Thursday, August 17, 2006

Lace by any other name.


Its lace, and I wore it in public today. Hooray.

Pattern:
Razor Cami
Yarn: Classic Elite Premier (50% cotton, 50% tencel) in Keylime (3.5 skeins)
Needles: US 5 and 7
The pattern is easy to follow, and although I made a few mistakes- it survived...
Modifications: I knit the next size up and made the straps much shorter. It was tough to measure for the straps all by myself, but I got it somehow.
What I have learnt: Lace is not that scary. There is “nothing to it” really. Its “just” YO here, K2tog there. Knitting with a cotton blend is good to help you see the structure of the lace to understand it better, but it is not as flexible. Mohair or other more hairy yarns will be more forgiving. I can see lace can be very forgiving.
When you have many sl1K2tog psso columns in the fabric, you can only stretch them in the blocking so much. It will stretch more in length, but not the width.
Knitting lace in the round is not the same as knitting it back and forth (as you do here, when you divide for the front and back.)
When you hold your arms on your hips just so (as I do in the photograph) you can hide all the extra...
Things I knew but “forgot”-
I am a tight knitter. I should ALWAYS go up at least one needle size, if not two. Ok, so I should have swatched, but knitting lace in the round is not the same as knitting it back and forth (as you do here, when you divide for the front and back) so what is the point?
I was also reminded that I am not selnder anymore- I need to knit things "up"..........

Am I ready for more lace? Sure. Bring it on baby! I may be ready now to try my VK lace shawl. I think I will swatch with a cotton blend, just to see the structure, so I can "get it," before I use the intended yarn.

Thanks for your kind words on my pottery. When I had time to do it, it was great and I loved it. Very absorbing and great to clear the mind and center the self. When you throw on the wheel, you have to be very centered or the pot collapses. I’d love to get into handbuilding and Raku as well. One of these days…
Oh, my blog was nominated for Best New Knitting Blog (wow)among others. So please go vote for me, and other favorite blogs, here...hahaha...

11 comments:

Annie said...

Great top! And I voted for you. :-)

aija said...

Very nice top! I voted for you, too :)

Jennifer Wathen said...

I love your top. The color is great...

gail said...

Great cami! Great pants also!! Lace isn't scary--just use lots of post it notes to keep track of where you are; stitch markers also help. Whatever it takes for your personnally to know where you are.

Krawuggl said...

This top is beautiful, and such a light airy summery thing. And I love your words about knitting lace and your patience to do it anyway, I for myself find it always very exhausting to look at a pattern for every row again - I fear my memory is very bad. Hope, you enjoy your lace top very often and a lot of sunny days to wear it.

Dave said...

The Razor looks lovely -- well done! Congrats on the nomination, and I voted for you too :-)

Anonymous said...

Cami looks great, glad to see you got the hang of the lace. I also love that VK shawl, maybe this fall...

Congrats on the nomination, I'll certainly vote for ya!

Rain said...

It looks fantastic on you, the colour really suits you.

Garngamen said...

WOw, congratulations. It is a great knittingblog. You well deserve it! THat lace-top is fantastic!

Not An Artist said...

Oooh, that is a lovely lovely cami! Great colour and a great fit, very nice work!

Hilde C. said...

The Razer Cami looks great, and I'm very impressed with your pottery :-)
And now I've voted for you :-)