MondayLunchCrew

The transition to your first lace project is very interesting and long.*

I had wanted to try it when I’ve been knitting for about 2 years and decided to start my first lace project on an airplane since it was a small project. (Go ahead, feel free to laugh as much as you want. I laugh now when I think about it, what was I thinking??). Let’s just say that it was put down before I started. I could barely see, the yarn was hard to work with, I had trouble moving the yarn on the needles (short blunt bamboo straight needles), and I wasn’t even getting to the lace pattern yet. it was scary. It was a disaster. [Try 1]

I then put the idea of lace away until this past year, after many years have past.

I tried again. I cast on, knit, get to pattern, curse out my needles. (now using Addi circulars, but couldn’t k2tog or k3tog for shit).

Rip. tangle, exclamations, cut. Now I give up. I declare it impossible with the needles I had. [Try 2]

Time passes.

Try again, cast on, knit, now with Addi circular lace needles. I can execute the stitches but I lost count, I got confused. Aggravation set in.

Rip, tangle, exclamations, cut.[Try 3]

Give up, put away for a while.

Finally, today, success. [Try 4]

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about lace, and am mentally ready for the challenge.

I sit at my kitchen table. I’ve marked my pattern repeats. I’ve got out the stitch markers so I can mark the pattern repeats. I cast on, I knit, one row, the next, pattern is kicking in. Here and there, I mess up a stitch or two; but they are far and few between and I fudge them. Whatever. I’m learning.

I keep going. The repeats in pattern in the lace is more challenging and has 4 rows of patterns. I use different colour markers to denote what row I’m on. I keep knitting and knitting, carefully saying the stitches as I go along. Knit, Knit, Knit, Pass marker, yarn over, slip, knit 1, pass yarn over, (shorted to slip, knit pass later on…), …. knit 2 together (knit 2), yarn over, knit 2 together, yarn over, … etc etc.

Each stitch instruction starts to get an abbreviation, and I’m starting to memorize the lace pattern.

It’s mentally challenging as I have to really focus. The stitch execution needs some getting used to. But for now, the technicalities are no longer keeping me away from it. The lace pattern seems to force me to knit quicker, faster than I would with stockinette. Mostly because I need to finish a pattern repeat before I can put it down.

No, I’m not yet able to see the stitches and I can’t read my lace yet. But it’s just my first day. I’ve told myself not to worry about the mistakes if they are small. It’s part of the learning process. I know I will have to learn to handle ripping, knitting back, picking up, fixing mistakes, etc. etc. But I’m taking it one bit at a time. No point in rushing the lessons. I’m happy enough that I’ve got about a inch of knitting done and am anxious to keep going. That’s a great sign.

* Psst, the passing time duration of my lace adventures: about 5 years!

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