Lace knitting
I have developed a new obsession - knitting lace. You know - that fiddly fine wool, fine needles caper, which I was never going to do because it took such a long time? Well, as someone wise once said, never say never. The first bit of lace knitting was to be a shawl to wear at Isabelle and Trav’s wedding. EXCEPT ….. it didn’t get finished in time. Not only was I knitting in the most insanely fine silk yarn, but I was also doing a pattern which had beads threaded on every few stitches - I know … QUITE INSANE! But in a strange sort of way it was also very satisfying. I have knitted for years and years. Nowadays no-one much really wants my knitted things. Jumpers seem to have become a thing of the past - all the family want hoodies and polar fleece tops. So if I choose to spend time faffing around (that’s a technical term that Issy has allocated to me - it means doing a lot of something that gets nowhere in particular!) and knitting complicated fine lace, well it’s my time isn’t it?
So I have actually finished the shawl. And I think it is quite fine. I was going to dye it, but I am not sure now. The cream would go with a lot of different things. (And the wedding was hot enough that a shawl was not even slightly needed!). So on with the roll - I then knitted a wonderful rainbow lace shawl for our new grandchild-to-be. And now I am knitting another plain lace shawl for same grandchild-to-be.
I am uploading the photos as thumbnails nowadays. If you click on them they should grow big for you. These ones are of the “wedding shawl”. I’ll post the baby shawl photos when we have given them to Matt and Andrea.
This shawl was knitted using a lovely pattern I downloaded called the “Aeolian Shawl” www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring09/KSPATTaeolian
But what I really wanted to post was: I have lashed out and bought a few nice books on lace knitting and a couple of then are just great. So I thought I’d share them.
The first one is called “The Mermaid Shawl & other Beauties” by Kathleen Valentine. It arrived last week and is just the best read. She is a woman after my own heart - ie if there is a pattern, then change it around and adapt it and dont really follow it anyway. It is not about careful pattern following - rather it is about taking an idea and developing it. It has the most lovely photos, with “real” people as models - her friends and family. And it has a little story slotted into the middle of the book. It took until the end to realise that she is actually a novelist who is nuts about knitting - hence this amazingly readable knitting book!
The second one I am really enjoying is called “Crazy Lace” by Myra Wood. This only arrived this week, along with the newest Gloria Loughman quilting book - drool! Crazy lace is all about knitting “outside the square” - another one about free flowing and random knitting patterns. I seem to have a theme happening here! The yarns used are just luscious!
Tags: knitting, lace, lace knitting, textiles