There were four class slots. I filled my first two and then spent the afternoon sitting and talking with friends while trying to finish a project from my second class. I succeeded!
First I took Elizabethan Gold Braid. With my newfound interest in goldwork, and my pattern (so far) of making Elizabethan era pieces, this was a no brainer. The teacher was very knowledgeable about the time period, and had obviously put a lot of effort into her creations. She had tried out almost all potential gold threads and made a wonderful chart of them, including their price, how good they are for laidwork, and how good they are for braiding. That chart alone is worth the class.
It took some time but I think I got the braid she was trying to teach - there are several other types to be tried. Starting the braid was by far the hardest part. After that it's just repetition.
I then went to a Lacis class. Lacis has always been a big mystery to me. I knew it involved netting but that was as far as my knowledge went.
There are apparently three types of stitches. We went over darning stitch, which was easy enough to figure out - it's just like weaving. Then we went over linen stitch, which involves weaving in both directions. I understand the theories, but I definitely need to practice that one a bit more - my turns weren't always the same, so going back through in the other direction didn't always work out.
We didn't get to loop stitch, which is just an airy decorative stitch, that looks more like needlelace. But I tried it anyway! Going in a straight line was easy enough. I never really figured out how to turn onto the next line.
I liked it better than I thought I would, although getting linen stitch right for any kind of complex shape might be more graphing then I want to do.
I put effort into finishing the Lacis before the Athena's Thimble panel so I could hopefully get working knowledge, but they gave me competency instead! Hooray for surprise leveling up.
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