This multi-language lace book provides the enthusiast with a collection of 75 quick and easy bobbin lace patterns. The (mainly) small designs are worked in a range of styles: Bruges Flower, Schneeberg, Russian Tape and Free, plus Torchon, Honiton and Bedfordshire The patterns assume a certain level of skill but each one is graded according to experience and ability (beginner, practitioner and advanced). They include: Baby bear, circles, parasol, swans, Russian lace sampler, tortoise, wedding garter, frame, seashore edge, fleur de lys mat, summer daisies, wedding handkerchief, dolphins, lily bud, square mat.

This manual is intended as a primer for the newcomer to bobbin lacemaking, containing information on reading patterns, mounting lace in a variety of ways, and advice on changing the scale of the lace using different grids and a variety of threads.

A new, up-to-date edition of the popular and comprehensive encyclopedia on knitting techniques by professional knitwear designers Lesley Stanfield and Melody Griffiths. Whether you're picking up the knitting needles for the first time, or want to learn new techniques to add to your repertoire, this encyclopedia has something for everyone! The Encyclopedia of Knitting Techniques is a comprehensive guide to basic and advanced knitting techniques, designs and styles. Containing more than 200 step-by-step instructions, charts, tips and examples of completed works, this fully illustrated guide is perfect for both beginners and seasoned crafters.

The New York Times bestseller and basis for the Tony-winning hit musical, soon to be a major motion picture starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande With millions of copies in print around the world, Gregory Maguire’s Wicked is established not only as a commentary on our time but as a novel to revisit for years to come. Wicked relishes the inspired inventions of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, while playing sleight of hand with our collective memories of the 1939 MGM film starring Margaret Hamilton (and Judy Garland). In this fast-paced, fantastically real, and supremely entertaining novel, Maguire has populated the largely unknown world of Oz with the power of his own imagination. Years before Dorothy and her dog crash-land, another little girl makes her presence known in Oz. This girl, Elphaba, is born with emerald-green skin—no easy burden in a land as mean and poor as Oz, where superstition and magic are not strong enough to explain or overcome the natural disasters of flood and famine. Still, Elphaba is smart, and by the time she enters Shiz University, she becomes a member of a charmed circle of Oz’s most promising young citizens. But Elphaba’s Oz is no utopia. The Wizard’s secret police are everywhere. Animals—those creatures with voices, souls, and minds—are threatened with exile. Young Elphaba, green and wild and misunderstood, is determined to protect the Animals—even if it means combating the mysterious Wizard, even if it means risking her single chance at romance. Ever wiser in guilt and sorrow, she can find herself grateful when the world declares her a witch. And she can even make herself glad for that young girl from Kansas. Recognized as an iconoclastic tour de force on its initial publication, the novel has inspired the blockbuster musical of the same name—one of the longest-running plays in Broadway history. Popular, indeed. But while the novel’s distant cousins hail from the traditions of magical realism, mythopoeic fantasy, and sprawling nineteenth-century sagas of moral urgency, Maguire’s Wicked is as unique as its green-skinned witch.

To create her stunning coloured bobbin lace designs, award-winning lacemaker Sandi Woods often takes inspiration from the letters of the alphabet, shaping, manipulating and combining them to form organic, sinuous shapes. She likens the process to the game 'Chinese Whispers' – a pattern starts as a simple letter, but is developed further, often until the original form is barely recognizable. Sandi's painterly use of coloured thread to suggest shape and form adds further beauty to her work. This fully illustrated book contains instructions for the exquisite 'Leafy Glade Alphabet'. Each letter has one basic template but two alternative designs, one using simple bobbin lace stitches, the other using more complex Milanese braids. Though each letter is worked in a different set of colours, all the colourways are interchangeable, and, of course, they can be worked in white. The book then goes on to include 24 more abstract designs, such as 'Chinese Seedling' and 'Blackthorn Sprig', all of which were originally developed from the letters of the alphabet. Comprehensive instructions are given for each pattern, including prickings, linear outlines, pin reference charts and full pin-by-pin directions.

"The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844" by Frederick Engels is a powerful indictment of the Industrial Revolution's detrimental impact on workers. Engels meticulously demonstrates how industrial cities like Manchester and Liverpool experienced alarmingly high mortality rates due to diseases, with workers being four times more likely to succumb to illnesses like smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, and whooping cough compared to their rural counterparts. The overall death rate in these cities far surpassed the national average, painting a grim picture of the workers' plight. Engels goes beyond mortality statistics to shed light on the dire living conditions endured by industrial workers. He argues that their wages were lower than those of pre-industrial workers, and they were forced to inhabit unhealthy and unpleasant environments. Addressing a German audience, Engels' work is considered a classic account of the universal struggles faced by the industrial working class. It reveals his transformation into a radical thinker after witnessing the harsh realities in England. "The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844" remains an essential resource for understanding the hardships endured by workers during the Industrial Revolution. Engels' meticulous research and impassioned arguments continue to shape discussions on labor rights, social inequality, and the historical agency of the working class.