Ambivalent Knitting Project

[firstfrost]

I decided that I don't like having to dash around in a hurry to figure out what new project to start on my way to somewhere that I meant to bring my knitting, so I've started three projects:

• The Very Portable Project, a red sock (well, two red socks), with the same mesh pattern as the Blue Stockings for desireearmfeldt
• The Somewhat Portable Project, a twisted-stripes scarf for shumashi (it involves six balls of yarn, so it's a larger tote bag, but it's mindless enough to knit during a run or while watching TV elsewhere).
• The Not Portable Project, the Swan Lake shawl.

It's the last one that I'm ambivalent about. I really love the pattern, which has one side geometric and one side feathery-wing (though that part really sounds more like the Six Swan Princes story, with the prince who has one swan wing and one arm). And I've had this fine laceweight/cobweb yarn for years, since I saw it at Woolcott after I had had such trouble finding laceweight yarn for the Rose of England tablecloths (Patternworks assured me that the Cotton Fine replacement was just as good as Sea Island Cotton, but in retrospect, I think they were confused.) Who knew that in this brave new future, the Internet would supply such an amazing variety of yarn?

Unfortunately, I am a little suspicious that it may be too cobwebby. Here's my first draft (black background), on size 4 needles, and my second draft (red background), on size 3. There are beads along the edge, but they're tough to see. The lace on the size 4s is really too loose; with the size 3s, you can see the pattern (mostly), but I worry that it's still too open. Plus, the yarn is very slippery, so it will be very prone to snagging and pulling out a big loop. I've always wanted to make something in cobweb lace - it'd be nearly weightless, and one could do the trick of pulling the whole thing through a ring. But "I've always thought it would be cool to make one of these" is not the same thing as "this would be a good final result."

(Plus, my theory was that of my three lace projects shawls, this would be the one for desireearmfeldt; tallou got the Hanami stole, and I wore the Pacific Islands to rifmeister's prom party. (Both of those are "laceweight" rather than "cobweb", as was the recent Lyra for twe and you can see that even blocked out, the non-hole parts of the fabric is a little more filled in.) Where was I going with this thought? Oh, right, I also suspect that Andrea may appreciate "adds a layer of warmth" more than "weightless gossamer.")

Dither dither.

Comments

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Oh, now I'm imagining a lace shawl for mjperson in Astrophysicist! :) I bet he wouldn't wear it, though.

The honeyed hibiscus is pretty - I'd be willing to trade for that! Or, you could do the trick twe did, and loan me yarn to make something in it that you wanted (since I enjoy knitting lace more than I actually *need* a lot of lace...)

[mathhobbit.livejournal.com]

Maybe an astrophysicist ascot?

[desireearmfeldt]

Or a vest!

Tempting Offer

[greyautumnrain.livejournal.com]

Wow, if you're willing to turn my silk lace into finished product for me, that is a totally tempting offer, since I have the opposite problem of having a lot more use for lace than I get pleasure in knitting it. In particular, large silk shawls like say the super-large size of Aeolian would be of use to me. If you want to do that with any of my stashed silk lace, just grab the skein(s) some Tuesday. My only parameters on that is that larger is better and both triangles and wide rectangles work for me.

Re: Tempting Offer

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

I just put the Aeolian on the list of things I want to make - I'd love to do that! (It looks like one Sundara lace skein is just enough for the large, but it looks pretty close. On the other hand, there's an alternate edging that uses a bit less, which would definitely fit in one skein, so careful weighing should be able to make it work out either way.)