Distraction

I love Knit Alongs (or for the Acronym-philes out there, KALs). I love them with my whole heart. I especially love the Knit Alongs in the beginning lace knitters group on Ravelry. No matter how many WIPs i have on the go, i seem to manage to get sucked into the current KAL, buying more yarn and casting on yet another project. I even bought new needles and a new book for this one. Very naughty.

I got dragged into this KAL with good reason. This year in the 100th anniversary of the birth of our knitting herione, Elizabeth Zimmerman and the KAL pattern is a commemorative shawl (tablecloth for me) based on the PI shawl technique from the Knitters Almanac called "Camping".

The construction is wonderful and the pattern beautiful. It's my first venture into knitting with laceweight and all is going well so far. I'm using the gorgrous Knit Picks Gloss Lace i got from Great British Yarns.

Most people in the KAL have opted to knit the half-circle version, but i had visions of this bright turquoise table cloth brightening up my living room and i fell for the full circle like i was sucker punched.

I'm now up to the 576 stitch round and the pattern is coming along slow but steady. The next section might just take until the end of September if i consider how slow the progress was on the slanting twigs section. The good news is that i reckon i'll have at least one skein of this gorgeous turquoise yarn left over. Enough to make a delightful little treat for myself.

I can't wait to finish this but i already feel like i'm cheating on my other WIPs. Jim's Kilt Hose are in the corner, looking at me with sorrowful eyes, and i never was one to resist some scottish charm. Looks like it's back to boring 5 x 1 rib tonight. Yay.

Beginning with Lace

When i first got back into knitting, you might be surprised to know that it wasn't because i wasn't seduced by fantastic socks, or scrumptious hats or even the thought of having my very own handknit collection of cardigans.

No. I hankered after lace. Ever the unconventional one, the very first thing i knit when i started again was the checkerboard lace scarf by Whitney Van Nes over at Purl Bee. It's not hugely complicated but it's not what i'd call a beginner pattern either. I jumped straight in, giving no real thought to difficulty and trudged through it.

I'll be honest, i didn't learn much from it. I didn't understand about left and right leaning decreases. All i understood was that a yarn over created a hole.

Since then i joined the Beginning Lace Knitters group over on Ravelry and started understanding the relevance of the stitches i knitted and how they looked in patterns.

Last week i cast on for my first KAL (knit along) with the group and finished Summer Flies on Monday night. Last night i gave it a gentle wash in the machine and it's now wet blocking in the back bedroom.

I'm so pleased with it. I didn't strictly stick to the pattern (but then i rarely do, like i said, unconventional). I didn't do the ruffle edge or the picot bind-off and i intend to add fringe. Afterall, what is a neckerchief without fringe?

So there's my guilty lace secret, laid out on the table. What was it that seduced you into the dark needle arts?