Working on the chain gang

Knitting needle threaded through crochet chains

I have finished the knitting on Tulpenkatz, aka Giant Lace Thing.  Which is excellent!  Slightly less positive: I still need to work the crocheted edging.  Nothing wrong with crochet except that I'm bad at it.  I slip a few stitches off at a time, crochet a chain, slip off more stitches, chain, and repeat until my arm falls off.

In-progress edging

R) little bit I've accomplished, L) what's left to do

This is going to take a while.  The funny pink thing is my inline crochet hook.  I inherited it from a relative and I love it for chaining with laceweight.  A regular hook kept wanting to split my yarn.

The Lace Deep End

I have fallen down the Niebling rabbit hole.  You may have never heard of Herbert Niebling, a 20th century designer of intricate lace knitting patterns, but lace knitters know.  For years I had resisted the siren call, which honestly wasn't difficult as getting your hands on his patterns is tricky.  Thanks to a former-East German printing house, and Amazon (.com, .de, .uk), I bought a pattern booklet online.

The pattern I'm using is Tulpenkranz, or Tulip Wreath.  It's going to be massive: my conservative estimate is 2.5m in diameter.  The original pattern calls for #200 crochet cotton, which is half as fine as sewing thread and no longer produced.  I'm using laceweight wool/silk yarn.

c Buch Verlag für die Frau, from Kunstrick-Decken

So far I'm almost 10% done.  A photo from the weekend shows the tablecloth-to-be fetchingly worn as a hat.  I'm enjoying the project so far!

Neat fact: the German term for lace knitting translates as "art knitting."

Lace Scarf Idea

I had an idea today for an unusual lace scarf.  Instead of knitting a strip of lace and surrounding it with borders, how about the border as the whole scarf?  Lace borders typically have one straight and one scalloped edge which I think would be a cool look.  I'd use thicker yarn to speed up knitting and increase warmth.  What do you think?

Some examples of knitted lace borders:

Wave design: EunnyJang.com

Gorgeous wide Shetland Lace: TomofHolland.com

My Rose Trellis shawl

More Lace

I knit this Good Day Sunshine shawl in May, as a while-my-sprained-finger-heals project.  I made a couple changes: removed the first 2 reps (24 rows) to make a crescent shaped shawl and kept the lower density of 3into3 sts through the entire Sun chart.

I finally have some good photos to share :)  I've also worn it a couple times and it's great!  Beautiful as well as warm and soft against my neck.  I used white JaggerSpun Zephyr, one of my favorite lace yarns.  Initially I planned to dye the finished shawl but I really like it white.

The sun ray-like pattern

This reminds me of a dinosaur wing

Estonian Lace Shawl

Shawl shape

I finished my version of the Rainy Day shawl and just got photos.

Instead of a typical triangle, I made 3/4 of a square by knitting one extra section.  The shawl stays on very well and gives some neat wearing options.  Unless there's a breeze it's warmer than you'd think.

Front and Back views

Right: How I wore it yesterday

Spring; New Project

First off, who doesn't like pictures of flowers in spring?  A month ago the first crocuses bloomed, though it has also snowed a couple times.  The daffodils are opening up to the newly arrived sun, and today I saw miniature Iris!


I did some (mental) work on the jumper.  I measured myself side seam-to-side seam across the front and back hip, discovering that my back is 10cm wider.  The jumper back is 4 or 5cm wider, so now I know what changes to make.





The project I'm really excited about, since I can work on it with strep or migraines or whatever (oh yeah, it's been an exciting month): a shawl pattern inspired by Estonian lace.  It uses unusual lace knitting techniques and I'm knitting a new-to-me shape.  Here's a beautiful example of modern lace inspired by tradition.

Lace Swatch

The shawl so far

Facings; Vintage Knitting

I know I'm not the only one who hates facings.  I've read other sewists comment on them, yet they keep turning up in patterns!  I'd rather bias bind an edge, narrow hem, line the garment, any number of things besides facings.  That funny line or change in color where the facing leaves off but the garment continues just galls me.

My least favorite facing is on women's shirts.  Men's shirts don't have facings, why do pattern companies continue to draft women's blouses with facings?  I always ignore the directions and double fold the front band, or sew a band on.  Examining a similar RTW garment helps in deciding how to eschew facings.

Facings do have their uses: in jackets, waistbands, when making scalloped hems or trim, absolutely.  Hem facings can be very useful on hems, to prevent wear or when your'e short of fabric.  Some pre-50s vintage patterns are best sewn as the directions dictate, facings and all, and that I don't mind.

*Vintage Knitting: I'm translating a German pattern for knitted lace chemise or blouse trim.  The garment is then sewn onto the trim.  The patterns are under copyright but I'd be happy to share a synopsis of the construction techniques, if anyone is interested.  I should check Google archives, since I know Godey's Lady's Book and similar publications have such patterns.

I've been sewing and hope to have a finished garment to share by tomorrow :)

Weddings and Lace

I didn't watch the royal wedding.  Almost everyone else did, it seems, so I read about it on some blogs.  What caught my attention was a description of the lace in the dress.  I knit a Shetland shawl for my veil when I got married, a lifetime ago.  One corner was gently gathered and sewn to a comb decorated in freshwater pearls and crystal.  I gave the shawl to a good friend when his daughter was born.

I used traditional Shetland motifs that were relevant to my life: fir trees, ferns, waves and rings.  I hadn't intended for it to be 7' square!  But it was lovely, and was me.  It was knit using Zephyr silk/merino yarn in ivory and a 3.25mm bamboo circular needle, taking a little less than 3 months to finish.

Knitting!

How my brain's been working recently:

No, my toes haven't rotated 90° around my foot.  I just knit it that way.  Just another fun way that pain affects my life, I suppose.

Luckily I only need to redo the toe, the rest of the sock fits quite well.  Even this wonky toe doesn't feel too bad!

I do have a happier success to share, one I meant to photograph better then forgot about.  I was too busy wearing it :)  I made up the pattern myself [ETA: I designed the shawl pattern, the lace pattern is traditional]


I finished this shawl/scarf on Valentine's Day and noticed that the pattern looks like hearts, though they're meant to be waves.  We had a couple weeks of winter weather after an early spring, just in time to wear it.  It's super soft merino :)

Actual (Knitting) Content!

I like knitting, and I love knitting lace!  It's fairly quick, uses the mathematical/pattern parts of my brain, and doesn't have to fit.  Making knits that fit is harder than you'd think.

Dane Shawl by Jane Tanner

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