A few months ago I was visiting my mom, an experienced crocheter, and I asked her about broomstick lace. I had seen broomstick lace baby blankets, bonnets and even some couch arm covers that she had made (is that what you call them?) from the 70s. I asked her if she could show me how to do it, so she went to her closet, retrieved a big bag of needlework stuff, and pulled out a huge wooden stick. It looked like it might have been a dowel, sharpened to a point on one end. She said that my grandpa used to make these big wooden knitting needles for her out of actual broomsticks. Aha! Broomstick lace. I made a little bracelet (above) to practice. Totally not perfect, but I'm mostly a knitter so this is new to me. (Later, I made a belt and got much better at it.)
If you haven't heard of it or tried it before, broomstick lace is a crochet technique that uses a very large knitting needle (or broomstick!) and a crochet hook. Sometimes it was called jiffy lace or peacock eye crochet. I used a US size 50 knitting needle and an H crochet hook when I was experimenting. It's fun, the stitches build up quickly and I've seen it around the web a bit more lately, so maybe it's making a comeback. (Let me know if you're interested in seeing a tutorial ... I can make a quick video if anyone is interested!)
