Sunday, November 9, 2008

When Lace Goes South
















It doesn't kid around...




I suppose I had plenty of warning. The previous 2 lace projects had to be abandoned because I finally, and reluctantly, understood that I cannot, and I do mean absolutely cannot, read a chart backwards. Whatever that says about me, my eyes (and brain) don't track symbols from left to right (letters? no problem. circles, x's and little arrow doohickeys? impossible). And though I know that my Lightbulb Lace Notion will work (I can see it, dammit), I have yet to knit a workable sample (and this is after many false starts. When even your swatches suck, you know you're in trouble).


So, I started another lace project- The Rose Trellis shawl (http://cdevine.typepad.com/photos/lace_work/rosetrellisl.html ). It's complex, and ginormous, but the charts were pretty straightforward, and there was none of that reversing nonsense. It's one of those square shawl patterns, and I decided to make it a triangle (working just 2 sections instead of 4). I wound some Knit Picks Shadow (Oregon Coast colorway- a lovely mottled dune-grass in November color) and got to work. Almost immediately, I realized that my needles were wrong for the project (this pattern needs stiletto points, not Inox blunts- K3 togs were extremely frustrating, and there were a lot of K3 togs), and that even without reversing, those looooong pattern rows were utterly confusing- confusing in a way that might not be noticed until I was 2" beyond the snafu.




See what I did there? (the text is hard to read- the first pic with the red circle shows where I went wrong, and the next one shows what it should look like) The nice and orderly line of decreases/YO's got off track somehow (I have no idea how, my stitch counts came out on each row) (and yes, I did think I was reading the knitting- I honestly don't know how it happened). This little piece represents 2 days of work, and while I am fully in favor of faking it whenever possible, this mistake is simply not fake-fixable, and I did not have the heart to tear out hours and hours of work. So I put it away (though I did not frog it- I may yet work up the gumption for a salvage expedition, just not today).


Instead, I finished a pair of Honorary Granddaughter Christmas Socks (from Twisted Fiberarts Playful, in the Tulip colorway. 1 skein plus the coordinating heel/toe yarn was enough to knit 2 pairs of girl-size socks- one size 12, the other size 3), cast on another ribbed handspun hat (for a road-trip project, not that I'm hitting the road any time soon), and cast on a pair of handspun gloves (this is 3-ply BFL from Yummy Yarns, I can't remember the colorway name (Wrong! I just checked the archives- it's Corriedale, not BFL, in the Patootie colorway)And I think I'll cast on the handspun Fair Isle sweater.


I'm not done with lace, but lace seems to be temporarily done with me. I'll let the Lightbulb Lace percolate while I do a little mindless knitting (compared to lace, Fair Isle, IS mindless).

5 comments:

Allison said...

You DO realize, of course, that your publisher is going to insist that you write a book about knitting lace?! I think it's fate....

Geek Knitter said...

I've been eyeing that Rose Trellis for a while now... Don't give up!

Kathleen Taylor said...

allison- I don't know whether to think that's a good idea, or go run screaming into the night...

geek knitter: it's a beautiful pattern. I'm going to let it rest for a bit, then I expect I'll tear out the boo-boo and continue on.

N. Maria said...

Okay. I know you can do it. Just look at everything else you do. :)
I have lace faith in you....and no running and screaming into the night. LOL

Anonymous said...

Hang in there, don't give up! The rose lace pattern is so lovely, but yes, you can so easily get off track. I just made the Rose Lace Vest from GOL, http://www.ravelry.com/projects/dplantlady/rose-lace-vest

unfinished for lack of front & sleeve borders, and what I found in reading the charts through the project is that I needed to be able to see where I was going to as well as where I had just been in the chart in order to be able to "read" my knitting. There are really only 4 or 5 "hard" rows in the design,and the one where the knit stitches between the patterning stitches alternate between (I think) 3 and 4 was really annoying. Pay special attention to them, and you'll be fine. The rest pretty much sail along after you've done the repeats a few times.
Lifelines, lifelines, lifelines...
Good Luck!
Diane from PA (dplantlady on Ravelry)