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01.27.2008 :: 27, Has knitting lace ever killed anyone? Really. This is not a rhetorical question. I'm serious. Has it?
Cripes. I have this fatal flaw when it comes to knitting lacy type of items. "Lacy type items" being defined by any pattern that uses various types of stitches that move around in any way shape or form to create a pattern. I'm all about the pattern with color. But the pattern with stitches? I bow to you masters.
What's my problem, you may be wondering?
Let's use this wonderful chevron neck warmer as a shining example, shall we?
Yes, it's a lovely pattern. I was knitting swimmingly along last weekend, enjoying the beautiful pattern coming forth from my needles. One of those knitting moments when it just feels like magic. String goes in, beauty comes out. You start muttering..."I MADE THIS" as if one person in your family actually gives a hoot.
And after a long, magical day of Sunday knitting, it gets lovingly put aside, dreams of wearing the exquisite chevron neck warmer dancing in your head as your dreams fill with yarn.
The week passes and the little neckwarmer does not get picked up because it's lacy knitting and demands some right attention. Cut to Saturday when this knitter lovingly picks up the unfinished piece and gets to work, dreaming of the end which is in sight. And despite good notetaking and little marks and stick figures and checkmarks in the pattern? I cannot for the life of me place where I left off in the pattern. I am sure that it is on row 8. But the knitted piece is staring at me with some kind of combination that does not ever ever match up to the pattern I am holding in my hand. I spend the next 4 1/2 hours* trying to match up where I am, changing stitches here and there when I think I've figured it out. Changing them back when I realize I had not. It's only 2 stitches, people. The knit and the purl. But I cannot do it. Muttering about how lace knitting is my nemesis, I then do 2 rows of garter stitch and bind off. There. That will teach it.
Now? I have a neck warmer with a funky edge that is about 2 inches shorter than I wanted it to be. Honestly? The funky edge does not bother me much ** because as luck would have it, I forgot to add more than one button hole so I will just graft the ends together to wear and funky edge will be placed into my coat, not at my neck. I'm good like that. I'm a problem solver. I'm a fudger from way back so this is not new to me.
And I guess I'll get over it being a short neck warmer. Luckily I do not have a giraffe neck.
Beautiful bottom edge
vs.
PROVING. Once and for all, that if I could knit lace all in one sitting? I'd be a master! Otherwise? Not so much.
~~~
*
It was not actually 4 1/2 hours. An arbitrary large number was used for emphasis of a point.
:)
**
It does. I lied.
Posted by Sandy on 01.27.2008 AT 08:04 AM
Comments
That's the thing about lace. I've got two fun scarves that I've not worked on in months, and now can't finish because I've no idea where I left off. I really need to just rip it out & do it over.
How about you rip it & do it over...and then wear it with pride when it's done??
Posted by: Kim on 01.30.2008 AT 11:00 AM
Oh, girl, you just scored another feed-reader with that post! I can lose my place when I'm doing k2 p2 ribbing, for God's sake - I think it has something to do with being over 40, or pms, or both... but that's just me! Wear it proudly - it's a sign that you DO have a life!!
Posted by: Nora on 01.29.2008 AT 06:54 AM
Sandy,
I love the pattern though and that's what people will see when it's tucked around your neck inside your coat. Where did you get the pattern, and what yarn did you use? I wanna try it.
Thanks!
Laurie
Posted by: Laurie on 01.28.2008 AT 04:39 PM
What Terry said. On any ribbed pattern a plain bind-off is just gonna look funky.
Posted by: Lucia on 01.28.2008 AT 04:31 PM
The pink lace scarf of DOOM nearly did me in, but I showed it! (It took a week of dedicated knitting at a remote wilderness location with no distractions.) Then I mailed it off to someone who I rarely see, and, actually, the way things have gone since then, I may never see again. But it's *gone*, and it will never haunt me again!
Posted by: Andrea (noricum) on 01.28.2008 AT 12:59 AM
Sistah! I too cannot knit lace, no matter how simple the pattern nor how quiet the room. Can. Not. Do. It. Even though I am a CPA (not math-challenged) and qualified for Mensa (not intelligence-challenged). Lace = too hard. Given the foregoing, I am also a fudger.
But you know what? Your neck warmer is lovely, funky edge hidden inside coat notwithstanding, and it will make your neck smile on freezing winter mornings. Well done, you.
Posted by: kmkat on 01.27.2008 AT 11:15 PM
I am SO there with my Print O the Wave which I haven't picked up since I was in NH this summer. Cannot figure out where I am on it.
If anyone is staring at your neck long enough to detect the irregularity, it's their problem. Truthfully, I can't tell by the pictures,
Li
Posted by: Li_B on 01.27.2008 AT 09:25 PM
Yeah, I had a similar thing happen on the Durrow I'm making for my husband. Even though I had kept track of where I stopped, when I picked it up after a few months, the cable chart was NOT working! I think I spent AT LEAST 4 1/2 hours trying to make it work.
Posted by: Amy on 01.27.2008 AT 06:43 PM
Ugh, feel the pain. Try ripping the bind off and then binding off in the rib pattern, working the knits as k2tog as you bind off. Should be less wonky.
Posted by: Teresa C on 01.27.2008 AT 05:28 PM
Well, it has made me close to suicidal a couple of times...... What I do when this happens is tink back and write down each st as I tink it. Write bottom to top and right to left. When you've tinked to where you're repeating, you can compare with your pattern and see where you are. Try it - this works! But, YES, it is a PITA!
Posted by: Elizabeth H. on 01.27.2008 AT 02:10 PM
I'm pretty sure that lace knitting is NOT fatal, but good note-taking and/or stitch-markers are key. Row-counters?
Posted by: --Deb on 01.27.2008 AT 12:47 PM
Oh, Sandy, I'm sorry the lace was mean to you. Ya know, I'm willing to knit lacy for you... as long as it's something I can manage. *L*
I'm a note taking control freak, btw. That's the only way I stand a chance. ♥
Posted by: Cookie on 01.27.2008 AT 12:30 PM
If I lose my place in a lace knitting project it helps to actually tink back a row. Sometimes then it makes it easier to see where you were.
Posted by: Carole on 01.27.2008 AT 11:22 AM
Been there. It sucks. I hope you enjoy wearing it and that it keeps your neck toasty warm.
Posted by: Chris on 01.27.2008 AT 10:44 AM
Well, does it fit and will it keep your neck warm? That's all that matters anyway.
Posted by: margene on 01.27.2008 AT 09:12 AM
I only have three words for ya:
Yeah. Me too.
Posted by: norma on 01.27.2008 AT 08:57 AM
Ditto. I am just resting on my laurels after making Forest Canopy Shawl last year.
Posted by: paula on 02.05.2008 AT 09:22 PM