Bobbin lace (called encaje de bolillo in English) is not a subject I know much about. In fact, you could present me with the raw materials and I could do little more than create a knitball for a kitten to play with.
I came across it recently whilst visiting an middle aged Spanish in-law. “What’s this?” I enquired casually whilst touching one of the wooden things. It turns out you should NEVER TOUCH THE WOODEN THINGS.
Here’s an example of a sampler in action:
Fun, isn’t it?
Anyway, today was the fifth Bobbin Lace meet of Vicar. I was inititally skeptical. However, it turns out that stalls were limited to 400 (due to space problems – the townhall has promised a bigger space next year), several of the provinces best flamenco bands were in attendence and a couple of thousand middle aged women from over the whole province were expected to turn up to exchange tips and purchase new patterns.
And it’s not even the provinces biggest bobbin lace event!
I’m staggered. At a quick look, it seems that bobbin lace is bigger than second hand car events in Almería. And I’d never even heard of it. Of course, middle aged housewives have good purchasing power (they control the pursestrings of all Spanish households) and this could be a good way to tap into that money.
I’m off to practise my needlework…