hello! I just found my thread and my bobbins and I have a makeshift pillow and I'm ready to start a lace bookmark.
my question: is there an optimal way to wind a bobbin? direction of the thread? is it different with different types of lace making? I am not finding a great deal of info rn and I'm a little stuck.
it absolutely does not matter which direction you wind your bobbins...
once you choose a direction, there is no going back. YOU CANNOT CHANGE THIS CHOICE EVER. as soon as you wind that first bobbin you are either a clockwise or counterclockwise girlie for life.
the reason behind this is that some amount of skill in bobbin lace depends on muscle memory. as you learn your hands will start to understand what angle and tension to hold the bobbins at so that they behave well. if you switch directions all of that will be backwards and your bobbins will come unwound and you will cry.
aside from that my main advice is don't try to tie a knot around the bobbin to get the thread anchored, it'll never work. you have to just kind of pinch the end of the thread parallel to the bobbin stem and wind around it a few times until it's secure, then you can start spinning the bobbin around more freely to get the rest of it wound (in your chosen direction of course, lol)