Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Sl 1, k1, yo, k2tog...

Huh?

I'm knitting lace! I guess I love to tear my hair out over projects with thin thread! Haha...

It all started with a book. Laura Ingalls Wilder's book, The Long Winter. I hadn't read her books for years, and a month or so ago, I picked them up at the library, and really enjoyed reading them. It's amazing how much I missed from those books when I was a kid. The Long Winter tells of the winter that blizzards kept them house-bound for months. Laura spent some of her time knitting yards of lace for her petticoat. That piqued my interest, and I just had to knit lace!

The hard thing was coming up with a pattern. It seems that knitting lace isn't as common now as it was then. I finally found a book from the library, and "inter-loaned" it to my library. (I love my library system! They don't charge to inter-loan books, and I get an e-mail when my books are at the library.)

I settled down and poured over the patterns. I finally found one that was, and I quote, "Very easy." HA! I guess if you've been knitting lace all your life, this pattern would be "very easy." I had a hard enough time just finding the right sized needles! After going to two different Hobby Lobby's, and two different yarn stores, I finally found the needles I needed.

Ahhhh, a nice peaceful evening...I think I'll relax and knit up some lace. Wrong. Relaxing didn't come into the picture! After starting my lace and tearing it out at least 5 times, if not more, I finally figured out one of the stitches that was puzzling me, and got the hang of handling the needles and thread.

I finished a pattern repeat, and I stood up and said, "I have conquered the pattern." *Grin* Kevin applauded me! He had been listening to me sigh and mutter and talk to the pattern. So he was quite happy for me when I finally figured it all out.

Now that I have learned the pattern, it is coming along. It's nice that the pattern repeats are short, because I can sit down and knit for a little bit, and not worry about marking the pattern or losing my place. The funny thing is that the pattern is called "Serpentine Lace." I didn't think about it, but "serpentine" means "like a snake". I hate snakes! What am I doing spending so much time knitting snake lace? Hahaha I can see where the pattern got it's name, but it sure doesn't look like snakes to me. I would switch patterns, but I think I'll stick to this "VERY EASY" lace for now!

6 comments:

Her said...

All I can say is WOW! You go girl! I would love to learn how to knit crochet and all that stuff. I don't seem to have the patients for it. I think I'll stick to sewing.

Anonymous said...

Funny, but reading the Little House books never made me want to knit. . . You alwasys have been "Suzie Homemaker"!:-) -HMH

Jamie said...

Wow Tammy! I wish I had your talent/skill to knit. I tried to learn but I just dont get it. Now Jim does but how many LONG scarves do we need? He wont do patterns and all and really he hasnt touched yarn since he learned how. I guess if I wanted it bad enough I would do it. I can crochet and sew and a bunch of other stuff but not knit.

Nikki said...

That is soooo PRETTY!!!!! As the other have said...I sure wish I could do that!!! I can't wait to see the finished product!!!

Carolyn said...

Tammy,
Wooo Hoooo Congratutlations on it. So whats it going to be in the end???

Tammy said...

Thank you all for your sweet comments. Carolyn, don't laugh, but I'm thinking the lace will be perfect for an apron! =)