Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Lacis (AKA Lace Mecca)












I know, I know. I said I was going to try to knit from my stash. I really had decided not to buy more yarn. I have started to actually list all my lace weight yarn and it's a daunting amount. But I have been going to Lacis in Berkeley for years and years. Sometimes for tatting supplies, sometimes for knitting supplies, sometimes for Silk Ribbon Embroidery or Beaded Purse supplies. You name it, they usually have it. I went only to order a book, a very very nice lace knitting book that is in Japanese but has a legend in English for the chart symbols. It will be coming in next week and they will mail it to me. While there, I couldn't help but notice that the shop is now stocking more lace weight yarns and I found a lace book I don't already have and some quite lovely variegated lace weight wool yarn that I am not familiar with. It's called "Harmony" from a manufacturer named Jojoland (880 yds/50g ball) and according to the label is made in China.I know I'm weak but as vices go this one is pretty harmless:-) I bought enough for a shawl and will put it with all the other yarn while I try to finish something. The book is one with knitted lace doilies in it and I think some of the patterns can be adjusted to make shawls rather than doilies. I've started the opposite border for the Shetland Sampler Stole and will post pictures once I have something more to look at. I am also posting a picture of the "Legends" shawl so you can see the color shift in the work. If you look at my ball of yarn, you will see that I have replaced the toilet paper core with an empty pill bottle which works very well so far. I also wanted to put in a good word for a product my sister bought recently. I'd read about it in other blogs but never considered getting any. It's called "Highlighter Tape" and my sister bought it at "Knit Foundry". You can see it on one of the charts I've enlarged and I really like it because you can see to the row below the one you are working on if you are wondering if there was an error in the previous row. Many times an error such as a missed yarn over, can just be corrected by picking up a strand from the row below. It beats the heck out of peeling a post-it note up to look underneath! Short post tonight. Tomorrow is July 4th and I will be off to see my brother Herman and his family. Happy 4th!