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

Re: The pebble considers voting :)

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Yup, you get more votes than other people do. :) The ambivalence isn't yet that it isn't fun (though if I end up snagging it on the tote bag zipper a lot, I may change my mind there, at which point I will give up on it), it's that I am worried that it will not be as pretty as it would be if it was in a different yarn. But I also don't trust my ability to judge based on a teeny sample (since lace pretty much always looks ugly until it's finished and blocked).

Still, if if you think it's likely to be a Worthy Project, I can always give you a warranty that if it gets snagged to death on things, I'll make a different thing to replace it. :)

Re: The pebble considers voting :)

[desireearmfeldt]

Well, I'm perpetually mystified by the Miracle Of Blocking... :)

To my eye, the picture on the red background looks very pretty in small-size, and more like lots-of-hole-with-not-so-much-yarn in closeup. I'm not sure what that says about the final product...perhaps it may be best viewed from some distance? :)

Re: The pebble considers voting :)

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's normal. :) Here's an example of the Aeolian shawl that greyautumnrain mentions below, in white - it's a slightly heavier yarn, but the needles are also larger, so it's similar scale.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8447160@N07/3657409790/in/photostream/

Compare the far-away and closeup; once you get into real closeup, it just looks like loops and holes.
(Of course, when making it, it's always close up, which is probably why I'm fussing.)