I decided that my challenge would be lace. My previous experience was painful. A few years ago I took a lace and my project--a lace leaf shawl in SeaSilk--never got beyond what could be mistaken for a thong before I gave up. It didn't help that the instructor would explain the pattern and then, as we started to work, would talk non-stop. I'd listen to her for a few minutes, then look at my lace and have to fix my mistakes. I tried working at home but that didn't seem to help. Hmmm. Yeah. Me. Just whacked enough to take on a lace project while watching the Olympics.
The last time I saw my friend Susan she showed me a shawl she made out of SeaSilk. She used the Ostrich Plumes pattern from A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. She said it was pretty easy. So I decided to tackle that pattern. I promptly ripped out the lace leaf shawl and waited for the flame to be lit to cast on. That's where I ran into my first problem. The pattern directions said, "Multiple of 16 sts plus 1." Uh, huh? Was that 16 sts plus 1 = 17 for each repeat? So, if I wanted to have seven repeats that would be 7 X 17? Or would that be 7 X 16 + 1. I knew I was in trouble, but I decided the first option must be right. I cast on the 7 X 17 stitches (don't make me calculate that here). I was off and running.
The first three rows were easy--just simple stockinette. I should have been more concerned about the fact that I dropped a stitch in the stockinette even before I got to the pattern. Then I got to the pattern stitch (K1, yo) 3 times. Got it. (ssk) twice Check. Sl 2 knit-wise--K1--P2sso. What the.... I had never seen that stitch. I checked all my knitting books but since I don't have any beginning lace books they were no help. I went online and found a very helpful YouTube video. Okay. So, got that.
But somehow the pattern wasn't turning out. I suspected I cast on the wrong number of stitches.
The next day I went to Acorn Street Yarn where Bridget was kind enough to look at my knitting and let me know where I went wrong. So I cast on the correct number of stitches and am off and running again.
Lace. Yeah. And the Olympics. I might need to rethink my challenge.
