Pssst...I've got a secret
Lace is not hard! If you are reading my blog, chances are you know that I am a lace addict. Completely and totally addicted. I'm not by nature a daredevil, not where my life is concerned anyway. I've never gotten past an intermediate ski slope and I actually prefer nice long green runs. Knitting, however, is a different story. I will try just about anything when it comes to knitting. I've found that a lot of it is actually deceptively simple. Things that look complicated can actually be really easy. Okay, there are some patterns that are not easy by any stretch of the imagination, but much of the stuff that people fear is actually easy.
Take my friend from the weekly Sit 'N' Knit. She refuses to try lace. She says that she can't do it. Sunday, she was wearing a poncho she made and it had a bit of simple lace around the neck. I told her she was ready to try lace and she just looked at me.
"Your poncho has lace."
"What this? This is just yarn over and knit two together."
I looked at her and smiled. "What do you think lace is?"
"But what about all the fancy stuff that you do."
There is a little more to it, of course, to get the "fancy stuff", but if you can knit, you aren't far from being able to do simple lace. Get yourself some worsted weight cotton and size 6 needles and cast on 40 stitches. Knit garter stitch for 5 rows or so.
Pattern:
Row 1: K5, *yo, K2tog, repeat from * to last 5 stitches, K5
Row 2: K5, purl to last 5, K5
Row 3: K5, *K2tog, yo, repeat from * to last 5 stitches, K5
Row 4: Repeat row 2
Repeat pattern rows until it's about a square and end with five garter stitch rows. You have a nice lacy dishcloth.
Now, I'm not saying you have to love lace as much as I do. But it's not something you should fear. What's the worst that can happen? So you have to frog a bit. It's not like you'll have to go down a ski slope on your butt (or sliding head first) if you get in over your head.
Take my friend from the weekly Sit 'N' Knit. She refuses to try lace. She says that she can't do it. Sunday, she was wearing a poncho she made and it had a bit of simple lace around the neck. I told her she was ready to try lace and she just looked at me.
"Your poncho has lace."
"What this? This is just yarn over and knit two together."
I looked at her and smiled. "What do you think lace is?"
"But what about all the fancy stuff that you do."
There is a little more to it, of course, to get the "fancy stuff", but if you can knit, you aren't far from being able to do simple lace. Get yourself some worsted weight cotton and size 6 needles and cast on 40 stitches. Knit garter stitch for 5 rows or so.
Pattern:
Row 1: K5, *yo, K2tog, repeat from * to last 5 stitches, K5
Row 2: K5, purl to last 5, K5
Row 3: K5, *K2tog, yo, repeat from * to last 5 stitches, K5
Row 4: Repeat row 2
Repeat pattern rows until it's about a square and end with five garter stitch rows. You have a nice lacy dishcloth.
Now, I'm not saying you have to love lace as much as I do. But it's not something you should fear. What's the worst that can happen? So you have to frog a bit. It's not like you'll have to go down a ski slope on your butt (or sliding head first) if you get in over your head.
posted by Alison at 3:53 PM
2 Comments:
Baaaaad things can happen!! Just kidding. I had a bad experience trying to knit a Kiri. At the time, I didn't use lifelines and didn't know how to undo my SSK's and wound up with a huge mess about 40 rows in. You're right, though, about not fearing it. Now that I actually know how to undo the SSK (and know about lifelines!!) I would like to give it another try, since I'm enamored with lace. You definitely are an adventurous knitter, though with your fair isle and lace. Baby steps for me- I'll start with your dishcloth and see how it goes. :-)
LOL -- I like your description! But Alianne, you are NOT supposed to tell people that lace is easy! It's a secret!! We don't want everyone and her dog to be knitting lace! You have to tell everyone how hard it is, and that you have to concentrate ALL the time, and that your head hurts when you do it for any length of time! You are not a very good member of the lace-knitting community!! Hehehehee
But you are right of course! I love doing lace; one of the joys of knitting, I think. And those gloves are perfect! I love that little finger too -- excellent reason, and very sensible too! I need to make myself a pair.. it is easy too, isn't it?
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