lace lace lace lace lace lace lace lace

Dear Cynthia,

I've been working on lace.

I can almost spot the light at the end of the tunnel on Summer in Kansas. I have completed 799 out of 890 knitted on border rows, and am heading toward the finish line. After that, a bunch of stitches are picked up along the top edge and some sort of picot edging is worked there which, I think?, is quite minimal compared to what the rest of this shawl has been. Famous last words, of course.

Back about a year ago, when I was thinking to myself, "I'd like to make a really nice lace shawl," I looked through a LOT of shawl patterns. I chose Summer in Kansas because:

• It had a knitted on border, which is something I wanted to try.
• It seemed rather large and would keep my arms warm on a cool night at the outdoor theater (though we're probably not going to get there this summer -- but there are other opportunities to wear the shawl)
  
• I thought it was visually appealing.
• It only had 160 rows for the main body.

I don't think it is working out to be as large as I thought it would be, because I went down one needle size, and I'm not using the optional mohair yarn the pattern mentions. However, and especially once it is blocked, arm coverage will be quite adequate. Also, 160 rows for the main body might not seem like much, but when a row has over 400 stitches in it, that IS a consideration..... I'm a little less naive about lace now than I once was.....

In any case, the criteria for the NEXT shawl I make will be:

• No knitted on border. There are many pretty patterns which don't have one, and now I know how to do that already.
• Possibly a slightly heavier gauge yarn for added warmth and size -- I'm thinking for walks in fall.
• Something visually appealing.

I was seriously thinking about the Fiber Trends Leaf Lace shawl which I showed a post or two ago, but now I'm thinking about Kiri. The person who designed Kiri indicated that she made it in about 24 hours!!!! I am thinking that I would have to multiply that number by two, and switch to the next higher unit....so 48 days (which would still be a lot less time than I've spent on Summer in Kansas). In any case, I'd try to keep track of my knitting time, just to see how lace-challenged I am compared to the experts.....

In other lace news, the Foulard from the Morehouse Merino book is coming right along, too. It starts at one corner, increases every row until there are lots of stitches on the needles, then starts decreasing. I've just passed the part where it starts decreasing -- see the little "corners" at the sides?

We have a long car ride later today..... You all know what that means!! Knitting progress!! :-)

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)