The Lace Miss-Connection

The Lace Scarf I Want To Hang Myself With

I have this wonderfully soft Alpaca yarn that I spun to make into a scarf for someone.  They don’t like anything too fru fru, but this yarn begs to be lacy.  I have knitted only one lace scarf and it was a super simple pattern, I still managed to have a hard time with it.  I found a free pattern for a nice lace that’s relatively simple, with a clear small easy to read chart, and its not too fru fru. 

First I had to find the right needles for the job.  I used my usual method, by placing a folded strand of the yarn through the holes of a knitting needle gauge, then going down one size since I’m a lose knitter.  I went in to buy the needles and was consulting more experienced knitters and came to the conclusion that I needed larger needles.  My work looked terrible, too loose and nothing like the picture.  So I tried smaller needles, still too loose,  and I went down to the size I bought.  I finally bought some one size smaller than the ones I originally got, which is the size I went in for after all.  

Next was the pattern.  I had a hard time following the chart.  It’s an easy chart, and an easy pattern.  I got really good advice on how to follow the chart without losing my place, and that helped a lot.  Then I noticed that I was still messing up.  I would have extra stitches at the end of the row, or not enough.  I knitted and pulled my work out, and knitted and pulled my work out more times than I can remember.  Between changing needle sizes and gauges, making mistakes and dropping stitches, the countless times I pulled out my work and started over are staggering.  I got great advice from ladies that do lovely lace work and work from charts all the time.  

I finally got a go with it.  I’m trying not to work on it when there could be any distractions.  Still I find that I can’t make one 10 row repeat with out making a mistake that I have to either pick out or fudge the row into submission.  I took my car in to have it serviced today and had plenty of time to work on it and there was nearly no one there with me.  On this last row, I realized that my stitch count is off, by a lot.  I think it’s time to give up.  I just never give in, I always keep trying until I get it, but I just don’t think I can get this.  I think its time to move on and find another pattern for this lovely yarn.  I think I will try this pattern with another yarn, not to make a scarf with, but to see if I can figure this out.  I just don’t understand what’s going wrong and how to fix it.  It’s hard to think of something that I learned from this project since I haven’t figured out how to do it.  I guess I’m learning humility.  I could probably use it.  Maybe its time to take some knitting workshops, especially if they include lace and charts.  

Update: I’ve decided to use the Feather and Fan stitch pattern with two repeats.  It’s not too fru fru, it’s a lovely simple lace pattern, it requires no charts, and even though it gave me a hard time in the past once, I think I got it.   Why I didn’t think of that sooner I’ll never know.  Progress post to follow, stay tuned……… 

Feather & Fan Pattern: Multiples of 18 plus 2

Row 1: (RS) Knit.

Row 2: Purl.

Row 3: K1, *k2tog 3 times, [yo, k1] 6 times, k2tog 3 times, rep from * to last st, k1.

Row 4: Knit.