Schoolhouse Press published the translation for Three-Cornered and Long Shawls lovely shawls and stoles. The most knitted shawl from this book is Hyrna Herborg. I have seen it knit by lots of people using different yarns. I started it with some yarn from my stash and knit the first skein. Only to find out that the other skeins I had were CUT in pieces no longer than 2 yds! Why? I have no idea. Neither do I know the brand or make of this yarn. It had been languishing in my stash for ages. To the trash it went. Oh well! Then I started toying with the idea of using DMC Cebelia for it. I have quite a collection of colors! Cebelia has been used by many for tablecloths and doilies. I was weary of using it for a shawl. Would it look like a doily? But again there is no set rule in knitting. I love the shine on the thread and the colors are to die for. On the needles it went and here is what I have so far (the color is not true, it is more of a antique rose in real life):
Jackie from Heartstrings has an annotated page for it. In case you find the charts daunting and the translation confusing.
I do have to say that the charts in the book are nice to follow but the English translation is "short of words" to say the least. Nonetheless the patterns can be knit without too much trouble. Easier by far than knitting from Japanese patterns, that is for sure!
I am using Addi Lace knitting needles US size 3. I like the needles a lot. They are lighter than the Knit Picks. The tips and joins are next to perfect.
The other one I had in the queue for years is the Rose of England. It is a lovely tea cloth or dinner cloth, depending on how many rows you knit, in 2nd Book of Modern Lace Knitting Marianne Kinzel books are known among lace knitters from years back. The books have no known errors, fact that I find amazing!
For this one I am using 40/2 linen thread from Webs. It comes in tubes of a lot of yards! I think they are one pound but I am not sure. I ordered the color card so I could decide on the thread size. 40/2 is very similar to DMC #40. Needles for this one are US 0 or 2 mms, just my regular ancient Inox. This thread is sold under weaving yarns, it is two ply and there is absolutely no reason it can not be used for knitting.
Here is the picture of what I have so far.
It looks like a typical lace knitting project, just a clump that makes you wonder. It will be ok.....I hope. I will use a light spray starch to block it and I might boil it, but we'll see.
Some people are weary of knitting with linen because they think it is to harsh on the hands. Not true, it is very nice to work with but you have to be extra careful with tension. Linen has no give at all and any change in tension will show. Other than that it works just fine.
From the Spring Issue of Knitty Isabella I fell in love with the lace trim on the front. I have the back and part of the front. No lace to speak off yet. Just endless rows of stockinette. Of course I did not follow the instructions for the picot cast on. I started it with a provisional cast on and used a "machine knitting" technique to fold the hem. Picked up the stitches from the first row of knitting, right after the provisional cast on and knit two together to seam the hem. Sure saves a lot of time fiddling with a tapestry needle. Yarn is the mercerized cotton I brought from Colombia. Needles: Knit Picks. The needles are very nice. The points are next to perfect, the joins are smooth. When comparing them to the Addis these are a bit heavier. The features they have are ideal for lace knitting.
Here we have it:
That makes a lot of projects on my needles. All of them will be finished one at a time.
9 comments:
all so beautiful! I acquired some laceweight linen at Maryland Sheep and Wool--maybe it's time for me to tackle the Rose of England, too... :)
All so pretty!!! Lace always makes me knit faster so that I can convince myself that it actually *will* turn out nicely when it is blocked!
Ohmygosh, woman, you are out of control! Your lace and your Lavold and your Starmore are all just beautiful. I think I have the book with Rose of England in it. I should get it out and see if it looks too complicated for my roasted little brain.
Your latest knitting is beautiful as usual. Such inspired knitting makes me just swoon. I have so many things I want to knit that I know I will never get to them all. Between you, fleegle and missalicefaye I am about to loose my little mind. Must knit faster! I have a small cone of linen that I originally bought for tatting and never used. I wonder if I could knit with it? I've never tried linen. It feels a little bit crisp. Hmmm. Maybe a little swatch?
Beautiful lace! I need some of your lace mojo so that I can get over my lace fear and just start knitting!
Oh that shawl is going to be gorgeous. I am still intimidated by getting only half the shawl charted, and needing to reverse the chart for the other half.
Laritza, your knitting is gorgeous. The Rose of England is also my list. I just have to finish Balmoral Thistle first. For the linen, I’m curious why you would need to starch it for blocking?
I’ve swatched with some 1/80 linen (doubled) and found that it blocked very crisply.
I'll probably never knit lace but you are quite the Enabler!!!
Hi, there.
I found you from your comments on fleegle's blog. I was happy to see someone else working on ROE, especially since it looks like you're past the confusing part and doing well. Then I noticed you used my finished photo as an example! Thanks and good luck on finishing it. I too worried about how it would look finished but it turned out just great after blocking. The only frustrating thing is that I used stitch markers that were way too big and caused little gaps. But it was a gift and out of my hands now. Someday I want to make a shawl version in red or pink Zephyr.
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