A question from a lacemaker who was struggling to learn how to make tallies because of the arthritis in her hands made me think about how I sometimes have to alter my way of making them when my poor old hands are too painful to use.
Holding the spread of the passives under tension is key to shaping the tally when working on a flat pillow with Midlands (spangled) bobbins. The 'roll in hand' method using continental bobbins on bolster pillows may be easier but I use neither of these.
This little video shows how I alternate with using the side of each hand with only one hand tensioning the worker and it's partner. This method rests each hand in turn and does make tallies that little bit less painful.
Of course, once the warmer weather kicks in, and old bones warm up and respond more eagerly to lace making, tallies are added to the menu again and I jump back into making my favourite Cluny and Bedfordshire laces which are often full of tallies.
