Monday 23 February 2009

Lace - It's more difficult than you'd think.....

if you are unable to count accurately and tend to be clumsy. As I am both, I am finding it very difficult to knit this shawl/wrap/extremely short scarf for Lucy's graduation ball. I was very pleased to have some comments on the blog. Please comment, I would love to hear from you. Anyway, the advice I received was very helpful. Both noblinknits and cathairinmyknitting made very sensible suggestions regarding patterns and yarns and I intended to take on board their comments. First of all, I tried using the Knitwitches Forest 3 ply cashmere and found that although it is truly lovely, it was a bit thin for a novice. Next up I tried a new laceweight from the Old Piggery. I used Sandstone which is lovely mixture of greys and rusty browns. Gorgeous. I got a bit further but felt I needed something more substantial. It is really fabulous though and I have put a photo in of one of the lovely colourways we have in the shop.

Now Lucy must enter the mix. She phoned and said that what she really, really wanted was the Victorian Lace shawl in Kidsilk Haze Jacob. So, I thought I would give that a go - after all I was not getting anywhere. I find the Kidsilk much easier to knit with, but much more difficult to rip - exactly as my advisers said. I now have about 6 weeks to get this finished as Lucy will want to take it back with her after the Easter holiday. So, Lucy, would you like a lace hanky to go with your dress?

6 comments:

noblinknits said...

Well, what she wants, she must get! Look at it this way, when it's finished it will be stunning and soft and lovely. Another tip is to not worry too much about getting every damn stitch right especially as you only have 6 weeks.

Sharon said...

Thanks for this. I ripped three rows last night and am hoping (against all hope, probably) that I will be able to move on without having to start again. So, I will definitely take your advise about getting every stitch right.
By the way, do you know Lucy, it sounds as though you might!

Unknown said...

Best of luck Sharon. I am sure you will make a good job of it.
Patricia

cathairinmyknitting said...

I completely agree with noblinknits! Especially if you discover one stitch off, several rows back... leave it. I'll take a look at the pattern tonight at home. Keep us posted, I'll be thinking good lace thoughts for you :)

cathairinmyknitting said...

I completely agree with noblinknits! Especially if you discover one stitch off, several rows back... leave it. I'll take a look at the pattern tonight at home. Keep us posted, I'll be thinking good lace thoughts for you :) (Sorry if this turns out to be a duplicate post)

Sharon said...

Thank you very much Patricia and Cathairinmyknitting for your kind words. I will show you my progress after the weekend. Last night I told myself I was 'too tired' to knit lace and carried on with the horrid chenille jumper! Still an evening of doing that has persuaded me to give the lace another go.