On my needles

I've been planning to do this Kimono Shawl for more than a year. I'm using the exquisite Blue Sky Alpaca Silk, which is heavenly to work with. So far all I've done is the garter border, but I'm excited about getting back into lace work.

Dreaming about lace

So ever since I finished the EZ sweater, I've been dreaming about the next lace project. Seriously, I've been doing yarn overs in my dreams, that's how fixated I am. I have a couple of lace books that I've been studying, and now I'm just trying to decide which project to choose. My favorite pattern from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls is the Kimono Shawl, so I made a swatch of the pattern yesterday just to see how it works. I used some sport weight alpaca that I have left over from a previous project, and size 4 needles.



I think it turned out OK, although there's some uneveness in the size of the yarn over holes and I'm not sure why. Maybe I need to use bigger needles, or thinner yarn. I have some lace weight alpaca coming in the mail, so I will do another swatch with that and see which works better.

I also would love to try Eunny Jang's Print o' the Wave stole. That may be my favorite lace pattern of all, but it looks intimidating.

That's it for now. Still working on L's sweater.

(Not so) EZ baby sweater

Finally, I have something to show for my efforts. I've had a hard time getting this one off the ground, but here is the beginning of Elizabeth Zimmermann's baby sweater from the Knitter's Almanac:




The "gull" pattern is really my first attempt to knit lace, and after a few botched attempts (forgetting yarn overs, mostly) I am finally getting the hang of it. I understand the structure of the pattern now, how all the stitches line up, so I know immediately if I've made a mistake. For me, the key to executing any pattern is really understanding how it works from the inside out. Until I understand it, it never comes out right. But it's funny because in order to understand it, I have to mess it up and then piece it back together.

The only thing I'm not so sure about are my ssk's. I checked Knitting Help again to make sure I am doing it correctly, and I am. But the diagnol looks slightly jagged compared to the K2tog's.

I'm doing one pattern modification and I'm pretty sure it will work out: I'm knitting the sleeves in the round rather than flat. I thought the overall effect would be neater, especially since I have no idea how I would seam the lace work. The only question is if knitting the sleeves in the round will be a problem later when I return to the body and have to pick up the cast on stitches on each sleeve. I have thought about it, and it seems that won't make any difference--but I will update when I get to the sweater body.

I'm also placing the buttonholes every 16 rows rather than 8, since I did not want them so close together.

ETA: More modifications: I made the sleeve 6 inches (rather than 5)so it will fit Elsa better, and I knit the garter stitch cuff with size 6 needles to make it a little tighter. I find the sleeves a bit too wide, although I think that is the intended style.

Materials:

Plymouth's Suri Merino (barley color)
Size 7 needles

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.