Tatting Lace

Now that the holidays are over and the few left over projects are finished, I've gone back and picked up my Tatting Shuttle.  I'm going to tat a lace choker.  I started a runner, but I really don't like the pattern, so I have changed direction.

It is a very simple motif for the band, four loops arranged in a square.  It is done in size 10 cotton string.  Here is the beginning.

Knitting Shawl

I finished my shawl and have enough yarn left over that I think I will make a pair of mitts to match.  At Ren Faires, especially in the fall, the weather is cool enough to need something on your hands, but you need your fingers free.

Here is a pic of the pattern.  I made this for a friend for Christmas and I absolutely fell in love with the pattern.

Don't you just love the color.

Knitting Mitts

I always have cold hands.  Mittens and gloves are great, but you can't do much around the house, let alone knit or type, with them on.  I've noticed mitts are very big this year.  I had some left over fingering weight mossy green yarn from making my Dad a pair of mittens last year for Christmas.  For his mittens I used three strands, for these mitts I used one strand.  They weigh about an ounce.  It's a great way to use up some small stash yarn.

I like the fact that they are long.  Warm wrists and hands.

You can see the lacy detail here.  The thumb is finished with a crocheted picot.  I didn't do that on the hand, but may if I make them again.

My next project, knitting, is a Basket weave shawl like I made Jenn for Christmas.  I fell in love with it while I was making it for Jenn, so I got a purple yarn for mine.  Sewing wise, I'm going to alter my red wool blend kirtle because, YAY, I lost weight since I made it so it needs to be taken in.  I'm thinking of making it lace up the front.  Plus, I want to square the neckline.

Knitting Lace

As promised, here are pictures of my finished cowl.  I am very proud of how this came out.

Here is the whole thing

Detail of the Holly Berry edge.  I finally figured out edging.

Kind of a blurry picture of the leaf detail.

Knitting Lace

I am so excited!  I figured it out.  I figured out trim.  I was thinking about it all wrong.  I wasn't making the connection between knitting in the round (the body of the cowl) and knitting straight (the trim).  Once I made that leap, the rest is easy.

The last stitch on 3 of the rows of the Holly Berry trim use one stitch on the bottom of the cowl.  This is how you attach it to the bottom of the cowl.

I'm very proud of myself on this one.  I have been mulling this one over and over for a few days.  Pictures will follow once it is done.

Knitting Lace

I finished my cowl.  The leaf pattern came out really well, but the edging doesn't look anything like it should.  I've had this problem with edging before.  I still like it and will wear it.  I've always been a fan of cowls because you can wear them so many different ways.

So it appears my next project is grabbing some scrap yarn and a pair of needles and practicing edging until I get it right.  This is an important part of lace so I need to be proficient in it.

Edit to add:  I have pulled out the bad edging and am going to fiddle until I have it right.  Robin, I will post pictures as soon as I have the edging right.

Knitting Lace

This has been an adventure in frustration and internet research.  I have, quite literally, pulled this thing apart 5 times.  First the rounds weren't lining up properly, then the stitch count was off.  So, after vowing that I was not going to be defeated by this #$&* pattern, I went back to square one. 

Here was the first problem.  The pattern grid had these spaces labeled "no stitch".  What the blazes did that mean?  Well, after looking it up on the internet (thank you Gia for knittinghelp.com) I found out that it means just that, No Stitch.  You ignore it, you do nothing, don't even count it.  Problem one solved.

Second problem was that, well, I was reading the pattern grid like you read anything.  Top to bottom and left to right.  Nah uh.  You are supposed to read them from the bottom right hand corner for the first row and then from right to left for the second row and so on.  That explains why the pattern wasn't lining up.

Good, so now I know how to read the pattern and the counts are coming out right.  HA!  I told you it wouldn't defeat me.

This is what it looks like in the magazine

Here is what the first repeat looks like on my needle.  There are 7 repeats of 20 rounds and then a border that is added to the bottom.

Stay tuned to see what happens next.