The Thread Exchange (Motif 19)

The Thread Exchange-Or-What Can You Do With 12 Yards?

Lately I've been sharing the fun on The Thread Exchange Blog. Fox from Tat-ology set this up as a place to swap samples of thread. Each person posts a list or picture of what they have to trade, and then others offer to make a deal. This is a no-frills exchange, just thread samples that fit in an average envelope. It's a good way to try out a type of thread to see if it is something you would like to buy.

The suggested amount to trade is 12 yards (11 meters). That gives rise to the question, how much can you do with that much thread? Quite a lot, actually.

One of the samples I have received so far is some size 50 Pear Glace' HDT made by Lady Shuttle Maker. I can tell you this is very nice thread and I recommend it. The picture doesn't do it justice. This is very pale, delicate shades of green and yellow. I wanted to make the most of this thread without wasting any, so I hunted around till I found this two shuttle insertion pattern in the book Tatting by Cathy Bryant. You switch shuttles regularly, so an equal amount of thread is used from each one, which meant there was no guesswork how much to allow for each one. I finished this bookmark with only a few inches of thread to spare. Not counting the tail, it's 4 inches by 1.5 inches. I like my bookmarks on the small side, so I'm very happy with this.

I've been neglecting my 25 Motif Challenge lately. This time around, I'm only counting patterns by other people, so I can claim this as Motif #19.