Seasons of Lace

Greetings and hello!

I am one of the three "Lace Mavens" (don’t you love that name we’re claiming for ourselves?) who cooked up this little project. I wanted some sort of summer lace KAL to play with. But I couldn’t find one. So….. I managed to persuade the other two Mavens to help me make one. I hope you all enjoy playing. We’ve sure had fun setting this up! I’m still rather blown away by just how large the Ravelry group I set up got in just a couple of days! (And feel free to join us there too!).

I know it’s not really summer yet, but it’s not too soon to plan, and prepare, and introduce myself to the folks I hope to be playing with.

I’m not going to bore you with that old string of "here’s who I am when I’m not wearing my Knitter Hat" stuff, other that to admit that among the many hats I wear is the Mom hat. I figure you’ll learn about that soon enough anyway. Especially since I’m trying to persuade my two daughters to a) learn to knit lace and b) participate here this summer. They’ll surely clamour for a "Young Knitters" category to be added to the many other ways to play, but I am just too tired to work out exactly when a Young Knitter becomes an Adult Knitter.

I’ve been knitting lace for a few years now. I’ve even gotten to the point where I feel compelled to change most lace projects that I do. It’s a bit of a disease — I pick a lovely pattern … I love the pattern… I start knitting… and somewhere along the way I start thinking of things I want to do differently. I’ve taken to recharting things, and figure that I’m only days away from just up and designing lace shawls myself. (I did design a pair of lace socks … that was fun).

I’ve been warming up for the Summer of Lace this year by working on several lace projects. I’m hoping that I can avoid crossing the magic 50% line on at least some of them, so that they’ll qualify for the Summer of Lace 2008! My current lace projects include:

Boing! by Anne Hanson .

I’m pretty sure I’ll pass the half way point soon, and so I’m going to try to actually finish this before the official start date for this KAL. This is one for which I’ve actually managed to leave alone — I’m knitting it completely as written! (Oh, and that’s Malabrigo Lace in Jacinto.)

Chrysopolis … yes, I know that KAL ended a while back. So sue me. I’m still about 25 rows from the center point, and might actually be able to hold out on knitting them so you’ll get to see more of it. Maybe.

I’ve changed the center section of the shawl, and in so doing added a bunch of rows. Here’s where it was just before I started the "adapted by me" section. (Well, adapted by me and Mary , but whose counting, besides Mary ?). (And this one is knit in Hand Painted Yarn’s lace-weight ; I’ve no clue what the color is called).

Weeping Willow , originally by Two Old Bags (and adapted by me), is the oldest of my lace projects.

It’s going into it’s second summer of knitting. I seem to be slow… but I think this has already past the half way mark. I don’t actually know, though, so I’ll have to run it through the shawl estimator (it’s there in the sidebar) to see. This is some of Just Our Yarn ’s yummy yummy cashmere (super fine — I’ve got thicker dental floss).

And last, but certainly not least, Irtfa’a (another Anne Hanson).

I’m working this in a very special KAL with my best knitting buddy Elizabeth (who has no blog). We’ve only recently expanded from knitting on this only when we’re together, to knitting primarily when we’re together, but then agreeing to work until a given point before the next meeting. This is partly because I’ve gone and added beads, and the bead rows take me forever. (And yes, I’ve changed this pattern too… I’ve lengthened the top section, and am not continuing that lace pattern down the center back. I may come to regret that last decision, but I am so not frogging back to fix it!) I AM capable of taking a decent picture of this … but not at night when I’m tired. (This one represents a rare moment when I actually used the recommended yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Laci (in Korppi ) - I’m so glad I did).

I’m trying to hold out on starting Icarus — but I’m also sort of working that as part of Knitting With Nora, and she’s wayyyy ahead of me now. (Easy to do, since I’ve yet to cast on…).

So. There’s my lace for now. I keep thinking that I’ll design a little something for Seasons Of Lace, but I’m not sure when I’ll get that done… so I make no promises at all.

To lace! May the Summer be full of it!