Nuthin
I don’t really have anything exciting to show, but I’ll post what I have anyway. I’m on a very big lace kick. That’s all I want to do. When I saw this pattern, I knew I had to have it.
I don’t know if I will ever actually knit it, but the pattern simply fascinates me so I bought it.
I’m still working on the Mystery Stole 2. If you can picture a purple blob, then you’ve just pictured what the stole looks like. I’ve seen pictures of ones that are finished. It’s pretty, but I don’t feel as motivated to finish it now. Instead I’ve been itching to use the CTH Merino Lace yarn I bought a bit ago. I love the way it looks wound up, almost like there’s an argyle design in there. You may have to squint your eyes to see it, it’s much more obvious in person.
A loong time ago, I made a half circle shawl out of some yarn that’s close to the same color. It’s a simple garter stitch shawl with sections made from short rows. I wanted the shawl a little larger than what it was supposed to be so I added stitches. After I blocked it, it was HUGE. I thought it would be like everything else I’ve made, stuck in a closet hardly seeing the light of day. I was wrong. Out of all the things I’ve actually finished, I think I’ve used that shawl the most. I now love how huge it is. It has a hole in it (caught it on a nail in the door) that I need to fix. Instead, I’ve been pouring through stitch treasuries planning a new one. While the garter stitch is easy and mindless, I want something a little different for my new one. Again, it will be a half circle. Triangle shawls don’t cover my arms like the half circle does, and I don’t want a round or square one that the pattern gets lost when it gets folded over. And this yarn didn’t want to be a Faroese shawl so to the drawing board I went.
This is the first stitch pattern I tried. It seemed too hole-y so I ripped it out.
This is the second attempt.
It’s funny. When I looked at these in person, they looked different than they do in pictures. I thought I liked the second one, but after seeing it in a picture, now I’m not so sure. I think it’s the yarnovers that separate the sections that I don’t like. When I was charting this out, some of the pattern yarnovers fell where the increase yarnovers needed to be and I thought that was a good thing. Somehow I thought it would make it flow better. Now, I think it does more distorting than it does flowing. I’m going to knit a couple more inches and if I still feel the same way, I’ll start over with different increases. For now, I’m enjoying the challenge of figuring out what works and doesn’t. But who knows, I may end up with another garter stitch short row half circle shawl.
August 23rd, 2006 at 11:01 pm
I admire your lace knitting aptitude! I still haven’t tried much yet because of the WIPs I have. Someday… Your new yarn is beautiful!
August 24th, 2006 at 9:40 am
Wow.. that dragon shawl is impressive! The lace yarn that you bought is beautiful too.. I can definitely see the “argyle” effect that you were talking about. Its knitting up really nice too - I’m going to attempt some ‘real’ lace one of these days.
August 24th, 2006 at 9:56 am
I saw that dragon pattern a while back and I was this || close to ordering it. I’ve got a bit of a thing for dragons as it is. But reason prevailed, and I let it go.
I like the first shawl design, but I can see that it might be a little holey. The second one looks pretty neat. I don’t have an issue with the yo increases at 3 points per se, but to me, it does get a little busy when you have several of your yo “pathways” coming together all at once, like they do at the bottom of the swatch you posted. The yarn looks wonderful, though.
August 27th, 2006 at 9:46 am
Wow, beautiful work. I’ve always wondered, if you get distracted and make a mistake in those fancy shawls, how do you fix it? Hmmmm. I’ll stick to my first attempt at lace socks for right now.