Showing posts with label fair isle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fair isle. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Webs

This is my first adventure with lace, based on another pattern in Hoverson's book. It's a little cobwebby scarf made with Rowan Kidsilk Mohair (Candy) and size 10 needles. A bit of dark pink fluff goes a long way, especially against the steeliness of a cloudy day.




I must admit that I do find it difficult to work with lace-weight yarn. Everything feels so slippery and when I do drop a stitch the mending requires micro-surgery. I'm also finding that it's important to keep the stitches loose because when I pull too tight the piece twists as I knit. So I feel like I'm knitting on the edge with this one, and not completely happy with the results. But I do like the challenge.

I'm also venturing into the delightful but very tangled web of fair isle knitting. Last night, I made a swatch for a baby-sized cardigan with a diamond pattern:



At first, I found it difficult to manage both colors, but once I understood the structure of the pattern, I was switching between them pretty easily. I did have a lot of tangling, and I'm not sure if that is something I'm doing wrong, or just one of the messy side effects of fair isle knitting. [eta: I received some generous guidance from a fellow knitter at the Angel Yarns Knitting Forum who recommended looking at http://nonaknits.typepad.com/nonaknits/2006/01/yarn_dominance.html. Now I think I know why my yarns were tangling. Hopefully this will solve the problem, if I can follow the instructions.]

I'm really excited to knit this one for Elsa.