celticdragonfly: (Firefly - going mad)
celticdragonfly ([personal profile] celticdragonfly) wrote2006-04-08 08:52 pm
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stupid lace scarf

What is WITH this stupid lace scarf?

The first couple responses on my poll were to get back to work. Sigh.

I can find the lace scarf and the pattern for it. The throw - well, I can find the yarn that's left, but the current project - well, I remember it getting pulled out of a bag I needed, and put... somewhere else, downstairs I think...

So I started back up on the lace scarf.

After oh, 10 minutes of agony I managed to read it well enough to figure out what row I was on. Row 2.

By row 5 of the pattern repeat, I was in misery again, and am missing a stitch.

It's LACE knitting. I've done plenty of lace knitting. It's never been this bad a problem before. Why is this so AWFUL? Is it the yarn? IMO it's underspun and too darned splitty. It's Paton Kroy 3ply. I didn't buy it - I had a green sock yarn that didn't turn out to be the color I'd hoped for when ordering, and someone in one of my knitting lists offered to exchange it for Paton Kroy sock yarn in rose color. Well, turned out they had 3ply, not the normal 4 ply. They sent me both rose and gray in apology. Grrr. Those 4 balls of yarn have SAT there for ages. I was trying to finally DO something with them. It's not working out.

I don't know what I should do. I hate to think of tossing those balls of yarn out. I hate to think of giving up on the scarf - I do have some length of agonizingly achieved length.

But I can't talk to anyone while knitting this, I can't watch TV, I just grind my teeth and go at it.

No more today.

[identity profile] celticdragonfly.livejournal.com 2006-04-09 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)
No, lace knitting is NOT really as hard as it sounds. The cotton diamonds throw I'm back to working on is lace, and it's not hard at all. What KnitPicks pattern are you looking at?

[identity profile] fadethecat.livejournal.com 2006-04-09 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
This (http://www.knitpicks.com/Projects/Projects_Display_Yarn.aspx?itemid=50439220&yarnid=5420108) is what I want to make. Completely impractical, and far beyond my skill level, but I'd very much like to make it.

[identity profile] celticdragonfly.livejournal.com 2006-04-09 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Fluffy alpaca laceweight. Um. Yeah, probably not an ideal starter lace project. But honestly, don't let that stop you from doing lace at all! It's fun, when it's a good project. I've done a number of lace socks, lace bags, the lace throw I'm working on.

[identity profile] fadethecat.livejournal.com 2006-04-09 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
I've also been looking at this one (http://www.knitpicks.com/Projects/Projects_Display_Yarn.aspx?itemid=50391220&yarnid=5420128), which claims it's good for beginners, but it looks like it would take forever to do that much work in such a small stitch. Any idea how hard it would be, coming from someone who knows more about these things than I do?

[identity profile] celticdragonfly.livejournal.com 2006-04-09 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
/peers at image

Well, it's laceweight. Anything in laceweight will take longer than something that size in larger yarn. You might think about starting out with lace in fingering weight, or even larger. The wool laceweight yarn looks easier to work with than that alpaca, a firmer, more tightly twisted yarn. And it's a fairly simple shawl - looks like most of it is stockinette, and it'd be pretty clear when you'd gotten to the part of the row where you needed to do something else.

You can always try a small sample of lace work - a hat, or even a lace dishcloth, just to feel you have the concepts down.

Oh, Elann has a bunch of lace patterns in their free section, too.

[identity profile] fadethecat.livejournal.com 2006-04-09 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I thought as much; it's taking me forever to do my first hat, and that's in basic worsted. Could you link me to Elann? I'd quite like to try something small and simple in lace, just to give it a shot.

[identity profile] celticdragonfly.livejournal.com 2006-04-09 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
http://secure.elann.com/freepatterns.asp

Whoa, they've added a bunch since last I looked.

I am going to do the Flower Petal Shawl someday, although I'm going to add more sections.

[identity profile] fadethecat.livejournal.com 2006-04-09 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooo, very nice. Thanks for the link!