Thursday, March 08, 2007

Bitch and Moan (Progress Report)



Actually, it's not all bad. Earlier in the week, I said to my sister, "I'm afraid to say that I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel."I was close to fixing the rip in The Wedding Ring Shawl that I made on the weekend but didn't want to jinx it. "Yeah," she answered in her dry fashion."Because sometimes it's the light from an on-coming train!" Luckily, optimism won out. I have tinked back to row 27 of the center panel pattern and can now knit onward. Whew. While I picked back a few rows every night, I have to say that it was a relief to knit on some of the less taxing shawls. So, for a progress report.

  1. Peacock Feathers Shawl- No progress at all. I picked back to row 179 but it has sat there as an un-loved child all winter. I fear I resent it still and I am not as happy with the variegated yarn with this pattern as I had hoped. Maybe later.
  2. Shetland Tea Shawl- After frogging out the Madeira Lace (pattern was wrong) I am now slowly knitting a few rows when I get a chance. I'm at 574 stitches to get around the shawl and increasing. Much more fun when the pattern is correct!
  3. Flower Basket Shawl- I've done 12 repeats of the pattern and I could stop now and do the edge if I wanted a small shawl, but I have all those lovely balls of Koigu KPPM yarn and I will knit on to make the large version (17 repeats).
  4. The Wedding Ring Shawl- Once I finish this repeat (62 row repeat) I have to knit rows 1-40 then I can pick-up all around and start the border. I'm hoping to have some time this weekend to do a little work on it. It's fun to knit again now that the agony of picking back is through. I will try to post a picture of the center one last time before I start the border. I have no idea how big this shawl will be but I hope it's not too enormous. My niece is not all that big!
  5. Boundary Waters Shawl (see picture above). Up to row 98 and the beginning of the trees. There are currently 392 stitches on the needles and increasing. It's not bad even if I did the dye-job on the yarn myself. I hope the variegated colors are not too busy for this shawl. I think this is coming out better than the colors for Peacock Feathers.

That's all for the report for now. My only real bitching was all of the ripping I've had to do. However, Sheila E. remarked in my last post that the venerable Eugene Bugler told her "if you aren't ready to go back and repair your mistakes...don't knit lace." Who am I to argue?

Much Later!


18 comments:

fleegle said...

These are all so beautiful! Need bigger pictures, though, so we can admire them at closer inspection.

So sorry that you had a tinking week! Next week will be better, for sure!

Kathy said...

Whoa, Jane, you really do have a lot on the needles, what a trooper you are. I can't wait to see the WRS border being picked up.
So glad to hear it is back to where it needed to be. Eugene Beugler may well be right when that was said, But I don't think anybody enjoys it, and this isn't even lace weight, it's cobweb, in a whole "nother category of it's own.
I am flying with the Princess now, I have a couple of great piccies to post of it to show the size of the beast. Will do that today hopefully. It's first day of March break so I am on frayed edges already.

Anonymous said...

Ah, congratulations on finishing the fix! I can't wait to see your center complete! :)
I think Boundary Waters looks fabulous, by the way, and I'm not usually a fan of variegated yarn in lace....

Lacefreak said...

Dear fleegle,

If you want to see pictures you can make bigger of my lace, you will find I added a link on the side-bar on the left hand side. It has projects that are done and ones still being worked on. It will take you to my Flicker site where I have arranged them so you can see them. This week has been very trying but I feel I'm back on track now. Thanks for your good wishes and your concern. I've been enjoying your knitting even though I've been frustrated with mine!

Lacefreak said...

Dear Kathy,

I'm really glad I fixed the WRS. I have no one to blame if it's difficult since no one twisted my arm to knit cobweb weight much the WRS ;-) I am going to check your blog right away to see if you posted. So exciting to see your progress too!

Lacefreak said...

Dear alice,

Thanks for your encouragement. I really appreciate everyone feeling my pain. It actually hurts less as a result. I shouldn't complain. It's a really beautiful pattern. As for varigated yarns, I have to say that I love to look at them in a skein, but they don't always knit up well in lace. When I was at Stitches West, they had Jane Sowerby there. She is the author of "Victorian Lace Today" and she felt that varigated yarns worked best if the colors were in the same color range and didn't have too much contrasting color to detract from the lacework. Boundary Waters is mostly blues and greens so I hope this will mean that the colors won't fight with the lace pattern. We shall see. I hope to do some more dying of yarn and fiber in the future myself and these first few skeins of hand-dyed are my experiment to see what I like best for lace. Next time I'm going for more of a pale water color look! Thank you for checking in on my progress, however limited it may be! At least this year I'm actually finishing some things unlike 2006!

Gerald Carlin said...

May is wonderful. So is the Pine cone shawl thingee. I told Carolyn about your blog. Do these people in here know you used to make your own yeast?

Lacefreak said...

Dear G,

Only God can make yeast. I only harvested it :-) I am not sure which of the shawl thingee's you are looking at. So many of them look like pine cones to me. I think that shape just appeals to me. Look at the side bar and the small pictures. There are names under the examples of the lace. Tell me which one it is you like and I will send it to you when it is done. XOXOXOX

fleegle said...

Jane, you can have my enlarged, melded charts but I need an email address for you.

Today is Dragone shawl blocking day!

Sheila E said...

Wow My Dear that shawl is well worth the effort! It is truly a work of art and....I know that I will be saying that to you Many more times!!
Congratulations on the forward movement.

Lacefreak said...

Dear sheila e,

The Wedding Ring Shawl is like a swell magic trick. When it works, it's awe inspired. When it doesn't, it sucks major. I'm glad I'm moving forward on it again and knitting easier things like Boundary waters and Flower Basket help so I don't loose my mind. I've got to knit lots of lace before I can't do it any more. I doubt I'll have the longevity of the really super lace knitters, but that's ok. Just so I get my licks in :-)

Opal said...

Boundary Waters looks so lovely in that green. I just love green!

I agree with Eugene Bugler. Be ready to rippit! That doesn't mean I'm not going to bitch and moan though. :-)

Lacefreak said...

Dear Opal,

I really have a thing for green too. I was not really aware just how much until I did a stash review of my laceweight yarn. It is mostly shades of green. I will try to branch out to other colors as I continue to knit. As for having to rippit, I hope I won't be having to do alot of it but I am prepared to do it if I must :-)

fleegle said...

Havng lost your email address in the Great Crash, I have to give you a cheer for figuring out your router.

The sad thing is, I have 5 Dells, one of which is STILL running Windows 95 without a murmur. Before this Lemon, I swore they were all tanks. Hmf.

Lacefreak said...

Dear fleegle,

Technology is a wonderful thing until it turns and bites you on the posterior! No knitting for me this weekend. I have spent all of Sunday with over-comming the router problem with the computer. I think the problem is now fixed but I'm speaking softly and carrying a big stick to hit my router with if it drops my wireless service again. I hope your computer gets fixed soon.

Michelle said...

Hi Jane,

Thanks for stopping by and commenting. To answer your question, I just used my digital camera that has a video option. So much easier to use, though it's probably not the best quality. I'd love to see a video of you knitting and spinning. I just find it so interesting to see other's technique and what not.

I love all of your shawls! Terrible about the Wedding Ring Shawl...and I want to make one to put away for my daughter. If I have to tink back even one row [let alone 10]I would have an absolute break down. LOL

Lacefreak said...

Dear michelle,

I will give the video thing a try later. I'm too obsessed with knitting the Wedding Ring Shawl to do much else. I hope to be able to post a picture of the center soon unless I have another computer glitch. That is what consumed my time this last weekend but we think it's fixed now. I know what you mean about making one to leave to someone. It's a very impractical gift. It won't stand hard-wear, it's pretty strange as gifts go, but I'm still compelled to do it for my neice Jess. I'll make her the Dragone Shawl as compensation. That one she would be able to wear and appreciate as a younger person :-)

Gebreidesjaals: Knitted Scarfs or Scarves said...

what a beautiful blog. I am a beginner in lace knitting ( for 4 years) You have a great talent.
very interesting and oh so difficult, what you make!
My compliments!
www.gebreidesjaals.blogspot.com
www.gebreidesjaals.nl