First stab at lace - Liesel

[amberica]

Yesterday morning I found this pattern. (PDF file, opens in new window.) At lunch, I grabbed some of my cheap yarn from Target and a couple needles to bring back to work. Later in the afternoon, when things were pretty quiet around the office, I gave it a try.

It was AWESOME! Super easy! If I'd known lace was this simple, I would have started it long ago. You could definitely see the little leaves in the pattern.

So.

I was really happy about this. Swung by JoAnn to get some yarn for "the real deal" and went home to start making the scarf for my mom.

Attempt the first:
I did fine, zoomed right up to row 8 or 9 out of a 10-row repeating pattern. Then I screwed up. I don't remember what I did. Something silly. I could have just un-done that row and kept it on the needles, but I figured I had plenty of time, and I might as well start over. So I did.

Attempt the second:
I started over again. Four rows of garter stitch, no problem. Row 1 of pattern, no problem. Except.... I got to the end where I was supposed to have 3 stitches left to knit, and there were FOUR on the needle! WTF mate?? Wasn't too far, obviously, so I frogged that row and started again.

Attempts the third and fourth:
Starting again. Good. Row 1 of pattern, not too hard. Watch stitches and yarn-overs. Good. Counting, good. End of row - FOUR stitches where there should be THREE again!! Argh!

Frog all the way down. Cast on again. Count cast-on stitches thrice to be SURE there are 35. Yes. Good. Garter stitch, one row. Count stitches again. Thrity-five, ok. Garter stitch 3 more rows. Re-count stitches. Thrity-five, awesome. OK. Start in on pattern. ONE STITCH AT A TIME. Being very careful, worked all the way across.... EXTRA STITCH AT THE END AGAIN!!! What gives???

I frogged it all and decided to try another time when there was NOT a TV on in the room with me. That's the only difference between my successful attempt at work, and my UN-successful attempts at home.

TV IS BAD FOR LACE KNITTING. TRUST ME ON THIS ONE. If you are going to knit lace, even a simple pattern, TURN OFF YOUR TV. Seriously.

Comments

[imogen-blue.livejournal.com]

joss whedon would let vampires eat you.