Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Yarn-along


 In case you wanted to see my Lacy Baktus.  Here it is.
 I've blocked it twice and worn in 3 times.  Very cozy and colorful.  The colors are a little muted in the pics because I didn't use a flash.
 Finished Elizabeth the other day and am now working on The Rite.  Although after I took the pic this morning (and it has taken me all day to get to this post!), One Thousand Gifts arrived in the mail, and I started it during piano this afternoon!

The new project is the Lace Ribbon Scarf, and the yarn is Spud and Chloe fine in Anemone.  Love. love. love. the color and I thought the wavy-watery pattern was perfect for it.  Even though it's more lace and you'd think I'd be over the lace by now after the Pretty Thing, which I threw in the top of the closet and haven't taken a picture of it since I blocked it.  It really is pretty.  Despite everything.

Meet my new BFF (Best Friend Forever, for you non-texters):
This little row counter is a life-saver when it comes to lace, and probably cables, too.  It makes it so much easier for me to keep track of where I am.  

Now, it doesn't save me from all lace mistakes.  A dropped stitch, a forgotten yarn-over, or, heaven forbid, a dropped yarn-over can cause untold chaos in lace-knitting.  Especially if you discover it several rows later!  (Am I right, Barbara?)  I'm starting to look at all these shawls and scarves that I have bookmarked with new appreciation.  I don't know how people get through those without making mistakes!  I'm of the firm belief that you have to finish your lace in "one take" because trying to fix a mistake is a total nightmare.  Even when I catch an error while still on the row, I can't really fix it, and I have to rip out the whole thing.  It's so hard to find the right little thread to pick up!

Anyway....this Lace Ribbon Scarf isn't giving me fits.  Yet.  

I hope I haven't jinxed myself.

Any experts out there know how to deal with difficult lace patterns and mistakes?


15 comments:

  1. Can't wait to read One Thousand Gifts. This reminds me to order it ... now! =)

    Your yarn selections are so beautiful.

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  2. A yarn counter...hmmm? You are all such beautiful knitters. I just started again last week and couldn't bring myself to join the Yarn Along. Maybe at the next one.:) Nice blog.:)

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  3. Hi Sara,
    I'm not an expert, but have some lace knitting experience. Have you used a 'lifeline' before? You can probably google it to have it described better than I but it's basically a way to mark the beginning (or end) of a lace repeat.
    When finishing a repeat you would thread a darning needle with a bit of scrap yarn and thread it through that row. Then if you make a mistake that needs frogging you only need to go back as far as your lifeline.
    I love counters too, here's another tip that has really helped me, I keep mine in a small plastic box with a snapon lid. That way it won't accidentally get 'clicked' in my knitting basket! I don't have small children anymore that used to love playing with it, but I have accidentally changed it myself!
    I hope these help and your shawl is lovely!
    Happy knitting,
    Lori

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  4. Oh. My. Goodness. Lori Ann! You're fabulous! That's a revolutionary idea. I found a video at knittingtips.com that shows how to use a lifeline. The repeat on this new scarf is 24 rows, so even if I had to take out 23, that would be an improvement over knitting the whole scarf again! But I guess I could use more than one lifeline if I need to. THANK YOU!!!!

    My little clicker has a lock on it for when I'm not using it, but I imagine there are some that don't. I should use that feature, though. ;-)

    Thanks, Sarah and PNG!

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  5. Uh, wrong URL. You wonder why I make mistakes in my lace?

    http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/knitting-tips

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  6. I love the frog counter - too cute! I'm so excited your copy of One THousand Gifts arrived, I'm hoping mine arrives today!
    I feel the same way as you about knitting lace and ultimately I've frogged every project - frustrating!

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  7. Beautiful batkus. It looks very "international." Do you wear it like a shawl?

    My new yarn came yesterday and I was trying to think of some way to mark my rows with what I have on-hand. I think maybe knitting markers -- I have only eight rows in my pattern and the evens are the same so maybe one marker for row 1, 2 for row 3, etc. I love the lifeline -- yes it is! I think that ripping out lace, however, is fairly fruitless. I've decided that if I'm one stitch short, a conveniently placed yo works, and the same for one stitch short -- k2tog. If more than one stitch is involved I think I'm SOL! Must pay attention!

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  8. Dear Sara, yay! I'm so glad it helped. You may just want to keep moving your lifeline up, at the beg/end of each repeat, that way you would never have to go back farther than one section.
    I always do this since I am very easily distracted! And it only takes a moment.
    Have fun!
    X lori

    And thank you for your tip!

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  9. Barbara, the Baktus is supposed to be a kerchief, evidently. I was looking at the original pattern yesterday. It's too small for a shawl; I wear it around my neck as a scarf.

    On the Pretty Thing, I did use markers to divide the 7 repeats on each row. But since the pattern didn't have row repeats exactly, I would have needed a lifeline every 5 rows probably.

    I cheat sometimes with a yo or a K2Tog, but after you block it can really show up depending on the project.

    Kathryn, try again now that you know the secret! :-)

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  10. Wow!!!
    I just learned so much from reading through your comments. Thanks, Ladies!

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  11. the Baktus is beautiful and fun stuff about the counter, never seen one before. Thanks too for the knitting helps link, always useful :)

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  12. Oh I can't wait to read 1000 gifts to!! Love your little counter to. It's on my list of things that I would like to purchase along with a needle gauge so that I can figure out what size some of the thrifted needls I have are *grin*. Happy knitting :)

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  13. *BEAUTIFUL*!!
    Where do you purchase your yarn, Sara? And do you usually use wool or cotton (or acrylic, I suppose)? Wal-Mart's selection is almost nil. Thanks in advance!
    you can fb me too, if it's easier :)

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  14. oh yeah, I also wanted to know how "one thousand gifts" is. I'm reading "unplanned" now - really good so far.

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Thanks for dropping by! I would love to hear from you. Have a beautiful day! :-)

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