Share stories about your progress here!

Did you just finish a tricky part of your pattern? Need to share a little frustration? Let's hear about your challenges here!

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by KisForKnitting on March 30, 2008 at 10:04am: Starting with the easiest one in the book, one would think there would be no challenges whatsoever, but my brain wanders and sometimes I loose the rhythm of the pattern. Here is what I found helped (and you know what free advice is worth):

Chart reading: I could not comfortably grasp chart reading until I took a class, and what really sunk it into my thick brain was the assignment to take written instructions and put them into a chart. Now I find a chart much clearer than the written instructions; I can picture what I am meant to do.

Stitch markers: It is a repeat of 6, so I started with a marker at the end of every 6 stitches. Each increase doubles, but I kept the markers on the needle at the same spot; after the final increase I now have stitch markers that I slip every 24 stitches. I can tell within a section when I have gone wrong.

Pattern recognition: I learned what to look for. The 6th and final stitch of the pattern is into the middle of a ladder, my slipped stitch is at the start of a solid bit, and the start the 6 pattern repeat is right after the ladder. Purling on the back, I should see three stitches together (k2tog-psso) before a yarn over.

Common Mistake: I keep forgetting to do the psso after the K2tog, and I know that it is my common error. If I haven't pearled it yet on the wrong side, it is not too late to slip it. If I didn't catch until I am in the next set of pattern repeats on the right side, I have to decrease in what I call the solid section; if I get the ladders out of alignment it would telegraph a mistake like a flashing neon light. In other words, it is not one of those mistakes that only the knitter sees, it is evident at the quickest glance, even to those who have never knitted.

Starting Out: When I first started the pattern, I sat in a quiet place with minimal distractions until I fixed it into my head. Fixing it into my head did not stop me from having to fix mistakes (see above), but now I know what my hands should be doing and what to look for to make sure that they kept on track.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alison on April 1, 2008 at 12:42pm: I think that this is a great road map for beginning lace knitters. It's hard to explain how to get into a lace knitting "groove," and you really made it easy to understand how to break apart the pattern in a way that makes sense to you so that you're not dependent on the chart alone. You're doing Julia's shawl, right?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by KisForKnitting on April 1, 2008 at 7:50pm: Yes, I am starting out with the simplest pattern before doing a slightly more challenging one to get accustomed to the author's instructions and approach; not to mention holding off on using the yarn that I am really in love with until I know what I am doing.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by silverthorn on April 1, 2008 at 9:00pm: Wow, you are so organized. Thanks for all the tips. I've done a feather and fan stole, so I am considering the Bigfoot shawl, but I really love the drape of the Turtles shawl... decision, decision.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by silverthorn on April 11, 2008 at 12:00pm: Well I have been procrastinating for a week or so... a little nervous about starting. I cast on last night and have done about 6 rows. The neck edge looks a little fat to me... I did purl my yarn ends in the second row. This is why I get nervous, lace is so hard to see while your knitting, I find myself wanting to frog back all the time. I have to stop myself and very carefully look at each stitch and every row just to assure myself that I haven't made any mistakes. I guess a better online name for me would be "The neurotic knitter". he he; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kathy on May 14, 2008 at 3:15pm: I bought this book last fall as I love lace and just learned lace knitting in a shawl class. I tried to start one of the patterns on Sunday but discovered I may have too fine a yarn. I bought the yarn at my yarn store and thought it would work for any lace shawl but it is so fine I think I may have to double it. It is finer than baby and fingering yarn. Any suggestions?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by susannewj on April 13, 2008 at 9:29am: I am knitting Michelle's Shawl and would like to make sure I am understanding the pattern correctly. It has a pattern of 6 repeats + 1. The first repeat is always 7. On Row 20 it changes. The first repeat is 8 and therefore you have to take 1 stitch from the following repeat until the end when it evens out with a ssk instead of a sl k1-k2tog-psso. Am I understanding this corrrectly? Thanks in advance for any feedback.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alison on April 14, 2008 at 7:58am: I just swatched it out, and I think you're on track. The thing to watch out for is the single decrease at the beginning of the row - up until Row 20, that beginning edge stitch has just been a knit stitch, but on Row 20 it's a K2tog. While I was swatching, I kept trying to (incorrectly!) work a single decrease in the middle of the row, then realizing that they just go at the beginning and end of the row to even things out.

You could also try swatching the lace pattern on heavier yarn - I used worsted weight scrap yarn - just so you can get a handle on how the eyelets and chevrons line up in the lace pattern. Try casting on 19 stitches and working three pattern repeats for rows 14 through 21, just to get the hang of things. Personally, when I knit in laceweight yarn, I can't really see what's going on until I've completed a few rows.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by susannewj on April 14, 2008 at 3:07pm: Glad to hear that I am on the right track. Thanks.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by DolyDimple on April 20, 2008 at 6:34pm: How do you guys know if your cast on is loose enough? Mine looked awful small, so I started again. Do I just do it as loose as possible and hope for the best, or is there a way to "test" the width before I get too far along?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by KisForKnitting on April 20, 2008 at 7:08pm: I have no idea if I am doing it correctly, but mine is the loosest cast on I have ever done, about 3/4 inch apart.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alison Jeppson Hyde on May 16, 2008 at 6:22pm: It's not an absolute hard-and-fast rule as to the neck width, it's flexible.

One thing I had to do, when designing these, was debate whether a shawl was to be more with an eye towards flinging over the shoulder or for wearing it V-neck down the front. Too wide at the neck, and they sagged a bit at the front, worn unwrapped. I didn't want to make something where people would be picking at their shawl and be distracted by its not staying just exactly so on them, so I wrote the patterns for wearing more in the V-neck style. I liked making it so that, wearing it that way, you didn't have to use a shawl pin at all.

I figured people could start at row 3 or 5 for a wider neck edge if they wanted a wider edge (flingier?) I also found that people of a more generous build than I might want to start at the stitch count of the first increase in order to widen the neck a bit. I tried to show an example of the effect of that by knitting the particular Michelle shawl photographed in the book with that wider neck and noting in the instructions that, for the one pictured, I had started at row 3, ie, if you follow the pattern from row 1 your neck would be a bit narrower than pictured.

But it's all flexible. I know one person who single-crocheted around her beginning edge to tighten hers up a bit after she got done.; ▶ Reply to This