Help for Newbie Lace Knitter

Hi everyone. I'm an experienced knitter but have never knit lace before. I'm attempting to knit my first shawl and after ripping it out 3 times I'm getting discouraged. I seem to loose my way in the pattern and am unable to find where I should be, hence the rip-outs. I've been checking off the rows as I go and note how many stitches are on the rows once completed in hope that if I loose my way I can just back-track to the start of the row and start it again. I spent an hour last night taking out rows, counting stitches and still couldn't tell where I was supposed to be. I'm knitting in a quiet room alone so I can give my full attention to what I'm doing. If anyone has any advice or nuggets of info they can pass on, please do!!

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Permalink Reply by Rebecca Molina on March 18, 2012 at 8:28pm

Try listening to these podcasts- they helped me greatly:

http://www.knitpicks.com/cfBlog/post.cfm/podcast-episode-59-lace-ti...

http://www.knitpicks.com/cfBlog/post.cfm/podcast-episode-163-a-summ...

I also have to do a smaller swatch of maybe a few repeats until I get the hang of a lace pattern before trying to do it on the real project.. Best of luck, hang in there--it is very worth it.

Permalink Reply by Dawn Railsback on March 19, 2012 at 7:05am

Hi Julie! So I will second or fifth the life lines and stitch markers. I have done a shawl where the stitch markers actually didn't help because of the nature of the pattern. It was extremely frustrating, but totally worth all of the endless counting. One thing that I got into a habit of doing on all patterns is checking repeatedly on each row to make sure I get the YOs at the beginning, middle and end of each row. I always seem to miss these the most. I check the one at the beginning when I get to the middle. I check the middle YOs when I get to the end of the row and I check for the last YO before I move my magnet up on the chart keeper. I often check in between these once the shawl gets larger so I don't have to tink back too far in case I miss one. Oh and using a chart keeper of some kind has also proven extremely helpful. I checked out the pattern you are doing and it looks beautiful.

Permalink Reply by Julie Hartford on March 19, 2012 at 7:32am

I'll be sure to check mine. Thanks so much.

Permalink Reply by cherylbwaters on March 19, 2012 at 12:01pm

That is one of the things about using stitch markers that hasn't been mentioned - if a YO is at the beginning or end of a repeat, sometimes YOs try to migrate into the repeat right next to it.

Permalink Reply by Jenny on March 20, 2012 at 7:46am

Hi Julie!

Kerin also has a pretty in-depth video class all about how to read lace charts. She covers and goes over a lot of info on lace knitting and charts. Hope this helps a bit, and good luck :)

Permalink Reply by Julie Hartford on March 20, 2012 at 7:53am

Thanks, I have watched these and found them very helpful.

Permalink Reply by christina | AlohaBlu on March 26, 2012 at 4:58pm

Thanks Jenny - this is quite helpful!

Cheryl - I'm having a similar issue now, but not with YO's rather with K2togs at the beginning of repeat. I'm making the Gable Scarf and it starts with a 4-stitch border on one side. On one row (row 7), the 4th stitch is a K2tog so it uses the first stitch of the repeat - I have to move my stitch marker over one. Then the last stitch of the entire row is a CDD, which moves everything again. The last section i did doesn't line up with the section before, so will have to frog and start again. Thank goodness for lifelines. . .

Permalink Reply by cherylbwaters on March 26, 2012 at 10:55pm

Yes, it's not fun when repeats shift that way. Keep after it, Christina, and keep using those lifelines!