old-school…

Laundered that swatch and got right into it. My vision changed slightly (overall diamonds of lace instead of the mesh-look) but I still liked the idea of that drop shoulder. With a few modifications! ;)

Drew up my schematic, used the gauge from the washed swatch and did my calculations to get stitch and row numbers on my paper pattern. Also drew the schematic on the Mylar for the knit radar - I always like to have two methods of figuring the numbers just in case! 

Making the Back first - it’s the biggest piece and if something is going to go wrong, might as well be right off the get-go - I’m leaving the decision on edgings/trim for later, so my cast-on, after the waste yarn, is just two plain rows of stockinette and then the lace. And what do you know? I forgot to release the pattern! Fu-u-dge! I was about to drop it all off the machine and maybe go pout.

I caught myself! Hey, no need to go through the cast-on and all that again - just knit a few rows waste, add another ravel cord and get back to it. 

Zip, zap, zoom, the Back is done, perfectly, and I didn’t even miss a beat when it came to shortrowing the shoulder slope - here’s a link to a tutorial for shortrowing in lace, using the ravel cord method, no annoying ads! - (https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2017/01/life-lessons.html 

Got the second shoulder done, it’s off the machine and I feel like a rockstar! If only I had a guitar to smash!

trial and errors...

I’ll admit, it was a few weeks before I had a chance to get down to business and there was a lot of pondering going on. I had settled on the mesh lace stitch (the tuck lace mesh from the shopping bag closes up too much unless something is stretching it out and I didn't want it to be me!;)) and settled on Montana 2 ply yarn doubled  (https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2021/05/brittany-is-very-fine-314-2-ply-cotton.html ).

To be honest, it was the only white cotton I had, 4 partial cones adding up to almost 950g which would be more than enough and even with the differing dye lots, they all looked the same, colour wise.

If I was knitting stockinette or tuck, there is the option of plating to make sure there wasn’t a patchy colour distribution from running two dyelots, but this was lace on the silver reed and because of the separate lace carriage, no plating allowed but my backup plan was to overdye to a light ecru shade. I’d make swatches and see what happened…

Starting with a stockinette swatch, I then programmed in the mesh lace - It wasn’t really promising…dropped stitches everywhere! Yes, I had changed the sponge bar! https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-elephant-in-room.html 

Left that on pause and went to this blog and searched lace carriage knitting - ohmigosh, a lot of reading! I was sure I had fully covered this topic but couldn’t find what I wanted - what to do if your lace carriage knitting isn’t working…

1. Check the needles. If the stitch is dropping in the same place, over and over, change the needle. In lace, it’s difficult to tell which needle, the transferee or the receiver - change both of them.
   
   
   
2. Still happening, look at the sinker posts/gate pegs - a bent one can interfere with the transfer.
3. Maybe the tension/stitch size isn’t right. Too tight and stitches drop instead of transferring.. Too loose and the transferred stitch may end up over a sinker post.
4. Even weighting - makes a big difference, too much weight and stitches don’t transfer. Not enough weight, same thing. (https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2008/11/i-just-have-to-tell-you-i-finally.html)
   
   
   
   
5. Change the yarn and see if that stitch pattern knits with a smooth acrylic. If it does, likely the first yarn isn’t suitable for that particular pattern - try another one, stitch pattern, I mean.

This was supposed to be a fun, easy project, not an endurance test. If you can’t make a perfect swatch, it isn’t likely to get better making larger pieces! I moved on to #5 and set up for that ‘Me  Cozy’ lace https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2021/04/deja-vu.html

 that I still love so much. It worked flawlessly with the doubled cotton - it has more than enough holes to be loose and airy-looking!

motivation…

Did you think I was done? You’d never hear from me again? Ha! I’m like a bad penny, always turning up! Persistent, my middle name!

I’ve been machine knitting for 35 years. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to come up with something to knit - what could be new, what do I need/want now? What would be fun and, most important,  what do I have the yarn for?

A couple of weeks ago, it hit! 

The inspiration, I mean! On our afternoon talk show, 

‘The Social’, Elvira Kurt was guest-hosting, and when she came out in this mesh, oversized sweater, I was, like, what is that? It was white, quite loose and airy looking and I thought, that’s perfect for a throw-on coverup! 

Oh sure, I have lots of cardigans that work with different things and occasions, but they usually mean getting redressed from the ground up. White, loose-fitting, cool and airy would go over anything and you’re out the door! I got all fired up and excited! 

I had that show on my PVR so I could rerun it and snap a few pictures to get a better look. Elvira is a cute, diminutive comedian and she mugged for the cameras, so I do apologize if she looks a little goofy, and the over-size on her is much larger than it will be on me but you’ll get the idea…

I do have 4 part-cones of white Montana, 2 ply cotton, 3 different dye lots, I’m thinking that mesh-lace stitch, https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2022/01/its-2022.html 

from the red Bonita hoodie…maybe I'll tell you what I planned and what I did...