A strip is a solid shape common in Torchon lace. It can be worked in either cloth stitch or half stitch. The effect of the two are different, but they are worked the same except for the stitches.
Cloth stitch and half stitch strips. See pattern 26.
Pattern representation of a strip
This pattern shows a 3 x 5 strip (3 pairs coming in from one side and 5 from another). It is possible to have narrow strips which are only 2 wide or wider strips, and the lengths can be as long as you want. I hope you can see how to adapt the following explanation for those.
The following diagram avoids the complexities of the individual stitches by showing each pair of threads as a single line. Where one line crosses another, you should work it in cloth stitch or half stitch.
The number below shows the number of pairs actually part of the strip at each row. This number is different for different rows, and getting too many or too few pairs in a row is a common mistake.
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Working: Work the lace above the strip (such as ground). Do not work the edge pins of the strip yet. In a strip, you work rows of stitches. The first row, at the top of the strip, is just a stitch between two pairs of bobbins. Chose one pair (it doesn't matter which) to be the worker pair. There are three stages to working a strip. The first part is similar to the first half of a diamond - you work rows of increasing length, picking up one new pair at the end of each row, until you meet the first corner. In the second stage, which is the middle of the strip, the rows stay the same length, since pairs are picked up or discarded regularly. This continues until you reach the next corner. The bottom part is like the lower half of a diamond - a pair gets discarded in each row until you are left with the final two at the last pin, which are worked across each other to cover the pin.
If you get to the bottom row, and have less or more than two pairs, then you have made a mistake. You will have to undo the lace to see where you have dropped off or picked up more than one pair, or where you forgot. Keep an eye on where pairs of threads need to join or leave the strip.
With all this "picking up a pair" or "discarding a pair", it is a good idea to firmly push all pairs not in the strip to one side or the other, so you do not work them by mistake!
With all solid shapes, when you start, you have to decide which is the worker pair, and that determines which way the first row travels. In a diamond, this doesn't matter, but in a strip, there can be different effects:
The length of the worker threads across a strip can vary, and will be at a subtly different angle. The horizontal row will always be the same length, but the other row has a slight slant, and that will either be shorter than the horizontal row or longer than it (see above). The longer sloping row will have more bobbins than the shorter row. As you can see, it depends on whether the first row is towards the short side, or the long side.
The effect is more noticeable in very thing strips. It doesn't really matter which you choose, but it may be best to notice for the first strip, which way the first row went, and then do the same for all other strips. This can be done by saying to yourself "Worker pair is the left pair of the top two pairs" or "Worker pair is the right pair of the top two pairs". You may also want to have as many pairs as possible in the strip, to keep it tightly woven, or have less pairs, to make it (slightly) quicker to work! More pairs means that the first proper row (as opposed to the top stitch) must be towards the longer side of the strip.
All this is fairly esoteric, so you can ignore it. I often do! But sometimes I wish for a particular effect, which is why I worked all this out.
It is possible to have very narrow strips, only 2 wide (unlike a 2 x 2 diamond which tends to disappear into the ground surrounding it).
These are narrow zigzags rather than strips, but a zigzag is made up of strips. Note the different widths.
Cloth strips can be coloured the same way as cloth diamonds, by having the workers as a different colour. See using colour in Torchon lace.
The example above features zigzags in a wiggly lace.
© Jo Edkins 2016 - return to lace index
