Back to work

And that's a good thing. No, not paid work, unpaid work! You know, fun stuff. At lunch yesterday I worked on socks. They are the perfect quick pick me up during the day. Mrneedles was out for the evening, as was the rest of the crew so I had the house all to myself. I picked up that tiny lace project and worked on it.

Its very hard to see just how beautiful it is, by these pictures. The only way to get a real sense of it is if you check out the size of the pin heads.

It's so dainty and delicate and fine, that I can hardly believe it's me placing the stitches on the needles. Now that I am completely comfortable with the pattern, and the delicacy of the yarn, I am having a very, very good time. I am coming to understand why lace knitting becomes addictive. Using this fine yarn, lace knitting makes you feel you have accomplished something as light as being, and you cannot help but rejoice in it's lightness. ( A little Zen to start your day.)

The pattern is a purse stitch, Knit 1, yo, purl 2 together and the needles are 1.75 mm dpns. You can see how I turned them into straight needles using the very classy and very workable poking-through-some-elastic ends.

After working on it for an hour or so, I find myself making little errors, like catching other threads or not pulling yarn through properly, so I am forced to put it down. I came up with something else to play with.

I picked up some cotton yarn for dishcloths a couple of weeks ago. I figured it would be a great way to play with some fancier stitches. This one is a horseshoe pattern. The second picture shows the pattern upside down. According to my old needlework book this is a basic Shetland lace pattern.

Back in May, I had pretty much given up on knitting, and yet here I am, knitting my heart out. Stephanie Pearl McPhee at YarnHarlot.com, Amy Finlay at KnittingHelp.com, I salute you, and hope blessings are heaped upon you for leading me down this particular garden path.