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May 8, 2008
The Joy of Making Holes in Your Knitting
I wrote the other day that socks are not my choice for knitting. No, what I really like to knit is stuff with holes in it--in other words, lace. Here's the last project I finished before I started the socks:
That view shows it draped over a chair so you can see what it might look like when worn; here's a view that shows it spread out on a bed, so you can see how big it is:
I loved making this shawl--just LOVED it. I liked the lace, which is a basic leaf pattern I learned quite easily. I could have managed the body of the shawl on my own, but I knit it as part of a class so that I could learn to do the Vandyke border. That was tricky enough that I'm glad I had someone walk me through it, but once I understood it, it wasn't hard.
And I'm really pleased with and proud of how well it turned out. I think it's flat-out gorgeous.
I also discovered that I like shawls as garments. I have not worn shawls much before, but actually they're a great garment for someplace like Arizona: just enough coverage that your skin isn't cold, but not so heavy that you get overheated. And they're pretty. I wish I had realized sooner that I love shawls, but I intend to make up for lost time.
Posted by Holly at May 8, 2008 12:16 AM
Comments
That's really, really beautiful. Just out of curiosity, do you have to watch what you're knitting while you're knitting it? I seem to remember someone telling me once that you don't have to watch knitting as closely as crochet, so it's easier to do when you're watching TV or something. I don't know if that's true (I suspect that it's not, but what do I know?), but if it is I might try learning. I do pretty basic crochet stuff, but I always have to watch it really closely, which I hate because then I can't follow whatever I'm watching, and I don't want to just sit there and crochet and not do anything else.
Anyway, the shawl is amazing.
Posted by: rebecca at May 8, 2008 11:03 AM
That's gorgeous, Holly, you should be really proud of that!
Someone like you, tall and who dresses with flair, can carry a shawl off wonderfully.
Posted by: Juti at May 8, 2008 11:42 AM
Juti and Rebecca--thanks so much for the compliments on the shawl. Rebecca, for the record I watched plenty of tv while knitting this, and managed to follow every last program I saw. Any time you have increases and decreases (which are what make the lace) you have to pay some attention, but the lace in the body of this shawl is just the same basic (and easy to master) pattern over and over, so I didn't have to pay really close attention--I could just glance at it every so often. (The edging was a different story--that I had to keep a close eye on, especially at first, so while I was working on it, I watched stuff I didn't care about quite so much, or stuff I'd already seen.) If you're knitting something with either the basic stockinette or garter, you don't really have to look at your knitting at all while you're doing it--your fingers can tell what you should be doing. It's one thing that makes knitting really relaxing and induces a state referred to "knitters' zen." So it sounds to me that knitting would be a good thing for you to do while you watch tv.
I admit I'm excited for you and hope you'll learn to knit--it really is rewarding and fun.
Posted by: Holly at May 8, 2008 11:47 AM
Wow, that has an otherworldly iridescence.
I sometimes think one thing that's missing in my life is a more hands-on craft-hobby that actually produces something material--beyond words on paper, that is.
Posted by: Chris Bigelow at May 9, 2008 12:09 PM
Hi Chris--the color isn't quite so extreme in real life; something about my flash made it brighter than it really is. Anyway, I do think it's good for me, in all sorts of ways, to have pursuits that involve making actual objects. And while I like sewing and quilting, they're not restful in the way knitting is. A lot of people have compared knitting to fingering prayer beads and discussed this meditative quality it has--certainly I appreciate it for that.
Posted by: Holly at May 10, 2008 9:52 AM