I have been spinning lace yarn for some time now - it took me a while to fill one small bobbin each of mulberry lace and lambswool top. I spun fine singles and plied, nothing to write home about. the fibres were dyed with alder buckthorn berries; both are sage greens, a muted colour, but the yarn is very soft and would make a nice shawl to wear close to the skin. I have enough to do at least two, if not three more skeins - so I suppose I can plan ahead for a reasonably large project.... eventually! any ideas?
I also received two knitting "books". ok, the knitting traditions from interweave is a magazine, but a thicker one and with loads of info to boot. the contents are from old publications of piecework and cover a wide range of knitting projects, anything between turkish socks, twined knitting to orenburg scarves. there is a project for each topic, but also some history around it. I only managed to read the first bit - I'll have something to read for a good while!
the other one isn't as widely advertised - but I found it quite interesting nonetheless. Crazy Lace is not a book for people, who like to follow a lace pattern to the dot - but it's perfect for people like me, who like to make up their own projects. you do get the basics about how lace knitting works, how to read charts, how to do basic shapes - but you also get a good push to let go, to just knit without charts, without much thinking - to knit crazy lace as the title suggests. I am sure I'll do just that - I find the idea of just knitting YOs and decreases or increases whenever I fancy quite fun! if you can't find the book, esp. in europe - I ordered mine here. you can of course order it directly from the author herself here. even if you don't want to order her book - have a look at her gallery, you'll find some inspiring stuff there.
first I do have to finish the vest though - no lace knitting yet, be it freeform or traditional. I managed to finish about 1/3 of the project - I knit all three pieces in one, so there'll only be shoulder seams to do at the end. I do have quite long rows though and I have to be careful in those rows where three colours are used. actually I finally learned the english method of knitting - and use it, whenever I have to work a 3rd colour. I keep the two main colours on my left finger and the 3rd one doddles around on the right somewhere until I need it. and all this only because DS started to learn knitting in school:))
back to kitchen duty now - more about "messing with colour" soon....
3 comments:
Beautiful yarn.......nice to have something to look forward to in knitting!
Oh, I want your yarn, it's lovely! I've heard all sorts of good things about the Crazy Lace book, but haven't seen it nor the new Interweave magazine yet. I'll be on the lookout on Friday/town day. Won't find that lovely lace yarn though....;-)
thanks - though sometimes my greed for a yarn has cooled down a bit by the time I've spun it all up! wouldn't be the first time that I give it to someone else, esp. if I don't have an inspiring idea to use it! sometimes I like it as a yarn, do several samples, but what looks nice in a yarn, doesn't always look so good in a finished project. we'll see - I'll show progress if there is some:))
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