or projects for the fairs in fall.  Don't forget guild meeting on he 22nd of this month.