Dainty Bess Progress

Here is my progress thus far on Dainty Bess since the previous post:

Each section is 20 rows, and I have completed 4 of those (as well as 6 in the next repeat. I don't know if I have done 3 repeats, or if it is 4 (is it doing one set of 20 rows and 3 repeats, or do you count the first one as well?).

I took this picture at about 6:30pm tonight, so you see a bit of the sun shining through the deck and the tree in back of it. You can also faintly see the white thread I'm using as life lines. Though to be honest, I haven't used them yet. I have mistakes in there but I am not good at lace yet, so I have absolutely no idea where they are - even if I'm still on the same line. I know there are tons of experienced lace knitters out there who probably look at it and say "Boy, there is yet another mistake! Why on earth did she not tink back or rip back and fix it?" Well, I am just going to let my inexperience speak for itself on this one I'm afraid. I am not giving this away, since it's my first piece of real lace, so if people see the mistakes in it they will just have to deal with it LOL!

Here is another closeup of the lace that doesn't look like anything yet. I'm anxious to get it completed for Amazing Lace, and to see how it looks after it is all blocked.

I do have one question that I am hoping someone can answer for me. When using a circular needle and knitting lace (or anything for that matter), do you hold the needles so that the item you are knitting hangs in through the loop and the loop on the front, or do you have the knitting over the front and the loop hanging in the back? Does it even matter? When I first started knitting this, I was holding it so the lace was hanging in the loop and the loop was on the front, but about 10 rows or so ago, I changed to the other way. I'm not sure if I am seeing any difference or not and I just wanted to know the correct way to hold the circular needles (don't want a disaster like with my first pair of socks and holding the dpn's wrong).

I also bought some Paton's Grace yarn today for the Reid sweater for my friend's daughter. It's not the same colour as the Knit Picks Shine though. I was holding the two together, and Shine is a little bigger than Grace, but not by a whole lot. I think what I will do is at least finish the back of Reid and block it. That way I can see if it's going to look remotely like it should. If not I have the Grace to do it in. Though I'm thinking if it looks half decent anyway, I just might finish it up with the Shine and use the Grace to make one in a smaller size...we'll see. I haven't worked on Reid since my last post because I wanted to mull over what I should do with it. And also I wanted to work on the Dainty Bess as it is a quicker knit.

Off to go work on my lace! Happy knitting, and don't forget to sign up for the Knittin' Mittens KAL (leave a comment or email me)!

Holey Knitting Batman!

Note the way I spelled holey...so that should be an indication that I am talking about lace knitting! Yes, I have caved into the lace craze.

To be honest, I absollutely love the look of lace and I really admire those who can knit it so beautifully (and seemingly so quickly too). I have a total fear of lace - well, in knitting it. I don't know why but I just do.

Maybe this is the reason why I fear it... this my friends, is Reid from Knitty. It is so not looking like lace is it? I also goofed up a couple of places - but I have absolutely no clue where so I can't even rip back to it.

I'm using Knit Picks Shine Sport on size 3.50 mm needles, and as I said, it is not looking like lace to me. It started off with some pretty good diagonal diamond shape thingys, but after the first 16 rows somehow that stopped (I'm thinking it is somewhere around the second repeat that I made the goof ups). You can sort of see the diamond shapes if you look at it a certain way, but not as clearly. I am afraid that if I go up a needles size or two (to get the lace look) I will run out of yarn and if I order more, it won't be the same dye lot. I really don't know what to do except frog it and get a different yarn...I was trying to avoid the yarn called for in the pattern because I saw that it was hand wash and I don't think my friend would enjoy that (the sweater is for her daughter).

Ok. Here is where I conquored my fear of knitting lace. I started the Dainty Bess scarf (the green one) from the Elizabeth I patterns from Knit Picks and have finished the first 20 rows, about to start the first repeat - or is that the second?

The yarn is Alpaca Cloud in the Tidepool colourway on size 3.25 mm circular needles. I've not knit with something so fine, so that's a bit of a challenge.

It's looking like a loosely knit blob at present time but in some ways I can see a bit of a pattern, though mostly I don't. I am hoping that when I have finished it and blocked it that the pattern will show up better. In the picture given with the pattern, it looks like the yarn they used was a little thicker though and the pattern just jumps right out at you.

Oh, and this is also what I've accomplished for the Amazing Lace...not much I know, but I feared the lace and also I had to cut way back on my knitting this summer because of carpal tunnel. But, I've at least got some lace to show for it. Maybe I'll be really adventurous and get it all done by the closing date, September 1.

I guess I've got a lot to learn about lace knitting. Oh, and I do have a thread run through for a life line in case I mess up and have to rip back.

Also, for anyone wanting to join the Knittin' Mittens KAL, you still can. There are only about six of us so far, and all knitters are welcome. Click here to go to the Knittin' Mittens blog.

Starting a KAL?

Ok, so I want to start a KAL (a knit along). I've been thinking about it for awhile now. There are tons out there, but I want to have one. I'm selfish like that! LOL!

I'm not entirely sure of what to do or how to start it though. I also can't afford to supply prizes, so maybe there would be others willing to donate them. I also need to work through the little details of things like how long it will last, is it a one item per month (like the Sock a Month KAL does), is it a knit as many as you can each month, etc.

If anyone has experience with this sort of thing, maybe you can give me pointers in the comment section. Also, if there is anyone who is willing to donate prizes that would be fabulous too - yarn, stitch markers, or whatever.

I am also thinking of creating a blog for it so that all the members of the KAL will have access and can post pics of their completed items. That might be easier to do than have people post comments or send emails with links to their blogs for me to check out and post here. I would also need buttons made (I am not good at that) for people to put on their blogs.

So, please, leave me comments with suggestions, etc. I'll let everyone know what the KAL is for and the other details at a later point. Right now I'm in the thought/planning stage but would like to find more info on starting KAL's first.

Edited to add:

Ok, I have set up a blog for the KAL. It is to knit mittens and gloves, and the details (or most of them) are there. The name of the KAL and blog is Knittin' Mittens. Click here to go to the blog.

August Socks

Finally I have completed the pair of children's socks I have slowly been working on for awhile now. They've been one of those projects that you have to fall back on when you want to do mindless knitting or something small. I say mindless because it is just a basic simple pattern of knitting with no pattern in the stitches. Basically it's my default children's pattern - ok so it's been the only children's pattern I've used so far...

Anyway, these are my first entry for the Sock of the Month 2 KAL:

Here are the details:

Pattern: Basic simple pattern from the back of a yarn wrapper
Needle Size: 3.0 mm
Yarn: Patons Kroy
Colourway: Umm I think it was country something or other (I forget)
Sock Size: 2-4

And just because I haven't posted a picture of Kitten Yarns & Crafts resident cat herself, Tinker Belle, I will leave you with the latest picture I have taken of her:

My First Paid Work

Well, I finally got everything completed for the lady at work - you know, the set I have been talking about (like in the post before this one), the one with the sweater, hat, mittens, and booties? Done.

It's far from perfect, and I hope she and her daughter will like it. The baby isn't due until December and I informed her that the sweater is sized for 3 months because that was the smallest size available. The hat, mittens and booties are sized smaller than that (for a 10-12 lb baby) because that was the largest size available for those. She said that was fine though. I told her this before I was making it, while I was making it, and then yesterday before I was totally finished with it so she was well aware of it. She still said that was fine. The sweater was crocheted and the rest of the items were knit - which I informed her of well in advance and she was fine with that too. She is the one that chose all of the items.


So, here to the left is the completed set. The buttons weren't exactly evenly spaced. Or at least it seems that way. They aren't horribly placed though and they look fine to me; and I think it was just the way the buttons ended up being sewn on. It's passable though. I used larger buttons because I figured it might be easier for an adult to button instead of trying to get those tiny little buttons done up.


Since I've posted pictures of the sweater by itself, I've included a picture of the hat, mittens and booties by themselves as well. Too bad I didn't have a doll or a real baby to model the items...that would have been nice. But, since I don't the kitchen table will have to do.

Blogger is being a royal pain again and won't let me post a picture of Kitten Yarns & Crafts resident cat, Tinker Belle. So, that will have to wait until my next post - which hopefully won't be as long as it has been since I've posted the last post until now. So, with that, happy knitting!