The Americans have a phrase ...... suck it up. I'm not even going to pretend to know where it comes from, but it very neatly describes my PotW knitting activity today.
Having heeded the advice of others and convinced myself to keep to the pattern's specs, I read mid-week Little.Yellow.Different.Better's post, and was inspired to add another eight repeats to the PotW, making a total of 42 repeats. Then I did the math [another fabulous phrase from across the pond] for picking up the additional stitches and marked the long rows into eights to make the whole exercise easier. Today, I sucked it up, and picked up the stitches for the border. I am embarrassed to admit that the calculation and picking up took far, far longer than the couple of hours I had anticipated, and thank goodness it was a good telly day! (double Grey's Anatomy, CSIs New York, Miami and Vegas - just some of what accompanied me on this journey), and yet it still isn't finished, since the last part involves knitting from the original, provisional cast on, and I am too nervous to do this in poor light (it now being close to midnight). I have an absolute horror of removing the waste yarn, the anchor of the entire project, and watching all the stitches unravelling.
So, no pictures today because it's too dark now, and besides, it doesn't look that pretty right now anyway.
For one reason or another, it's been an extemely stressful week at work, and I wouldn't have survived if not for some levity in the evenings. On Monday, I joined Gerard, Craig, and Esther to take part in the record-breaking largest coconut orchestra performance in Trafalgar Square. A completely ridiculous endeavour, and yet huge fun, followed by the most sublime Thai dinner.
On Thursday, I made it to film night at I Knit London to see A Chorus Line. Ah, there were tears, some singing, some wine.......... some sewing up of those ruddy blue squares for Knit a River. I even managed to bring a couple of bags of squares home with me to sew up.
Also coming home with me were the latest Vogue Knitting and Rowan 41. Having looked at VK properly this weekend, I'm none too impressed; the patterns are dowdy and the models and styling belong to the eighties. As for Rowan 41, the styling is beautiful, and I love lots of the designs, but realistically there's only one which I want to add to my to do list: Maris in Rowan Calmer, a lovely spring/summer cardigan. Trouble is, I am not a big fan of knitting with cotton, although I've seen lots of knitbloggers wax lyrical about Calmer. Anyway, looking at all the spring designs and with PotW's end in sight, I'm also inclined to start Debbie Bliss's ribbon-edged cardigan again (still love, love that pattern).
Well I missed film night at I Knit London, but I did make it to Wednesday night's meet at the Crown and Two Chairmen, where I cast on Miss Lambert's shawl from VLT, using my new lace Addis and parcel string for waste yarn. Alas, the combination of dark yarn, chatting and alcohol meant for an unsuccessful start, and I spent most of the evening casting on again and again and again..... until I gave up and worked on my Lucia socks instead, which incidentally are no longer going to be Hedera, since the yarn is too variegated for the lacy pattern. Anyway, an excellent evening was enjoyed by all, with sausage, egg and rhubarb (!) and as ever, Craig has written up an entertaining account of it here.
This weekend, I have been working on PotW, and to my surprise, have completed the centre panel's 34 repeats. In the photo, it is at 33 repeats and measures 12" across and approximately 44" long. I have since added the final repeat and have put it aside to think about what to do next. I'm really tempted to make it longer, but then I remind myself that it will never be wide enough for a wrap, so is it worth the effort? Didn't I say before that I was going to keep to the pattern's specifications, so that I could use it as a yardstick [or should that be yarnstick?]. To be honest, I'm a bit nervous about attaching the border, so I'll probably end up keeping to the specs this time to get a feel for how it works, and save the additional rows and stitches and calculations for PotW no 2. [The light was not very good today, that sheet is actually white, not grey.]
Ooo, ooh, look what I came home to last night. Addi Turbo Lace needles, FOUR sets of them.
[Ok, so it's not exactly a crock of gold, but it was late when I got home, and I was tired and depressed and sad, and none of these feelings were related, so I was all kinds of down and it was a welcome little bit of cheer. Package at door, yay! New needles, yay! Addi Turbo Lace, yay! Ya gotta find the happy where you can.]
Of course, I opened a set to examine the needles and cable, but didn't test them, so can't comment on them yet. I don't think I'll swap the straights on PotW mid-project, but I will probably use the Addis on my next lace project, which by the way, I'm going to have to start pretty soon. Remember I wanted to knit a shawl for a friend of mine last year? Well, her wedding came, no shawl. A milestone birthday came, um.... no shawl. Today, she resigned from her job for a change of direction. Seriously, I have to knit that shawl!
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Edited to add: Oops, forgot to say that I ordered the needles from Colorsong Yarn in the US, and received them in just over a week. Fantastic service and no shipping costs.
For a few weeks now, I Knit London have been running a film night, and this week I finally managed to make it. Well, I made it to the shop, but unfortunately with only twenty minutes of the film to go. Next week's showing will be Footloose, which I went to see in the summer of 1984, celebrating the end of A' levels. It's not a film that ranks in my list of favourites, but of course, if I come across it on the telly, invariably I find myself singing along and tapping my foot, watching to the very end, remembering a [my own] more innocent time.
Anyway, as I said, I didn't get to see much of the film, but afterwards, it was nice to catch up with Gerard and Craig, who I hadn't seen since an IKL meet in Alibi last month. I also had a long look around the shop. The stock has really grown since I was last there. Gerard showed me some lovely cashmere just in, I forget the name, but remember it was from Devon. Anyway, if you haven't been there for a while, or at all (!), go pay the boys a visit, take your knitting and sit on the Chesterfield. It is a real knitters' haven.
Whilst there, I bought some DPNs. I've been using 2.75mm Pony circulars for my current on-the-go sock, and although the experience hasn't been as bad as with the lace, it still makes for uncomfortable knitting, but now with my DPNs, at least I have managed to get as far as finishing the rib.
I also bought some more Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Tropical Storm, this time for me, I think. Sorry for the useless picture; my laptop which I use to store my images, has died on me, and I'm using my work laptop, which, given that I work in the glamourous world of accountancy, unsurprisingly does not have sophisticated photo imaging software on it.
In other news, I have turned the heel on each of the stripy socks, and am shaping the gusset on one, and working the foot of the other. As for the Print o' the Wave, I initially thought I would work one 12-row repeat every night, the reality is that I tend to leave it to the long, bright weekend hours. I am now up to 20 out of 34 repeats in the centre panel. No pictures to show on either of these projects, since they just look longer than the last time.
Everybody cut footloose!
So I mentioned that I was knitting Eunny Jang’s Print o’ the Wave stole. This is a Big Deal. For the longest time, I have wanted to knit this, I’ve googled and visited every mention of PotW on the world wide web, followed the Yahoo Groups knitalong and more recently, the French knitalong. [Hey Eunny, if ever you need someone to catalogue all the references, I’m your gal. Got 'em all right here.]So, why did it take so long to start? Well, for one thing, yarn choice was particularly difficult. I’d never used laceweight before and didn’t know what qualities to look for, other than being, um, fine. After much research on blogs and forums, I finally settled on Jaggerspun Zephyr, and early in the new year, four balls of Zephyr in plum and ruby arrived at my door.
Then there were gauge issues. Following general wisdom, I tried bamboo circulars, but the 3.5mm Addis produced a too holey fabric, and the 3.25mm Ponys produced something not very different and in addition were simply dreadful to use. The join between cable and needle is not suited for the combination of tight tension and fine yarn, and I had to ensure at all times, that the stitches remained on the needles. If a stitch moved onto the cable, there was no way I could get it back onto the needle again, and the piece was wasted. In addition, I felt that bamboos produced a looser tension than my norm, and I like the knitted bits in lace to be dense, not holey (if that makes sense). In the end I used 3.25mm metal straights, which so far have proved to be the best solution all round. Actually, I am awaiting delivery of some Addi Turbos in 3.25mm, and yesterday I ordered 3 sets of the new Addi Lace circulars in 3.0mm, 3.25mm and 3.5mm from Colorsong, but I prefer straights, so will probably stick with them for this project.
Another challenge was the provisional cast-on. I read Eunny’s lace tutorials, but to be honest, they made me more anxious about gauge. Real, practical help came from the ever fabulous KnittingHelp.com, and due to the number of times I had to cast on for this project, I did indeed get some real practice.
In the midst of all this research and experimentation, there was Victorian Lace Today. As soon as I heard about this wonderful book and its emphasis on rectangular shawls and wraps, I put off starting PotW until I could see VLT for myself. As it turned out, it took four months till I got my own copy, yep count 'em, one, two, three, FOUR months, and yes, as soon as it arrived, I swatched for a couple of the patterns. However, in the end I decided that the Zephyr was probably best used for the PotW. [I do love VLT and have already earmarked two designs for future projects, hence the order for more Addis Turbos and Lace.]
So, a couple of weeks ago, I cast on and started again in earnest. The first few repeats were, in a nutshell, a nightmare. Reading from a chart for the first time, using such a fine yarn for the first time, the ill-advised combination of metal needles and tiny stitches, all this conspired to make the first few repeats a slow and painful experience, with much ripping and reknitting and swearing. Usually, I would know at the end of the row if I had made a mistake, but there were also occasions when I would have to unknit a few rows of small, tight sk2pos. Each time I reached the end of the row with the correct pattern and number of stitches, the relief was overwhelming. In short, I hated every moment, and often questioned my sanity for persisting.
Happily, that was all part of the learning experience, and soon I began to have a "feel" for the pattern and see where a stitch was incorrectly placed. My errors became fewer and more quickly rectified, and as my confidence has grown, so have the repeats got easier and quicker. The picture to the left, taken earlier this afternoon, is mostly the result of two weekends' work. This is the centre panel; there is a border to be attached as well, and I understand that blocking transforms lace knitting, but clearly, not even an agressive blocking is going to render this baby into anything other than a wide scarf. (For perspective, the needle is 14" long). When casting on this final version, I decided to stick to the number of stitches as specified in the pattern, even though I knew that it would turn out narrower and shorter. Since I am so new to laceweight, I thought I would knit this as specified so that the finished object could serve as my yardstick for future lace projects, a reference point to calculate measurements and modifications.
Although I am now quite familiar with the pattern and am speeding along, I still need to concentrate, and I can't work on it without good lighting. So, for mindless knitting there are the stripey socks, and this is what they looked like earlier this afternoon. I'm trying to do both socks moreorless at the same time, ie at each turning point on the first sock, I'll stop and catch up on the second.
In London, we have been blessed this Easter with unusually fine weather with constant sunshine, and I have had a lovely and relaxed three days so far shutting out the world and just knitting, internet surfing and lots of telly. Tomorrow, Monday, is the last day of this long weekend, and I will probably have to eshew the knitting to focus on some essential life stuff. Pah. Wishing you all a very happy
Easter, and I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.
