Lace Knitting

We liken lace knitting to making a souffle: To the uninitiated, it exudes an aura of mystery and difficulty; but when the work is done, you realize it is mostly air and no trick at all.

Elizabeth Zimmermann and Meg Swansen, Vogue Knitting, Winter 92-93.

Mostly air

I love this quote. Elizabeth Zimmermann had the gift of expressing things succinctly!

In between working on the Pine Tree Sock, my little wall quilt, and my Brocade Leaves sweater, I cast on for another lace project. Resistance was futile.

The pattern is again from Victorian Lace Today, the Large Rectangle in Leaf and Trellis Pattern (p 52). Though I am only doing one repeat across, instead of two, so that I will have a scarf instead of a shawl. See gorgeous full size versions of it here and here.

For the yarn, I am again using Misti Baby Alpaca Lace, in natural. I love this yarn. Very nice and extremely generous with the yardage. So generous that I have tons left of the red from my last scarf.

The pattern is bothering me slightly, though. If you look at the picture, you can see that the stockinette section is larger on the left side than the right side. It has two extra stockinette stitches, so the pattern is not completely centered. It's a tiny error in the chart. I have already done six repeats, so I don't have the heart to frog it. It will be one of those imperfections that shows it was handmade. Handmade with love :)

On a Lace related topic, I have good news for North American lovers of Japanese knitting books. They are now available here, at the Needle Arts Book Shop. The lace sweater at the top of the page is spectacular. I can see this becoming a new obsession for me... Lace knitting, finally in Japanese!
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Pine Tree Socks

Thanks to Anni, I have discovered some wonderful socks. They are the Pine Tree Socks from Katherine Misegades. Her name may be familiar to you from her beautiful collection The Tongue River Farm Sock Collection.

The Pine Tree Socks feature knit and purl trees along the front and back and a small cable decorating the sides. Aren't they sleek and pretty? Don't they look warm? I think they will be perfect for living at Pine Cone Lodge this winter. And not just because of the name, though that's a bonus. Pine Cone Lodge can be pretty chilly!

Like Katherine, we also have tall spruces around our house, and I can see why she would not want to take hers down. They add so much character and atmosphere.

Katherine Misegades' blog features many beautiful designs for both socks, sweaters, hats, and scarves, along with thoughtful, inspiring quotes. This awesome sweater reminds me of a traditional Norwegian pullover called a "vams". She also has several free sock patterns.

My last pair of socks had some lace, and maybe it's not so practical to have wool socks with holes in them... doesn't that defeat the purpose of staying warm? I think it might be a good time for me to start on some socks again. :)

Photo from Katherine's blog.