Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Lace fairies

Samantha's Branching Out pushed me over the edge right into the frenzy over this Knitty pleasure. In fact, this is a blatant copy-cat scarf! It was my first adventure in lace knitting and I really didn't expect it to go so well...but it seems as though the lace fairies were with me during this short and enormously satisfying journey.


I knit it up in less than 10 glorious hours! This was such a fun knit and I am thrilled with the result. I knit it up using Bernat Satin in a cream colour (I have so much Bernat Satin in the stash...it's top of the line Zeller's yarn!). Anywho, I knit it on US7 and, like Sam, I also knit it in two separate halves (13 pattern repeats on each side) grafting them at the centre so that the ends would match. Bonus, I love the flowery pattern created by the graft-line.


It is only after I had completed it and started looking up how this blocking thing works anyway (would you believe I've never blocked anything in my life before) that I learned that acrylic is apparantly "unblockable." Imagine my horror! There were some ramblings here and there about killing acrylic (which frankly sounds too violent - afterall, this was a satisfying knit) and others about steam blocking by hovering a steaming iron over the garment (without touching it) and letting it cool and dry before unpinning and handling it.

I tried the latter. Not only was it quick, but the results were terrific (the pic below shows the scarf half blocked - I didn't have enough pins to block the whole thing at once). The Bernat Satin softened up considerably to near cashmerey goodness and the pattern really opened up notwithstanding the gained 1 1/2 inches in the width of my scarf and an extra foot in length. My finished scarf is 7 inches wide by 60 inches long.


Well that's another Christmas gift down. This one for my mother. I think she'll love it ;0)

Cheers!

P.S.: I found that writing down each row of the pattern on a separate index card and flipping as I got to each row minimised frustrating screw-ups. Will definately do that again in the future for pattern repeats. Just one of the many tips that I picked up by reading this thread on Craftster.

4 comments:

  1. It looks fantastic! My BO had 14 repeats per side. I'm so glad it worked out for you with the grafting. It looks like I may have started something, eh? *lol*

    Steam blocking and "killing the acrylic" are one in the same (or so I've been told). I didn't do that to my BO, but I still have time to decide. It kind of makes me nervous. Then again, me holding an iron isn't a typical sight in my house! :)

    Great tip about the index cards ... that is something I will have to keep in mind for the next time I do a pattern like this. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. it's beautiful! such a great job you did - your mother will love it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:57 p.m.

    You put me to shame friend. I started my branching out awhile ago and still nowhere close to being done. I can't motivate myself to concentrate on it. Yours turned out very marvelous!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anxiety symptoms anxiety attack symptoms: There are over 100 symptoms of anxiety.

    ReplyDelete