Lace knitting is my new passion and I love the way the little dots and slashes in the chart result in beautiful patterns if they are followed in the knitted piece. I’ve been making small swatches of sample heirloom patterns, mostly from the book by Mary Schiffman.
Having gotten my “lace legs,” I decided to try a scarf. I picked a fairly “easy” pattern called Crest o’ the Wave. Digging in my stash, I found a skein of lace weight thread in a variegated hand-painted blue. Perfect! But oh…there is a down side. Needles are small. Size one. Lace weight yarn is similar to thread. Or as one of my knitting pals compares it…just like dental floss!
This particular fiber is Kid Silk Haze which is 75% mohair and 25% silk. The mohair is like a million tiny fish hooks and grabs onto itself and won’t let go. This yarn is unforgiving and does not unravel or pick out or unstitch. So no mistakes. And, as my mother used to say, “you have to hold your mouth just right.” Nevertheless I persevered and kept going, thinking I would have a scarf by the time I came to the end of the yarn.
I got to the end and I do not have a scarf. It barely goes around my neck. So it will take another skein (@$15) to complete the standard scarf length. Otherwise, it is just a very large sample of a simple stitch and a blue fiber. So much for using up the stash.
My friend Hazel has taken pity on me and given me some new wool and silk to work with. Minus the mohair, I might add. I will try again. This time with a Fern Leaf pattern. Watch this spot for updates.
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