Guide Lines

Unless you take precautions, your hairpin lace strips can get hopelessly tangled and twisted once you remove them from the loom.  It is helpful to have some means to keep them secure and portable while you store them for joining.   It can also be very confusing when joining the strips to identify the front and back loops of the threads and to identify which loops belong to which strip.  This is where guide lines are life-savers:  they will save you hours of time and the frustration of having to redo your work.

Another side-benefit of guide lines is that they mark the beginning and ending sides of your strip so that you do not need to perform the extra task of marking them.

Guidelines are attached to your loom just after you secure the first loop.

	Cut a length of scrap yarn to measure  a little more than double the length of the strip you want to make.  With the first loop attached to your loom, thread one end of the yarn through the loop on the loom from the bottom to the top.
	Secure this end of the guide line to the top of your hairpin lace loom.
	Secure the opposite end of the yarn to the top of the hairpin lace loom on the opposite side of the loom.
	Depending on the length of the strip you are making, you may find that you have a lot of extra guide line that gets in the way as you work.  Simply wind this extra guideline around the bottom of your frame and secure with a rubber band if necessary.
	When you work your hairpin lace strip over the prongs of the frame, make sure that you are also working over the guidelines.  They should run through the loops of the strip.
	When you have completed the strip, remove the guidelines from the top of the hairpin lace loom and tie them together.  Slide the strip off of the loom.  You will notice that on one side of the strip the guide line is tied together:  this is the tie-off end of the strip.  On the other end of the strip, the guideline is continuous and forms a "U" running from one side of the strip to the other.  This "U" side of the strip identifies the starting end of the strip, and will be the side you want to start from when joining strips together.