Lucy is due to graduate this year. She hopes to make a dress for her graduation ball and has asked me to make her a lacy shawl (or wrap) to go with it. I have gone through our stock of lace yarns and came away very confused. Now, I am not a lace knitter and the few attempts I have had have been very half hearted and ended up looking very half hearted too. So this is my chance to really come to terms with this type of knitting. But, the variety of yarns is confusing too. We have in stock lovely silk yarn from Hipknits, shown below:
but this is very fine and I'm not sure about that. We have some gorgeous cashmere from Knitwitches which is heavier, however the ball is a summer one.
I have masses of undyed laceweight yarns in all kinds of weight and mix so I could actually dye some yarn myself - which might be a nice idea if I get it right. Any suggestions or tips for lace novices would be very gratefully received.
4 comments:
Do you have a pattern in mind? Perhaps you could find a pattern first and then match the yarn to it? Heirloom Knitting has a beginners' shawl pattern which was lovely.Otherwise, I would suggest something slightly thicker and not too fluffy as you want to be able to see all your stitches when you're knitting and when you rip (which is almost inevitable with lace) you want a yarn that will behave itself.
Thanks for the information. I was thinking about doing one of the beginners' patterns from Victorian Lace Today which uses Kidsilk. However, I am going to take on board your comments about the fluffy yarns! Whenever I have tried lace in the past it has always been a case of two stitches forward, three ripped!
I would second the Heirloom Knitting suggestion. She has a Pink Puzzle Wrap that is a *very* quick knit, nice rectangular stole that is really good for a lace novice, and obviously although she calls for KSH you could sub something else in. I've not knitted the Knitwitches Cashmere I've gotten from you yet, but I think it would be lovely to use, even for a summer project. Definitely KSH is not a good thing for a lace novice who has to rip. You might also find the Hipknits a bit fiddly as a novice, at least it's taken me a couple projects to work down from Malabrigo laceweight, to 6m/g silk, to 13m/g wool, now to 16m/g wool. Good luck!
Thank you very much for your comment. I do really like the patterns on Heirloom Knitting but am worried that they might be too advanced for me. The Pink Puzzle Wrap looked great, and I going to decide over the weekend. You have both persuaded me that it would be better not to use Kidsilk - I might well sneak the Forest skein from the shop! After all, this is a very special occasion!
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