This year, I thought I would earn daughter-in-law brownie points, and knit my mother-in-law a nice scarf. So I ordered this hand-dyed qiviut blend from a store in Whitehorse called Folknits
I had never knit lace before, but I thought, what the the heck, it will be a learning experience.
Er, no. It was KNITTING HELL! Quite apart from the fact that I made four billion mistakes (mostly all corrected), I had almost finished the scarf when I realized I had missed a knit row, so that the pattern was on the wrong side for half the scarf! Oh my GOD.
I unpicked the whole thing and re-knit that sucker in ten days. I finished it December 23 and was amazed at myself.
Never again!
The yarn is 45% qiviut, 45% wool and 10% silk. Qiviut is made from muskox fur and is about eight times warmer than wool, and incredibly soft. It was LOVERLY to work with. Too bad I had such a hard time with the pattern!
I learned some valuable lessons from this nightmare, I mean, project. They are:
-Do not knit a lace scarf after sundown. You may think your eyes are 16, but they are really 41.
-Do not knit a lace scarf when you are tired. If you are not alert enough to read, you are not alert enough to knit lace.
-Do not knit a lace scarf while allowing your attention to drift towards the rerun of Gilmore Girls on TV.
-Do not knit a lace scarf before you have had breakfast.
-If you are knitting a lace scarf, and have successfully completed a 12-row pattern, and your brain is telling you not to tempt fate by continuing to knit that day, LISTEN TO YOUR BRAIN!
-Do not knit a lace scarf when you are mad at your husband.
-Do not knit a lace scarf when your pets are irritating you by demanding constant attention.
-Knitting a lace scarf will cut ten years off your life. You've been warned.
Ohhhhhh....that's beautiful! Oh, and the scarf is nice, too.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, that's one beautiful scarf and one beautiful trifle.
Lace is maddening. It helps when your row repeat is less than 20 rows, and the wrong side is either knit or purled, but still, when the fatigue sets in, oy!
Did the yarn come already in a workable ball, or did you have to wind it from a hank? I have to say, that is my other insanity-inducer: trying to get lace-weight yarn wound into a ball from a hank. No matter how careful I am, I always end up spending hours due to having to stop and untangle things that would never have tangled had the yarn been fingering or dk.
So, now that you've had some practice, are you going to make one for yourself?
And, when to I get a copy of hubster's trifle recipe?
Wow! Beautiful! I love the colorway, too. Sorry you had such trouble with the knitting. I hate hate hate hate having to rip out and start again.
ReplyDeletePnat!! Beautiful work. Here's an old trick I learned back in the days of wee Gin knitting at her Grammer's knee... when knitting with a right side/wrong side complex pattern, use 2 different color needles, or mark one needle really clearly with something you can't miss. Beats the heart-sinking moment when you whip the piece from side to side, examining it and realizing what you've done.
ReplyDeleteWish you'd make me a scarf, though. You pick the BEST yarns!