Reasons to Love Lace

An exhibition dedicated to it is one very good way. The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney recently held a design competition which had the theme of ‘lace’, and this exhibition is the best of the entries. There was no restriction in terms of technique or material, but it had to communicate an idea of what lace could be.

In essence; lace can be freaking anything. Clothes, jewellery, artworks, video installations, chairs, fences, wall hangings, cars, engines, curtains, lamps, little bronze creatures with wacky headwear... absolutely anything. Even the entire female reproductive system, knitted with human hair.

It is so incredible to see how many techniques there are to interpret the idea of lace. There were similar ideas or inspirations circulating; relations to the veins in a leaf, memories of lace doilies or the pattern of urban road networks, but the works were so varied in their craftsmanship it was mind-boggling.

One of the most striking things about lace is its inherent eroticism. It is the way it both conceals and reveals that makes it so incredibly compelling for clothing design. It also unique because it is not just the material that makes lace, it is the empty space between. It is the play between space and non-space, light and shadow, and between positive and negative.

It really made me want to try again at doing lace knitting. The results just would be so rewarding, especially after all that hard work. The Powerhouse Museum also has a lace study centre where they preserve lace from all ages and from all over the world. Here are some of my favourite pieces from the exhibition.

Lazy Mother-Frogger

I have three wips on, but all the lights are out. My delicious yellow hat has four rows to go- just four! But I just can’t bring myself to finish it for some reason. I don’t want to mess it up again. My newly started maroon hat has one row done. And that was started a week or more back. I am a lazy mother frogger.

The third is the one above. It is a lace scarf using the pattern from this beautiful Que Sera lace cardigan by Kirsten Kapur. Lace was never really on my radar. I am much more of a Cable lover. I just love the texture of them. You know that feeling when you see beautiful cables in a hat or a jumper, and you just want to squish them and rub yourself against them. Dirty I know, but tell me it’s not true.

Compared to cables, lace just seemed a little too bland. Okay, bland is the wrong word. Maybe it was just too subtle for me. I like seeing a cabled woollen jumper from across the room and wanting to run and jump on the person wearing it. I couldn’t be arsed most of the time at squinting at the detail in lace.

I think it changed when I saw this Katharine Hepburn cardigan and fell in love with it. The allusion to the 1940s then obviously spread beyond to Kapur’s lace cardigan; then I saw Herbert Niebling’s work, Estonian lace, and the rest was history.

However, I soon realised upon starting my lace Peacock scarf (so called because of the colours in that beautiful wool and silk blend, sent to me from Toronto) that LACE TAKES FOREVER TO KNIT. I have a short attention span, which is probably why I like knitting hats. I need something relatively quick. Some colour, some movement. Not hours and hours and hours of knitting holes. By this stage in my endless lace scarf, this is what I now think lace knitting is; spending all your time purposefully knitting holes in wool. And knitting holes will clearly only be finished at Forever O’Clock.

I am despairing of it. One day I’m sure I will restart it. I’m also sure that once it is finished and blocked, my knees will go weak for lace again. Not right now though, because not only am I lazy, I’m also a vengeful mother frogger. No Lace For You.