A few lace tools

Greetings All,
This little lady has ruled my home for the past 15 years. Her name is Sox, but we may call her "Your Highness"! We moved 6 months ago, and she still thinks she can boss all the cats in the neighbourhood around ... mostly still fairs well, however, she has come home on the receiving end several times recently :( This morning she veiwed her loyal subjects from atop this very shaky fence post as I denied her the pleasure of playing with my bobbins. The only time she will grace my lap with her company is when I am tatting... she loves to chase the shuttle!
O.K. Now some lace... here are the tools I could not do without... aside from pillows, pins, prickings and bobbins of course! Left to right - A nail punch, stolen from the shed for pushing pins into the pillow, some curve bladed scissors for threads - could be sharper, but I will eventually find a good quality pair :), a pricker - made from dowel with a needle pushed into the end, a lazy susan - made the same as the pricker, but point end in the handle (made from a broken bobbin) and a bend close to the eye, threaded ready for use, a pin puller - made by a local bobbin maker and a small crotchet hook - especially made for tatting by milward shuttles (no longer available).

To use the lazy susan to make a sewing - first remove the pin and push the needle through the pinhole. Pull the thread to make a loop.

Next, pass 1 bobbin of the pair to be sewn through the loop. It is easier to pass the bobbin spangle first if you are using spangled bobbins. Here, I am sewing 2 pair, so I have passed 2 bobbins through the loop.
Pulling on the handle AND the thread tails, gently ease the bobbin threads through the hole to form loops with the bobbin threads.

Pass one of the remaining bobbins through each loop. Gently ease the threads up to remove the unwanted loops and ensure that they sit neat with the hole where the sewing was made. If finishing off a piece, you can tie a reef knot before trimming the excess thread. Darning the ends may also be necessary. When making a sewing to join pieces of lace together (as here) replace the pin and continue on.

Here is my A with the first leg completed. I used basket weave stitch for this leg.

This afternoon I plan on completing some more ATCs so there should be another post soon. Are you interested in taking part in a round robin swap for ATCs? Please leave a comment!

From Sox and I...happy days :)