Ooooh Lace

Apparently I like to torture myself.

And my newest form of torture is knitted lace.

Nah, actually it's not that bad. I've gone through three pattern repeats so far and I like the way it looks.

Here's the full progress so far:













So I had this yarn that started to become a Clapotis, but after about 2/3 of the way through the pattern, the yarn told me it didn't like that pattern. So I bought different yarn for Clappy and told this yarn to think about what it would instead like to be.

It took a while, and sat pouting in ball form for over a month.

And then about a week ago it came to me with the absurd idea of being something pretty. Something airy. Something lacy.

To which I immediately responded, "Have you lost your mind?"

But, to show I'm not against the yarn choosing its own project, I started looking for a lace pattern that I liked and that wouldn't kill me in the process.

Um, yea. That's harder than it looks. There are a lot of great free patterns on the internet, but none really struck me. (Well, there was this one, but wow, when swatching for it I realized that particular pattern was a tidge over my head. Someday, though.)

I didn't want to buy a book on it just in case it turns out that I don't enjoy knitting lace and then I'd be out the money for said book.

Finally, I found a pattern. I looked it over, swatched, adjusted it for the size I wanted, and started in last night.

It's going pretty well. I've only had to tink back twice and each time was only about 15 stitches or so. And let me just say, lifelines are you friend. I haven't had to rip back to one yet, but it does lend a loving security blanket in the scary depths of lace knitting.













It sure looks like a bunch of crap when it's still in the knitting stages, doesn't it? In the first two photos, it's lightly pinned so you can see the pattern. But in this pic, it shows what it looks like all the time. A pretty nasty bit of stitches and holes, almost seeming to have no rhyme or reason.

I sure hope it's worth it.