5.08.2011

I'm All Traditish!


Pattern:
"Swallowtail Shawl" by Evelyn A. Clark, available for free here
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace (100% single-ply merino)
Colorway: Oceanos



Plus: I made real, live lace! Estonian style. I'm glad I learned how to make nupps (apparently pronounced "noops" not "nuhps"). The first go round, I approached it like a regular bobble but was unable to p5 on the wrong side to close it up, resulting in sweaty, shaking hands and eventually broken yarn. The trick is, as far as I can tell, knit the increase 5 with fingers looser and sloppier than wet noodles. Then, on the way back, stab, wriggle, curse, and grunt until you shove your needle half a millimeter through all five and whisk that sucker through before it realizes you're winning. Repeat. Simple, right? It's worth it for the texture.



Delta:
While the semi-solid hand-dyed effect muddles the clarity of the stitch, it was probably a good choice for my first lace project. Though I don't see any glaring errors now, I lost count of how many times I fudged the stitches, increasing here, decreasing there, trying like hell to keep the overall graphic images aligned. Also, I started out really suffering on this project, working it on size 4 bamboo. It was so tight and sticky on the needle! I eventually switched up to a 5 on my Knit Picks harmony wood interchangeables, and the difference was PROFOUND. I guess lace of this sort just needs slick, big, and pointy. (hehehehe. I'm so mature.)



I'm sending this to my very glamorous aunt-in-law who is currently undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. I really hope she likes it.

1 comment:

  1. I love the way this looks in the yarn you chose. Beautiful. Found this post on nupps. It includes the Knitting Daily video that helped me to do nupps (currently on my third project with them and it works well). There is also a video of the method that uses a crochet hook. A lot of people on Ravelry have raved about that one. Thought I'd share:
    http://www.keep-on-knitting.com/knitting-nupps.html

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