Fancy Feet

Tags

charts, lace patterns, Pattern, Regia, socks, toe-up, yarn

There’s been some white Regia 4-ply in my stash for a while, waiting to be turned into the right pair of socks. Lace socks. Like these socks.

The pattern is Sprig by Wei Siew Leong (aka KiwiPurler who blogs here). Mine look a little bit different because I started them at the toes. I didn’t turn the chart upside down. The lace pattern works well viewed in both directions. The only slight difficulty I had was in reading my knitting. It was a little tricky to anticipate which round was next without referring back to the chart. Of course once the lace is stretched across a foot, it all becomes clear.

I knitted these socks as part of the Aussie Sock Knitters first knit along of the year: undiscovered gems (patterns with fewer than 20 projects). Now as far as I’m concerned this is really a gem of a design. In fact I think these would look beautiful in black (sharp intake of breath at thought of knitting lace in black yarn on 2 mm needles). A friend helpfully pointed out that knitting them in grey and dying them black might be better. I think she’s right.

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A little bit of magic

Tags

AIWCC, American International Women's Club of Cologne, charts, Kieran Foley, knitting, lace, lace patterns, laceweight, Manos del Uruguay, shawls, stole, wrap, yarn

This is MagicWaves by Kieran Foley. He describes it as “A large innovative lace pattern inspired by the rippling surface of the sea”.

I used Manos del Uruguay Lace yarn. This is a luxurious blend of alpaca, silk and cashmere and it was lovely to knit with. There’s a neat connection between this yarn and its production and the purpose of this project. Manos del Uruguay is a non-profit organisation that brings economic and social opportunities to rural women and this shawl is destined to help more women when it is raffled by the American International Women’s Club of Cologne (AIWCC) to raise funds for local women’s projects.

Depending on the light, you see the waves in the pattern

or focus more on the blue tones.

    

Of course, an accessory like this should be worn, too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fingers crossed this shawl will live up to its name and work a little magic!

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Knit – tink – frog … but lace is still lovely

Tags

charts, frogging, knitting, lace, lace patterns, laceweight, Pattern, shawls, yarn

Cast on
Knit knit count
Knit knit count count
Tink* count
Tink tink count count
Frog**

Cast on
Knit knit count
Knit knit count
Knit knit count
Tink count
Knit knit knit knit
Count
Knit knit knit knit
Knit …

I like charts when I’m knitting lace patterns. Once you’ve done a few rows, it’s easy to spot any mistakes since your knitting doesn’t match the image. Usually. For some reason this time, I really struggled to get going with this straightforward pattern. Unpicking lace stitch-by-stitch is a challenge. The yarnover loops often mess with your stitch counts. I think that’s what happened to me here. The best thing to do? Begin again. I’ve now done five repeats of the pattern and it’s looking quite splendid.

This is Magic Waves by Kieran Foley knitted in Manos del Uruguay Lace yarn.

*Tink means to undo your knitting stitch-by-stitch (it is literally the word knit backwards).

**Frog is a word adopted by knitters to define ripping out row after row of knitting (‘rip-it, rip it’).

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