Well, I caught a little natural light at the tail end of the day today since I didn't get caught too badly in the commute so I was able to pick-up the stitches for The Wedding Ring Shawl. As you can see, it will require me to do the limbo to show you border shots because it now looks like a cheesecloth bag for straining jelly. I did manage to transfer it to longer circular needles (Inox once again). I've actually gotten used to using the Inox and if I buy those Knit Picks needles or the new Addi Lace needles, I will try them out on something else in gossamer weight first. I also gave you a shot of the work on top of the enlarged version of the border chart that I made. I obscured the pattern on purpose because I don't think I'm allowed to show the pattern on my blog. Color me fearful of copy write infringement. Anyway, did I mention my vision has never been great? Do the words "coke bottle bottom lenses" mean anything to you? These days I pay many many dollars for high-tech super thin lenses so they are not as heavy to wear and look a lot less unattractive, but that doesn't make my eye-sight any better. I attached the blown-up pattern to cardboard and then covered the pattern with SelfSeal Repositionable laminating sheets of plastic so I can use my very large post-it notes under each line without having the print come off. Now for phase 2 for The Wedding Ring Shawl, the border. I'm actually looking forward to it but there are no mistakes allowed because having to pick back thousands of stitches to fix it is just not an option. This is going to be slow and I can only knit it when fully awake. That may mean less week-night knitting and more weekend knitting after a good nights sleep. We shall see. Also above I have some photos of my Flower Basket Shawl which I transferred to my very pretty and lovely to use glass knitting needles from Sheila & Michael Ernst. I have 4 more pattern repeats before I can start the edge for that shawl and I'm really enjoying these needles. At first, I was a little concerned I would snap them since I am a little up-tight with knitting at times, but I managed to lighten-up on my strangle-hold on my knitting and now they work really well. The join between the needle and the clear plastic tubing they use for the cable section has the same issue as the Inox needles. For both, you have to ease the stitches over the slight bump, but in the weight of yarn I'm using, it's not really an issue (Koigu). The pointy needle tips more than make up for any slight inconvenience I may have experienced with the join.
Good Knitting!
6 comments:
Your lace work is inspirational; you have some stunning shawls. I too have the same eyesight problems , thank goodness we don't have to wear 'coke'wieght glasses any more .
It is certainly lovely cheesecloth! I am only doing one round a day now, because I am being ultra-careful. Don't want to have to undo thousands of stitches either! Heavenly glass needles, too.
By the way, I) had my eye doctor make me a pair of glasses that make my vision 20/0 at 15 inches. I have superb eyesight about 3 inches from my face, so I had him make me a pair of glasses that move the focal length down to my lap for knitting.
I heaved the biggest sigh of relief when I finally got all those stitches picked up. :) I look forward to seeing your cheesecloth bag grow--just be careful when posing it for pictures! :)
Dear artis-anne,
I think lots of knitters have vision like ours. I look a little strange holding my knitting close-up to my face and peering over the tops of my glasses to knit while looking through the glasses at the chart to keep track. Still, it doesn't prevent me from knitting. I'm glad you are enjoying the shawls. I know I get inspirtation from looking at what everyone else is doing and it helps me to keep going on my projects. Thanks for stopping by!
Dear fleegle,
You said it! I had a hard enouogh time picking back on the WRS without trying to do it over even more stitches. I love the glass needles too. They only go down to US 3-4 so it automatically limits some of what I will knit on them but they are a pleasure while in my hands. I asked my eye-doctor about special glasses too but he just looked at me like I was nuts and told me to hold the needles close to my eyes and I'd be fine. Actually, it does work after a fashion. Just don't ask me to knit this in public or they might think I'd gone mad. I am looking with great envy at your anniversery gifts. You have a very smart spouse. Always good to hear from you!
Dear Alice.
I have to do the Break Patttern now but I was happy to get all those stitches on the needles. Never fear about posting the border shots. I still get chills thinking of what happned to you. Cautionary tale indeed! Here is me cheering you on with your own WRS!
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