Lace, you are my favorite
Knitting lace intimidated me. A lot. So I decided to jump in headfirst when the only patterns that looked interesting were lacy. I knit a leaf lace shawl that I had to frog at least five times before I made it past row 5. Then I would make it to row 10, not be able to figure out my mistake, not have a life line and not be able to read my knitting well enough yet to figure out how to fix it, so I frogged it at least 15 times. I'm really good at garter tabs now since I couldn't figure out how to frog back and pick up where I was still getting the right stitch count. Every time I frogged, I frogged the ENTIRE thing.
By the time I reached the end of my shawl, it was 2 am and I was doing a new bind off. I couldn't leave it until the morning because I absolutely had to finish it. So I did what any sane knitter does and stayed up, bleary eyed and sleep deprived and finished binding off. It was fabulous and I completed the thing in almost exactly one week. I was that determined. I even took it to my LYS and showed it off. I was so impressed with myself! I had done a whole new provisional cast on, figured out how to purl into 2 yarn overs in a row, how to read lace knitting, how to use yarn overs and decreases for something other than buttonholes and hats, used 2 new methods of joining new yarn and a new way to bind off. So I came home, washed it and got out my blocking mats for their first use. I placed the first pin and noticed something didn't look right in the border. One of my leaves had come undone. Almost the whole 15 row repeat undone. I almost cried. Instead I left it there, on the floor, in a pile on blocking mats for at least 4 days.
Eventually I couldn't stand staring at the mess any longer, so I finally picked it back up, ripped the entire thing back to the row before my dropped stitches because while I can read the knitting now and I am rather quick to pick up on things, I have no idea how to use a crochet hook to replicate yarn overs and double decreases and single decreases, etc out of the 3 sts I managed to find and stick on a dpn. I reknit the last 10 rows and paid VERY close attention to my bind off. I re-washed and blocked it. And it's now a stunning and astonishing garment. It's astonishing because I made that with yarn. I triumphed over multiple techniques, new yarn, new terminology, exhaustion and frustration. And I knit something that looks awesome. Something I'm proud to show off and wear in public.
Now I feel secure in at least a few of those new techniques. So I cast on the Holden shawlette designed by the talented Mindy Wilkes. It probably should have been my first lace project since her instructions are clear and the amount of new techniques is far less overwhelming. I do love completing things in a bass akwards manner. I finished it tonight and now I have something else to remind me why I love lace and proof that I can knit. Now I need to figure out what my next lacy project will be...Ideas anyone??
By the time I reached the end of my shawl, it was 2 am and I was doing a new bind off. I couldn't leave it until the morning because I absolutely had to finish it. So I did what any sane knitter does and stayed up, bleary eyed and sleep deprived and finished binding off. It was fabulous and I completed the thing in almost exactly one week. I was that determined. I even took it to my LYS and showed it off. I was so impressed with myself! I had done a whole new provisional cast on, figured out how to purl into 2 yarn overs in a row, how to read lace knitting, how to use yarn overs and decreases for something other than buttonholes and hats, used 2 new methods of joining new yarn and a new way to bind off. So I came home, washed it and got out my blocking mats for their first use. I placed the first pin and noticed something didn't look right in the border. One of my leaves had come undone. Almost the whole 15 row repeat undone. I almost cried. Instead I left it there, on the floor, in a pile on blocking mats for at least 4 days.
Eventually I couldn't stand staring at the mess any longer, so I finally picked it back up, ripped the entire thing back to the row before my dropped stitches because while I can read the knitting now and I am rather quick to pick up on things, I have no idea how to use a crochet hook to replicate yarn overs and double decreases and single decreases, etc out of the 3 sts I managed to find and stick on a dpn. I reknit the last 10 rows and paid VERY close attention to my bind off. I re-washed and blocked it. And it's now a stunning and astonishing garment. It's astonishing because I made that with yarn. I triumphed over multiple techniques, new yarn, new terminology, exhaustion and frustration. And I knit something that looks awesome. Something I'm proud to show off and wear in public.
Now I feel secure in at least a few of those new techniques. So I cast on the Holden shawlette designed by the talented Mindy Wilkes. It probably should have been my first lace project since her instructions are clear and the amount of new techniques is far less overwhelming. I do love completing things in a bass akwards manner. I finished it tonight and now I have something else to remind me why I love lace and proof that I can knit. Now I need to figure out what my next lacy project will be...Ideas anyone??
Comments
I found you through futuregirl, and I love your blog! Words are a favorite of mine, too. Can't blog without them, speaking for myself. :-] It's so exciting to find someone with a new blog. Good luck, and have fun. It's intoxicating...in a good way.