Learning Curve

Wherein Our Heroine (You Remember Her, Right?) Indulges in a Photo Essay.

Yeah. So I've been knitting for a while. About 12 years, to think back on it. Some periods of hiatus, but never any serious "How the heck did I used to do this?" moments. So I wasn't quite prepared for relearning the skill, especially as I had been rather prolific of late.

What kicked my ass? Lace. "But you've just done lace!" I hear my five regular readers cry. Yes. But not with laceweight yarn. This is a different thing.

I decided to start slow and easy - the "Airy Scarf" in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. No variation in the actual lacey bits (just k2tog/yo), what could be simpler?

I cast on and frogged three times, I think. No lace at that point. Maybe three rows of garter stitch. Issue? Thread, people. Not yarn. Thread. For you non-knitters, imagine saying to yourself, "I cross the street every day - how different could wading through a river of chest-deep water be?" Yeah. Like that.

Despite being a woeful quitter at times, for some reason I persevered here. I also modified the pattern (yeah. I misread it. Yeah, I'm not sure it could be simpler. So what?). I have read that lace looks like "boiled ass" prior to blocking. With this, I can concur, even when the yarn itself is a soft and gauzy silk alpaca:

With hope, I plunged it into a bath of Eucalan:

Whereupon it looked as pathetic as a kitten in a flea bath.

Its emergence from the bath was similarly pitiable:

Upon being stretched upon the blocking wires, crimes of gauge were discovered (not to mention, a heretofore-unheard-of tight cast-off edge). Like I said, it's as if I had just learned the skill.

I also discovered that the blocking wire kit had it in for me.

Oh, I do. Trust me, I do.

Posted: Friday - June 02, 2006 at 09:22 PM | |