Lace knitting and knitted lace

Posted on September 29, 2015 by knitigatingcircumstances

I am starting a new job this week. The rush to finish up everything at the old job, and the stress about starting up something new, means that my attentions have not been on knitting lately. Nevertheless, I’ve managed to accomplish a bit. I finished up the knitting on my Laelia cardigan (designed by Hanna Maciejewska) and gave it a wash. I had hoped to bring you modelled shots of the cardigan this past weekend, but that was not to be. I still have the finishing to go (ending off threads in lace!!!) and because of the delicacy of the fabric, I need to do this in a bright morning light when I have plenty of time to concentrate. This may not happen right away.

The yarn, Merino Silk Fingering by The Uncommon Thread, reacted beautifully to being washed, and the lace opened up without being stretched or pinned into place. Here is a sneak peak:

I’ve had a love/hate relationship with the lace in this one. I adore the way the lace patterns keep extending across the front and back of the cardigan to meet up at the back. (This, by the way, is a variation of the pattern, in which there is a separate laddered lace pattern between the repeats at the back. I had to fiddle just a bit with the stitch count to get it to work out this way. This isn’t possible with every size.) I think the “cascade” of lace that is produced is really pretty. But the lace pattern itself has always struck me as a bit fiddly. First of all, it combines both lace knitting and knitted lace. The former (and, to me at least, most common) consists of a lace pattern where every other row (usually the purl row) is knitted plain (or purled plain, as the case may be). Knitted lace, on the other hand, incorporates yarn overs and decreases on every row of the fabric – front and back. The lace pattern used in Laelia is a 20 row repeat of which 8 rows are knitted lace and the other 12 are lace knitting. This is a bit difficult to get used to, especially if you are not accustomed to incorporating a lace pattern on the purl row, where it is difficult to “read” the knitting. I found that I always kept the chart at hand, never feeling as if I had truly internalized the pattern, despite the many repeats.

The other fiddly bit has to do with the visual impact of the lace, which is a bit of an optical illusion. Hanna says on the Ravelry project page “Laelia is a beautiful subtropical orchid with petals that fan out into stars.” I found when knitting it that sometimes your mind sees the orchid shapes and sometimes not, depending on whether your eye is drawn to the petals, which are shaped by the decreases, or to the holes in the fabric, which are shaped by the yarn overs. Now that I’ve washed it, and the lace has opened up, I can see better what Hanna had in mind. It is definitely growing on me (perhaps because I am done with all the work of knitting it).

Hopefully, I will be able to bring you some modelled shots of this soon, especially as it is by now definitely autumn here, which means that I am yet again a season behind in my knitting. Alas.

In addition to the Laelia cardigan, I cast on for a new project. This one is intended to be a gift, and so it’s a surprise. After the fingering weight lace, all of this stockinette in DK weight is growing rapidly. One little photo shouldn’t give away the surprise:

I’ll tell you about the new job in another post, once I have settled in and have a chance to relax.

Just in time for autumn

Posted on September 17, 2015 by knitigatingcircumstances

I have finished knitting Sel Gris – a light, summery, linen tee – just in time for autumn. Never fear – this will give me motivation (and ammunition) for planning a sun-filled winter holiday. (One can only dream.)

I knit this as a test for Claudia Eisenkolb. She released the pattern a few days ago after a very successful and fun test knit. It was my first time participating in a test and it was interesting. I liked the intellectual challenge of helping the designer be as clear as possible, and I very much enjoyed the interchange with the other testers, all of them lovely and generous knitters.

The detail at the neck, together with the ribbed sleeves, give this tee just a little extra – it is cute and professional at the same time. I believe that this will be a great contribution to an office wardrobe and will lend just the right touch of femininity to a suit.

I followed the pattern almost exactly, making only the following slight modifications:

I made one extra set of waist decreases and bust increases,
I added 1 inch in length (before 1st waist decrease),
I picked up more stitches around the sleeve (94); thus I knit the body in a size Medium, but the sleeves were just under the size Large

I can’t help but notice that Claudia is designing up a storm right now; she has a bunch of test knits in progress, for some lovely designs. I am very tempted to sign up for another one, but I think I need to exercise some restraint.

Besides, I have only 30 more (albeit very long) rows of lace to go to finish my Laelia cardigan……

A better fit

Posted on September 6, 2015 by knitigatingcircumstances

Thank you to all for the thoughtful comments on my last post. I have not yet replied to them all, but I intend to. I can see that I struck a chord with many of you, who like me, tend to be conflicted about the trend towards longer patterns.

I have been busy with non-knitting matters lately, but am still managing to participate in a test knit for Claudia Eisenkolb. This is for a lovely linen tee-shirt with short sleeves and a pretty design feature at the neckline, which is called Sel Gris. I still have to knit the sleeves, but have finished the body:

You may recall that when I first cast this on, I encountered some serious (and laughable) gauge issues:

I had to rip and start over again – I went down both a needle size and a pattern size (to a Medium). This means that I now have about 4 inches of negative ease, which is not what I had intended. Nonetheless, I think I have managed a better fit this time around. It errs a bit on the snug side, but I am hoping that a good block will give it more ease and drape. The yarn, Shibui Linen, is not the easiest to work with, but I will wait until after I’ve blocked and worn it a few times to make any firm judgements. It does have a very rich hue, and makes a quite lovely, sheer fabric.

This is my first time doing a test knit. I am very impressed with the thoughtfulness and professionalism of both test knitters and designer; it is a very collaborative process. I am also left with a feeling that the other testers are all considerably faster than I am. The deadline for this is September 15, and I think that I shall make it (just), but most of the other testers whipped theirs out in days.