“It’s the joy of making something from scratch and continuing a very old tradition,” said Boonsboro resident Jan Kincaid, who joined the group in 2003.

For Hume, it’s also therapeutic. She started crocheting when she was 6 and was knitting by age 11. But as she got older, both became harder to do because they required her hands to be constantly clenched. Not so with bobbin lace, which can be made without that tension.

Her journey with the craft began in the late 1980s, after her sister-in-law gave her a book about the history of lace that had patterns for everything but bobbin lace. Her curiosity was piqued and, after doing some research, Hume began learning how to make it herself.

She joined a lace guild in Roanoke and attended meetings there until she organized the Cardinal Lace Guild here in 1992. Current members come from all over Central Virginia, and they currently alternate between meeting at the Madison Heights and Forest libraries.

When new members join, they are given a curriculum to follow that starts with basic stitches and patterns. They usually begin by making bookmarks before graduating to more complex designs.