January One -- Lace

June 01, 2007

Lace

Before I go to bed at night, after sitting on the couch for hours knitting and watching tv with my baby, I check the computer one last time - for emails, the odd bloglines post, whatever. Monday night I was doing my thing and I saw that Anne had posted. She wrote about a local fiber festival she attended and some of her purchases, including some merino laceweight from Knitting Notions. Little did Anne know, but she was tapping into my brain! I have been thinking about lace off and on for weeks - thinking about my next big project. I'm done with blankets for the time being, done with the crochet for now (yes, I will be finishing the Larger Than Life bag), socks are zipping along at sweat shop speeds, but that's going to break soon.

And I'm going away in like two weeks. We're going to California again - this time San Fran and Lake Tahoe - and I'll need something major to take with me. Socks, of course, but something else too.

In walks Anne with her "incredibly soft" and "almost a fingering weight" (I'm not a fan of true lace weight) yarn and next thing I know I've bought three different colors.

Catherine at Knitting Notions was INCREDIBLY nice (crediting me for shipping when I added extra skeins the next morning) and the yarn got here FAST. I ordered it Monday night late (and Tuesday morning) and it arrived yesterday. That's what I call service!

Classic Merino Lace
Kettle Dyed 100% Merino
Aubergine, approx. 388 yd.

Classic Merino Lace
Hand Dyed 100% Merino
Maple, approx. 437 yd.

Classic Merino Lace
Kettle Dyed 100% Merino
Green Apple, approx. 388 yd.

Now the fun begins! What to make with it? I think I've settled on a pattern: Anne's Wing of the Moth Shawl. It seems only fitting since she enabled me to begin with. I was searching around the internets and I just LOVE Wendy's version of this pattern - we both agree - lace should be blocked SEVERELY and just look at her CORONAS! Hubba hubba! I'm all over THAT!

Anyway, so I'm thinking of using the green apple for this - the only thing I need is some of those new Addi Turbo Lace needles. I gotta try them - I'm just hoping I don't put a hole ALL the way through my finger.

Okay - so some questions about the picot edge on yesterday's sock. I'm too far along on my sock to take pictures - maybe when I do the second Seastone sock - but really it's easier than it sounds. You do your designated number of knit rounds (I did 5 but you can choose whatever number you like - don't make it more than say, six, or less than, say 3 - just for arguments sake.) Then you do a round where you start with a yo and k2tog. Repeat this until you end with a k2tog. This lands you at the start of the next round. You then knit the same number of rounds that you started with - start with 5? Then knit 5. Good!

The next row is the tricky row. It's not hard at all - just tedious. What you're going to do is knit the stitches on the needle TOGETHER WITH the corresponding CAST ON stitch. I knit both loops of the cast on together with the live stitch. So you're in essence FOLDING UP the cast on to make a hem - as soon as you do it you will see the little picot points come to life! It's AMAZING! Like MAGIC (hence the unicorns that suddenly appear in your life!) The most important part is to make sure to get the corresponding cast on stitch together with the same live stitch. Otherwise you might get some buckling. Here's a tutorial from Purlwise - although I don't do a provisional cast on - I just cast on over two needles (whatever size I'm knitting with). I do that with all my socks. Makes for a stretchier cast on and I cast on tight. And here's a video I found on the DIY network - this is really good! Shows you exactly what I'm talking about. Here's the main page if the video link doesn't work. Hope that helps!

I'm off to a Princess Party tomorrow - I've got to remember to bring my fabulous tiara - and I hope you have a great weekend too!

Posted by Cara at 10:31 AM | Comments (48)