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).