Has it really been a MONTH since I’ve updated my knitting blog? Sheesh. All this time, I’ve been slaving away on my baby blanket for my husband’s co-worker. You’d think by now that I’d have knit my way to the Brooklyn Bridge and back again, right?
And you would be wrong.
Okay, okay — to be truthful, all this time I’ve been knitting and then tinking and then knitting again. So far, only about 90 rows. (Now, just another zillion to go.) But if no ripping out had been required, I’d have looooooooong ago been finished. I’ve realized that, although I love the look of lace and love being able to say, “Hey, I made that,” I’m too scattered and spread too thin right now to have a project that requires paying close attention to what I’m doing. Only the fact that I put stitch markers between the pattern repeats has kept me from pitching the knitting into a corner when I discover yet another glitch; with the markers in place to alert me to where a repeat SHOULD be ending, at least I seldom go more than a row or two before I discover a problem. (It’s just the knit rows that have the pattern; the purl rows are just — thank God — straight purling.) If anyone has any advice applicable to “distracted lace knitting,” I’m all ears. (Sorry, “pay attention” has already occurred to me.)
I spent all of last night’s Memphis Knitting Guild meeting just tinking out four rows. (Yes, I know you don’t have to remove the whole rows to fix a problem — I’ve fixed several without doing that — but I was making a bigger mess just trying to do a spot repair, in this case.) But progress is progress, right? I imagine this blanket will make a nice gift for this baby sometime, God willing, within the next month. And if not, she can just use it to play with her dolls when she is older and I finally finish it. ;o)
Ignore the colors in the photo above, by the way — the ghastly lighting in my office is making this clear lavendar look all yellowy. I’ll try to put up a better photo later on. I do like the fern lace pattern, though. The ivory edging you see is a provisional cast-on (my first). My learning experience there was to make sure to really secure it; it partially unravelled at first. I have plans to make a cute edging on this, finding something appropriate from my copy of Nicky Epstein’s Knitting on the Edge, a book I’ve not used previously as anything other than an absorbent surface to catch my drool when I’m looking at all its lovely designs. So, obviously, this baby blankie is a TOTAL experiment for me.
This size 4-needle and sportweight yarn approach to afghan making was not well thought out, though — duh. I just randomly picked a pretty Fern Lace pattern from Claire Crompton’s excellent book, The Knitter’s Bible, and set to work with some soft lavendar acrylic. Mental note: Next time I make an afghan, use a bulkier weight yarn and bigger needles.
Or just make booties or a lace bonnet — they’re cute too!
[Update: I eventually abandoned this project, sadly. I know -- I feel so guilty! But I wasn't enjoying knitting it, so I put it aside and just bought the co-worker a present. Maybe for her next baby!]
Technorati Tags: lace knitting, knit lace, baby blanket, baby afghan, baby knitting, fern lace, Claire Crompton, Knitter’s Bible, knitblog, LoopyKnits.com, Carolyn Bahm
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