To begin work, take a piece of thread of the same size you are going to use in netting, tie it in a loop of three or four inches long and fasten it with a pin to your cushion, or knee. Then unwinding two or three lengths from your needle, tie the end securely to this loop. Take the needle in the right hand and the mesh in the left; hold the latter horizontally between the thumb and forefinger. Lay the working thread over the mesh downwards round the middle finger of the left hand (Fig. 38), and then between the mesh and the forefinger, a little towards the left, where the left thumb encloses the thread, and by that means the loop held round the mesh and finger is firmly held; then the needle is carried again towards the right, and pushed from underneath through the thread- loop lying round the left hand, forming a wide scallop with the thread; then the needle is placed under the loop, and between, the finger and mesh again through the foundation stitch ; keeping the left hand quite still, draw the needle quite through with the right hand, dropping the loop off the fingers one by one, the little one being the last to release the loop, drawing the knot to the top of the mesh with the right hand. Make as many foundation
Fig. 39.
stitches as your work requires, take the mesh carefully out, turn the work and proceed as before, putting the needle, at each stitch successively into a stitch of the
