How Come No One Told Me...

... that blocking lace is such a pain in the butt?

I can see that if I'm going to do much lace knitting, I'm going to need blocking wires.

No one also told me not to try to block a lace shawl late in the evening, after a marathon 8 hour lace-knitting session. I won't be doing that again.

But.... ta da!!! Swallowtail is done! And she is beautiful, though my heart stopped when I got it all pinned out on the living room rug and saw The Hole (see the *before* pic on the red leather chair- I don't think I need to Paint in an arrow). However, rather than run screaming into the night (which would usually be my first response), I calmly pinned the spot to keep the sts from unraveling further, and decided to think about it in the morning.

I thought about it this morning, and after examining The Hole, I realized that it wasn't as dire as I suspected. Yes, there was an unravel, but it was YO unravel, which only cost me 3 sts. And if there is such a thing as a lucky mistake, this one was lucky because it could not continue down (or up) the shawl, or do further damage. I threaded yarn in a darning needle, and chain-stitch embroidered the stitches back into place (see the *after* pic on the green chair). It's not an invisible fix (and there are other mistakes, all visible, but I'm not fooling with them), and Swallowtail is absolutely not competition worthy, but it looks fine. And if I don't point The Repaired Hole out to people, I daresay, no one will see it (except Astute Blog Readers, but I'm pointing it out to you anyway).

For a very first real lace project, I am quite pleased. The shawl itself is really too small to be anything but a neck decoration, but the next time I need a snazzy neck decoration, I'll be set. I had a hard time getting the subtle color changes (periwinkle, blue, green) to show up in the pictures. The unblocked, and outdoor shot are the best.

Stats: Pattern: Evelyn Clark's Swallowtail Shawl

Yarn: Handspun laceweight domestic wool, 2 ply, Hydrangea colorway, Roving from A Knitted Duck

Amount used: 315 yards (I would have used more if I had done the Nupps, rather than beads)

Weight of Finished Shawl: 2.8 ozs (.4 ozs are beads)

Measurements: 45" wide, 24" long at the center

Needles: Size 4 us (3.5 mm)

And yeah, I'm going to knit more lace. But first, I should (need to) finish Genevieve's Graduation Sweater. Wonder if I'll actually work on it today...

Swallowtailitosis

It's a disease, lemee tellya. I mean, I've knitted lace before. Easy lace, I'll grant you, nothing complex or mind-bending. And I've enjoyed it but lace knitting (or is it knitted lace- there is a difference, but I can't remember which is which right now) never really tripped in me the need to go and knit more.

Until Karen (from Knit Geekery- link on the right side of the page) started her Swallowtail Shawl (Evelyn Clark- free pattern- http://www.evelynclarkdesigns.com/portfolio.html). Who knows why, but Swallowtail caught me in a big way. I downloaded the pattern, wound some handspun yarn, dug out some beads (having decided in advance to skip the Nupps, a decision I have not regretted) and got to work.

It was sloooooow going at first- I referred to the written instructions on every repeat of every right side row, not *seeing* the pattern or *reading* my knitting until I was well into the Budding Lace section. Then it clicked- I sped up (and switched to straight needles, with which I am more comfortable knitting back and forth) and began to understand the design, to see where/when/if I made any mistakes, and I started to be able to talk and knit at the same time (mostly "yes dear", "just a second, let me get to the end of this row", but it was communication of a sort).

When I got to the Lily of the Valley border, I decided to try the chart, and lo and behold, I understood it! And I sped up even more, completing the first half of the border yesterday afternoon, even with the beads (which are not quick knitting- though I did figure out a way to use fine wire to get the bead on the stitch that works way better than a crochet hook). I should be able to finish the Lily of the Valley section today, and maybe even get into the last border before the bind off.

It's been a satisfying knit- every time the stitch count works out right, I do a quiet little Wahoo! and a fist pump, and I can't wait to see what this sucker looks like blocked.

I have even chosen my next shawl- Evelyn Clark's Heartland Lace Shawl (pattern available through Ravelry), though not the yarn I want to use.

When I'm not working on lace (read: when anything actually interesting is on TV, or if I have to speak coherently to my companions), I'm plowing ahead on Christmas hats (this one was knit from charcoal Romney lamb yarn- Romney is not usually a soft yarn, but this is yummy. And I think the shot picks up the incredible sheen). And just for fun (they'll probably end up in the Christmas pile too) I finished a glove using the handspun from the roving I got at NCFF and this week's Freebie Friday pattern. This yarn isn't spun as evenly or consistently or finely as I'd like, but it's working just fine for these gloves, and that neon green is even neonier in person.

And, for the 4th day in a row, I have no socks on the needles. I'll get on that right away.

It's all Karen's Fault

There I was, happily contemplating which sock yarn to wind next, when I checked in on Karen Irving's Knit Geekery blog (http://knitgeekery.blogspot.com/ ), as I do first thing every morning. I've known Karen, and Mary (of Procrastination Diary http://procrastinationdiary.blogspot.com/), from back when we were all writing mysteries and hanging out on Lauri Hart's Mystery Writer's Forum. Mary is the only one of us still writing fiction, but we all knit, and this week, Karen mentioned that she is currently working on the Swallowtail Shawl, for her lovely mother in law.

Now Karen has posted pictures of other shawls, so I am trying not to ascribe evil intentions to her, but I can't help but wonder if she smiled secretly when posting a picture of her Swallowtail-In-Progress, thinking that I might be ensnared by the lovely pattern.

Lord knows, I didn't see it coming.

I mean, I can *see* cables (in fact, I remember, at about age 8, when the whole process came clear to me after examining a pair of store-bought knee socks), but lace is a foreign language. I can do it, but I don't generally search it out. So being captured by the Swallowtail Shawl pattern was totally unexpected.

But capture me, it did. I wound some handspun laceweight yarn (the Hydrangea roving from A Knitting Duck- the pic doesn't show the lovely colors: periwinkle, blue, and a hint of green, very Hydrangea-y) and I sat in my chair and concentrated. I have read enough commentary on Swallowtail (something like 2,000 of them have been posted on Ravelry) to know that this is considered an easy lace pattern, but it's not easy for me. 5 repeats into the Budding Lace Pattern (and we haven't even gotten to the Nupps, which I am skipping, in favor of beads- I know my limits), and I am finally starting to *see* where I am in the pattern (though I still need to refer to the written instructions constantly- and the chart hasn't clicked for me yet). You can see in the pic that I've made a mistake or two already, but I will live with them. I have 9 more repeats of this pattern before starting the Lily of the Valley borders, so by then, I might actually be zipping along.

I don't know that I'm enjoying this exercise, but it's fascinating. And it's Karen's fault.

And here's a mystery for you: I have knit worsted weight socks in my size for years. I know from long experience, that I need between 220-250 yards of worsted weight yarn for a pair (depending on the yarn brand, since worsted weight yarns vary in thickness). When I started the sample sock for my heel workshop at NCFF, I chose some nice Andes worsted weight wool (purchased at Great Yarns, Everett WA, a couple of summers ago). The label says that one skein is 165 yards (100 gr), so I wound both skeins, knowing that I'd need some of the 2nd to complete the pair. Well, I finished the pair last night (can't knit lace and watch Fringe at the same time), and not only did I get 2 complete socks from 1 skein, I have yarn left over. A bunch of yarn. Since the other ball does just weigh 100gr, I have to assume that the listed yardage was off. But while the yarn felt just a little thinner than most of the worsted weight I have on hand, it was definitely worsted. I'm puzzled.