Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Sorry I'm late!

Well well well, ladies, I am so sorry that I am a little bit late today with this week's update. But here you are!

First, Denise is in need of advice about the right needles:
"Can anyone recommend a circular needle in a bamboo (or wood), with a smooth join, in a size 2 needle. I'm finding I need a size 2 for the lace weight silk I'm using. I also need a bamboo because the yarn is so slippery and I'm such a loose knitter. I'm using Crystal Palace Bamboo right now, but the join keeps catching the stitches. I looked into the Bryspun but they don't come small enough."
Any thought? Any experience to share? Please feel free to give Denise your advice in your comment, or you can send me a mail and I can give you her email so that you can talk directly. Thanks for the help in advance.

Then another lady in my group needs some advice. Janina has recovered but since the hubby was having a week-long break from work, she was still too busy to do any knitting. She finally received her vanilla Zephyr (it's about time, I'd say) and she thought this "plain jane" colour would be best for showcasing the lace patterns. Very true ... though I think vanilla is "lovely jane" ... hahaha ... Okay, she has a question concerning needle size:
"I see that the pattern calls for different size needles -one for the seed stitch border and one size up for the lace. Has anyone done this, or chose to use one size for everything? Swatch, I must swatch to see what the difference is."
Honestly, I didn't notice the pattern called for different needle size ... but this is just normal for me who is always absent-minded. Again, feel free to throw in your opinions for Janina.

There are quite some setbacks among us this past week. Here 2trees thought that her multi-coloured yarn was good with the border and base triangles, but not so much with the lace panels:
So, she is going to frog this and start over with a solid colour which won't compete with the lace. The poor girl frogged 2 lace projects in one week!

Then Beth is still struggling with the unmatched number of stitches. With the advice of other knitters in her lace knitters group, she decided to start from square one ... with swatching and washing the swatch.

Janine is taking matters into her own hands. She doesn't like the pattern the way it is because it is just too busy for her. So, she is going to make great changes to the pattern so that she would get a stole that would suit her physique. This is what she has in mind:
Turquoise will be the fern pattern, yellow will be the lily of the valley pattern and the grey will be as per the original - seed stitch. I think it is a pretty clever way to get something less complicated but retaining the spirit of the design.

Colette was having some knitter ADD and found it hard to concentrate on anything ... but she is now on Tier 15! Think where she would be when she gets rid of her ADD?

Besides having dyeing fun with her kids, Heather has been making steady progress. She is onto Tier 4:
Lovely, isn't it? I think the lace patterns would get more outstanding when the stole is blocked.

Katrina has made it to Tier 4:
*whispering* Go check out the car she bought the past weekend ... it's a mercedes benz!

For me, I haven't knitted a stitch on the stole the past week ... I was suddenly bitten by the Clapotis bug and just had to finish the impromptu project! I think I'll get back to the lace soon.

5 comments:

gail said...

I like the join on the plymouth bamboo needles. Perhaps you could try those. I think Patternworks still sells them.
gail

Anonymous said...

I'm using the same size needle for both seed stitch and lace panels, because I didn't spot any needle change either! I don't think it will matter after blocking.
I started off on dpns and stitch holders but have gone back to one circular as I like the points better. I'd suggest bamboo dpns rather than circulars if you need the wood factor. I've yet to come across a fantastic join in bamboo, thought the addi naturals have fairly good joins.

Beth said...

Well, I'll weigh in on the needles discussion. I LOVE Holz & Stein. They come in Rosewood or Ebony - but they are expensive. You can get them from Catherineknits.com I think. The joins on these are lovely and smooth and the needles are a pleasure to knit with. I also just got the new Addis in the shop. They are metal but the finish on them is a little more grabby and the joins are just great. I agree about the Chrystal Palace joins.

As far as two different size needles...I was advised on Monday night by the woman herself to go down a needle size for the lace patterns because she thought mine were too open - that's the reason for the swatching and washing again. I must admit I didn't do a very good swatch the 1st time and definitley didn't wash it.

Denise/CT said...

Thank you everyone for the recommendations. I'm off to place a few orders. (A girl can never have too many needles!) Which of course means I'll be delayed starting due to the on going swatching process.
Now.... for a good idea on how to make all these lace "discarded" swatches useful.
Thanks again,

Denise/CT said...

I checked my pattern from the magazine and I don't see where it calls for two different sized needles. Is this another difference in the two (published mag. versus single copy) patterns? My copy from the magazine calls for: Size 3 (3.25 mm) 24" (60 cm) circular and set of 2 double pointed needles
Debi, I checked my circular needles and they are a 2.75MM (US size 2). I'll be sure and watch the size difference when shopping for some alternatives that were suggested for the FPS.
Thanks again to all who had suggestions.