Warty Bobbles

May Shawl -- Done!

I spent the afternoon of my birthday (Sunday) finishing my Triangular Summer Shawl (Nancy Bush design from Knitted Lace of Estonia) and am delighted with it.  It is hard not to love a lace shawl -- especially once it is done! -- but this one is kind of significant because it is May-themed: Lily of the Valley being the motif (and May's official flower) and the color green being my forever favorite color and also the color of emeralds (May gemstone).  Since May is my birth month and since I started the shawl 2 years ago (in May) as a birthday gift to myself...well, you get the idea.

I enjoyed working the nupps once I got the feel for them.  And, really, the pattern was not difficult.  It was interesting learning the Estonian techniques as I went along.  The yarn is not at all traditional (except that it is wool lace-weight yarn, of course) being variegated green!  It is Knit Picks Shadow in "Canopy." 

Lesson Learned -- Again!

How many times must I learn: check the errata for any published pattern?

This time, my lesson took about 2 1/2 hours of bewildered fussing.  It was my Lily of the Valley lace shawl -- newly ressurrected and steaming along nicely.  Until the 2nd row I worked where I found myself one stitch short.  One missing stitch in a lace project could be a dropped stitch, a disruption of the yarn-over pattern, a total shift of the pattern one stitch to the left...So, I stopped and investigated.  I investigated and investigated.  I counted stitches, studied the knitted fabric stitch by stitch, texted Sarah, studied the pattern chart, tinked, studied, called Sarah, studied and counted again, 2nd guessed myself, hallucinated, sighed deeply, counted, studied....

And then realized that the chart was missing a yarn-over.  Four blank squares instead of 3 blank squares and a square with a little circle in it.  My knitting was right; the chart was wrong!  I dashed over to my computer and checked the publisher's errata page for that book and, lo and behold, there it was:  my missing little circle in bright yellow!  There was a missing yarn-over and a missing decrease 2 rows below too -- which would not throw off the stitch count, of course.  But the combination of missing marks camoflaged the error -- it just looked like the end of the lacey pattern at the edge of the triangular shawl (decreasing in width).

These things happen.  So, repeat after me:  I will always check the publisher's errata, I will always check the publisher's errata, I will always check the publisher's errata....

Note: for a book, check the publisher's website & there should be a "patterns corrections" page -- for a magazine, check the magazine's website.  Sarah says: if you have set the project aside for a while, go back and check the errata even if you did so when you started out -- someone may have found something in the intervening weeks, months.

Bit By The Lace Shawl Bug -- Again!

It always happens this time of year (um, and sometimes at other times of the year, but definitely and without fail at this time of year).  Lace shawls!!!

 

I love lace shawls.  I love lace weight yarn.  I love lace patterns.  I love knitting lace.  I love designing lace shawls. 

 

And, apparently, I love letting lace shawls sit half-knit indefinitely.  Why? Not quite sure. Honestly, I do not get tired of them or bored with them.  And it is not a matter of something going horribly wrong so that one buries them in the back of the stash in disgust. 

 

But they do take a lot of knitting time.  So, there I will be dancing along with my lace knitting, and then Something Comes Up.  Like a new grandbaby. Or Christmas.  Or autumn.  Or a trip to the beach.  Sometimes it is another knitting project.  Sometimes, I confess, it is another lace shawl!

 

Distraction is the enemy.  And once I get distracted and the lace shawl sits for a couple of weeks it goes stone cold.  Lace projects go stone cold faster than any other kind of knitting (for me, at least) because I lose my sense of what is going on with the lace rather quickly.  When I am dancing with my lace on a regular, perhaps daily basis, I rock!  But after a couple of weeks, a month or so, it has all sort of slithered away like sand through a sieve.  So, when I pick it up again, I have to mentally start all over – like I have some sort of Lace Amnesia!  It is kind of painful, really – and sooooo much easier to just start another lace shawl!

 

Well, here is Spring – even the weather is acting Spring-ly now – and ever fiber of my being is crying out to knit a lace shawl.  My inner fibers are being aided and abetted by Franklin Habit who has just designed a lace shawl out of Einband Laceweight Lopi Icelandic Wool – which is, apparently, a fabulous and beastie lace yarn and I want it so much I could weep!  I spent a good part of yesterday swatching lace patterns for it!

 

And, yet, do I not have at least 3 lace shawls (that come readily to mind – there may be more…) sleeping peacefully in my studio?  Do I not (here’s the kicker!), do I not have a stunning lace shawl on the needles right now that I am happily working on nearly everyday?!  The Scandinavian Sharf is nearly half done, for heaven’s sake, and I have envisioned a summer wardrobe around it!

 

And yet, and yet….

 

So, today I dug out my Lily of the Valley shawl – a delicious yarn in shades of green, very Spring-like – and have started to wrap my brain around nupps again.  I am also courting some very good intensions regarding a pair of half-knit pants for Owen (to match a jacket that is done).  And I will kitchner the toes on the Woodland Socks.  And I will keep working on the Scandinavian Sharf!

 

And maybe, maybe I will just order some Lopi Einband…just to taste. (Do you remember Winnie the Pooh saying – of honey – “I wasn’t going to eat it, I was just going to taste it”? like that!)

THE GULL PI SHAWL IS DONE!

This is a red-letter day of mega celebration for me!  A lace shawl is always a major achievement for a knitter – particularly a large shawl with a lot of pattern work.  But my personal especial triumph here is that it is actually DONE! 

I love lace-knitting and I love lace-weight yarn and I love lace shawls.  I have started probably 6? 7? 8?  And never finished one yet UNTIL TODAY!  I have enough lace-weight yarn in my possession for a dozen, maybe 15 lace shawls.  I have several on the needles right now – and I have not given up on them.  Now, today, they have reason not to give up on me!

 

Some particulars about the Gull Pi Shawl:

It is based on Elizabeth Zimmermann’s “Pi Shawl” in Knitter’s Almanac.  I used 6 lace-weight yarns from a Knit Picks sampler (wool, alpaca, silk) in a range of gray neutrals – gull colors.  Each of the 8 lace pattern is bird- or beach-inspired (in name and/or design).  It measures 57” in diameter. 

The edging is Birds’ Eye Lace Edging and there are 72 points (16 rows per point) and there was enough of the Basalt Merino yarn for exactly 71 points.  So, there is a single point in the Brown Alpaca which I used for the center section!

 

I had thought I might celebrate with a glass of good Cabernet Sauvignon – but since there was no one around to share it (and celebrating with an entire bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon did not seem like a good idea…), I went with another form of festivity and cast on a pair of wooly socks.

Milanese Lace

I have been having a heck of a time with the Milanese Lace in my Butterfly Q’mitl.  Ridiculously so – really, I knit lace from charts all the time and I should not be messing it up this much!  Mostly, I find myself reading the chart backwards.  Seriously? Yeah.

 

And it happens over and over – on both the right and wrong sides.  Can’t tell you why.  Maybe I get tired or distracted…but still, reading charts right-to-left on the right side and left-to-right on the wrong side is second nature to me.  I wouldn’t think I could jump directions mid-row if I tried!

The lace patterning is done on both sides – and it is easier to use the raised decrease column as a marking point for each repeat on the right side (you can kind of peak over the needles to look at it when you are working the wrong side).  The stitches are simple knits, purls, YOs, k2togs & p2togs – but they shuffle positions on each row.  And while I could place markers after each 6-stitch repeat, since there are 27 repeats that would be a lot of markers!  And there is a horizontal shift on one row – which would mean moving all the markers and then moving them back or something like that.  So, no markers.  I don’t think it would have solved my problem anyhow.

 

When all else fails, re-write the chart. So, I did.  Instead of showing a single repeat of the pattern with each of the 10 rows stacked on top of each other:

 

 

I wrote out each repeat twice per row, staggering the beginning (with the 2^nd repeat still stacked in line with the row below):

 

 

I though tit might give me a sort of “running start” at each pattern and then move me to the beginning of the next repeat.  Maybe keep me from reading the same pattern backwards and forwards on the same row!  I have done a couple of rows this way – so far, so good.

Beginning The Lace Stole

The Lace Stole is begun!  I have worked 6 pattern rows – each stitch the size of a fly’s leg draped over the needle – and the knitted fabric stretches out to nearly half-an-inch (it is usually wrapped around the needle like a piggy’s tail!).  A couple of hours of knitting have gone into this fly’s leg/piggy’s tail thing.  Not counting all the preparation and swatching before I began and then the additional notes and color-coding I did on the chart after I had done a few rows.

 

But I am on my way!  And surely I will hit my stride and make more rapid progress.  Not that I have grand illusions about finishing it any time soon.  Nope, a lace shawl is to be savored in the making – because it is going to take nearly forever to do and one had best start enjoying it now! 

 

It is a humbling and a hopeful process.  I don my bifocals and take a deep breath and focus and eek out careful row by careful row.  Humbling, in a good way, as it makes me appreciate the tremendous craftsmanship and perseverance of other lace knitters.  Humbling, in a good way, as it reminds me that, for all my knowledge and skill, I can only make this stole one precious wee loop at a time.  Hopeful because I believe that all these precious wee loops, carefully arranged, can become a thing of beauty fluttering, delicate and grand in the summer sunshine (maybe not this summer’s sunshine…).

 

Yes, well, knitting lace shawls does this to me.  Makes me all rhapsodic.  It is one of the reasons I love them, I think.  And, of course, because I find them irresistible!

 

Which reminds me:  I need a name for this stole.  Maybe something about spiders – from the stitch pattern names?   I find spiders irresistible, too.  Hmmm.  The Spider Stole of Irresistibleness, perhaps?

 

 

Lace Preparation

I have been preparing to begin knitting a Shetland style lace stole.  It is a process!  The yarn is fine – I believe is qualifies as “cobweb.”  And the patterns are intricate.  So, I have been swatching.  And practicing.  And auditioning needles (ended up stopping by The Dancing Ewe in Ellensburg to buy a 2.50 Addi Lace Turbo circular needle on our way to Spokane on Friday!). 

The construction technique I have chosen cleverly begins with the center section cast on provisionally with waste yarn.  One knits the center section, continues with one border section, then returns to the provisionally cast-on edge and works from there to make the other border.  Both borders conclude with bound-off edges.

So, I used pearl cotton to cast on (and will use it for a life line too!).  I discovered that my smallest ring markers are still too bulky.  So, I crocheted a dozen markers from the same pearl cotton.  They look like little polliwogs!

 

 

Of course, I had to figure out how wide to make the piece (15 inches) and how many stitches I need to cast on (125). 

The center section will be “Spider Webs, Spiders, and Diamonds.”

 

The borders will be “Bird’s Eye Pattern” (aka “Spider Lace” and “Ring Lace”).

 

The border pattern is particularly challenging – but since I will be working the center section first, I figure I will be very familiar with the yarn, needles, and charts by the time I get to the border (I admit I have not done a flawless practice bit of the border pattern yet…).

 

I think I will add an edging after I knit the stole – but have not chosen a pattern yet.

 

The patterns, construction techniques, and all sage advice for this project come from Sharon Miller’s Heirloom Knitting.

 

I am excited and eager to get going!  And after all the prep work, I think I am ready to start.

Gray Knitting

We are having gray, wet days -- and I have spent a lot of time on the road in the rain.   Blech.  Our Spring weather is so often gray, wet and cold.  Did I mention the gray?

And today at home: Grayand more gray.

 

So, when I look in my knitting bag and see gray:

And gray:

And (pretty darn close to) gray:

 

I can hardly be blamed for seeking solace withSharon Miller's Heirloom Knitting (gorgeous Shetland Islands lace patterns!) -- especially since I found this in my stash:

Oh,I think the sun is coming out!

Snow Knitting Photos

Fairy Tale Snow

It is snowing – really snowing!  Inches and inches of snow!  I feel as if I have been  transported to some Scandinavian Fairy Land!

And the absolute kicker is:  I have nothing more pressing to do this afternoon than sit in my cozy house with the snow falling all around and swatch up a shawl with lace-weight Isager Wool 1 (in 4 neutral-ish colors – very Scandinavian!).  I am planning to use an Estonian twig lace stitch pattern – and there are going to be silk/mohair accents. 

Pure enchantment – there is no other explanation!

Nupps Oops!

So, I was getting pretty comfortable with the nupps on my Lily-of-the-Valley shawl.  And although some of the first ones a little flat, over all they are pretty consistently nupp-like.  Then, as I was knitting along I hit a nupp that was not nupp-like in the least.  It was actually almost an anti-nupp!  Instead of being a fat, smooth puff, it looked like a dead spider!

 

I was working a right side row and the anti-nupp had been completed on the previous wrong side row (nupps are made in 2 steps:  a knit-one-yarn-over increase worked several time in a single stitch on a rs row, then the 7 new stitches are purled together with a single blow on the next ws row).   After a bit of study (and gnashing of teeth), I decided that I had not caught up all the stitches correctly in the “purl 7 together” move.  The anti-nupp was securely fastened up in “desiccated spider” form.  No pulling or tucking or messing about with it was going to transform it into a proper nupp.

 

I had 3 choices:  live with it (augh!  are you kidding?!);   tink back and re-do it (okay, not unreasonable, but it would not be fun);  drop down, release the 7 stitches, and catch them up properly.  So, crochet hook in hand, I carefully (so carefully! like bomb-disarming carefully!) dropped the stitches.  There were the loose “knit-one-yarn-overs” – all 7 little loops sort of catty-whompus – ready to explode into a single length of lace-weight yarn with one unfortunate tug.  It was a matter of wiggling into the loops properly and catching the yarn to tighten and secure them.  Without raveling the whole thing!

 

Steady hands and steady nerves prevailed!  I pulled the yarn through and the anti-nupp was sculpted into a proper nupp!  I quick, but heartfelt, prayer of gratitude and I was on my way again – figuring that “getting back up on the horse” immediately was the best course.  I did not lose confidence – although I will check each “purl 7 together” a bit more carefully now!  On the contrary.  Mistakes happen and there is no point in aiming for flawless execution.  The trick is learning how to fix the error.  Now, I know how to deal with a “dead spider.”  Onward!

 

 

Summer Lace

Lace is ideal summer knitting.  I think I could happily sit on my deck and knit my lace pieces until September!  Our summer weather has finally arrived and I am delighted.

 

Although I had feared that the initial nupp-less part of the Lily-of-the-Valley shawl would take me days and days to complete, I seem to have flown through it and began the nupps (with some trepidation and a little last-minute practice on my swatch) on July 4^th. 

 

I am pleased to report that they look pretty good.  I am getting the knack of the k1-yo’s (making 7 stitches from 1 stitch) – making them loose enough to work the purl-7 tog on the following row.  Sometimes they are on the tighter side, sometimes on the looser side.  But I have learned how to manage either way – and, hopefully, I will become more consistent.  By grooming the looser nupp stitches, I have been able to keep them smooth (no dead spiders!).  And the tighter ones still build up to a respectable nupp.  Surely, the color variation in the yarn helps, too.  So, even if there is some difference when I am working them, it seems to be slight in the final appearance.  Surely, the color variation in the yarn helps, too.

 

The Gull Pi Shawl edging progresses.  It is a big, beautiful, dramatic edging – and a lot of stitches!  It is fun to work and gratifying.  Just a lot of stitches.  And a long way around the circle shawl. 

 

I have been knitting lace patterns (though not on lace-weight yarn) for a little q’mitl.  I swatched the edging last night:  Ocean Waves in a variegated linen yarn.  The body of the yarn (worked on small-ish needles) makes lace that practically stands on its own – like a confection!

 

Summer.  Lace Knitting.  Happy.

The Battle Of The Nupps

“Always practice unfamiliar techniques on a swatch.” 

 

Sensible advice – and I practiced my nupps (the “bud” stitch in Estonian lace knitting – rhymes with “soups”) for several days while waiting for my circular needles (Addi-tubo lace points) to arrive.  And, wow, did I need to practice them!  They are tricksy beasties! 

 

They are worked as a k1-yo-k1-yo-k1-yo-k1 in a single stitch (making 7 stitches) on the right side, then purling those 7 stitches together on the wrong side.  Sounds easy – until you try to jam-shove-wiggle your working needle into the yarn-overs which are lassoed tightly around the needle.  Grrrrrrrrr.  Okay, the directions say to work the k1-yo’s loosely.  Try again.  Grrrrr.  And again.  Grrrr.   I pulled every trick I could think of, every suggestion I read.  And some of the nupps looked good and some looked bad and some were just plain ugly!  Too flat or too bobbly, too sloppy or just weird (like the ones that look like curled dried-up spiders – and where did that big hole come from?!).

 

My goal was to get consistency.  I did not want my shawl to document a gradual improvement of technique – with sloppy bobbly buds and dried spiders at the top and lovely textbook nupps at the hem! 

 

And on the day my needles arrived, I managed to work 3 nupps in a row that look like first cousins.  Consistency! Time to cast on the 251 stitches for the top of the shawl – and get going while I still had the “knack.”

 

After I cast on, I studied the directions closely and realized that I would be working 2 rows of garter, an 11-row lace pattern (a simple pattern with no nupps), 2 more rows of garter, a decrease row, 2 more rows of garter and then  begin the lace pattern with nupps! That works out to 18 rows of 251 stitches (roughly 4518 stitches!) before I get to knit nupps.  Knowing myself as I do (and knowing how our summers go – which is fast and furious with activities that do not necessarily involve knitting), it could take weeks before I get to the nupps! 

 

And the likelihood of my losing the “knack” by then?  Pretty good.  I could try to get in a little nupp practice now and then, of course.  Might be a good idea to keep the nupp-ing muscles toned (I was actually a little sore after one particular evening of battling nupps!). 

Summer Solstice 2010

It is the First Day of Summer and I am writing this post out on our deck – which is something of a miracle considering the dreary drippy weather we have been having!

And what better way to ring in the summer than to start up a lace shawl!  Yesterday, I felt inspired to begin the Lily-of-the Valley lace shawl I had promised myself for my birthday.  That is, I had told myself I could start it on my birthday – but when my birthday actually came around in mid-May, I felt too swamped with other projects to take joy in casting on something new.   So, I just petted the yarn (KnitPicks “Canopy” which is a celebration of greens!) every now and then, waiting for the spirit to move me.

And, sure enough, move me it did!  Yesterday, I gravitated toward Nancy Bush’s Knitted Lace of Estonia (the pattern is “Triangular Summer Shawl” – appropriate!) and by evening I was winding yarn and then swatching.  I found I had to order the needles – as I wanted Addi Turbo Lace points (32” circular – in size 7 instead of the size 4 suggested in the book – just shows how important it is to swatch for gauge!).  So, today, I ordered the needles – and I can play around with the lily-of-the-valley pattern in the meantime.  I have notes from Merike Saarniit’s class “Bobbles, Berries, and Buds” where we learned different ways of making the nupps  (bud-like bobbles).  So, I can fuss about with those for a couple of days.  It is always a good idea to swatch an unfamiliar pattern – rather than test drive it on 251 stitches!  And, yes, I will be using a lifeline.

Perhaps before the needles arrive, I can finish a couple of small projects that are oh-so-nearly-done.  My Turkish Bed Socks and a baby kimono.   Seems reasonable.  But regardless, when the needles come I am casting on the new lace shawl!  It is my (belated) birthday gift to myself!

Lace Dance

This month has been busy with three trips -- to Spokane to see my son Geoff’s show, then to Portland for family meetings last week, and on Wednesday my daughters and I are headed to Napa!   I have been knitting, of course – but have not had much opportunity to settle at a computer to post many blogs. 

Uppermost in my mind at present is deciding which knitting projects to take to Napa.  Gwen’s blanket (I have it memorized!).  The Gull Pi Shawl (Elizabeth Zimmermann recommends lace shawls for travel and vacation knitting).  A baby kimono (gift for baby due in May).  Annnnd??  Sarah says that is enough knitting for the trip.  And certainly several of my other current projects are really too bulky to pack up for plane travel.  And a wine-tasting trip is probably not the best place to take pieces I am in the middle of designing anyway.  So, I may stick to the three I mentioned.  Besides, Sarah says there is a yarn shop in Napa….

I have been enjoying my Gull Pi Shawl so much!  I love knitting lace.  When it gets going, it is like dancing.  I am doing Alternating Feathers and it goes like this:

Knit one, knit two together, yarn over, knit one, yarn over, slip slip knit

So the dance is goes kind of like this:

Swing into a knit stitch, dig deep for the knit-two-together, twirl the yarn ‘round the needle, swing a knit stitch, another twirl, two quick slips and slide back and then jump those ssk stitches up and off the needle (repeat over and over!)

Lace-dancing into Spring!

Lace Yarn

I finally did order the lace yarn (not exactly with Sarah's blessing, but with her forbearance!).  I decided it was my birthday present to myself.

"Then you can order it on May 13th," said Sarah.

"Ah, but my present will be starting to knit it!" said I.

Therefore, I would need to order the yarn this month.  And, since I anticipate a busy April, best to just go ahead and get it done.

I decided on Knit Picks "Canopy" (the new Tonal Shadow lace-weight wool).  Their description:

"Lush, verdant, and vibrant shades of green will remind you of a rainforest canopy. Canopy is a combination of bright greens with yellow undertones. The colors include jungle green, emerald, lime, jade, spring green, and clover. Pair with Summer Blooms Tonal and your project will look like a garden. "

A lily-of-the-valley garden -- since that is the lace shawl pattern I intend to use!  And since lily-of-the-valley is my birth month flower -- and green has always been my favorite color -- it is, in a word, ideal!

Spring Is Nearly Here

St. Patrick’s Day always feels like part of Spring’s official parade – sort of like the Grand Marshal riding in a snazzy convertible right after the banner and the drum corps.   I suppose the daffodils are right in there too.

 

On Monday, Sarah and I took the babies to the park and it was soooo pleasant out.  I had my first outdoor knitting of the season!  We start teaching our Lace Workshop class this evening – and with Daylight Savings Time already begun, the evenings feel like extensions of the afternoon.  The days do feel longer. 

 

I have been knitting the Gull Pi Shawl and am reminded how much fun lace-knitting can be!  And we all know how I adore fine lace yarn anyway.  Even if it wasn’t fun, I would knit lace just to play with the yarn!  I read today that the Empress Josephine had 300-400 lace shawls!  Now, that is what I call a royal treasury!