Mossy Cottage Knits

We Do This Why?

The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” socks are lying inertly by the wayside as I half-heartedly engage in some Olympic knitting. “Half-heartedly” because I never signed up for any of the various and competing incarnations of Olympic knitting events but am still picking away at a project (on the days when I remember not to leave the pattern at work).

Despite the fact that, yonks ago, I was able to knit a Faina scarf—with its astounding 78-row lace repeat—with nary a hiccup…

...fine lace knitting has been my bête noire ever since. I’ve made my peace with the fact that I can’t knit a stranded sock in the round; couldn’t nine years ago, couldn’t four years ago, can’t now. So be it. But lace-knitting? I’ve done it! Successfully! And yet, the last time I tried it I threw the project across the bedroom, got out of bed, and stomped on it. A low point in my knitting history.

So, in keeping with the Olympic-knitting theme of challenging oneself, lace knitting it was, the Flower Basket shawl specifically, in part because I already had the pattern (well, part of the pattern; there’s an insert that goes with it that’s gone AWOL. Dunno what I’m going to do 'bout that.) and in part because I’m cheesed by how many knitting cohorts have churned it out, seemingly as easily as one would knit a garter-stitch dishcloth, while I have been reduced to petulant, late-night stomping.

Things are going well-ish if not fast-ish. First, I decided to use a light but still somehow horsey worsted in combo with equally horsey needles to better see the pattern and to prevent the stitches from falling off the needles So. Damn. Often. The end result was fabric thick enough and stiff enough to be used as armor, the Kevlar of lace, if you will. Well-nigh unbendable. Knitting chums who saw this first attempt tried to be diplomatic and encouraging but couldn’t maintain eye contact for more than a second. Very telling. Then they would go all, “Yeah. Sorry. Don’t want to hurt your feelings but that’s some damn ugly knitting.” And we would have a giggle.

So, at Madrona I went in search of a replacement for the horsey yarn and found some lovely lightly variegated laceweight in green tones, from a pale lime to a dark pine. I would love to tell you the manufacturer, fiber content and colorway but therein lies a tale. And you know me and tales.

The yarn comes in a skein of 1050 yards. As much as I enjoy winding yarn by hand, with a mofo as big as that, I would’ve had to change my Olympic goal from “finish knitting a Flower Basket shawl” to “wind the yarn for a Flower Basket shawl,” a big come down. Fortunately, Elaine offered me the use of her swift and winder, wherein lies a story of its own.

For the most part, the swift and winder worked well except every so often the spool and yarn cake would become disconnected from the winder and get catapulted forcefully across the room. Because it was being wound rapidly in a circular motion, and all sorts of G-forces and physical laws were in play, it was anyone’s guess which direction it would go. Up, down, left, right. Pretty funny. I did finally get it wound up without concussing Elaine or any of her pets, but the result looked like the yarn cake equivalent of Quasimodo, sort of squashed, twisted and hump-backed. Still, I estimate Elaine had saved me a good five hours of winding time so I thank her for that.

Back to the main side story and why I can’t tell you anything about the yarn. In order to wind the yarn, I took the label off but left it at Elaine’s by mistake. When I emailed her to ask her to hold on to it, she said she had found something label-like but it had been washed in the water bowl by one of the cats. So, tomorrow night, when I visit, I shall see what information I can glean from it. I suspect it will look something like 10 0 y rds, dy lo nu ber 2 65, col r g een, lac wei  t.

Long story long, I’m pleased to say I am actually churning out a Flower Basket Shawl. Have finished the 34 foundation rows and am 1.5 repeats into the 10-row section you knit over and over until you have a shawl the size you want. I figure it took me 1.5 years to finish my last Olympic project; surely I can do better than that. Can I get an “amen?!”

Posted by Ryan at February 18, 2010 12:04 PM